Publisher's Synopsis
A layman, Thomas Erskine combined his role as Laird of Linlathen with that of a theological writer and a correspondent of influence in Scotland and further afield. In 1821 he published his "Unconditional Freeness of the Gospel" which provoked a storm of criticism for its advocacy of universal pardon, and he became the principal target of orthodox criticism during the controversy surrounding John Macleod Campbell. Erskine's final position was that of a Liberal Universalist. This study of the decline of Calvinist orthodoxy provides a glimpse in microcosm of a process which affected Scottish religion in general at the end of the 19th century.
