Marrow Controversy
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
The Marrow Controversy was a Scottish ecclesiastical dispute occasioned by the republication in 1718 of The Marrow of Modern Divinity by an author known only as E. F. (originally published in 2 parts in London, 1645-1649), possibly wrongly ascribed to Edward Fisher, an English Calvinist of the seventeenth century noted for spirituality and learning. The work consists of religious dialogues of an original and sprightly kind, discusses the doctrine of the atonement, and aims to guide the reader safely between Antinomianism and Neonomianism.
[edit] Content of the controversy
 |
This section is a stub. You can help by expanding it. |
[edit] History of the controversy
A copy of Marrow was brought into Scotland by an English Puritan soldier, and years afterward found by Thomas Boston, who was much pleased with it, and spoke of it to several people; and so it was republished due to the efforts of Boston and Ebenezer Erskine with a commendatory preface. The book displeased the moderates (or "Neonomians"), and they were the leading men in the Church of Scotland. One of their number, Principal Haddow of St. Andrews, assailed it in his opening sermon at the Synod of Fife, April 1719; and a "committee for preserving the purity of doctrine" was chosen at the General Assembly that year, the business of which was to discredit the book. This was attempted by garbled extracts. In their report in 1720 the committee condemned the book as Antinomian, and the Assembly approved.
Then the friends of the book rallied to its defence. Twelve men, who were called "the Representers," formally called the attention of the Assembly to the anomaly that it had condemned, because taught in the book, propositions which were couched in the language of Scripture, and others which were expressly taught in their books of theology. The Neonomians, however, gained a moderate victory, and in the Assembly of 1722 the twelve Representers were solemnly rebuked; subsequently every effort was made by the Neonomians to prevent the settlement of ministers holding the Marrow doctrines. No action was taken against the Representers, and the controversy in the church courts ended. But the irritation lasted, and ultimately led to the formation of the Secession Church.
[edit] References
- W. M. Hetherington, History of the Church of Scotland, chap. ix., pp. 342, 344-347, New York, 1881.
- C. A. Briggs, American Presbyterianism, pp. 254 sqq., New York, 1885.
This article includes content derived from the Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge, 1914, which is in the public domain.
