Marrow of Modern Divinity

The Marrow is the historically important book that caused the Marrow Controversy in the Church of Scotland. The Marrow is written as a dialogue among a pastor, a legalist, an antinomian, and a neophyte Christian. It advocates a free grace gospel against both a works-righteousness gospel and a cheap-grace gospel. At the time that Boston's edition came out (circa 1720), the Moderate Party dominated the Church of Scotland, and advocated a legalistic or neonomian gospel. Thus the free-grace perspective of the Marrow was condemned, and its maintainers, the so-called Marrowmen, were deposed from the ministry. The deposed ministers formed the Associate Presbytery, nicknamed the Secession Church. More information can be found in History Of The Secession Church (1839) and The Erskines: Ebenezer And Ralph (1880). In spite of the accusations of antinomianism, the book clearly advocates a role for the Law in sanctification, though not in justification, a dual-covenant view of the Law, as a covenant of grace to the elect, but a covenant of works to the reprobate.