Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 05.djvu/433

 our Gospel-Festivals,' 5th ed, 1653, 4to; and, according to the Bodleian catalogue, was author of a tract in favour of celebrating the feast of the Nativity. The book which thus accidentally came into his hands exercised a strong influence over Boston's mind, and was introduced by him to his friends. Thus began what is known as the Marrow controversy. The Auchterarder presbytery, jealous of the smallest inroads of Arminianism, had drawn up certain propositions, to which, in addition to the authorised standards of the kirk, they required all candidates for license to subscribe. Among these propositions was the following: ‘I believe that it is not sound and orthodox to teach that we must forsake sin in order to our coming to Christ, and instating us in covenant with God.' A candidate who had refused his subscription to the ‘Auchterarder creed,' as it was called, and had therefore not been licensed, appealed to the general assembly, which in 1717 condemned the above proposition as unsound, forbade the imposition of unauthorised subscriptions, and ordered the license to be given. Boston was one of a party who, in the pulpit and elsewhere, showed their dissatisfaction with the finding of the assembly. Hence the refusal to transport him to Closeburn. In 1718 the ‘Marrow of Modern Divinity’ was republished, with a preface (dated 3 Dec. 1717), by James Hog, minister at Carnock, near Dunfermline 14 Hay 1734), where upon the controversy waxed fiercer. In pursuance of instructions given by the assembly of 1719, the commission of assembly, early in 1720, appointed a committee for preserving purity of doctrine, which did its work by two sub-committees. One of these, which was headed by Principal James Hadow, of St. Andrews (d. 4 May 1747), extracted from the volume six so-called antinomian paradoxes on the subject of the sins of a believer. On 20 May 1720 an act of assembly was passed condemning the book, and enjoining ministers to warn their people not to read it. After a meeting in Edinburgh, attended by Ebenezer and Ralph Erskine, Boston with eleven others gave in a representation and petition against the act; hence they were called the ‘twelve apostles' and the ‘Marrow-men.' The assembly, on 28 May 1722, passed (by a majority of 134 to 5) another act, somewhat modifying the previous censure of the book, but confirming the general effect of the preceding act, and directing that the ministers who had subscribed the representation against it should be rebuked by the moderator for the injurious reflections contained in their petition. Accordingly ‘the twelve apostles’ were rebuked, and a protest, drafted by Boston and offered by Kid, of Queensferry, in the name of the rest, was not received. It was, however, printed by the protesters. As might be expected, the prohibition of the reading of the ‘Marrow’ secured for it a wider and more eager perusal, To the popularity of its doctrines in a not inconsiderable section of the kirk Boston's own writings largely contributed. In 1729, in the case of Simson, divinity professor at. Glasgow, who had received the comparatively light sentence of suspension for teaching anti-trinitarian doctrine, the matter was again brought up in the assembly, but the suspension was simply confirmed. On this occasion Boston stood alone in the assembly, being the only member who expressed his dissent from its judgement. Boston's deeply religious life and exemplary parochial labours did much to recommend his theology to the people of his nation. His communions gathered a wonderful assemblage of people from all parts. His own picture of himself, in his ‘Memoirs,‘ is that of a genuine and self denying man, devoted heart and soul to the cause of the gospel as he understood it. He found time for study, especially of the Hebrew Bible. His influence is not spent; his ‘Fourtold State' is still a popular classic of the Calvinistic theology. He died at Ettrick on 20 May 1732, He had married, on 17 July 1700, Katherine, fifth daughter of Robert Brown, of Barhill, Culross, who survived him nearly five years. She bore him ten children, all of whom died young, except two sons and two daughters. His first publication seems to have been:  ‘Sermon’ (Hos. ii. 19, preached 24 Aug. 1714), 1715, reprinted 1732. He published also,  ‘Reasons for refusing the Oath of Abjuration,’ 1719.  ‘Human Nature in its Four-fold Estate,’ &c. Edinburgh, 1720, 8vo (often reprinted; transl. into Welsh 1767; into Gaelic 1837, reprinted 1845; edition revised by Rev. Michael Boston, the author's grandson, Falkirk, 1784, 8vo; abridged, with, title ‘Submission to the Righteousness of Christ,’ Birmingham, 1809)  ‘Queries to the Friendly Adviser, to which is prefixed a Letter to a Friend, concerning the affair of the Marrow,’ &c., 1722, 8vo.  ‘Notes to the Marrow of Modern Divinity,’ 1726.  ‘The Mystery of Christ in the form of a Servant,’ &c. (sacrament sermon, Phil. ii. 7), Edinburgh, 1727, 8vo. Posthumous publications and editions are:  ‘A View of the Covenant of Grace,’ 1734, 8vo.  ‘Thomæ Boston, ecclesiæ Atricensis apud Scotos pastoris, Tractatus Stigmologicus, Hebræo-Biblicus. Quo Accentuum Hebræorum doctrina traditur, variusque eorum, in explananda S. Scripture, usus exponitur. Cum præfatione viri reverendi & clarissimi Davidis Millii,’  