MARROW CONTROVERSY, THE: A Scotch ecclesiastical dispute occasioned by the republication in 1718 by James Hog of Carnock of The Marrow of Modern Divinity, . . . by E. F. (2 parts, London, 1645-49), possibly wrongly ascribed to Edward Fisher, an English Calvinist of the seventeenth century noted for spirituality and learning (cf. DNB, xix. 55-56). 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 (q.v.) and Neonomianism. A copy of it was brought into Scotland by an English Puritan soldier, and years afterward found by Thomas Boston (q.v.), who was much pleased with it, and spoke of it to several; and so it was republished with a commendatory preface by James Hog. The book displeased the 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, Apr., 1719; and a "committee for preserving the purity of doctrine" was chosen at the 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 defense. 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 Scripture language, and others which were expressly taught in their symbolical books. 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 (see Presbyterians).

Bibliography: W. M. Hetherington, Hist. of the Church of Scotland, chap. ix., pp. 342, 344-347, New York, 1881; C. A. Briggs, American Presbyterianism, pp. 254 sqq., ib. 1885.

MARSAY, mār"sê', CHARLES HECTOR DE ST. GEORGE, MARQUIS DE: Quietist and mystic; b. at Paris 1688; d. at Ambleden (an estate near Wolfenbüttel), Brunswick, Feb. 3, 1753. He was a descendant of a noble family of Reformed faith, which had emigrated from France to Germany and Switzerland, and from childhood he was acquainted with such books of devotion as those of Thomas à Kempis and Jurieu. He served as an ensign in an Anglo-Hanoverian regiment in Belgium during the Spanish War of Succession. During a severe illness he was urged by two friends to resign his commission and withdraw entirely from the world. The three retired in 1711 to Schwarzenau, in the county of Wittgenstein, where they lived as hermits, practising self-castigation, observing silence so far as possible, and toiling diligently. Not receiving from this mode of life the edification which he sought, De Marsay withdrew from his companions and in 1712 entered into a marriage of absolute continence with Clara Elisabeth von Callenberg. The pair lived in a small house near Gersdorf, suffering the extremes of poverty and distressed by fears concerning their spiritual welfare. After 1713 De Marsay and his wife made repeated visits to his kinsmen in Geneva in the hope of reconciling his mother, who was displeased with her son's course of life. In Switzerland they came in frequent contact with the "awakened," and De Marsay learned of the writings of Madame Guyon, which were henceforth to control him. Gradually withdrawing from ascetic extremes, De Marsay and his wife devoted themselves more to practical work, became partially reconciled with his family, and accepted a pension from his father's estate. Now all his former struggles seemed to him self-righteousness, and he regarded himself as a child with neither light nor certainty. Then began, according to his conviction,

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the renewal of the "center," or the foundation of his soul, through the spirit of God, although for many years his spiritual life knew neither rest nor constancy.

Meantime serious controversies resulted from his association with Pietists of like tendencies. In 1726 he conceived the plan of emigrating to Pennsylvania, and in 1730 Zinzendorf sought to interest him in forming the separatists in Schwarzenau and Berleburg into a Moravian community, and also wished to send him to France to win the scattered and oppressed Reformed for his cause. For a time De Marsay and his wife were favorably impressed, but both later rejected the proposal. He now withdrew from mystic meetings and resumed a hermit's life in Schwarzenau and Berleburg. After 1732 he resided for some years at the castle of Hayn near Berleburg as the spiritual adviser of the Von Fleischbein family. In this period fall a number of his works. All these writings, of which the most important are his Freimütige and christliche Diskurse (3 parts, 1735-39; Eng. transl., Discourses on Subjects Relating to the Spiritual Life, Edinburgh, 1749), Zeugnis eines Kindes von der Richtigkeit der Wege des Geistes (8 parts, 1736-41), and Christliche Gedanken über verschiedener Materien der Gottseligkeit (1750), show the influence both of French mysticism and of the theosophy of Jakob Böhme and Gottfried Arnold (qq.v.). After the death of his wife in 1742, De Marsay lived for three years in Schwarzenau, and then resided in various places. Coming into contact with pietistic Evangelical pastors, through their influence he abandoned separatism, took part in public worship and the communion, and accepted the Evangelical doctrine of justification by faith. His importance is due to the fact that he introduced the quietistic mysticism of French Roman Catholicism into Germany, although he was one of the last representatives of his school.

(K. Holl.)

Bibliography: The main source for a life is the autobiog raphy, existing in MS. in the provincial ecclesiastical archives at Coblenz, reproduced substantially in De Valenti, System der höheren Heilkunde, ii. 153 sqq., Elberfeld, 1827. Consult further: H. Corrodi Kritische Geschichte des Chiliasmus, iii. 456 sqq., Zurich, 1783; ZHT, 1855, pp. 349 sqq.; M. Göbel, Geschichte des christlichen Lebens in der rheinisch-westphälischen evangelischen Kirche, iii. 193 sqq., Coblenz, 1860; G. Heppe, Geschichte der quietistischen Mystik in der katholischen Kirche, pp. 506 sqq., Berlin, 1875; A. Ritschl, Geschichte des Pietismus, i. 425, ii. 379 sqq., Bonn, 1880-84; R. A. Vaughan, Hours with the Mystics, ii. 291-295, 8th ed., London, n.d.