MARCH, DANIEL: Congregationalist; b. at
Millbury, Mass., July 21,1816; d. at Woburn, Mass.,
Mar. 2, 1909. He was educated at Yale College
(A.B., 1840) and Yale DivinitySchool, from which he
was graduated in 1845, after having been principal of
Chester Academy, Vt., and Fairfield Academy, Conn.
He held successive pastorates at Cheshire, Conn.
(1845-48), First Congregational Church, Nashua,
N. H. (1848-54), First Congregational Church, Wo
burn, Mass. (1855-61, 1876-93), and Clinton Street
Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia (1861-76). After
1893 he was pastor emeritus of the First Congrega
tional Church, Woburn. In theology he advocated
"practical, common-sense interpretation of the Gos
pel of Christ." He wrote
Religion for Heart and
Home
(Woburn, Mass., 1858);
Walks and Homes of
Jesus
(Philadelphia, 1866);
Night
Scenes in the
Bible
(1868); Our
Father's House
(1869);
Home
Life in the Bible
(1873);
From Dark to Dawn
(1878);
Days of the Son of Man
(1881);
The First Khedive:
Lessons in the Life of Joseph
(Philadelphia, 1887);
Morning Light in Many Lands
(Boston, 1891).
Several of his works were translated into Swedish
and German.
1. Marcion's Life
Hippolytus, Irenaeus, Epiphanius, and
Tertullian, and these writers are not
in entire accord. His birthplace is
given as Sinope, in Paphlagonia, on the Euxine, and
he is described as a shipmaster of
Pontus. Tertul
lian tells of his coming from Pontus (c. 140) and
joining the Christian community at Rome, in the
first warmth of his faith making them a present of
200,000 sestertii (Tertullian, "Against Marcion,"
iv. 4;
Prcescriptio, xxx.;
ANF, iii.
349, 257). He
speaks of his differences with the Roman commu
nity, of his excommunication, of the return of his
gift, and of his attaching himself
afterward
to the
Gnostic teacher
Cerdo (q.v.). According to the
same authority the Marcionites dated the time of
their master's separation from the Church 115
years and six months from the time of Christ
(" Against Marcion," i. 19;
ANF, iii.
285). This
would be the autumn of 144. Justin in his first
apology written about 150 (chaps. xxvi., lviii.)
notices the great activity of Marcion. Irenaeus
(Hwr.
III., iv. 3) speaks of Marcion's flourishing
under the episcopate of Anicetus (154-165) and
tells how Polycarp met Marcion and addressed him
as the first-born
of Satan
(HBr.
