John Wylie and James Hog

John Wylie (1654-1728), gained his MA from St Andrews University in 1677, then taught at Perth Grammnar School. He demitted in 1682 in protest againt the Test Act. He was finally licensed by Kirkcaldy presbytery in 1695 and then appointed minister of Saline. Five years later he transferred to Clackmannan.

James Hog (1658-1734), gained his MA at Edinburgh University in 1677, butbecause of the persecution suffered by his father as a covenanting minister, he left for the Netherlands and continued his studies in divinity at Utrecht. He returned home after the revolution of 1688, was licensed by Edinburgh presbytery and ordained into his first charge of Dalserf, Lanarkshire, in 1691. He opposed the interference of lay powers in the affairs of the church and found himself unable to take the oath of allegiance in 1693, and again refused to take the oaths when elected a member of the General Assemby in 1695; the Lord High Commissioner would not allow him to take his seat. His controversial views led to a rift with his parishioners and he demitted his charge in 1697. However he was called to the more sympathetic parish of Carnock near Dunfermline 2 years later. He applied unsuccessfully for the chair of divinity at Marischal College, Aberdeen in 1711, and then dedicated himself to writing tracts in defence of the covenantering traditions which he thought should dictate the observances of the Church of Scotland. He was instrumental in the re-publication of Edward Fisher's Marrow of Modern Divinity in 1718, which put forth the offer of salvation through God's grace, and oppose perceived Arminian practices in the church. He conducted a spirited pamphlet war against James Hadow, one of the main opponents of the Marrow, including A Vindication of the Doctrine of Grace from the charge of Antinomianism, which was published in the same year as the Marrow, and A letter to a Gentleman in 1719. He was one of 12 ministers, known as the Marrow Men, who protested against the action of the General Assembly in 1720 in condemning the book for its alleged antinomian tendencies.

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