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by Jason R. Henderson (Editor), Robert Barclay (Author)
Robert Barclay (1648-1690) was a Scottish Quaker, and one of the most eminent writers among the early Society of Friends. His Apology for the True Christian Divinity (from which this book is taken) was first published in 1675, and came to be considered the definitive exposition and defense of Quaker principles for the next 200 years. Barclay was born into opulence and educated in some of the finest schools of the time, where his natural genius gained the admiration of both teachers and peers. In addition to English, he was early a master of the Greek, Hebrew, French, and Latin languages, and so excelled in his studies that his uncle (the Rector of the Scotts College at Paris) offered to make him his heir. But at seventeen years of age, upon entering a meeting of the people called Quakers, he said, "I felt a secret power among them which touched my heart." And as he abode under the powerful operations of grace, he "came to receive and bear witness of the Truth," not being convinced "by strength of argument, or by a particular discussion of each doctrine, but by being secretly reached by Life." This book contains five of the original fifteen propositions from Barclay's Apology, treating upon the fall, redemption, justification, and perfection of man. Of this work Barclay writes, "I have not sought to accommodate my work to itching ears, who desire to comprehend in their head the sublime notions of Truth, rather than to embrace it in their heart. For what I have written comes more from my heart than from my head; from what I have heard with the ears of my soul and seen with my inward eyes, and my hands have handled of the Word of Life. What has been inwardly manifested to me of the things of God, that do I declare; not so much minding the eloquence and excellency of speech, as desiring to demonstrate the efficacy and operation of Truth. Unto you these following propositions are offered; and if they be read and considered in the fear of the Lord, you may perceive that simple, naked truth which man, by his wisdom, has rendered so obscure and mysterious."
