In a couple of the forum I have made a few allusions to An Apology for the True Christian Divinity by Robert Barclay.Robert Barclay (1648-1690) wrote his classic exposition and defense of Quakerism in Latin and published it in 1676 as Theologiæ Vere Christianæ Apologia. He then translated his own book into English. The Apology has since been reprinted over 60 times and translated into several other languages. It begins with an introduction to Charles II.George Fox and the early quakers were the Tozers and Reidheads of their day. They saw that people were putting a confidence in the scriptures that ought only to be placed in Christ Himself and that, to use Tozer's phrase' that if it is in the Bible it is in me Tozer wrote:The error of textualism is not doctrinal. It is far more subtle than that and much more difficult to discover, but its effects are just as deadly. Not its theological beliefs are at fault, but its assumptions. It assumes, for instance, that if we have the word for a thing we have the thing itself. If it is in the Bible, it is in us. If we have the doctrine, we have the experience. If something was true of Paul it is of necessity true of us because we accept Paul's epistles as divinely inspired. Man the Dwelling Place of God.The Quakers turned England upside-down and left a lasting legacy to the Church. The Quakers, as a group, are now a tragedy. If you remove the cross from inner light you end up with 'every man doing what is right in his own eyes'. The spirit of the age is 'post-modernism' and with this wind in its sails Quakerism can only drift farther and farther from its original moorings. Those who rejoin that Quakerism had no moorings should read Robert Barclay. Barclay is not easy to read. His background included the styles of his day which produced a ruthless logic. He will answer all your questions, including those you hadn't thought of asking. :-P Sometimes his sentences become whole paragraphs. Modern writing favours short, single idea, sentences. Barclays sentences will frequently have more than 50 words in them. However, if you are prepared to dig, there is 'gold of Ophir' here.I don't always agree with him. I don't agree with myself all the time. :-D But he will make you think and bless your soul.The whole text is now available on-line here. Read his 15 Propositions first to get an overview and then work your way through some of his reasonings.
