Apologie de la Véritable Theologie Chrétienne, ainsi qu’elle est soutenue, & prêchée, par le Peuple, appellé par Mépris, les Trembleurs

The Volume is in Very Good Condition bound in gilt ruled, speckled calf, with the spine divided into six compartments by five raised bands, with a red morocco letter-piece in the second compartment from the top, and with the board edge blind tooled and leaf edges red speckled. Externally the boards and spine are lightly scuffed in general, with the hinges showing splits, particularly at the front board, with chipping to the head and tail of the spine, which is generally scuffed, and with the board corners bumped. Internally the leaves are generally clean and well margined, lightly foxed and with some small marginal tears and creases, and little else in the way of stains or toning.

Of Robert Barclay

In 1667, Robert Barclay followed the example of his father, and joined the recently formed Religious Society of Friends. Soon afterwards he began to write in defence of the movement, by publishing in 1670 Truth cleared of Calumnies, and a Catechism and Confession of Faith (1673). The essential view which Barclay maintained was that all people can be illuminated by the Inward Light of Christ “which is the author of the Scriptures and will lead them into all truth”. His works have often been reprinted.

He was an ardent theological student, a man of warm feelings and considerable mental powers, and he soon came prominently forward as the leading apologist of the new doctrine, winning his spurs in a controversy with one William Mitchell. The publication of fifteen Theses Theologiae (1676) led to a public discussion in Aberdeen, each side claiming a victory. The most prominent of the Theses was that bearing on immediate revelation, in which the superiority of the Inward Light of Christ to reason or scripture is sharply stated. He was noted as a strong supporter of George Fox in the controversies that beset Quakers in the 1670s. His greatest work, An Apology for the True Christian Divinity, was published in Latin at Amsterdam in 1676, and was an elaborate statement of the grounds for holding certain fundamental positions laid down in the Theses. It was translated by its author into English in 1678, and is claimed to be “one of the most impressive theological writings of the century”. The Apology, however, failed to arrest the persecution to which the Quakers were exposed, and Barclay himself, on returning from Europe, where he travelled extensively (once with William Penn and George Fox), and had several interviews with Elisabeth, Princess Palatine, was several times thrown into prison, but soon regained his liberty, and was in the enjoyment of Court favour.