presbytery in case it came again in fashion." He also turns some of William Mitchell's arguments against himself with great ingenuity, though still he comes far short of establishing his own theory. It is worthy of remark, that, in this treatise, he has frequent recourse to Richard Baxter's aphorisms on justification, whose new law scheme of the gospel seems to have been very much to the taste of the Quaker. It appears to have been on the appearance of this publication that, "for a sign and wonder to the generation," he walked through the chief streets of the city of Aberdeen, clothed in sackcloth and ashes; on which occasion he published (in 1672) a "Seasonable warning and serious exhortation to, and expostulation with, the inhabitants of Aberdeen, concerning this present dispensation and day of God's living visitation towards them."
His next performance was, "A Catechism and Confession of Faith," the answers to the questions being all in the express words of Scripture; and the preface to it is dated, "From Ury, the place of my being, in my native country of Scotland, the 11th of the sixth month, 1673." This was followed by "The Anarchy of the Ranters," &c.
We now come to his great work, "An Apology for the true Christian Divinity, as the same is held forth and preached by the people called in scorn, Quakers: Being a full explanation and vindication of their principles and doctrines, by many arguments deduced from Scripture and right reason, and the testimonies of famous authors, both ancient and modern; with a full answer to the strongest objections usually made against them. Presented to the King. Written and published in Latin for the information of strangers, by Robert Barclay, and now put into our own language for the benefit of his countrymen." The epistle to the King, prefixed to this elaborate work, is dated, "From Ury, the place of my pilgrimage, in my native country of Scotland, the 25th of the month called November, 1675." This epistle is not a little curious, among other things, for the ardent anticipations which the writer indulges with regard to the increase and future prevalence of the doctrines of the Quakers, which he calls, "the gospel now again revealed after a long and dark night of apostacy, and commanded to be preached to all nations." After some paragraphs, sufficiently complimentary to the peaceable habits of his silence-loving brethren, he tells his majesty that "generations to come will not more admire that singular step of Divine Providence, in restoring thee to thy throne without bloodshed, than they shall admire the increase and progress of this truth without all outward help, and against so great opposition, which shall be none of the least things rendering thy memory remarkable." In looking back upon the atrocities that marked the reign of Charles II., the growth of Quakerism is scarcely ever thought of, and the sufferings of its professors are nearly invisible, by reason of the far greater sufferings of another branch of the Christian church. Though led by his enthusiasm in his own cause to overrate it, Barclay certainly had no intention of flattering the King. "God," he goes on to tell him, "hath done great things for thee; he hath sufficiently shown thee that it is by him princes rule, and that he can pull down and set up at his pleasure. Thou hast tasted of prosperity and adversity; thou knowest what it is to be banished thy native country, to be overruled as well as to rule and sit upon the throne, and being oppressed thou hast reason to know how hateful the oppressor is, both to God and man. If after all these warnings and advertisements, thou dost not turn unto the Lord with all thy heart, but forget him who remembered thee in thy distress, and give up thyself to lust and vanity, surely great will be thy condemnation."
The Apology is a most elaborate work, indicating no small portion of both talent and learning. It contains, indeed, the sum of the author's thoughts in those treatises we have already mentioned, as well as in those which he afterwards published, digested into fifteen propositions, in which are included all the peculiar notions of
