A N APOLOGY FOR THE True Christian Divinity, BEING ΑΝ EXPLANATION and VINDICATION. OF THE PRINCIPLES and DOCTRINES Of the PEOPLE called QUAKER S. Written in LATIN and ENGLISH By ROBERT BARCLAY,'S And fince tranflated into HIGH DUTCH, LOW DUTCH, FRENCH, The EIGHTH EDITION in ENGLISH. BIRMINGHAM HAM Printed by JOHN BASKERVILLE, and fold by the Booksellers of LONDON and WESTMINSTER. то CHARLES II. KING O F GREAT BRITAIN, And the Dominions thereunto belonging: ROBERT BARCLAY A Servant of JESUS CHRIST, called of GOD to the Difpenfation of the Gospel now again revealed, and, after a long and dark Night of Apoftafy, commanded to be preached to all NATIONS, wifheth Health and Salvation. A S the Condition of Kings and Princes puts Them in a Station more obvious to the View and Obfervation of the World than that of other Men, of whom, as Cicero obferves, neither any Word or Action can be obfcure; fo are those Kings, during whose Appearance upon the Stage of this World it pleaseth the GREAT KING of Kings fingularly to make known unto Men the wonderful a 2 Steps Steps of His unfearchable Providence, more fignally observed, and their Lives and Actions more diligently remarked, and enquired into by Pofterity; especially if thofe Things be such as not only relate to the outward Transactions of this World, but also are fignalized by the Manifestation or Revelation of the Knowledge of God in Matters fpiritual and religious. These are the Things that rendred the Lives of Cyrus, Auguftus Cæfar, and Conftantine the Great, in former Times, and of Charles the Fifth, and fome other modern Princes in these last Ages, so confiderable. But among all the Tranfactions which it hath pleased God to permit, for the Glory of His Power, and the Manifeftation of His Wifdom and Providence, no Age furnisheth us with Things fo ftrange and marvellous, whether with Respect to Matters civil or religious, as these that have fallen out within the Compafs of Thy Time; who, though Thou be not yet arrived at the Fiftieth Year of thy Age, hast yet been a Witness of stranger Things than many Ages before produced. So that whether we respect thofe various Troubles wherein Thou foundest Thyfelf engaged while scarce got out of Thy Infancy; the many different Afflictions, wherewith Men of Thy Circumstances are often unacquainted; the strange and unparalleled Fortune that befel Thy Father; Thy own narrow Escape, and Banishment following thereupon, with the great Improbability of Thy ever returning, at least without very much Pains and tedious Combatings; or finally, the Incapacity Thou wert under to accomplish fuch a Design; confidering the Strength of those that had poffeffed themselves of Thy Throne, and the Terror they had inflicted upon foreign States; and yet that, after all this, Thou shouldest be restored without Stroke of Sword, the the Help or Assistance of foreign States, or the Contrivance and Work of human Policy; all thefe do fufficiently declare that it is the Lord's Doing, which, as it is marvellous in our Eyes, so it will justly be a Matter of Wonder and Astonishment to Generations to come; and may fufficiently ferve, if rightly observed, to confute and confound that Atheism wherewith this Age doth so much abound. As the Vindication of the Liberty of Confcience (which Thy Father, by giving Way to the importunate Clamours of the Clergy, the Answering and Fulfilling of whose unrighteous Wills has often proved hurtful and pernicious to Princes, fought in fome Part to reftrain) was a great Occafion of those Troubles and Revolutions; fo the Pretence of Confcience was that which carried it on, and brought it to that Pitch it came to. And though no Doubt fome that were engaged in that Work defigned good Things, at least in the Beginning, albeit always wrong in the Manner they took to accomplish it, viz. by carnal Weapons; yet so soon as they had tafted the Sweets of the Possessions of them they had turned out, they quickly began to do thofe Things themselves for which they had accufed others. For their Hands were found full of Oppreffion, and they hated the Reproof of Inftruction, which is the Way of Life; and they evilly intreated the Messengers of the Lord, and caused his Prophets to be beaten and imprifoned, and perfecuted his People, whom he had called and gathered out from among them, whom he had made to beat their Swords into Plow-fhares, and their Spears into Pruninghooks, and not to learn carnal War any more: But he raised them up, and armed them with Spiritual Weapons, even with his own Spirit and Power, whereby they teftified in the Streets and High-ways, and publick Markets and Syna gogues, |