QUAKERISM - BARCLAY, Robert.

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Theologiae Vere Christianae Apologia, First edition of the "classic statement of Quaker principles" (ODNB), a vital codification which helped transform the movement from a loose community to a tightly focussed sect. Before reaching his 28th birthday, Robert Barclay (1648-1690) wrote a series of works that defined Quaker thinking for centuries and shaped the group into a co-ordinated movement which could defend itself against the persecution of the restored Stuart monarchs. This is his most comprehensive and fully developed treatise, an elaborate defence of his earlier Theses theologicae (1674). The Apologia helped to define such essential Quaker doctrines as inward revelation and the universal saving light. Barclay asserted that neither Church nor scripture could claim ultimate authority in spiritual matters, both ultimately subordinated to the internal guidance of the holy spirit.The Apologia proved particularly influential among the French philosophes: Voltaire praised Barclay's writing on toleration, while Jaucourt deemed it "the most rational and the most perfect system yet conceived" (quoted in Phillips, p. 86).

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