GROUND OF A CLEAN HEART AND A RIGHT SPIRIT, MEN MAY GROW IN GOOD AND FIRMLY SUPPORT EACH

OTHER AS LIVING STONES

IN THE TEMPLE OF GOD.

BY JOSEPH BANCROFT

WITH

ROBERT BARCLAY.

"Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me."-PSALM li. 10.

PHILADELPHIA:

THOMAS WILLIAM STUCKEY, PRINTER,

No. 624 WEAVER STREET.

1874.

CONTENTS.

PREFACE,

UNIVERSAL LOVE appearing in and through man reconciled

unto, and in Unity with God, considered and testified

unto as the greatest gift of God to men. By JOSEPH

BANCROFT,

UNIVERSAL LOVE considered and established upon its right

foundation, being a serious enquiry how far Charity may

and ought to be extended towards persons of different

judgments in matters of Religion, and whose principles

among the several sects of Christians do most naturally

lead to that due moderation required. Written in the

Spirit of love and meekness, for the removing of stum-

bling-blocks out of the way of the simple; by a lover

of the souls of all men, ROBERT Barclay,

A TESTIMONY Concerning the true and acceptable worship

of God; what it is; and how to be performed. Set

forth by ROBERT BARCLAY, in an Apology for the true

Christian divinity; being an explanation and vindica-

tion of the principles and doctrine of the people called

Quakers,

CONCERNING TRUE DISCIPLINE. The Anarchy of the Ran-

ters, and other Libertines, the Hierarchy of the Ro-

manists, and other pretended Churches, equally refused

and refuted, in a two fold apology, for the Church and

people of God, called, in derision, Quakers: Wherein

they are Vindicated from those that accuse them of dis-

order and confusion on the one hand, and from such as

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calumniate them with tyranny and imposition on the

other showing, that as the true and pure principles of

the Gospel are restored by their testimony; so is also

the ancient apostolic order of the Church of Christ re-

established among them, and settled upon its right basis

and foundation. By ROBERT BARCLAY,

A SUPPLEMENT written for the sake of such as are honestly

desiring to know themselves to be of One saved body;

nevertheless, because of the divisions among them who

claim to be the successors of the people who approved

the foregoing Testimonies, more earnestly soliciting

their attention; seeking that all of them may truly be-

come one saved people, meeting together, holding forth

example before and with precept. For their meeting

separately they are without excuse if they duly consider

one another to provoke unto love and to good works.

Good, God's Substance and Image, is not divided from

Him: if it is seen and known amongst men, it must be

that it cometh out of them; and, to come out of them,

it must have been placed in them; the vessel, or their

body and spirit, first having been prepared: proving

that the outward and the inward, the natural and the

spiritual, must be owned together, for men mutually to

have the manifestation of God amongst them. By

JOSEPH BANCROFT,

KEY to A Persuasive to Unity,

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325

PREFACE.

In the love with which I feel my mind covered to the cause of Jesus Christ, and to my beloved fellowcreatures without respect of persons, which has obliged me to the present essay to gain their attention for the purpose of mutual edification, I would bespeak the patient, careful reading of all that is herein put before them; desiring each one to look to the Spirit of the Lord for the gift of understanding in that which is propounded; and not to burden the creature with too earnest an effort on its own part; as if the power of understanding were not the gift of God received in faith daily, but were inherent in man without the breath of Life, and himself capable fully to understand all things at first mention of them: whereas, the growth of that capacity is to be waited for in all things both natural and spiritual; and is conferred upon man as in a seed, and is increased by growth to appear first as a blade, by dressing and keeping, even in the good ground; by watchfulness and care that an enemy does not sow evil seed when men sleep, and the watch is not kept up; and so tares begin to grow, and the growth of good is checked and the understanding darkened, and edification obstructed. Therefore, wait upon the Lord, the Spirit of good, for a good understanding and a well disposed mind towards that for which