GROUND OF A CLEAN HEART AND A RIGHT SPIRIT, MEN MAY 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 PHILADELPHIA: THOMAS WILLIAM STUCKEY, PRINTER, No. 624 WEAVER STREET. 1874. CONTENTS. PREFACE, 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 stumbling-blocks out of the way of the simple; by a lover of the souls of all men, ROBERTt 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 vindication of the principles and doctrine of the people called Quakers, CONCERNING TRUE DISCIPLINE. The Anarchy of the Ranters, and other Libertines, the Hierarchy of the Romanists, 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 disorder and confusion on the one hand, and from such as PAGE. 5 18 51 107 PAGE : calumniate them with tyranny and imposition on the 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 become 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, 185 295 325 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 |