Barclay, John, was born at Pont-a-Mousson, in Lorrain, where his father, William Barclay (q. v.), was law professor, in 1582. He studied at the college of the Jesuits there, and the brethren, observing his gen- ius, attempted to draw him into their order. This offended his father, who left the college with his son in 1603 and returned to England. He wrote verses in praise of King James, and would doubtless have succeeded at court had he not been a Romanist. His literary' reputation rests on his Argenis (1621, and many editions since), which had an immense popular- ity, and was translated into various languages. We mention him here for the following works : Series patefacte divinitus pirricid'i, etc. (A History of the Gunpowder Plot, Amst. 1605, 12mo); Pietas, etc. (a defence of his father's work, De Potentate Papa', against Bellarmine ; Paris, 1611, 4to) ; Paranesis ad Sectarios hujus temporis (Rome, 1617, 12mo; an appeal to Prot- estants in favor of Romanism). He died at Rome, Aug. 12. 1621.— Neio Gen. Biog. Dictionary, ii, 49 ; Alli- bone, Dictionary of Authors, i, 117.
Barclay. John, founder of the " Bereans" (q. v ), was born at Muthill, Perthshire, Scotland, in 1734, and studied at St. Andrews, where he graduated A.M. In 1759 he was licensed by the presbytery of Auchtcrar- der, and became assistant minister of Errol, and in 1763 assistant minister of Fettercairn in Forfarshire. Here he began to act the religious leader, and attract- ed crowds of hearers by his novelties of doctrine. In 1766 be published a Paraphrase of the Book of Psalms, with a dissertation on interpretation, which was cen- sured by the presbytery. On the death of the clergy- man to whom he was assistant in 1772, the presbytery refused him the necessary testimonials for accepting a benefice elsewhere, and he then left the Church of Scotland, and became the leader of the sect called Be- reans, of which a few congregations still exist. He preached for some time in Edinburgh, and subsequent- ly in London and Bristol. In London he kept open a debating society, where he supported his doctrines against all impugners. He died on the 29th of July, 1798.— Penny Cyclopedia, s. v. See Bereans.
Barclay, Robert, of Fry, the eminent Quaker, was the son of Colonel David Barclay, and was born at Gordonstown, in Morayshire, Scotland, December 23, 1648. His elementary education over, he was sent to the Scotch college at Paris, where his uncle was rector, and there he imbibed a strong predilection for Romanism. His uncle offered to make him his heir if he would stay in France and enter the Roman Church ; but, though bis youthful imagination had been impressed by the splendid services of the church, he refused, and returned to England in 1664. It is said that even at this time (when he was only sixteen) he was an excellent scholar, and could speak in the Latin language, with wonderful fluency and correct- ness. His father joined the Quakers in 1666, and his example was soon followed by his son, who thence- forward bee;. me an indefatigable propagator of their opinions both at home and in Holland. He gives an account of his change, in substance, as follows (in his Treatise on Universal Love), viz. : that "his 'first ed-
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■cation fell among the strictest sort of Calvinists,' those of hi9 country 'surpassing in the heat of zeal not only Geneva, from whence they derive their pedi- gree, but all the other so-called reformed churches;' That Bhortly afterward, his transition to France had thrown him among the opposite 'sect of papists,' whom, after a time, he found to he no less deficient in charity than the other: and that consequently he had refrained from joining any, though he had listened to several. '1'he ultimate eil'ect of this was to liberalize hi- mind by convincing him of the folly and wicked- ness of religious strife. In both Calvinists and Cath- olic- he found an absence of 'the principles of love,' 'a straitness of doctrine,' and a 'practice of persecu- tion.' which offended his idea of Christianity, as well as bis gentle and generous nature. He therefore al- lied himself gladly to this new sect, whose distinguish- ing feature was its charity and pure simplicity of Christian life, and soon became one of its most devo- ted adherents and its ablest advocate. In the course of his life he made several excursions into England, Holland, and Germany, earnestly propagating his peaceful views wherever he went, and occasionally en- joying the companionship of William Penn."
Barclay believed, as the Society of Friends now do, that divine revelation is not incompatible with right reason, yet he believed, as orthodox Friends also now do that the faculty of reason alone, unassisted by di- vine illumination, is unable to comprehend or receive the sul lime truths relative to that redemption and sal- vation which came by Jesus Christ. To show that the tenets held by the society were capable of a rational vindication, Barclay employed all the powers of his in- tellect and produced a succession of works in explana- tion and defence of Quakerism. The first was Truth cleared of ('alumnus (1607), especially in reply to Mitchell, a minister near Aberdeen, who reiterated his Bland) is in a pamphlet, which was answered by Bar- clay in his William Mitchell unmasked, etc. (Cry, 1G71). Then followed an exposition of the doctrines and prin- ciplcs of the Quakers, bearing the title ".-1 Catechism mi! CtniJ'i-ssiiDi i j Fn'th, approved of and agreed unto by the General Assembly of the Patriarchs, Prophets, and Apostles, Christ himself chief Speaker in and among them; in which the answers are all given in the language of the Bible" (1675); translated into Latin, Catechismw et Fidei Confess/o Approbata, etc. (Eotterd. ir,:r,. 8vo); The Anarchy of the Ranters (1676, 12mo) ; a Vindication of the same (1679); Tins s Theolcg'.cce, comprising, in fifteen propositions, the doctrines maintained by the Quakers. This was sent abroad, in various languages, to the principal clergy of Europe, and was made the basis of Barclay's greatest work, Theologies vere Christiana Apologia (Am- Bterd. 1676, 4to) ; translated into English, A n Apology for the int" Christian Divinity, etc. (London, 1678 ; of- ten nprinted, and translated into German and other languages). The Apology was dedicated to King Charles II, and had the misfortune to receive the praise of Voltaire. " The leading doctrine which runs through the whole look is, that "divine truth is made known to us not by logical investigation, but by intu- ition or immediate revelation ; and that the faculty, if >' can be technically defined, by which such intuition '-1 possible, is the 'internal light,' the source of which i- Cod, or, more properly, Christ, who is the 'light that lighteth every man that eometh into the World.' I he identity of this doctrine with that held by Mr Maurice and others of the Broad Church in the present daj has been more than once remarked." "Hoi] Writ," according to Barclay,"is a declaratio fontis, not the original source of knowing the truth ; it la no adequate rule f,,r doctrine and morals, though it gives a true and credible testimony to the original source of knowledge. It is subordinate to the HolySpir- it, from whom it derives it- excellence. It is worthy of notice, that ho argues for the sul ordination of Scrip-