In this instance Paul was recommending a rule of conduct, and ought to be allowed to speak for himself: so thought Robert Barclay, and in accounting for the exhortation he has given the probable reason of it. He considered it neither as an allegory or a figure; but he had not arrived at that degree of spiritual knowledge which enabled him to discover in every page of the Bible a meaning in direct contradiction to the plain and obvious sense of the written language. Religion was with him not an occult science, nor the Bible a caballistick book which can never be read to advantage until the truths contained in it have been previously revealed to us.[41] On the contrary, he believed with the Apostle Paul "that these things were written for our learning," that "the holy scriptures are able to make wise unto salvation, through faith which is in Christ Jesus," and that "all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto every good work."[42] Footnote 41: Sermons, p. 313. Footnote 42: 2nd Timothy, Chap. 3d. LETTER VII. When the early Quakers, dissatisfied with the formal worship of the existing protestant church, separated themselves and formed a society of their own, they were reproached by some with denying the authenticity of the sacred writings, and by others with setting up their own inspirations in opposition to them; and they seem at an early period to have discovered the necessity of recording their belief on this subject, not only to refute the calumnies circulated by their opponents, but as a guide to the inexperienced of their own sect. For, such was the ferment of men's minds at that moment, and the violence of the change from the dull uniformity of formal belief, to all the extravagancies of unrestrained enthusiasm, that it appeared like an epidemic affecting all descriptions of people; and their imaginations became so exalted, that every fancy was mistaken for a revelation, and every preacher, however wild his doctrines, had his followers. Nor did their own members wholly escape the infection; for with all their care, there were those among them who indulged in extravagancies, to the great grief of their more sober friends.