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    "result": {"data":{"numPublished":{"books":{"en":184,"es":58}},"audioBooks":{"totalCount":66},"mdx":{"body":"var _excluded = [\"components\"];\nfunction _extends() { _extends = Object.assign ? Object.assign.bind() : function (target) { for (var i = 1; i < arguments.length; i++) { var source = arguments[i]; for (var key in source) { if (Object.prototype.hasOwnProperty.call(source, key)) { target[key] = source[key]; } } } return target; }; return _extends.apply(this, arguments); }\nfunction _objectWithoutProperties(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded); var key, i; if (Object.getOwnPropertySymbols) { var sourceSymbolKeys = Object.getOwnPropertySymbols(source); for (i = 0; i < sourceSymbolKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceSymbolKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; if (!Object.prototype.propertyIsEnumerable.call(source, key)) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } } return target; }\nfunction _objectWithoutPropertiesLoose(source, excluded) { if (source == null) return {}; var target = {}; var sourceKeys = Object.keys(source); var key, i; for (i = 0; i < sourceKeys.length; i++) { key = sourceKeys[i]; if (excluded.indexOf(key) >= 0) continue; target[key] = source[key]; } return target; }\n/* @jsxRuntime classic */\n/* @jsx mdx */\n\nvar _frontmatter = {\n  \"title\": \"About the Friends Library\",\n  \"path\": \"/about\",\n  \"description\": \"Friends Library exists to freely share a large and invaluable collection of writings that have been almost entirely forgotten by the Christian world—the writings of the early members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The value of these publications does not lie in their historical relevance or academic novelty, but in their containing the experiences and teachings of a large body of people who re-discovered and lived in the primitive power and purity of biblical Christianity. All books are available in their entirety for free download as EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and a growing number are available as audiobooks. Paperback copies are also available at very low cost.\"\n};\nvar makeShortcode = function makeShortcode(name) {\n  return function MDXDefaultShortcode(props) {\n    console.warn(\"Component \" + name + \" was not imported, exported, or provided by MDXProvider as global scope\");\n    return mdx(\"div\", props);\n  };\n};\nvar Lead = makeShortcode(\"Lead\");\nvar layoutProps = {\n  _frontmatter: _frontmatter\n};\nvar MDXLayout = \"wrapper\";\nreturn function MDXContent(_ref) {\n  var components = _ref.components,\n    props = _objectWithoutProperties(_ref, _excluded);\n  return mdx(MDXLayout, _extends({}, layoutProps, props, {\n    components: components,\n    mdxType: \"MDXLayout\"\n  }), mdx(Lead, {\n    mdxType: \"Lead\"\n  }, \"This website exists to freely share a large and invaluable collection of writings that have been almost entirely forgotten by the Christian world\\u2014the writings of the early members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The value of these publications does not lie in their historical relevance or academic novelty, but in their containing the experiences and teachings of a large body of people who re-discovered and lived in the primitive power and purity of biblical Christianity.\"), mdx(\"h2\", null, \"Why These Writings?\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The path that these men and women found, walked in, and wrote about was the same that\\nJesus described\", \"\\u2014\", \"narrow and difficult, requiring the surrender of one life to\\nexperience the saving power of Another. But keeping to this ancient path, they encountered\\nthe true light, life, and grace of Jesus Christ, and found that it was indeed sufficient\\nboth to cleanse their hearts and to make all things new.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The many faces of modern Christianity offer the world a confusing array of man-centered\\ndoctrines and traditions, but the true purpose and path of God have never changed. This\\nwebsite was created because we believe there is no other collection of resources that more\\naccurately testifies to God\\u2019s one eternal purpose, more helpfully describes what it means\\nto walk in His light, or more powerfully bears witness to what God will do in the lives of\\na people who will deny themselves, pick up their cross, and follow Christ. We don\\u2019t\\nrecommend the writings of the early Quakers because they were Quakers, but because they\\nwere \", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"real Christians\"), \". And it is our hope that the spiritually hungry and dissatisfied\\nseekers of our day will find in these books the footsteps of men and women who truly\\nwalked the narrow path that leads to life.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The Society of Friends was once a large and highly-regarded Christian society with\\nmeetings established all over Great Britain, North America, parts of Europe, and some\\nislands in the Caribbean. Many early Friends were prolific writers, publishing a large\\nnumber of books and treatises, as well as journals of their Christian experiences and work\\nin the ministry. The great majority of these valuable publications have been out of print\\nand almost inaccessible for decades or centuries. Recently, however, great progress has\\nbeen made towards the formation of \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://books.google.com/\"\n  }, \"enormous\"), \"\\n\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://archive.org/details/texts\"\n  }, \"online\"), \" \", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://www.hathitrust.org/\"\n  }, \"archives\"), \"\\ncontaining scanned copies of nearly every book that exists in public domain. The creation\\nof these online archives has happily made early Quaker writings available again, but they\\nare scattered widely across the internet, and exist in\\n\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"p\",\n    \"href\": \"https://books.google.com/books?id=LCEJAAAAQAAJ&printsec=frontcover&cad=0#v=onepage\"\n  }, \"conditions and formats\"), \"\\nthat are generally both difficult to access and cumbersome to read.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"For this reason, we at The Friends Library have undertaken first to gather together,\\nrestore, and digitize these old documents (written between 1650 and 1890), and then to\\nfreely offer them to the world in convenient eBook, paperback, and audio formats. We\\nalways offer an original, unedited version of these works for those who prefer the archaic\\nlanguage and style. But we also offer editions that have been carefully and\\nconscientiously modernized in order to make them more understandable and hopefully more\\nprofitable for modern readers. We also have a small but growing subset of books that we\\nhave translated into Spanish.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"The name Friends Library was originally the title of a 14-volume collection of approved\\nFriends\\u2019 writings, compiled and printed between 1837 and 1850 by William Evans and Charles\\nEvans. The Evans brothers lived at a time when the Society of Friends was experiencing a\\nsad decline from its original power and purity, and they saw a need both to preserve and\\npromote the early writings of Friends, and to weed out a variety of erroneous and harmful\\ninnovations that had begun to creep into the society in their day. We borrowed the name\\n\", mdx(\"strong\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"The Friends Library\"), \" hoping to do very much the same thing.\"), mdx(\"p\", null, \"Our true motivation behind the creation of this website has nothing to do with monetary\\ngain or personal affiliation with names and movements. Our sincere and sole desire is that\\nothers will be assisted by the writings of early Friends (as we have been) to find the\\nPearl of great price, and learn what it means to sell all to possess it.\"), mdx(\"hr\", {\n    className: \"pt-8 pb-4\"\n  }), mdx(\"p\", null, mdx(\"em\", {\n    parentName: \"p\"\n  }, \"If you appreciate Friends Library, you might be interested in\\n\", mdx(\"a\", {\n    parentName: \"em\",\n    \"href\": \"https://gertrude.app\"\n  }, \"Gertrude, a parental controls and internet filter app\"), \" made by the\\ncreators of this website.\")));\n}\n;\nMDXContent.isMDXComponent = true;","frontmatter":{"title":"About the Friends Library","description":"Friends Library exists to freely share a large and invaluable collection of writings that have been almost entirely forgotten by the Christian world—the writings of the early members of the Society of Friends (Quakers). The value of these publications does not lie in their historical relevance or academic novelty, but in their containing the experiences and teachings of a large body of people who re-discovered and lived in the primitive power and purity of biblical Christianity. All books are available in their entirety for free download as EPUB, MOBI, PDF, and a growing number are available as audiobooks. Paperback copies are also available at very low cost."}}},"pageContext":{}},
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