[Footnote 88:  Romans, Chap. 9.]

[Footnote 89:  Acts 17. 26.]

[Footnote 90:  Coloss. 3. 11.]

[Footnote 91:  1 Tim. 2. 1. 3. 4. 5. 6.]

[Footnote 92:  Hebrews 2. 9.]

[Footnote 93:  Titus 2. 11.]

Again, if the doctrine of election and reprobation be true, then the recommendations of Jesus Christ and his Apostles, and particularly of Paul himself, can be of no avail, and ought never to have been given.  Prayer is inculcated by these as an acceptable duty.  But why should men pray, if they are condemned before-hand, and if their destiny is inevitable?  If the doctrine again be true, then all the exhortations to repentance, which are to be found in the scriptures, must be unnecessary.  For why should men repent, except for a little temporary happiness in this world, if they cannot be saved in a future?  This doctrine is considered by the Quakers as making the precepts of the Apostles unnecessary; as setting aside the hopes and encouragements of the Gospel; and as standing in the way of repentance or holiness of life.

This doctrine again they consider as objectionable, in as much as it obliges men to sin, and charges them with the commission of it.  It makes also the fountain of all purity the fountain of all sin; and the author of all good the dispenser of all evil.  It gives to the Supreme Being a malevolence that is not to be found in the character of the most malevolent of his creatures.  It makes him more cruel than the most cruel oppressor ever recorded of the human race.  It makes him to have deliberately made millions of men, for no other purpose than to stand by and delight in their misery and destruction.  But is it possible, the Quakers say, for this to be true of him, who is thus described by St. John—­“God is Love?”

SECT.  II.

Quakers’ interpretation of the texts which relate to this doctrine—­These texts of public and private import—­Election, as of public import, relates to offices of usefulness, and not to salvation—­as of private, it relates to the Jews—­These had been elected, but were passed over for the Gentiles—­Nothing more unreasonable in this than in the case of Ishmael and Esau—­or that Pharaoh’s crimes should receive Pharaoh’s punishment—­But though the Gentiles were chosen, they could stand in favour no longer than while they were obedient and faithful.

The Quakers conceive that, in their interpretation of the passages which are usually quoted in support of the doctrine of election and reprobation, and which I shall now give to the reader, they do no violence to the attributes of the Almighty; but, on the other hand, confirm his wisdom, justice, and mercy, as displayed in the sacred writings, in his religious government of the world.

These passaged may be considered both as of public and of private import; of public, as they relate to the world at large; of private, as they relate to the Jews, to whom they were addressed by the Apostle.