Now the dispute is, if any persons should be said to have been chosen in the scripture language, for what purpose they were so chosen.  The favourers of the doctrine of election and reprobation, say for their salvation.  But the Quakers say, this is no where manifest; for the term salvation is not annexed to any of the passages from which the doctrine is drawn.  Nor do they believe it can be made to appear from any of the scriptural writings, that one man is called or chosen, or predestined to salvation, more than another.  They believe, on the other hand, that these words relate wholly to the usefulness of individuals, and that if God has chosen any particular persons, he has chosen them that they might be the ministers of good to others; that they might be spiritual lights in the universe; or that they might become, in different times and circumstances, instruments of increasing the happiness of their fellow-creatures.  Thus the Almighty may be said to have chosen Noah, to perpetuate the memory of the deluge; to promulgate the origin and history of mankind; and to become, as St. Peter calls him, “a preacher of righteousness” to those who were to be the ancestors of men.  Thus he may be said to have chosen Moses to give the law, and to lead out the Israelites, and to preserve them as a distinct people, who should carry with them notions of his existence, his providence, and his power.  Thus he may be said to have chosen the prophets, that men, in after ages, seeing their prophecies accomplished, might believe that Christianity was of divine origin.  Thus also he may be said to have chosen Paul,([95] and indeed Paul is described as a chosen vessel) to diffuse the Gospel among the Gentile world.

[Footnote 95:  Acts 9. 15.]

That the words, called or chosen, relate to the usefulness of individuals in the world, and not to their salvation, the Quakers believe from examining the comparison or simile, which St. Paul has introduced of the potter and of his clay, upon this very occasion. [96] “Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, why hast thou made me thus?  Hath not the potter power over the clay of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?” This simile, they say, relates obviously to the uses of these vessels.  The potter makes some for splendid or extraordinary uses and purposes, and others for those which are mean and ordinary.  So God has chosen individuals to great and glorious uses, while others remain in the mean or common mass, undistinguished by any very active part in the promotion of the ends of the world.  Nor have the latter any more reason to complain that God has given to others greater spiritual gifts, than that he has given to one man a better intellectual capacity than to another.

[Footnote 96:  Rom. 9. 20. 21.]