If there are
passages, to which two meanings may be annexed, and if for one there is
equal authority as for the other, yet if one meaning should destroy all
the most glorious attributes of the supreme being, and the other should
preserve them as recognized in the other parts of the scripture, they
think they are bound to receive that which favours the justice, mercy,
and wisdom of God, rather than that which makes him appear both unjust
and cruel.
The Quakers believe, that some Christians have misunderstood the texts
which they quote in favour of the doctrine of election and reprobation,
for the following reasons:--
First, because if God had from all eternity predestinated some to
eternal happiness, and the rest to eternal misery, the mission of Jesus
Christ upon earth became unnecessary, and his mediation ineffectual.
If this again had been a fundamental doctrine of Christianity, it never
could have been overlooked, (considering that it is of more importance
to men than any other) by the founder of that religion. But he never
delivered any words in the course of his ministry, from whence any
reasonable conclusion could be drawn, that such a doctrine formed any
part of the creed which he intended to establish among men. His doctrine
was that of mercy, tenderness, and love; in which he inculcated the
power and efficacy of repentance, and declared there was more joy in
Heaven over one sinner that repented, than over ninety-nine just persons
who needed no repentance.
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