, will his
captain insist that he shall do the duty of a sailor? Will he
command him to go aloft when it is impossible for him to do it, and
punish him as guilty of disobedience? Surely if there be any such
thing as justice and injustice, this would be unjust and wanton
cruelty" (Hamilton's Reid, p. 621).

Yet whilst there is no decree dooming men to hardness of heart or
moral blindness, this state may be reached. Many are progressing
towards it, many are now in it. They have turned a deaf ear to the
cry of mercy, and are like the ground that has been often rained
upon, but brought out only briers and thorns. The difficulty of the
return of such does not lie with God, but in the habit of evil
contracted and persisted in by the wrong-doers. God desires the
salvation of all men, and has made the way open for all by the
propitiation of Christ.

THE EPISTLE TO THE ROMANS.--The apostle of the Gentiles is supposed
to have clearly established, in this epistle, the doctrine that some
are born to be saved, and others born to be lost. The ninth chapter
especially has been the great storehouse of arguments for such as
hold this view. The strong-minded and the weak-kneed have all
resorted thither. They entrench themselves behind such passages as,
"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated;" "Hath not the potter
power over the clay?" and think, by repeating them, that they have
settled the controversy.

JACOB AND ESAU.--We shall consider the proof texts in this chapter
under the form of inquiry, and answer. Inquirer: "But does not the
passage 'Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated' (verse 13),
prove that the man Jacob was elected to eternal live, and the man
Esau reprobated or doomed to eternal death?" Answer--Far from it, as
we shall soon see. The passage is a quotation from Malachi i. 2, 3.
If you look at the context of the quotation you will see that the
prophet is speaking of the _people_ "Jacob" and the people "Esau,"
or the Edomites. It is of the utmost moment to see this, as it has a
most important bearing upon the controversy. The fourth and fifth
verses read thus:--"Whereas Edom saith, We are impoverished, but we
will return and build the desolate places; thus saith the Lord of
hosts, They shall build, but I will throw down; and they shall call
them, The border of wickedness, and, The people against whom the
Lord hath indignation for ever. And your eyes shall see, and ye
shall say, The Lord will be magnified from t