did not, as they fancied it did, make
them curse-proof for eternity. He proves this in the sixth, seventh,
eighth, and ninth verses . . . by showing that the Ishmaelites could
boast of a descent as lineal and patriarchal as theirs, and yet it
did not suffice to instal them in the medium Messianic privilege of
being Abraham's favoured children for time. By showing this, he
leaves us to draw the natural inference that the lineal descent
which could not instal Ishmaelites in the medium Messianic privilege
of being Abraham's highly-favoured children for time, could never be
sufficient to instal the infatuated Christ-rejecting Jews in the
peerless privilege of being Abraham's glory-inheriting and curse
-proof spiritual seed, his highly-favoured children for eternity. . . .
He then proceeds to prove again his already proved position, and
thus to clench his argument. This he does in the third section of
the chapter, which begins with the tenth verse and ends with the
thirteenth. . . . His proof consists of the fact that the Edomites
were as purely descended from Abraham through Isaac, as were the
Israelites; and yet, as is manifest at once from the declaration
made to Rebecca, 'the greater people shall be inferior to the
lesser,' and from the stronger statement made to the Israelites
themselves by God in Malachi, 'the people Jacob have I loved, but
the people Esau have I hated,'--this pure-lineal patriarchal descent
of the Rebecca-born Edomites was not sufficient to elevate them to
the enjoyment of the medium privilege of Abraham's Messianic
children. This being the case, it was scarcely short of perfect
madness for the Israelites to suppose that _their_ pure descent from
Abraham would suffice to constitute them his glory-inheriting and
curse-proof spiritual children, his highly-favoured seed for
eternity. Such is the fine and matchless logic of the apostle's
argumentation" (Morison, _Romans IX_.).

The interpretation thus given makes the apostle to be consistent
with himself, and in harmony with the "analogy of faith." The
Calvinistic interpretation makes the apostle inconsistent with
himself, and the command to preach the Gospel to every creature--a
nullity.

MERCY ON WHOM HE WILL.--_Inquirer_,--"But did not God claim the
right to extend mercy to whom He pleased, and to withhold it from
whom He pleased?"

_Answer_,--It is even so. Paul says, "For He saith to Moses, I will
have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I wil