But a further, and still stronger, proof of this took place in the children of this very Isaac, to whom the promise was restricted. His wife Rebecca bare him twins: and whilst these children were yet in the womb, and " before they could pos- sibly have done either good or evil, it was said to her, The elder shall serve the younger0 :" which prophecy was accom- plished to their latest posterity, as the Prophet Malachi attests, saying, "Jacob have I loved ; but Esau have I hated d." Now if they should think that in the former instance respect was had to the character of the two children, Ishmael and Isaac, and that the decree was founded on that, such a notion is altogether excluded from the present instance, because the children had done neither good nor evil ; and the reason of the decree is expressly said to be, " that the purpose of God, according to election, might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth."
Here then an exclusion of a part of the natural seed is far- ther proved, and that too by the sovereign disposal of God
VOL. xv.
a ver. 6. b ver. 7, 8.
c ver. 9 — 12. rt ver. 13. with Mai. i. 2, 3.
v. A A
himself, irrespective of the characters of the persons respecting whom the decree was made. How much more therefore might those of Abraham's descendants who should continue obstinate in unbelief, be excluded from the blessings of that covenant, which they themselves were so averse to embrace.]
2. From the express declarations of God himself —
[The Jews in the Apostle's days trusted in the words of Moses, which they interpreted as comprehending all the Jewish nation without exception within the bonds of the covenant. To Moses therefore the Apostle has recourse ; and appeals to what God himself had spoken to him. As in the foregoing instances God had exercised his own sovereign will in appoint- ing who should, and who should not, be partakers of his cove- nant, so, in his communications with Moses also he had claimed to himself the same right, and declared that he would act in the same sovereign way : " I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion e." Here God considers all the human race as in a state of guilt and misery, no one of them having any claim on him for mercy, or any thing that could entitle him to a preference beyond his brethren : and he declares, that as he would exercise his own sovereign will in dispensing his bless- ings to them, so he would have his sovereign grace and mercy acknowledged by all who should receive them.
This point is further confirmed by the Apostle's adducing what God had spoken also to Pharaoh. God had exalted Pharaoh to the throne of Egypt, and had invested him with the most arbitrary and unbounded power. Such power was necessary, in order that there might be full scope for the re- bellion of man, and the consequent triumphs of God over him. God knew that there were in the heart of Pharaoh all those dispositions which would resist him to the uttermost ; and that he would thus call forth eventually those judgments which God, for his own glory, had determined to inflict on the oppressors of his people : and, whilst Pharaoh was in the very act of rebel- lion, and hardening himself more and more against his God, God said to him, " For this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth." The Apostle, having cited this in confirmation of what he had said respecting Moses, asserts in yet stronger language than before, " Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth."