Zeal of God.

take them away with a whirlwind, both living and in his wrath. 10 The righteous shall rejoice when he seeth the vengeance: he shall wash his feet in the blood of the wicked.— 97: 8 Zion heard, and was glad; and the daughters of Judah rejoiced because of thy judgments, O LORD. 136: 1 O give thanks unto the LORD; for he is good: for his mercy endureth for ever. 10 To him that smote Egypt in their first-born: for his mercy endureth for ever: 11 And brought out Israel from among them: for his mercy endureth for ever. [See the whole Psalm.]

Jer. 11: 19 I was like a lamb or an ox that is brought to the slaughter; and I knew not that they had devised devices against me, saying, Let us destroy the tree with the fruit thereof, and let us cut him off from the land of the living, that his name may be no more remembered. 20 But, O LORD of hosts, that judgest righteously, that triest the reins and the heart, let me see thy vengeance on them: for unto thee have I revealed my cause.

Ezk. 5: 13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

[See 88, 571.]

238. Zeal of God.

Dt. 7: 10 He will not be slack to him that hateth him, he will repay him to his face.

Is. 9:7 Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth even for ever. The zeal of the LORD of hosts will perform this. 40: 28 Hast thou not known? hast thou not heard, that the everlasting God, the LORD, the Creator of the ends of the earth, fainteth not, neither is weary?—59: 17 He put on righteousness as a breastplate, and a helmet of salvation upon his head; and he put on the garments of vengeance for clothing, and was clad with zeal as a cloak.

Ezk. 5: 13 Thus shall mine anger be accomplished, and I will cause my fury to rest upon them, and I will be comforted: and they shall know that I the LORD have spoken it in my zeal, when I have accomplished my fury in them.

2 Pet. 3: 9 The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness. [See 208.]

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Of Property in us-over Natural Law -To give Moral Law.

PREROGATIVES, OR RIGHTS OF GOD.

239. God's right of property in his creatures.

1 Ch. 29: 11 All that is in the heaven and in the earth is thine.

Ps. 24: 1 The earth is the LORD's, and the fulness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein. - 50: 10 Every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills. 11 I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine. 12 If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine and the fulness thereof. 95: 5 The sea is his, and he made it: and his hands formed the dry land. 6 O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the LORD our maker. 7 For he is our God; and we are the people of his pasture, and the sheep of his hand. — 100: 3 The Lord he is God: it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture.

Ezk. 18: 4 Behold, all souls are mine; as the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine.

Rom. 14: 8 Whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's.

240. God's right to establish and control natural law.

Job 38: 33 Knowest thou the ordinances of heaven?

Ps. 119: 90 Thou hast established the earth, and it abideth. 91 They continue this day according to thine ordinances.

Pr. 3: 19 The LORD by wisdom hath founded the earth; by understanding hath he established the heavens.

Jer. 31: 35 Thus saith the LORD, which giveth the sun for a light by day, and the ordinances of the moon and of the stars for a light by night, which divideth the sea when the waves thereof roar; The LORD of hosts is his name. -33: 25 Thus saith the LORD; If my covenant be not with day and night, and if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth; 26 Then will I cast away the seed of Jacob.

241. God's right to give supreme moral law.

Ex. 20: 2 I am the LORD thy God, which have brought thee out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage. 3 Thou shalt have no other gods before me.

1 Ch. 29: 11 Thine is the kingdom, O LORD, and thou art exalted as head above all.

Mat. 4: 10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan : for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and

To Regenerate or not.

him only shalt thou serve.

22: 37 Jesus said unto him, Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy mind. 38 This is the first and great commandment. [See 280.]

242. God's right to regenerate, or not-to give or withhold success to means—and to form, turn and control the hearts of men.

Dt. 29: 4 The LORD hath not given you an heart to perceive, and eyes to see, and ears to hear, unto this day.

1 S. 26: 19 Now therefore, I pray thee, let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the LORD have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering: but if they be the children of men, cursed be they before the LORD; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, Go serve other gods.

Ps. 33: 14 From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. 15 He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works.

Is. 45: 9 Wo unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? or thy work, He hath no hands?

Mat. 13: 10 The disciples came, and said unto him, Why speakest thou unto them in parables? 11 He answered and said unto them, Because it is given unto you to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 20: 15 Is it not lawful for me to do what I will with mine own? is thine eye evil because I am good? 16 So the last shall be first, and the first last: for many be called, but few chosen.

Rom. 9: 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: 23 And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory.

2 Tim. 2: 25 In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves; if God peradventure will give them repentance to the acknowledging of the truth.

[See 234, 264, 435.]

To try us by Tempters To require Human Life.

243. God's right to try us by tempters, temptations, and stumbling-blocks.

Dt. 13: 1 If there arise among you a prophet, or a dreamer of dreams, and giveth thee a sign or a wonder, 2 And the sign or the wonder come to pass, whereof he spake unto thee, saying, Let us go after other gods, which thou hast not known, and let us serve them; 3 Thou shalt not hearken unto the words of that prophet, or that dreamer of dreams: for the LORD your God proveth you, to know whether ye love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul.

1 K. 22: 20 The LORD said, Who shall persuade Ahab, that he may go up and fall at Ramoth-gilead? And one said on this manner, and another said on that manner. 21 And there came forth a spirit, and stood before the LORD, and said, I will persuade him. 22 And the LORD said unto him, Wherewith? And he said, I will go forth, and I will be a lying spirit in the mouth of all his prophets. And he said, Thou shalt persuade him, and prevail also: go forth, and do so. 23 Behold, the LORD hath put a lying spirit in the mouth of all these thy prophets, and the LORD hath spoken evil concerning thee.

Job 2: 6 The LORD said unto Satan, Behold, he is in thine hand; but save his life. 7 So went Satan forth from the presence of the LORD, and smote Job with sore boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown.

Jer. 6: 21 Thus saith the LORD, Behold, I will lay stumblingblocks before this people, and the fathers and the sons together shall fall upon them; the neighbor and his friend shall perish.

Ezk. 3: 20 When a righteous man doth turn from his righteousness, and commit iniquity, and I lay a stumbling-block before him, he shall die.

Mat. 4: 1 Then was Jesus led up of the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil.

1 Cor. 11: 19 There must be also heresies among you, that they which are approved may be made manifest among you.

244. God's right to require human life at his pleasure.

Gen 22: 2 He said, Take now thy son, thine only son Isaac, whom thou lovest, and get thee into the land of Moriah; and offer him there for a burnt-offering.

Dt. 20: 16 Of the cities of these people which the LORD thy God doth give thee for an inheritance, thou shalt save alive nothing that breatheth: 17 But thou shalt utterly destroy them, namely, the Hittites, and the Amorites, the Canaanites, and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as the LORD thy God

To appoint Rulers to visit Iniquity-to use Men-to Vindicate.

hath commanded thee: 18 That they teach you not to do after all their abominations which they have done unto their gods; so should ye sin against the LORD your God.

1 S. 15: 3 Go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.

245. God's right to appoint rulers and statutes in judgment.

1 K. 19:15 The LORD said unto him, Go, return on thy way to the wilderness of Damascus: and when thou comest, anoint Hazael to be king over Syria.

2 K. 8: 12 Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel.

I

Ezk. 20: 24 Because they had not executed my judgments, but had despised my statutes, and had polluted my Sabbaths, and their eyes were after their fathers' idols. 25 Wherefore gave them also statutes that were not good, and judgments whereby they should not live; 26 And I polluted them in their own gifts, in that they caused to pass through the fire all that openeth the womb, that I might make them desolate, to the end that they might know that I am the LORD.

Dan. 4: 17 The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will, and setteth up over it the basest of men.

Hos. 13: 11 I gave thee a king in mine anger, and took him away in my wrath.

246. God's right to visit the iniquity of fathers upon children, etc.

Ex. 20: 5 I the LORD thy God am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me; 6 And shewing mercy unto thousands of them that love me, and keep my commandments. [See 497.]

247. God's right to use men instrumentally.

1 Ch. 6: 15 Jehozadak went into captivity, when the LORD carried away Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. [See 265.]

248. God's right to vindicate himself and servants.

Dt. 32: 35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense. [See 558.]

175