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To give Moral Law-To sanctify or not.

3. 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.

Ps. 47:7 God is the king of all the earth.

Pr. 23:26 My son, give me thy heart.

Is. 33:22 The Lord is our judge, the Lord is our lawgiver, the Lord is our King.

Mat. 4:10 Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and 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 261.]

4. To regenerate and sanctify or not.

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

Jer. 5:14 Wherefore thus saith the LORD God of hosts, Because ye speak this word, behold, I will make my words in thy mouth fire, and this people wood, and it shall devour them.

Mat. 13:10 And 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.

Mk. 4:11 And he said unto them, Unto you it is given to know the mystery of the kingdom of God: but unto them that are without, al these things are done in parables: 12 That seeing they may see, and not perceive; and hearing they may hear, and not understand; lest at any time they should be converted, and their sins should be forgiven them.

Rom. 9:22 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.

To try by Tempters-To control the Heart.

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 223.]

5. To try us by tempters and temptations.

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 And 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.

Job 2:6 And 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.

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

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

you.

6. To form and control the hearts of men.

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

To use Creatures.

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?

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? [See 247.]

7. To use all creatures in fulfilling his designs.

2 S. 7:14 I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men.

2 K. 5:1 Now Naaman, captain of the host of the king of Syria, was a great man with his master, and honorable, because by him the LORD had given deliverance unto Syria.

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

Job 1:15 And the Sabeans fell upon them, and took them away. 17 The Chaldeans made out three bands, and fell upon the camels, and have carried them away, yea, and slain the servants with the edge of the sword. 21 The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.

Ps. 17: 13 Arise, O LORD, dissapoint him, cast him down: deliver my soul from the wicked, which is thy sword: 14 From men which are thy hand, O LORD, from men of the world, which have their portion in this life.

Is. 10:5 O Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, and the staff in their hand is mine indignation. 6 I will send him against a hypocritical nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and to tread them down like the mire of the streets. 7 Howbeit he meaneth not so, neither doth his heart think so; but it is in his heart to destroy and cut off nations not a few. 12 Wherefore it shall come to pass, that when the LORD hath performed his whole work upon mount Zion and on Jerusalem, I will punish the fruit of the stout heart of the king of Assyria, and the glory of his high looks. 15 Shall the axe boast itself against him that heweth therewith? or shall the saw magnify itself against him that shaketh it? as if the rod should shake

To require Life-To punish.

itself against them that lift it up, or as if the staff should lift up itself, as if it were no wood.

Jer. 27:8 And it shall come to pass, that the nation and kingdom which will not serve the same Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, and that will not put their neck under the yoke of the king of Babylon, that nation will I punish, saith the LORD, with the sword, and with the famine, and with the pestilence, until I have consumed them by his hand.

Ezk. 25:14 And I will lay my vengeance upon Edom by the hand of my people Israel.

Hab. 1:6 For lo, I raise up the Chaldeans, that bitter and hasty nation, which shall march through the breadth of the land, to possess the dwelling-places that are not theirs. 12 O Lord, thou hast ordained them for judgment: and, O mighty God, thou hast established them for correction.

8. To require human life to be taken away at his pleasure.

Gen. 22:2 And 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 upon one of the mountains which I will tell thee of.

Dt. 20: 16 But 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 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 Now 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. 9. To punish by wicked rulers, &c.

1 K. 19:15 And 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 And Hazael said, Why weepeth my lord? And he answered, Because I know the evil that thou wilt do unto the children of Israel: their strong holds wilt thou set on fire, and their young men wilt thou slay with the sword, and wilt dash their children, and rip up their women with child.

To vindicate-Will be maintained.-God's Plan eternal and immutable.

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 I 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.

10. To vindicate himself and his servants.

Dt. 32:35 To me belongeth vengeance, and recompense. Ps. 94:1 O LORD God, to whom vengeance belongeth; O God, to whom vengeance belongeth, shew thyself.

Rom. 12:19 Dearly beloved, avenge not yourselves, but rather give place unto wrath: for it is written, Vengeance is mine; I will repay, saith the Lord. [See 472.]

232. God will maintain his prerogatives.

Is. 42: 8 I am the Lord: that is my name: and my glory will I not give to another, neither my praise to graven images. 48:11 For mine own sake, eren for mine own sake, will I do it for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory unto another.

PURPOSES OF GOD.

233. God has a perfect plan of operations.

Dt. 32:4 He is the Rock, his work is perfect.

Ps. 104: 24 O Lord, how manifold are thy works! in wisdom hast thou made them all.

Ec. 3: 14 I know that, whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever: nothing can be put to it, nor any thing taken from it: and God doeth it, that men should fear before him.

234. The purposes of God eternal and immutable.

Job 23:13 But he is in one mind, and who can turn him?

and what his soul desireth, even that he doeth.

Ps. 33:11 The counsel of the LORD standeth for ever, the thoughts of his heart to all generations.

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