03: God the Lord, or Owner of Men

God the Lord, or Owner of Men

3. All men, of right, belong to God. "Behold, all souls are mine," saith the Lord. "As the soul of the father, so also the soul of the son is mine" (Ezekiel 18:4). God will not give up what belongeth to him, to the dominion of sin and Satan forever. All men are God’s by creation; he made them all. They are his by preservation; he sustains them all. They were his at first, and they always have remained in his care. "The earth is the Lord’s, and the fullness thereof; the world, and they that dwell therein." The God, who says to men, "If any provide not for his own, and specially for those of his own house, he hath denied the faith and is worse than an infidel," can never abandon his own creatures. He will ever exercise a gracious care over them, as will be more fully seen in the following reasons.