in the ordinary affairs of life. We should confess that God acts Himself as He would have us to act, when He commands us, by His Apostle, "Let all things be done decently and in order."* We should be impressed with the truth of that system of grace, which in so many varied modes preserves a harmony with the natural world, and sustains a constant identity between the God of Nature and the God of Revelation. * 1 Cor. xiv. 40. SECTION X. Exod. xx. 5.—“ Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." So Jer. xxxii. 18. THERE are some points of knowledge so obvious and on the surface, that we wonder how it could have happened that any should have been ignorant of them; or where they could have buried themselves, so as not to behold the clear light around them. And so it is in the present instance: we are led to express our surprise, and to ask, how it is possible that any should be so ignorant of what is going on in the world, as not to have seen numerous illustrations of the truth of what is stated in the passage before us? Families, which had been in affluence, suddenly ruined through the ill conduct of the heads of them, and reduced from happiness to misery, from abundance to penury, from high station to obscurity, not through the fault or ill desert of their own, but through the fault and ill desert of the parents: a mania for speculation or gambling, for eccentric and unaccountable schemes, for luxury and show, for ambition or profligacy, on the part of the parents, dissipating substantial fortunes, and leaving the helpless children to beggary and confusion: a spirit of innovation and disaffection leading to the commission of treason, to the forfeiture of honours and estates, and involving with that of the offenders the ruin of their dependents: cities and kingdoms subjugated and enslaved through the folly or bad conduct of their governors: all these and similar events are constantly taking place; and yet some are so blind as to persist in not seeing them, and through mere wilful ignorance, for which they have no excuse, to censure Revelation for what is in the most perfect harmony with the daily course of Providence. These seem to be truths which require no confirmation; and yet it may be advisable to put the subject out of all question by citing a few passages from pagan writers, who have given their unconscious testimony to the declarations of Scripture. "You care little," says Horace,* "about committing a crime which will hurt your posterity, who will be undeserving of the punishment." Again,† "The bitter fates and the crime of a brother's death have pursued the Romans, ever since the blood of the guiltless Remus flowed on the ground, to be atoned for by his posterity."-Where Davidson has the following remark: "This is a very substantial proof of the opinion of the heathens, that the crime of one single man might bring down the anger of the gods upon his posterity, and involve them in those punishments which might seem to be merited only by the original offender." Again: "You shall be punished, you Roman, for the crimes of your ancestors, until you rebuild the falling temples."-Where Davidson remarks again: "The wisest among the heathen have acknowledged the truth, that, till reparation is made, the posterity of criminals are liable to the punishment due to the offence of their fathers." And thus Virgil:§ "Already have we paid sufficiently with our blood for the perjury of Troy." In the same manner, the ancients have observed that * Hor. Od. i. 28. + Ib. Epod. vii. 19. § Virg. Geo. i. 502. the society of the wicked involves the good in their calamities. Thus Horace remarks :* "Often has Jupiter, in consequence of being neglected, mingled in punishment the pure with the guilty." And Euripides observes:+ "In the calamities of the immoral, God has destroyed the moral and the guiltless man." And in a general manner Hesiod has observed:‡ "Often has an entire city derived evil from a bad man." But, It is useless to multiply quotations. before I close these remarks, I must attempt to clear up a supposed inconsistency in this passage of Exodus as compared with that in Ezekiel xviii. 19: "The soul that sinneth, it shall die. The son shall not bear the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear the iniquity of the son." The passage in Exodus alludes clearly to temporal punishments, that in Ezekiel to those of a future state. obvious is the answer to an objection, which, I am sorry to state, has, with other points, induced an amiable man to abandon Revelation. On the contrary, the following passage in Psalm cx. 14. is to be understood So * Hor. Od. iii. 2. † Eur. Suppl. 226. Hes. Erg. 240. § See more in the note of Lobeck on Soph. Aj. 761. |