I 10 .lln Expojition upon the whom thou thus defpifcfl: and provokeft. But affure thy felf, his wrath and his jea~ Joufie will fmoke againft thee; yea, kindle upon thee, till it hath burnt thee down to the loweft Hell ;. and that;; day is coming wherein he will expofe thy nakednefs and thy ihame before Men and Angels, and upbraid thee with the folly as well as wickednefs of thy Choice; and then condemn thee to be an eternal Confort with thofe Devils whom than haft preferred before himfelf: Believe it, it is a fad and fearful thing to fall into the hands of the Living God, for he is a Jealous God, and a Confummg Ftre, as Mofes fpeak~, Deut. 4· 24· And thus much for ' the firft Obfe.rvable in this Commination,'Vh... Who it is that denounceth it, I the Lord thy God am A jealous God; or, I the Lord thy God am ftrong and jea/om.. • 2. Secrmdly, T.he next thing confiderable is, what Judgment this frrong and jealous God threatens to infliCt ; and that is, To vijit the iniquity of the fathers upon the chil· drm. Now Vifiting is a figurative Expreffion: And in the general, God is faid to vi fit when after a long fpace of time, in which he feemed to have forgotten, or taken no notice of Men, he declares by his Providence that he hath ftill obferved their ways and doings. And this word of Vifiting may be taken either in a good, or in an evil b~ti. 3• part. In a good part, when God beftows great Mercies and Salvation upon his ~6ft 68 People, he is faid to vi fit them; and thus it is frequently ufed in the Scripture. ln ,~, J:t. 'an ev:il part? God is fa id to ~ifit when he rewards th9fe fins, at which he feemed to conm'l'c, With defcrved Pumfhments: So Pfal. 89. 32. I will vijit their tran[grejfion rvith the rod, and their iniquity with jlripes. And, ']er. 5· 9· Shall I nut vijit for the(c things? faith the Lord; and jlur!l not my foul be avenged on fuch a nation M this 1 And in this fenfc is the word to be taken here, Vifiting the iniquity of the fathers 11pon the children; that is, punifhing the Fathers iniquity in their Children and Pofterity: And thus we have it interpreted, ']er. 32. 18. Thou recompcnfoft the i,1iquity of the fathers imo the bofom of their children after them. Now here arife-two important Q!1erie~ to be i-efolved: I. Fir.ff, Whether it be ju!l:: with God, .and confiftentwith the Divine Veracity to punilh the fin~ of the Fathers upon the Children? 2. Secondly, Whether God doth always obferve this Method of revenging the Fathers Crimes u~n their Pofterity and Off-fpring? J . Firft., For the former Q!1ery: There feems fome difficulty in reconciling Scripture to it fclf in this particular, and in reconciling fucha proceeding to Jufl:icc and Equity; for fometimes the Scriptures do expreO.y mention the punifhment of Parents Sins to be inflicted upon their Children, Exod. 34· 7· ']cr. 32. 18, &c. And when God commJnds S:tul utterly to deftroy Amalek, he gave this reafon of his Injunction, I Sam. 15. 2. Remember that which Amalck did unto l[rael, how he laid wait for him in the way when hC came up _from Egypt. And yet almoft Fou-r: ht!ndred Years w~rc paft between the Journey of the Ifraclites from Egypt, and the 1ffiung forth of tlus Corn~ Imnd; and therefore it is not probable, that any of thofe Amalekites who oppofcd them in their way, were then alive to bear the punifument of that Offence. Yea, and our Saviour threatens the Jews of his time, Mattb. 23. 3.5· 'That upon them jl1ou!d come all the righteotu blood jhed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abet, unto the blood ~f Zechariah, fon of Barachias, whom they flew between the temple and the altar: That is, • Pide BJJ· the Sins of their Progenitors from the beginning of the World, unto that very Age NII.AMJJL when they murthered Zechariah the * Father of 'John the Baptift, in the Court of the 1';; 6!:~· Temple, fhall be punifhed in this Generation. And
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