not to be expeeted, that it will make a deep impression upon the minds of any, who do not understand the meaning, the force, and propriety of it. I shall endeavor, therefore, in the present discourse, to explain it as clearly and intelligibly as I can. And in order to this, it seems necessary to show,

I. That God does bless obedient children for the sake of their obedient parents ;

II. That God does punish disobedient children for the sake of their disobedient parents; And,

III. That there is a consistency in this mode of conduct.

I. I am to show, that God does bless obedient children for the sake of their obedient parents.

God promised Abraham, that he would show mercy to his obedient children, for the sake of his obedience. "And when Abram was ninety years old and nine, the Lord appeared to Abram, and said unto him, I am the Almighty God; walk before me, and be thou perfect---and I will establish my covenant between me and thee, and thy seed after thee, in their generations, for an everlasting covenant, to be a God unto thee, and to thy seed after thee." Abraham was faithful, in the first instance, to keep covenant with God in respect to his family. God says "I know him, that he will command his children and his household after him, and they shall keep the way of the Lord, to do justice and judgment, that the Lord may bring upon Abraham that which he hath spoken of him." After he had offered up his son Isaac on the altar, the Lord said again to him, "In thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed; because thou hast obeyed my voice." For the sake of Abram's obedience, God did actually

bless thousands and thousands of his obedient children from generation to generation. God blessed the obedient children of David for his sake. After he had proposed to build the temple, and God had forbidden him to do it, he then promised to bless him, by blessing his children. He said to him, "When thy days be fulfilled, and thou shalt rest with thy fathers, I will set up thy seed after thee, which shall proceed out of thy bowels, and I will establish thy kingdom. He shall build me an house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever." But though Solomon was not uniformly obedient like his father David, and for a time fell into idolatry, yet God told him he would not punish him so severely as he deserved for his father David's sake. "Wherefore the Lord said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant, and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant. Nevertheless, in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son. Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my ser vant's sake." Though Abijam's heart "was not perfect with the Lord his God, as the heart of his father David; nevertheless, for David's sake, did the Lord his God give him a lamp in Jerusalem, to set up his son after him." Again, it is said, though Jehoram the son of Jehosaphat greatly deviated from the path of duty, "Yet the Lord would not destroy Judah for David his servant's sake, as he promised him to give him alway a light, and to his children." God blessed the obedient children of Jonadab for the sake of the

:

obedience of their father Jonadab. It is said of the merciful man, "his seed is blessed;" and of the just man, "his children are blessed after him." Thus it appears from scripture, that God does bless obedient children for the sake of their obedient parents, not only unto the third and fourth generation, but unto every generation of obedient parents and children.

II. I proceed to show, that God does punish disobedient children for the sake of disobedient parents.

This is expressly asserted in the text. God solemnly declares, that he does visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate him. This declaration means that God does punish children, who hate him, for the sake of their fathers before them, who hated him; which is precisely the same thing, as his punishing disobedi ent children, for the sake of their disobedient parents. As it is only obedient children, that God blesses, for the sake of obedient parents; so it is only disobedient children, that God punishes for the sake of disobedient parents. This will appear from a number of plain, undeniable facts recorded in scripture, as well as from some plain, scripture declarations. God visited the iniquity of Ham not upon himself, but upon his son Canaan and his posterity, for the long period of more than four thousand years. God punished the posterity of Baasha for the sake of their father's iniquity. "Then the word of the Lord came to Jehu, the son of Hanani, against Baasha, saying, Forasmuch as I exalted thee out of the dust, and made thee prince over my people Israel, and thou hast walked in the way of Jeroboam, and hast made my people Israel to sin, to provoke me to anger with their sins; behold, I will

take away the posterity of Baasha, and the posterity of his house; and will make thy house like the house of Jeroboam the son of Nebat." God also visited the iniquity of Ahab not upon himself, but upon his son. "The word of the Lord came to Elijah, the Tishbite, saying, Seest thou how Ahab humbleth himself before me? Because he humbleth himself before me, 1 will not bring the evil in his days; but in his son's days will I bring the evil upon his house." These facts are perfectly agreeable to the divine declarations on this subject. Job says, "He that speaketh flattery to his friends, even the eyes of his children shall fail." Again, speaking of the wicked man, he says, "God layeth up his iniquity for his children; he rewardeth him, and he shall know it." David, speaking of one of the same character, says, "Let his posterity be cut off; and in the generation following, let their name be blotted out. Let the iniquity of his fathers be remembered with the Lord, and let not the sin of his mother be blotted out." Christ taught the same doctrine that the prophets taught, concerning God's punishing a disobedient posterity for the sake of their disobedient progenitors. "Wherefore, behold I send unto you prophets, and wise men, and scribes : and some of them ye shall kill and crucify; and some of them ye shall scourge in your synagogues, and persecute them from city to city: That upon you may come all the righteous blood shed upon the earth, from the blood of righteous Abel, unto the blood of Zacharias, son of Barachias, whom ye slew between the temple and the altar. Verily I say unto you, all these things shall come upon this generation." Here Christ foretells the cruelty and persecution, which that genera

tion should be guilty of, and then tells them, that they should be severely and signally punished for the sake of their cruel and persecuting forefathers. The meaning is, that because God delayed to punish their fathers according to their desert, he would more certainly and severely punish them according to their desert. Having proved from scripture, that God does bless obedient children for the sake of their obedient parents, and does punish disobedient children for the sake of their disobedient parents, it remains to show,

III. The consistency of this mode of the divine conduct towards obedient and disobedient parents and children. It must be granted, that this is a subject rather difficult to understand and explain; but if it be consistent, its consistency may be explained and understood. And in order to make it appear consistent and plain, I would observe,

1. That it does not imply, that God punishes innocent parents for the sins of their guilty children; nor that he punishes innocent children for the sins of their guilty parents. This would be wrong in its own nature, and contrary to an express command, which he had given to his people Israel. "The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers: every man shall be put to death for his own sin." When God visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the not punish the innocent instead of would be contrary to immutable justice and to the plain prohibition of his own law. He says "he visits the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate me." He threatens to visit the iniquity of the fathers, not upon

children he does the guilty, which