and if man will not regard this he must fall under the vengeance of a jealous God.

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That the first blow which the Almighty aims at sin is, by representing himself as "a "jealous God" which term the preacher enters into and fully discusses, and then proceeds to the consideration of another portion of the text; that God visits the sins of the fathers upon the children. Under this he inquires into the equity of God in this proceeding, and our danger in persevering in sin. He asserts that sin is infectious, not only in example, but also in punishment, and shews in what instances, for what reasons, and in what degree it is so; and what are the remedies for this evil.

Speaking of afflictions falling upon the innocent, he says, "All the calamities in this "life are incident to the most godly persons "in the world: and since the King of heaven "and earth was made a man of sorrows, it "cannot be called unjust or intolerable that "innocent persons should be pressed with "temporal infelicities: only in such cases we "must distinguish the misery from the punish"ment; for that all the world dies is a

"punishment of Adam's sin; but it is no evil "to those single persons that die in the Lord, "for they are blessed in their death. Jona"than was killed the same day with his father "the king; and this was a punishment to "Saul indeed, but to Jonathan it was a blessing for since God had appointed the

kingdom to his neighbour, it was more ho"nourable for him to die fighting the Lord's "battle, than to live and see himself the

lasting testimony of God's curse upon his "father, who lost the kingdom from his fa

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mily by his disobedience. That death is a "blessing which ends an honourable, and prevents an inglorious life. And our chil "dren (it may be) shall be sanctified by a

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sorrow, and purified by the fire of affliction, "and they shall receive the blessing of it; "but it is to their fathers a curse, who shall "wound their own hearts with sorrow, and "cover their heads with a robe of shame, for bringing so great evil upon their heads.

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"God hath many ends of providence to "serve in this dispensation of his judgments. "He expresses the highest indignation against sin, and makes his examples lasting, communicative, and of great effect; it is a little

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image of hell; and we shall the less wonder that God with the pains of eternity punishes "the sins of time, when with our eyes we see "him punish a transient action with a lasting judgment. 2. It arrests the spirits of men, "and surprizes their loosenesses, and restrains "their gaiety, when we observe that the "judgments of God find us out in all rela

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tions, and turn our comforts into sadness, " and makes our families the scene of sorrows, "and we can escape him no where; and by "sin are made obnoxious not alone to personal "judgments, but are made like the fountains "of the dead sea, springs of the lake of "Sodom; instead of refreshing our families "with blessings, we leave them brimstone, "and drought, and poison, and an evil name, "and the wrath of God, and a treasure of 66 wrath, and their fathers' sins for their por❝tion and inheritance. Naturalists say, that "when the leading goats in the Greek "islands have taken an eryngus or sea-holly "into their mouths, all the herd will stand "still, till the herdsman comes and forces it "out, as apprehending the evil that will come. "to them all, if any of them, especially their principals, taste an unwholesome plant. "And indeed it is of a general concernment,

"that the master of a family, or the prince of a people, from whom as from a fountain

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many issues do derive upon their relatives, "should be springs of health, and sanctity, " and blessing."

d

"The second part of this subject regards the "Remedies afforded to sons to cut off this "entail of Curses." And the whole concludes with this impressive passage. "The 66 prayer of a sinner, the unhallowed wish of "a vicious parent, is but a poor donative to give to a child who sucked poison from his "nurse, and derives cursing from his parents. They are punished with a double torture in “the shame and pain of the damned, who

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dying enemies to God have left an inven66 tory of sins and wrath to be divided amongst "their children. But they that can truly

give a blessing to their children are such as "live a blessed life, and pray holy prayers, "and perform an integral repentance, and "do separate from the sins of their proge

6.

nitors, and do illustrious actions, and begin "the blessing of their family upon a new "stock. For as from the eyes of some per

"Summer half year, p. 221, Serm. 3.

"sons there shoots forth an evil influence, "and some have an evil eye,' and are in"fectious, some look healthfully as a friendly

planet, and innocent as flowers; and, as "some fancies convey private effects to con"federate and allied bodies; and between the

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very vital spirits of friends and relatives "there is a cognation, and they refresh each "other like social plants; and a good man is "a friend to every good man': and (they say) "that an usurer knows an usurer, and one "rich man another, there being by the very "manners of men contracted a similitude of "nature, and a communication of effects: "so in parents and their children there is so "great a society of nature and of manners, "of blessing and cursing, that an evil parent "cannot perish in a single death; and holy

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parents never eat their meal of blessing "alone, but they make the room shine like "the fire of a holy sacrifice; and a father's "or a mother's piety makes all the house | "festival and full of joy from generation to generation."{

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e

• Διαμένει ὧν ἡ τέτων φιλία, ἕως ἂν ἀγαθοὶ ὦσιν. ἡ δὲ αρετή póμov. Aristot. Ethic. Nicom. lib. 8. c. 3. Edit. Wilkinson, Oxon, 1803.

f Summer half year, Serm. 4. p. 230.