Obs. XII. That the examples of our forefathers are of use and concernment unto us, and objects of our deepest consideration.
God in his dealings with them laid in instruction for their pos- terity. And when parents do well, when they walk with God, they beat the path of obedience plain for their children; and when they miscarry, God sets their sins as buoys to warn them who come after them of the shelves that they split upon. “ Be not as your fathers, a stiffnecked generation,” is a warning that he oft repeats. And it is in the Scripture an eminent part of the commendation or discommendation of any, that they walked in the way of their pro- genitors. Where any of the good kings of Judah are testified unto for their integrity, this is still one part of the testimony given unto them, that they walked in the way of David their father, in the paths that he had trod before them. And on the other side, it is a brand on many of the wicked kings of Israel, that they walked in the ways of Jeroboam the son of Nebat. Their examples, therefore, are of concernment unto us,—
First, because ofttimes the same kind of temptations are con- tinued unto the children that the fathers were exercised withal. Thus we find in experience that some temptations are peculiar to a nation, some to a family, for sundry generations; which produce peculiar national sins, and family sins, so that at least they are pre- valent in them. Hence the apostle chargeth national sins on the Cretians, from the testimony of Epimenides, who had observed them amongst them ;—
Kpiirts dei stores, xaxnz Sipe, ydorepss apyal,
Tit. i. 12, “The Cretians are alway liars, evil beasts, slow bellies.” VOL, XXI. £
50 AN EXPOSITION OF THE [ CHAP. IIL.
Lying, dissimulation, cruelty, and sloth, were the sins of that nation from one generation to another, children learning them from the example of their parents, So many families for a long season have been infamous for cruelty, or deceit, or the like. And these here- ditary sins have proceeded in part from hereditary temptations: some are inlaid in their natural constitutions, and some are inse- parably annexed unto some special course of life and conversation, wherein persons of the same family succeed one another. Now it is a great warning unto men, to consider what sad events have be- fallen them that went before them by yielding unto those tempta- tions which they themselves are exercised withal.
Again, there is a blessing or a curse that lies secretly hid in the ways of progenitors. There is a revenge for the children of the dis- obedient unto the third and fourth generation; and a blessing on the posterity of the obedient for a longe: continuance. The very heathen acknowledged this by the light of nature. Plato says ex- pressly, Eig rercprav yevecv diabiCaler rv rywmpiay,—* Punishment falls on the fourth generation.” And they had the substance of it from their oracle:—
"AAAS nanws pikacs Vinas rtros ody) xpouordv "Hoe rupuiruroy ci xab dids Zxyovor elev K’ aisiis yap xeQurnos, xual tv oGertpoics rextcow Eitsizas xal xia dopos, txt xipouos, Balver So is that saying common in the same case, Iliad. 1’ 808:—
‘ ~ Kal xaidwy raides, voi xey usroricds yevwvras,
The design is what we have asserted, of the traduction of punish- ment from wicked parents to their posterity. But there are condi- tions of the avoidance of the curse, and enjoyment of the blessing, When fathers have made themselves obnoxious to the displeasure of God by their sins, let their posterity know that there is an addi- tion of punishment coming upon them, beyond what in an ordinary course of providence is due unto themselves, if they continue in the same sins. So God tells Moses, in the matter of the golden calf which Aaron had made, when he had prevailed with him not im- mediately to destroy the whole people: “Nevertheless,” saith he, “in the day when I visit I will visit their sin upon them,” Exod. Xxxil. 84;—that is, ‘If by their future sins and idolatry they shall provoke me to visit and punish them, I will add unto their punish- ment somewhat from the desert of this sin of their forefathers.’ Whence is that proverb among the Jews, “That there is no evil be- falls them but it hath in it some grain of the golden calf.” ‘*n7p5) ny Nw py nm pyn jo yyy omy, saith Rashii—<He will mix a little somewhat of the guilt of this sin with the rest of their sins.” And therefore the same word, of “visiting,” is here used as in the
VER. 7-11.] EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS. 51
threatening in the commandment, Exod. xx. 5. And when one generation after another shall persist in the same provoking sins, the weight of God’s indignation grows so heavy, that ordinarily in one part or other it begins to fall within the third or fourth gene- ration. And doth it not concern men to consider what have been the ways of their forefathers, lest there lie a secret, consuming curse against them in the guilt of their sins? Repentance and forsaking their ways wholly intercept the progress of the curse, and set a family at liberty from a great and ancient debt to the justice of God. So God stateth this matter at large, Ezek. xviii. Men know not what arrears may by this means be chargeable on their inherit- ances; much more, it may be, than all they are worth is able to answer. There is no avoidance of the writ for satisfaction that is gone out against them, but by turning out of the way wherein they are pursued. The same is the case of the blessing that is stored for the posterity of the obedient, provided they are found in the way of their forefathers. These things render them and their ways objects of our consideration. For moreover,—