Jer. xxxi. 30. Every man that eateth the sour grape, his teeth
shall be set on edge.
POPULAR sentiments, even when they become so general as to be reduced to a standing proverb,
are not therefore to be received as true : they must be tried, exactly as if they were the suggestions of any solitary individual ; since the direction given us by God himself is, " Prove all things, and hold fast that only which is gooda." There was amongst the Jews an established proverb, " The fathers have eaten sour grapes, and the children's teeth are set on edge." The Prophet Ezekiel, as well as Jeremiah, mentions this b : and both of the prophets declare, that, whatever ground for it had existed in past times, God would in future visit with his judgments offenders themselves, and not deal with men in a way that should involve the innocent with the guilty. True it is, that, in the very Decalogue itself, he had said, that he would " visit the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth generation of them that hate himc:" but his dispensations henceforth, and especially " in the latter days," should bear rather the stamp of individuality, in accordance with men's personal habits ; responsibility attaching to those only whose conduct should merit his displeasure : " Every one should die for his own iniquity ; and every man that should eat the sour grape, his teeth should be set on edge."
In considering this solemn declaration, I shall notice it,
I. As an answer to the prevailing sentiment of that day- It must be confessed that there was ground for this sentiment —
[God, in his conduct towards the whole human race, had given occasion for it. Our first parents sinned ; and all their posterity became heirs of their guilt and misery. " By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, even over those who had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression d : " yes, " by one man's disobedience many were made sinners ; and by the offence of one, judgment came upon all men to condemna- tion6." This alone, methinks, would justify the proverb,
a 1 Thess. v. 21. b ver. 29. with Ezek. xviii. 2 — 4.
c Exod. xx. 5. d Rom. v. 12 — 14. e Rom. v. 18, 19.