Homilist Ezekiel 18:1-3 The word of the LORD came to me again, saying,… I. THE FACT IS INDISPUTABLE. Men are liable to an entail of suffering. The Divine law asserts it (Exodus 20:5). Compare with this the awful malediction of Christ (Matthew 23:35). The teachings of sacred Scripture harmonise entirely with those of experience on this point. Not so surely will a father's inheritance descend to his sons as his physical characteristics. Hence hereditary diseases. How many of these were originally the result of violations of the Divine laws, natural or moral, needs not to be shown. And so mysterious are the relations which bind together succeeding generations that, in many cases, both the mental and moral characteristics are seen to be transmitted. The evil tempers we have indulged reappear in our offspring to torture them; and when they are evil, it may be said, "The fathers have eaten sour grapes," etc. II. THE PROCEDURE MAY BE VINDICATED. We may confidently assert that this procedure cannot be shown to be unjust. Man is a sinner. "We are a seed of evil-doers; children that are corrupters." We are therefore liable to punishment. The only question which, as sinners, we have a right to entertain respects the degree of our punishment. Does our punishment, in the entailed evils of which we have spoken, surpass our guilt? If not, we have no right to complain. But this procedure may be vindicated, moreover, by a reference to its adaptation to the great end of God's moral government of mankind. That end may be simply stated to be the repression of moral evil. To secure this end, he appeals to us in every possible form, and by every conceivable motive. What more likely to deter a man from vicious indulgence than the thought that it may taint the blood, paralyse the limbs, and cloud the skies, of those who ought to inherit the reward and perpetuate the blessing of his own virtues? And what more humiliating to a parent than to see the very faults which have disgraced and plagued himself reproduced in the children of his fondest love? III. THE USE OF THE PROVERB SHALL CEASE; not that Jehovah shall ever repeal this law, but that the consistency of it with moral perfection being perceived, men shall cease to urge that which shall afford them neither excuse nor ground of complaint. 1. An acquaintance with the rules which guide the Divine judgment of transgressors shall prevent men from using this proverb. 2. The common relation which all men sustain to Him may well prevent us from attributing iniquity to Him. "Behold, all souls are Mine," etc. 3. The true spirit of penitence which a knowledge of His equity and His love excites shall, in a similar manner, acquit Him. A deep sense of sin, and true contrition on account of it, will not suffer men to cavil against God: then they meekly "accept the punishment of their iniquity." 4. If any darkness yet seem to hover around these truths, the dawn of the last day shall assuredly dispel it; and friends and foes shall then unite — the former joyfully, the latter inevitably — in the confession that "The ways of the Lord are equal." (Homilist.) Parallel Verses KJV: The word of the LORD came unto me again, saying, |
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