Isai. under consideration, and the other is to be found in Lament. v. 7. Now it happens, that this last passage is such, that the meaning of the word cannot be misunderstood. Our fathers have sinned, and are not; and we have borne (1) their iniquities; or, as Dr. Blayney renders it, we have undergone the punishment of their iniquities. The force of the word, then, will not admit of question: and if any additional strength were wanting to the argument concerning the verb x, this word standing connected with iniquity' in the 11th verse, exactly as is with sin in the 12th, would abundantly supply it. That indeed, in all cases where the sense of forgiveness is not admissible, has the force of when used in relation to sins, will readily appear on examination. Their correspondence is particularly remarkable, in the parallel application of the two words in the passage of Lamentations just cited, and in those of Numb. xiv. 33. and Ezech. xviii. 19, 20, in which is used to express the sons bearing the wickedness of their fathers, in precisely the same sense, in which 20 is applied in the former.

These two words then, and 50, being clearly used in the common sense of bearing sins, in the 11th and 12th verses of this chapter of Isaiah, it remains yet to ascertain, what is the Scripture notion conveyed by that phrase. Now, this is evidently in all cases, the suffering, or being

liable to suffer, some infliction on account of sin, which in the case of the offender himself, would properly be called punishment. This I take to be the universal meaning of the phrase. The familiar use of the words y, No, iniquity, sin, for the punishment* of iniquity; or, as I would prefer to call it, the suffering due to iniquity; fully justifies this explication of the phrase: and so obtrusive is its force, that we find this meaning conceded to the expression even by Sykes, (Essay on Sac. p. 146.) Crellius, (Resp. ad Grot. p. 20.) and Socinus himself. (De Jes. Chr. pars ii. cap. 4.)

But, although the phrase of bearing sin is admitted by all to mean, bearing the punishment or consequences of sin, in the case where a man's own sin is spoken of, yet it is denied, that it admits that signification, where the sin of another is concerned: see Scrip. Acc. of Sacr. p. 142. Now in answer to this, it is sufficient to refer to the use of the expression in Lament. v. 7. compared with Jer. xxxi. 29, 30. and to the application of it also in Ezech. xviii. 19, 20.

* See 2 Kings vii. 9. and Zech. xiv. 19. and besides all the antient commentators, consult Bishop Lowth on Isai. xl. 2. Dr. Blayney on Jer. li. 6. and Primate Newcome on Hos. x. 13.-the last of whom subjoins the remark, that "this particular metonymy, of the cause for the effect, was natural among the Jews, whose law abounded with tempo ral sanctions, which God often inflicted."

and in Numb. xiv. 33. In all of these, the sons are spoken of, as bearing the sins of their fathers; and in none can it be pretended, that they were to bear them in the sense of bearing them away, or in any other sense than in that of suffering for them: and the original term employed to express this, is 20 in the passage in Lamentations, and in all the rest. Dr. Blayney translates the passage in Lamentations, Our fathers have sinned, but they are no more, and

WE HAVE UNDERGONE THE PUNISHMENT OF THEIR INIQUITIES.

Dathe renders the expression, both here, and in Ezechiel, by LUERE peccata; and at the same time affirms, (on Jer. xxxi. 29.) that the meaning of the proverb adduced both in Jeremiah and Ezechiel is, " that God punishes the sins of the fathers in the children." The proverb, to which he alludes, is that of the fathers, having eaten a sour grape, and the children's teeth being set on edge. The time is approaching, Jeremiah says, in which this shall not be any longer, but every man shall Die FOR HIS OWN INIQUITY. And this time, he subjoins, is to be under the new covenant, which was to be made with the Jewish people, and which was to differ from that which preceded, in that God was not, as hitherto, to visit the sins of the fathers upon the children, but to visit each individual for his own transgressions,

The same subject is more largely and explicitly treated by Ezechiel. The proverb used by Jeremiah is repeated by this prophet; and as Primate Newcome observes, is well rendered by the Chaldee. "The fathers have sinned, and the sons are smitten." This, he says, refers to the second commandment; and on the peculiar principles of the Jewish dispensation, he admits the reasonableness of it as a judicial infliction. Dr. Blayney, indeed, thinks otherwise, although he has expressly translated the passage in Lamentations, We have undergone the PUNISHMENT of their iniquities. This seems not consistent. Yet he peremptorily rejects the notion of this as a judicial infliction. Had Dr. Blayney however considered, that the penalties thus inflicted, were such as belonged to the old covenant, namely temporal, he would have seen no difficulty in this dispensation, as affecting the equity of God's proceedings; nor would he have been reduced to the inconsistency of calling that a punishment, in one place, which he contends cannot be a judicial infliction in another.

Let us follow the prophet a little farther:he declares, as Jeremiah had done, that this shall no longer be. The judicial dispensation of the new covenant shall be of a different nature. In future, the soul that sinneth, IT shall die—if a man be just he shall live; but if he hath done abominations, HE shall surely

die; his blood shall be upon HIM (upon his own head)—and yet ye say, why? DOTH NOT THE SON BEAR THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHER? The prophet replies; True, but this shall no longer be; when the son hath done judgment and justice he shall surely live. The soul that sinneth, IT shall die; the son shall not bear (WI) the iniquity of the father, neither shall the father bear () the iniquity of the son. The passage from Numbers, in which the sons are said to bear (N) the abominations of their fathers, exactly accords* with those which we have now considered: and it appears incontestably from the whole, that to bear the sins of others, is an expression familiarly used, to de

* Hammond, on 1 Pet. ii. 24. supported by the Chaldee and Fagius, renders the passage here, bear the punishment of your sins:-sce also Ainsworth, on Numb. xiv. 33.

+ The observations of Martini on this subject deserve to be quoted." Quicunque nimirum malis atque incommodis tolerandis aliorum miseriam avertit, eorumque salutem promovet, quâcunque demum ratione id fiat is pœnas pec catorum eorum luere, tanquam piaculum pro iis apud Deum intercedere dicitur, ut hominibus priscis fere omnibus, ita imprimis Hebræis. Eadem fere ratio est formulæ Arabibus frequentissimæ, redemptio tua sit anima mea, scil. apud Deum, h. e. acerba quævis, quin ipsius adeo mortis discrimen subire non recusarem, modo te juvare, liberationem a. periculis, salutem atque incolumitatem tibi præstare possem. Ad explorationem vero ejusmodi formularum si pervenire velis, redeundum omnino est ad opinionem, ut veterum populorum omnium, ita imprimis Hebræorum, ex