Word
of God
Man
does not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth from
the mouth of God
Matthew
4:4
The
Book of Lamentations 5:7
7
Our fathers have sinned, and are not, and we have borne their
iniquities.
Brethren:
They
acknowledge the reproach of sin which they bear. This is not here a
peevish complaint, nor an imputation of unrighteousness to God. . But
it is a penitent confession of the sins of their ancestors, which
they themselves also had persisted in, for which they now justly
suffered; the judgments God brought upon them were so very great that
it appeared that God had in them an eye to the sins of their
ancestors (because they had not been remarkably punished in this
world) as well as to their own sins; and thus God was justified both
in his conance at their ancestors (he laid up their iniquity for
their children ) and in his severity with them, on whom he visited
that iniquity (See Matthew 23:35-36).
Thus
they do here: Submit themselves to the divine justice: "Lord,
thou art just in all that is brought upon us, for we are a seed of
evil doers, children of wrath, and heirs of the curse; we are sinful,
and we have it by kind.’’ The sins which God looks back upon in
punishing we must look back upon in repenting, and must take notice
of all that which will help to justify God in correcting us. They
refer themselves to the divine pity: "Lord, our fathers have
sinned, and we justly smart for their sins; but they are not; they
were taken away from the evil to come; they lived not to see and
share in these miseries that have come upon us, and we are left to
bear their iniquities. Now, though herein God is righteous, yet it
must be owned that our case is pitiable, and worthy of compassion.’’
If we be penitent and patient under what we suffer for the sins of
our fathers, we may expect that he who punishes will pity, and will
soon return in mercy to us. They represent the reproach of trouble
which they bear, in divers particulars, which tend much to their
disgrace.
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