are from the Divine."[1] All such hypocrisy and deceit are here forbidden.
And now we have reached the conclusion of the Commandment:—"For I, Jehovah thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons, upon the thirds and upon the fourths, with those that hate me, and doing mercy to thousands with those that love me and keep my commandments." This clause seems, in the literal sense, to express an idea, which strikes every reader, even the minds of the young, with a sense of injustice, namely, that children should suffer for the sins of their parents. "We shall find, that, viewed in the light of the spiritual sense, the meaning is altogether different.
In the first place, by a jealous (or, as it might be translated, a zealous) God, is meant a God burning with zeal and love for the good and happiness of his creatures, and who desires them to look to and worship Him, not for His own sake, but for theirs; and because by so doing, their minds will be opened to an influx from Him of truth, goodness, and blessedness. He is called jealous (for the original word has both meanings), only in the sense of being unwilling that men should turn away from the worship of Him, lest they should thereby shut themselves off from communication with heaven, and so cast themselves into evil and unhappiness. "Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the sons upon the thirds and upon the fourths, with those that hate me." That this is not to be taken literally, is evident from the
- ↑ A. C., n. 8870.
