The seed of the wicked are all who are wicked. For the law that impressed itself deeply on all who sought God, and is over and over insisted upon by the very prophets of the captivity, is that “The fathers shall not be put to death for the children, neither shall the children be put to death for the fathers; every man shall be put to death for his own sin” (Deut. xxiv. 16; 1 Kings xiv. 6; 2 Chron. xxv. 4; Jer. xxxi. 29, 30; Ezek. xviii. 1-32). When the Old or New Testaments speak of visiting the sins of the fathers upon the children, we must always remember that no child was ever punished by God simply for his father’s sin, but because he chose his father’s sin rather than the grace of God and increased in the depravity of his father. This is the reiterated testimony of Old and New Testaments. When the Saviour says “that the blood of all the prophets shed from the foundation of the world” would be required of that generation, it was because they consented to the works of their fathers, and would not turn to God.

HOWARD OSGOOD, “DASHING THE LITTLE ONES AGAINST THE ROCK,” 36 (THE PRINCETON THEOLOGICAL REVIEW : ARMSTRONG, WILLIAM PARK, 1874- COMP : FREE DOWNLOAD, BORROW, AND STREAMING : INTERNET ARCHIVE).