The Fountain of Life Opened

Secondly, Let us consider Christs reply to them; Weep not for me ye Daughters of Jerusalem, &c. Strange, that Christ should forbid them to weep for him, yea for him under such unparalleled sufferings and miseries. If ever there was a heart-melting object in the world, it was here. O who could hold, whose heart was not petrified, and more obdure than the senseless rocks! This reply therefore of Christ undergoes a double sense, and interpretation, suitable to the different construction of their sorrows. Those that look upon their sorrows as merely natural, take Christs reply in a negative sense, prohibiting such tears as those. They that expound their sorrows as the fruit of faith, tell us though the form of Christs expression be negative, yet the sense is comparative, as Matth. 9.13. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, (i. e.) mercy rather than sacrifice. So here weep rather upon your own account, than mine. Reserve your sorrows for the calamities coming upon your selves and your children. You are greatly affected I see with the misery that is upon me; but mine will be quickly over, yours will lie long. In which he shows his merciful and compassionate disposition, who was still more mindful of others troubles and burdens than of his own.

Secondly, Let us consider Christs reply to them; Weep not for me ye Daughters of Jerusalem, &c. Strange, that Christ should forbid them to weep for him, yea for him under such unparalell'd sufferings and miseries. If ever there was a heart-melting object in the world, it was here. O who could hold, whose heart was not petrified, and more obdure than the senseless rocks! This reply therefore of Christ undergoes a double sence, and interpretation, suitable to the different construction of their sorrows. Those that look upon their sorrows as meerly natural, take Christs reply in a negative sense, prohibiting such tears as those. They that expound their sorrows as the fruit of faith, tell us though the form of Christs expression be negative, yet the sense is comparative, as Matth. 9.13. I will have mercy, and not sacrifice, (i. e.) mercy rather than sacrifice. So here weep rather upon your own account, than mine. Reserve your sorrows for the calamities coming upon your selves and your children. You are greatly affected I see with the misery that is upon me; but mine will be quickly over, yours will lie long. In which he shews his merciful and compassionate disposition, who was still more mindful of others troubles and burdens than of his own.