"And as they led him away, they laid hold upon one Simon, a Cyrenian, coming out of the country, and on him they laid the cross, that he might bear it after Jesus. (27) And there followed him a great company of people, and of women, which also bewailed and lamented him. (28) But Jesus turning unto them said, Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not for me, but weep for yourselves, and for your children. (29) For, behold, the days are coming, in the which they shall say, Blessed are the barren, and the wombs that never bare, and the paps which never gave suck. (30) Then shall they begin to say to the mountains, Fall on us; and to the hills, Cover us. (31) For if they do these things in a green tree, what shall be done in the dry?"
I refer to the observations proposed in Matthew and Mark's Gospel, on the cruelties exercised on Christ's person, after sentence of death was passed upon him. See Matthew 27:27; Mark 15:16. Let the Reader in this place remark the tenderness of the Lord Jesus, in forgetting his own sorrows to regard the sorrows of his people. Luke is the only Evangelist which hath recorded this affectionate address of Jesus to the daughters of Jerusalem. Is it not (for I do not speak decidedly on the subject, as a prophecy of the Lord, in relation to the sorrows hastening upon Zion's sons in the approaching destruction of Jerusalem? Zechariah 12:10. But their weeping at the view of the Lord Jesus, was as might be expected. For who could dry-eyed behold the Lamb of God surrounded thus with hell-hounds, waiting to suck his blood? Nature alone, untaught of grace, hath some remains of feeling to shew that it is not totally void of humanity. It is said of Austin, that before his conversion, he delighted to hear Ambrose speak of the sufferings of Christ, and always wept at hearing the relation. But this may be, and yet not grace, Ezekiel had such hearers. Ezekiel 33:32.