for Thee, Jesus, my Son, my Son Jesus!" (2 Kings xviii. 33.) She resigned herself, however, to the will of God, saying, " Nevertheless, as it shall be the will of God in heaven, so let it be done." (1 Mac. iii. 60.)
II. Notwithstanding her sorrows, it is most probable that she resolved immediately to go to the place of execution, and give her last embrace to her Son. She remains, therefore, with the other women, by the side of the way through which her suffering Son was to pass. Reflect on her agonizing pains when she saw the rabble advancing with ladders, hammers, and nails, and other instruments of punishment. But what must her feelings have been when she beheld her Son proceeding between two thieves, loaded with a heavy cross, and beaten along by inhuman soldiers. Condole with the two sufferers, and grieve that your sins have been the cause of their pains and torments.
III. Consider the words of Christ addressed to the other women who shed tears as He passed by: "Daughters of Jerusalem, weep not over Me; but weep for yourselves, and for your children: for if in the green wood they do these things, what shall be done in the dry?" (Luke xxiii. 28, 31.) Christ was the green wood, and we sinners are the dry wood, more calculated for the fire. If the green wood underwent such a heat of sufferings for the sins of others, how great will be the sufferings of sinners in hell, or purgatory, for their own! If the Father so severely chastised the sins of others, in the person of His most innocent and well-beloved Son, how much more will He punish them on the offenders themselves. "That day of wrath, calamity, and misery" will certainly arrive for us all. Weep, therefore, for yourself now, that you may not be forced to weep forever.
