13 But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope.



Ver. 13. But I would not have, &c.] Ignorance is the mother of mistake, and of causeless trouble, of error and terror; as the Roman soldiers were once much frightened at the sight of the moon’s eclipse, till the general had undeceived them by a discourse of the natural cause thereof.



That ye sorrow not] Non est lugendus qui moritur, sed desiderandus, saith Tertullian. Abraham mourned moderately for his deceased wife, Gen_23:2, as is imported by a small caph in the word libcothah, to weep. {Hebrew Text Note} So did David for the child born in adultery, though for Absalom he exceeded. It is one of the dues of the dead to be lamented at their funerals. {a} But Christians must know a measure, and so water their plants, as that they drown them not.



Even as others, which have no hope] Lugeatur mortuus, sed ille quem Gehenna suscipit, quem Tartarus devorat, &c. Let that dead man be lamented whom hell harboureth, whom the devil devoureth, &c. But let us (whose departed souls angels accompany, Christ embosometh, and all the court of heaven comes forth to welcome) account mortality a mercy; and be grieved that we are so long detained here from the company of our Christ, saith Jerome.



{a} Íïìéæïìåíá . Iusta defunctorum