Jeremiah 20:15-18

Cursed be the man, &c. As in the forms of rejoicing upon a birth-day they blessed every person and thing concerned in the birth, and said, Blessed be the womb that bare thee, and the like, and he that brought the joyful news was always rewarded, so in the forms of sorrow for the miserable they used quite the contrary expressions. Let that man be as the cities, &c. Namely, Sodom and Gomorrah; let him be looked upon as a sad spectacle. Let him hear the cry in the morning, &c. By these expressions he means the cries, shouts, and noises that enemies make when they break in upon a place in a hostile manner. Because he slew me not, &c. Or, because I was not slain; from the womb. Wherefore came I forth to see That is, to experience; labour and sorrow?

Seeing being frequently put to express any sensation. As if the prophet had said, “I speak thus in the bitterness of my soul; when I consider how much better it would have been that I had never been born, or that I had given up the ghost immediately on my birth, than to lead a life of continual sorrow and misery.” These various expressions show us to what a height the tide of perturbation swelled at this time in this good man's heart, and what need we have to pray to be delivered from the power of our own passions.