It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is the end of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart. (3) Sorrow is better than laughter: for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better. (4) The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. (5) It is better to hear the rebuke of the wise, than for a man to hear the song of fools. (6) For as the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool: this also is vanity.
These are solemn truths, and thousand's have borne, and still can bear testimony to them. He that would desire to be conformed to the lovely pattern of Jesus, who, by way of eminent distinction, the Holy Ghost himself calls the Man of sorrows, will find the best means under grace, for so blessed an accomplishment. It is truly remarked of our dear Lord Jesus, that it is never once said of him, when upon earth, that he laughed. He rejoiced, indeed, but it was in spirit. Luke 10:21. Reader! I know not what your sentiments may be; but depend upon it, all that unmeaning joy and mirth, which is in the house of the carnal, is highly unsuitable to our present fallen state. If to redeem our nature from this state, nothing short of the Son of God becoming man, and in that assumption of our nature dying in our stead, could bring us from it; every degree of laughter which carries with it a forgetfulness of the agonies and pains of Jesus, must be unbecoming. Let my soul go to the garden of Gethsemane, or to Mount Calvary, and while by the eye of faith I behold the soul-travail of Jesus, let me hear also by faith that earnest question of God by the Prophet: Is it nothing to you, all ye that pass by? behold and see, if there be any sorrow like unto my sorrow, which is done unto me, wherewith the Lord hath afflicted me in the day of his fierce anger. Lamentations 1:12.