hension of mankind ? Is there not, on the contrary, something in them extremely paradoxical, and, at first sight, almost absm'd ? Yet are these sentiments un- questionably true, as are those also which my text records : '' The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth."
It shall be my endeavour, I. To confirm these different positions —
It is not Solomon's intention to say, that a wise man can never go to the house of mirth, any more than that a fool may not sometimes go to the house of mourning. The question is not. To which of the places these different characters may occasionally go ; but. To which of them their " hearts'" are inclined. Let us then inquire,
1. Where is the heart of the wise ? [We hesitate not to say, that a man who is taught of God, and made wise unto salvation, has " his heart in the house of mourning ;" and that for the following reasons :
First, because lie there learns the most invaluahle lessons. There he sees what is the lot of fallen man ; " He is horn to trouble, as the sparks fly upward." He sees, also, what may speedily become his own lot ; for " he knows not what a day or an hour may bring forth." He sees how vain and empty are all earthly things ; in that not all the wealth or honour that ever was possessed by man can either avert calamity, or assuage the pain arising from it. Above all, he sees the excellence of true religion, which can apply a balm to every wound, and turn tribulation itself into an occasion for joy ^
Next, his heart is in the house of mourning, because there he has scope for the exercise of the finest feelings of his soul. There is compassion excited towards his suffering fellow-creature, and sympathy with him in his afflictions. True, these feelings are in some respects painful : but there is in them something so exquisite and refined, that they afford, if I may so speak, the sublimest pleasure of which the human mind is capable ; and assimilate us, in a very eminent degree, to our God and Saviour, who "is touched with the feeling of our infirmities'^," and "in all our afflictions is himself afflicted •=." Nor can the sufferings of a fellow-creature be seen without exciting in our bosoms thanksgivings to God, who has been pleased to withhold
a Rom. v. 3. ^ Heb. iv. 15. <= Isai. Ixiii. 9.