LivePrayerSermon 3108. The House of Mourning and The House of Feasting
(No. 3108)
A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, SEPTEMBER 3, 1908.
DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,
AT NEW PARK STREET CHAPEL, SOUTHWARK, ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, SEPTEMBER 3, 1854.
"It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting." Ecclesiastes 7:2.
THE maxim that happiness lies between two extremes is, I believe, the dictate of prudence and has the sanction of God's Word.The ancients always spoke of this as being the most happy state of life. Somewhere between the two extremes of ecstatic joyand doleful melancholy lies the thing we call, "happiness." Ancient poets used to sing of the via media, or the middle way.We know that Agur, an Inspired writer, prayed to God that He would give him "neither poverty nor riches," that he might walkin the middle way of life. And as the medium with regard to wealth is to be preferred, so I believe the middle way is to bechosen with regard to happiness. In the green plains between two high hills is the place where happiness generally resides.The man who is not often lifted up with joy, nor often depressed in spirit through grief-who walks through the world in acalm and quiet atmosphere, bearing about with him a holy complacency, a calm serenity and an almost uniformity-that man isa happy man! He who journeys along without mounting up as an eagle, or without diving down into the depths of the sea-he whokeeps along the even tenor of his way to his death is entitled to the name of a happy man.
But, my Friends, I think it falls to the lot of very few of us to always stay there. I know it does not fall to my portionto always walk between the two extremes. I cannot always sing in the vale, like Bunyan's shepherd boy-I wish I could livethere, but I cannot. There is a high mountain on that side of the valley, and another on this side-and I have to climb thesteep sides of both those mountains. On the brow of the hill on that side there stands a fantastic structure, very much likethose fairy palaces which we fabricate in our dreams by the aid of the architect of fancy. And this is called "the house offeasting." On the other side of the valley of mediocrity stands a gloomy castle overhung with damp weeds and moss. It lookslike one of those desolate places where superstition has fabled that old giant used to live-it is called "the house of mourning."We have, most of us, to go alternately to each of these houses. Sometimes we are rejoicing in "the house of feasting." Atother times we are weeping in the castle of mourning, hanging down our heads like bulrushes and crying, "Alas, alas!"
Standing thus, in the middle of the plain, as I profess to do this morning, I am about to speak to you of both those places-ofthat fantastic structure there and of the gloomy castle here. And though bright-eyed cheerfulness would prompt me to say that"it is better to go to the house of feasting than to go to the house of mourning," with the Word of Inspiration before meI trust to be able to show that "the Preacher" spoke the Truth of God when he said, "It is better to go to the house of mourning,than to go to the house of feasting."
In order that I may set this Truth of God in as clear a light as possible, I shall first invite you to go with me to "thehouse of feasting'" Then to "the house of mourning'" And after that we will examine two or three verses which succeed thetext and look at the wise man's reasons for preferring "the house of mourning" to "the house of feasting."
I. First, WE WILL GO TO "THE HOUSE OF FEASTING," and I am sure that I shall have abundance of company if I invite you to gothere!
You never need go alone to a feast. Simply blow the trumpet of announcement. Simply tell the people we are going to "the houseof feasting" and they are all ready to go there! There is a joyous spark in every man's breast which at once ignites his souland he says, "If you are about to go to a feast, I will go with you! If there is joy in any cup, let me drink of it!" I amgoing to "the house of feasting" and I shall take you to it in three steps. We shall go to the house of sinful feasting, firstof all. Then to the house of innocent feastingand, after that, we will go to the house of spiritual feasting. I trust thatwe shall find something good in some of those houses, but we shall find nothing as good as in "the house of mourning."
We are going, first of all, to the house of sinful feasting. No, we are not going inside, but we will look at the outsideof the house and hear a little of its history. I would have none of you cross the threshold of that place! But we are goingtogether up the side of the hill to that "house of feasting." What a crowd I have around me and I seem to be half ashamedof myself! There is the low drunkard and here comes the vile profligate-and they are going to the same house. "Where are yougoing, Drunkard?" I ask. "I am going to the house of feasting," he says. "And you, bloated one, where are you going?" "I amgoing to the house of feasting." I begin to be ashamed of my company. I fear that whatever the house may be, the people goingthere are not very choice spirits, and I hardly like to proceed further. I begin to think that the gloomy "house of mourning"is better than "the house of feasting" after all, considering the company that frequent it. I fear that I must turn back atonce-I cannot enter there, for I love good company. I would rather go to "the house of mourning" with the children of God!I would rather be chained in a dungeon, wrist to wrist with a Christian, than I would live forever with the wicked in thesunshine of happiness! The company I meet makes me suspect that it is true that "the house of mourning" is better than "thehouse of feasting."
Now I have got to the gate of this palace. I have climbed the hill and stand there, but before I enter, I want to know somethingof the history of those who have gone there. I will not go in until I know whether there is any hope of my returning. Thehouse is comely and good outside, but I want to know whether it is all that it seems. I want to know if there is that happinessthere which it professes to have-and I ask them to bring me out the records of the house. They bring me out the roll whereinis kept a record of the persons who have gone there. I turn it over and I resolve that I will never go into the house, forthe list of persons who have gone there is a catalog of woe!
I will just tell of you one or two cases of persons who went to this house of feasting. Or rather, let me tell it to you inanother way by reminding you that most of the awful catastrophes that have ever happened in this world have happened
to men when they have been in "the house of feasting."[A reference to the first page of this Sermon will show that it waspreached when Mr. Spurgeon was only just 20 years of age. Readers may be interested in a list of later Sermons by him uponsome of the incidents here mentioned. They are as follows-NOAH-See Sermon #823, Volume 14-NOAH'S FLOOD. SAMSON-See Sermon#224, Volume 4-SAMSON CONQUERED and #1939, Volume 33-SHAVED AND SHORN, BUT NOT BEYOND
HOPE] It is a fact which I will prove in a moment or two, that
the most terrible calamities that have ever come upon man, or on the world, have happened in the house of mirth. Where wasthe world when Noah entered into the ark? Where was it when God rent the clouds and opened the windows of Heaven and sentdown waterfalls from the skies? Is it not written, "They were eating and drinking, marrying and giving in marriage, untilthe day that Noah entered into the ark"? What were the Israelites doing when the plague came and smote them, so that theircarcasses fell in the wilderness? Is it not written, "While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, thewrath of the Lord was kindled against the people and the Lord smote the people with a very great plague"? Where were Job'ssons and daughters when the great wind came from the wilderness and smote the four corners of the house? They "were eatingand drinking wine in their eldest brother's house." Where was Samson when he lost his strength? He was in the house of sinfulpleasure, lying asleep with his head in Delilah's lap. What had Nabal been doing when "his heart died within him and he becameas a stone"? Inspiration says that he had been feasting-"he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king; and Nabal'sheart was merry within him, for he was very drunk." Who slew Amnon? Did not Absalom's servants slay him at a feast? Turn tothe melancholy catastrophes that you find recorded in Holy Writ and you will find that almost every one of them happened ata feast!
So, throughout the whole history of nations, I might tell you instance after instance in which a feast has been a real funeral,for the most terrible calamity has followed. There is, however, one instance which I must not pass by without describing itmore fully than those at which I have briefly hinted. There was a feast, once, such as I think was scarcely ever seen beforeor since. Ten thousand lamps lit up the gorgeous palace! The king sat on his lofty throne and around him were his wives andconcubines, and the princes and lords of his realm. They ate, they drank-the bowls were filled to the
brim and emptied again and again! And merrily the hours danced on-wild was the Bacchanalian shout, and loud the lascivioussong. They drank yet more deeply and invoked curses upon the God of Jacob. The king sent for the gold and silver vessels fromthe Temple at Jerusalem and they poured into them their unhallowed liquors. They drank and drank again, and the merry shoutrang through the hall!! The violin and harp were there, and all sorts of music sounded loud and long. But listen! Listen!Listen! This is the last feast that Babylon shall ever see! Even now her enemies are at her gates. They come! They come! OBelshazzar, read the writing on the wall! "You are weighed in the balances, and are
found wanting. [See Sermon #257, Volume 5-THE SCALES OF JUDGMENT]
Your kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." O Belshazzar, stop your feasting! Look, the shaft of God! Thedeath-shaft is whizzing through the air! It has pierced his heart-he falls dead-and with him great Babylon falls! That feastwas a feast of death! It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of such "feasting" as that! Hereis a melancholy proof of the assertion I made, that most of the terrible calamities that have ever happened to men have happenedin "the house of feasting."
Here is another house. I have read your record, O mistress of the house! I say, Woman, I have read your record and it is enoughfor me-I need not cross your threshold! I do not want to see your magnificent temple. I never wish to sit in your splendidhalls. Rather would I sleep nightly in my shroud and sit on my coffin-and have my gravestone in the wall of my study and livein a vault forever-than I would enter that "house of feasting." O God, may I be kept from sinful mirth! May I be kept fromthe house of sinful feasting! May I never be tempted to cross that threshold! O young men who are enchanted by its gaiety,charmed by its music, stay away, stay away, for every plank in the floor is rotten, every stone that is there is dug fromthe quarries of Hell! And if you enter into that woman's mansion, you shall find that her house is the way to Hell, goingdown to the chambers of death! "It is better to go to the house of mourning than to go to the house of feasting"-the houseof sinful feasting.
But, my Friends, there is a "house of feasting" to which every Christian may go. You heard my prayer, just now, that I mightnever cross the threshold of the house of sinful feasting. But there is a "house of feasting" to which I would invite allChristians. Christianity never was intended to make men miserable. On the contrary, it has a tendency to make them happy.There are feasts in which Christians may indulge! There are times of feasting when Christians may eat and drink and may maketheir soul merry within them. Rejoice, O Christian, that you are not shut out from all banquets! Though yonder door is markedwith a plague spot, there is another where you may go-start not back, for Christ Himself went there. One of the first housesthat we know that Jesus entered was "the house of feasting." He was at "a marriage in Cana of Galilee," and there He turnedthe water into wine, [See Sermons #225 and #226, Volume 5-satan's banquet and
THE FEAST OF THE LORD and #1556, Volume 26-THE WATERPOTS AT CANA] so
there are feasts to which Christians may go. There are bowls out of which they may drink. There are meats of which they mayeat. There are places where they may rejoice! Christians are not bound to give up pleasures that are innocent, but pleasuresthat are sinful! There are pleasures they may enjoy, there are feasts where the drugged cup of the drunkard is never found,where the song of lust is never heard, where the obscene word is never uttered-I have seen such feasts, feasts of which God,Himself, approves-feasts where every heart was full of love and every soul was full ofjoy! We were mirthful, we were happyand yet we sinned neither in our hearts nor with our lips.
Let me notice one or two feasts that are not sinful, but in which we may indulge. There is the family feast. Ah, the familymeeting is a pleasant thing when, once in the year, the father, who has his sons far away in business, invites them all tocome to his house. There is a happy family, whether it is great or small! They meet around him and the old man blesses Godthat he is spared to see his children. Oh, what hallowed mirth that is, when each is there and sees his brothers and sistersall around! Perhaps there may be grandchildren, but that only increases the joy. Such feasts I have seen and I trust I maylive to see many, when I can meet my brothers and sisters and can sit with them, and my father and mother, and feel that scatteredas we have been, there is yet a home where we can all come and meet together and be happy! Such feasts as these are allowable.
Again, there is the feast of brotherly kindness. Such a feast as Joseph made for his brothers in Egypt. I wish there weremore brotherly kindness in some families. It is hard when brother hates brother, when families are severed from each other.Born of the same mother, how can you quarrel? Having had the same father's instructions, having been rocked in the same cradle,having played under the same roof, and run in the same garden, how can you differ now? Oh, it would be
better if there were more brotherly love and such feasts as Joseph made, which are allowable, when we can meet together andpour our hearts into each other's and talk of Jesus!
Then again, there are feasts of hospitality-and such feasts are not only allowable but commendable-such as Abraham made whenhe saw three men standing by his tent door. He had a calf killed, cakes prepared and spread a banquet for them to eat and,thereby, "entertained angels unawares." Feasts such as we find Lazarus and his two sisters, Martha and Mary, made when Jesuscame to their house at Bethany-such feasts of hospitality are good things! They must not come too often. They must not bemisused, but it is well to entertain the children of God! It is well to receive the wayfarer. This Christians ought to domore than they do now-and so be "given to hospitality."
There are, again, feasts of charity, such as Matthew made when he invited a great number of publicans and sinners [See
Sermon #2889, Volume 50-CHRIST RECEIVING SINNERS] to meet Jesus at his
house. And I am sure that where my Master went, I never need be ashamed to go! I have gone into some persons' houses, beforeI came to London, that I should have felt ashamed to enter if they had not invited me on a Sabbath. I have stepped in therefor the purpose of giving them religious advice. Some have said, "What? Going into thathouse?" Yes, and quite right, too!"They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick." I have gone after "the lost sheep of the houseof Israel," and I have won their hearts because I went there. I have talked to them of their sins but, had I stayed away,there would have been something of this spirit, "Stand by, for I am holier than you! I cannot enter your house because youchanced, on such-and-such a day, to sin." But when I go and talk to a man and lay my hand on his shoulder and ask him questions,he does not mind telling out his state of mind when I am under his own roof-and when I am gone, he says, "That man is notashamed to speak to his fellows, after all, though he is a preacher." Make feasts of charity, sometimes, and invite the poorto them. I will tell you the best dinner party that you can have. If you have "the poor and the maimed, and the halt and theblind," sitting around your table, you do more honor to your dining room than you would by having a company of princes andnobles!
But, Beloved, good as "the house of mourning" is, excellent as its shades may be, mark well that Solomon does not say that,"the house of mourning" is morallybetter than "the house of feasting," or that there is more virtue in weeping than in rejoicing!Yet he does say that "it is better to go to the house of mourning"-it is better to sit by the side of the widow, it is betterto take the fatherless child on your knee, it is better to sit down and weep with those that weep than it is to go to thepavilion of happiness and rejoice with those that rejoice. With such hearts as ours, it is better. Were we perfect, it wouldbe equally good, but since we are inclined to evil, it is better that we should "go to the house of mourning." God has mademan upright, but the hand of sin has pushed us from the perpendicular and we stand like the leaning tower of Pisa, inclinedto the earth and threatening to fall! It is right, then, that, as we are inclined to sin, we should likewise be made to bendto sorrow.
Now, Beloved, we must very hastily make a third visit "to the house of feasting." And it will be better than either of theother two-better than the first because it is not sinful-better than the second because it is more spiritual. Have I not oftengone to the spiritual "house of feasting," and there feasted on the dainties of eternal love? Have I not soared, as on thewings of eagles, far beyond the clouds, beyond that glowing firmament where the stars are glittering, beyond that house wherethe sun strips himself of his garments and like a giant, starts upon his race? Have I not looked into Heaven, itself, andgone near the very Throne of God in ecstasy of joy, mounting up beyond all the troubles and trials of this mortal life? Yes,and so have you, Beloved! Sometimes when God has given you the spirit of rejoicing, you have "rejoiced with unspeakable joyand full of glory." The spouse said of her Beloved, "He brought me to the banqueting house and His banner over me was love."Have not you also been to that banqueting house? Have you not tasted the delicious food and other delicacies which God aloneprepares? Have you not had a share of the choice things that are stored up for the saints of God and tasted the "wines onthe lees well refined"? Yes, doubtless you have-and you have said, just as Peter did, "Master, it is good for us to be here."Look at that passage of Scripture, (Luke 9:33), for it is added, directly afterwards, "not knowing what he said." And you and I have said, "O God, it is good to be here!It is sweet to dwell upon the top of the Delectable Mountains! It is blessed to sit in such places of security!" And we havesaid, "Lord, let not this joy be merely for a week, but for a year! Yes, let me have yearsof the sunshine of Your Countenance-no,more-let me have an eternity of it!" Yet, like Peter, you know not what we say.
Yet, Beloved, it really does seem a strange thing that I should have to say, "It is better to go to the house of mourningthan to go to the house of feasting," for I am sure that I do not like "the house of mourning" half as well as this "houseof feasting." I would sooner meditate on the name of Jesus and drink drops of honey from this well of sweetest nectar! I wouldsooner live on Calvary's summit, or sit forever on the top of Tabor, or dwell on Pisgah and see the-
"Sweet fields beyond the swelling flood."
I would rather live forever in ecstasy of delight and see the river Jordan rolling there and, far beyond, the EverlastingCity with its pearly gates and its shining golden streets! But, Beloved, it must not be. We would rather have it so, but itis better for us "to go to the house of mourning" than it is to live forever in, or even "to go to the house of feasting."
II. Now, we are to leave "the house of feasting" and "GO TO THE HOUSE OF MOURNING."
There it is-a gloomy place up a steep rock covered with moss-and we MUST go there. The great fisher, Destiny, stands thereand, with hook in each man's flesh, he drags us on where he pleases. There is an iron chain that links us all together andbinds us in the bonds of everlasting destiny-and go we must where that chain drags us! We cannot resist and we must "go tothe house of mourning." Therefore, O child of mirth, lay aside your merriment and come with me into the valley of tears andwait a little while in "the house of mourning."
Some of you, my dear Friends, have been in "the house of mourning" this week. And I have been called to go with you. You havebeen there, personally, because of the loss of your friends. You have been into the deep caverns of "the house of mourning."How often have the mourners gone about the streets and we have seen the solemn funeral march through our crowded thoroughfares!So often have I seen it that it begins to be a common thing-so often have I seen it, during the last month or so, that itseems almost an old thing and it looks as if earth were going to wrack and ruin-and all the bonds of society were about tobe dissolved. I say that some of you may be suffering the loss of your friends and may be saying, "No others have sufferedas we have." Say not so-there have been others who have been quite as sorely bereaved as you have been. The path of sorrowhas been well trodden. Princes have been there. Nobles have been there- earls and dukes have jostled in the crowd with thepoor man who had nothing to lose but his one child and his yet unburied wife! Death has touched, with his impartial hands,the palace of the prince and the cottage of the peasant. Say not, therefore, that God has dealt harshly with you. The graveland the wormwood may be in your mouth, but others, as well as you, have had to eat those gravel stones and to drink that wormwood.You are not alone. Alas, far from it!
Many of us have gone "to the house of mourning" simply as visitors to console others. And I can say from the deepest recessesof my soul, that I think I have sorrowed, at certain periods this week, almost as much as if I had been myself the real mournerwhen at different hours I have been with the dying. Only last Friday, just before the clock struck twelve at midnight, I wasin a cottage, by the bedside of a dying woman. And often have I gone direct from one deathbed to another. It is not a pleasantthing, but it is my duty and I find a reward in it. Let me say, do not fear "to go to the house of mourning" as visitors-goand comfort those who are distressed. Why should we tremble? Go, everyone of you! There is an imperative duty on every memberof this Church to visit the sick. We do not do that as much as we ought to do. You must all help me in this matter. I meta man in the street only yesterday who complained that I had not been to see his wife, but he excused me, for he said he knewthat, single-handed, I could not visit everybody. You must go and help the mourning and give them comfort in every way thatyou can!
Now, we are going, for a minute or two this morning, "to the house of mourning." Let me, first of all, before we enter thathouse, do as I did with "the house of feasting"-let me ask for the record roll and see whether it is true that this houseis better than the other. Where is the roll? Bring it out, sad maiden, you who are clad in black, with weeping eyes and archingeyebrows. There is the list. There are some names there of those who have not been much profited by
adversity. I see the name of Ahaz, [See Sermon #2993, Volume 52-"THAT KING AHAZ"] and I read, "In the time of his distressdid he trespass yet more against the Lord." I see another name there, the name of Jonah, who said to the Lord, "I do wellto be angry, even unto death," because his gourd had been taken away. I see the name of Israel, to whom God said, "Why shouldyou be stricken anymore? You will revolt more and more." And there is Ephraim, of whom the Lord said, "Ephraim is joined toidols: let him alone." [See Sermon
#1140, Volume 19-LET HIM ALONE] There are names of others in that
catalog who have not profited by bereavement. I see some such here this morning. O ungodly men and women, God has spoken notonly once, but twice! No, more-He has taken out His rod-He has bruised you, yet you have not kissed the hand that has smittenyou. He will say next, "Angel of Justice, you have used My rod upon that incorrigible wretch, but he yields not! Now drawyour sword and cut down the rebel! He who spurns My rod shall feel My sword." What do you think of yourselves? Have any ofyou laughed at God's rod? Are any of you as hardened as you were before you were afflicted? Are you still resolved to go onin your wicked ways and to persevere in your transgressions? If so, assuredly the sword of the Lord "is sharpened and alsofurbished," and it shall cut through soul and body to your everlasting destruction unless you repent!
How I rejoice to see, on the other hand, that there are some who have been profited in this "house of mourning." There isthe name of David, who said, "Before I was afflicted I went astray; but now have I kept Your Word." Further down there standsthe name of Manasseh, of whom we read, "When he was in affliction, he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatlybefore the God of his fathers." I find many names of others who have been benefited by going "to the house of mourning." Thereis the name of Job, to whom the Lord gave twice as much as he had before. That is a good list. And when I look at it, I thinkthat it is better to go to this house than to "the house of feasting."
Before I leave that matter entirely, I must make one brief remark, and that is that there is a "house of mourning" to whichI would have you go every day. Oh, it is indeed a place of woe! It is indeed a place of agony! It is indeed a place of suffering!That spot is called Gethsemane. This is a place of mourning to which I would have you often go. It is the Garden of Gethsemane,[See Sermon #693, Volume 12-THE GARDEN OF THE SOUL] where the mighty Jesus, the Son of God, bent His knees in agony and wrestledwith His Father. He said to His disciples, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful unto death." And "His sweat was, as it were,great drops of blood falling down to the ground."-
"Gethsemane, the olive press! And why so called let Christians guess." Gethsemane, with its gloomy olive shades and its darkbrook-truly, the King Himself has gone over the Brook Kedron-O Gethsemane, your bitter herbs are sweet to me! I could dwellin your gloom forever-
"You are Heaven on earth to me, Lonesome, dark Gethsemane." I have been there and I still love to visit that sacred spot.I never feel so holy, so really happy, as when I sit in that "house of mourning" and see my Savior wrestling for my sins.It is better to go to Gethsemane, "the house of mourning," than to any place of feasting in the world!
III. Now, dear Friends, time will only permit me just to mention THE ARGUMENTS OF THE WISE MAN HERE I find that I have a verylarge subject, and I might preach a much longer sermon, but I never like to detain you beyond the usual time.
Let us read what Solomon says. "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting." First,"for that is the end of all men." Secondly, "the living will lay it to his heart." Thirdly, "by the sadness of the countenancethe heart is made better." And fourthly, "the heart of the wise is in the house of mourning."
"It is better to go to the house of mourning" then, first of all, because that is the end to which we must come. We must die.There is no discharge in this war. The decree is determined in Heaven, it is written like the laws of the Medes and Persiansso that it cannot be altered-that each must go to the house of mourning-and must die. "It is greatly wise for us to talk withour last hours." We have heard of a man who had a skeleton in his bedroom-he was a wise man if he used it wisely. We knowthat the Egyptians, at every feast, had a skeleton at the end of the table-and they were wise men if they thought rightlyof it. It is great wisdom to make Death our everyday companion. The horses that they use in war are, at first, very much afraidof the smoke and the noise, but I am told that they take those horses into the barrack-yards, first, and fire into their faceswith powder until they are so used to it that they will easily go into the battle. So we ought often to accustom our soulsto the thought of death, to make death a familiar thing, to talk with it every day. How can we do it better than by goingto "the house ofmourning" where our friends lie dead?-
"Our dying friends come over us like a cloud,
To dampen our brainless ardors and abate
That glare of life, which often blinds the wise.
Our dying fiends are pioneers to smooth
Our rugged pass to death-to break those bars Of terror and abhorrence nature throws 'Cross our obstructed way-and thus tomake Welcome as safe yon port from every storm."
So says Young, and he says well. It is well to think of our lost friends and to "go to the house of mourning."
Again, the wise man says, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to the house of feasting: for that is theend of all men; and the living will lay it to his heart " If you go to the "house of feasting," there is nothing there tolay to heart. It is all froth-it is lighter than vanity-it is a bubble. Touch it and it vanishes. But in "the house of mourning,"there is something solemn which will bear to be touched and still endure. In the darkness there seems to be something moresolid than in sunshine. I feel that when I "go to the house of mourning," I get something to bring away and lay to my heart.If I "go to the house of feasting," it does not touch my heart. I wear the festal garb-I put on those things that are seemlyon such occasions and there it ends-I have learned nothing to lay to heart.
Yet again, the wise man says, "By the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better."It is positively a good thing forus to be sad. When the springs that bind heart to earth are cut, then we can soar. We are chained to earth, but there is awater in these eyes, which, like aquafortis, can eat away the iron and set us free. The heart is made better by sorrow becauseit is made more free from earth. It is made better by sorrow, again, because it becomes more sensitive, more impressed withthe lessons of God's Word. We can shut our ears to the voice of God in mirth, but in "the house of mourning" we can hear everywhisper. It is better to hear of Him in this "house of mourning." The noise of the song drowns the still small voice of God,but in "the house of mourning" you can hear every footfall, even the voice of time, the ticking of the clock which says, "Now,now, now!"
Now to conclude, Solomon says, "The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning." There are some places we ought to go justas many people go to Church and Chapel. They go to Chapel and leave their hearts at their shop. If you have done so this morning,you had better send for your hearts before you go home, my Friends. But there are some places, I say, to which we ought togo without our hearts, and we ought to do so whenever we go to "the house of feasting." Perhaps, in some sense, we may haveour hearts there, but we had better not have them there, or they are sure to get somewhat contaminated. But when we "go tothe house of mourning," we may take our hearts there because we are sure to bring them back. When we "go to the house of feasting,"we are inclined to say, "Stay here, my heart. This is a pleasant place." But when we "go to the house of mourning," we say,"We will not leave our hearts in that gloomy place." When I get to "the house of mourning," I can speak out-but in "the houseof feasting," I hold my tongue as with a bridle. In "the house of mourning" I can speak with a bereaved Brother and Sister.I can talk freely with them. I can talk my heart out there, I can speak my soul out there and need not hold it in. I can speakmy Master's dear name and tell of the wonders of His Grace and enlarge upon His wondrous preciousness.
Finally, take this Truth of God home. You had better "go to the house of mourning" than to any place of feasting. Better tobe clad in the drapery of woe and sit in the weeds of sorrow. Better to be girt with sackcloth and cover your head with ashesthan to be feasting and dancing, or even enjoying the rightful and lawful pleasures of this world. "It is better to go tothe house of mourning." God has said it, so let not unbelief deny what God positively declares. Unto all of you who know nothow soon any one of you may be there, I speak in the name of the Lord and I say, "Go to the house of mourning." In a littlewhile, Death may be again in our midst, as he has often been of late. Even now he is flapping his dark wings around this galleryand looking in each pew to see who is there. He is floating across the pews and saying, "Where is the man or woman I am tohave?" If God points Death to the man, the man surely dies. In any event, you may be called "to go to the house of mourning"very soon in some way or other-but say, when you get there, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to go to thehouse of feasting." If you get an invitation to a wedding and an invitation to a funeral, lay the funeral note on the top!Do not disdain to go there, O child of God, for the Holy Spirit will so reveal Jesus by the bedside of the mourner that itwill be to you a Bethel! O Sinner, ungodly and impenitent, neither "the house of mourning" nor "the house of feasting" canbenefit you by itself! It is the power of the Holy Spirit, alone, that can give you life! It is Jesus alone who can make youa forgiven sinner! May this discourse be blessed to your souls and to the Triune God be Glory! Amen.
8 The House of Mourning and the House of Feasting Sermon #3108