Ecclesiastes 7:4

The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning,.... When his body is not; when it does not suit him to go thither in person, his mind is there, and his thoughts are employed on the useful

The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools is in the house of mirth. No JFB commentary on this verse.

The heart of the wise is in the house of morning, even when their bodies are absent. They are constantly, or very frequently, meditating upon sad and serious firings, such as death and judgment, the vanity of this life, and the reality and eternity of the next, because they know that these thoughts, though they be not grateful to the sensual part, yet they are absolutely necessary, and highly profitable, and most comfortable in the end, which every wise man most regards. The heart of fools is in the house of mirth; their minds and affections are wholly set upon feasting and jollity, because, like fools and brutish creatures, they regard only their present delight, and mind not how dearly they must pay for them.

Ecclesiastes 7:4 The heart of the wise [is] in the house of mourning; but the heart of fools [is] in the house of mirth.Ver. 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning.] He gladly makes use of all good means of minding his mortality, and holds it a high point of heavenly wisdom so to do. Hence he frequents funerals, mingles with mourners, hears etiam muta clamare cadavers, makes every tomb a teacher, every monument a monitor, lays him down in his bed as in his grave, looks upon his sheets as his winding sheet. Ut somnus mortis, sic lectus imago sepulchri. If he hears but the clock strike, sees the glass run out, it is as a death’ s head to preach memento mori to him; he remembers the days of darkness, as Solomon bids, acts death aforehand, takes up many sad and serious thoughts of it, and makes it his continual practice so to do, as Job and David did. The wiser Jews digged their graves long before, as that old prophet; Joseph of Arimathea had his in his garden to season his delights. John, Patriarch of Alexandria (surnamed Eleemosynarius, for his bounty to the poor), having his tomb in building, gave his people charge it should be left unfinished, and that every day one should put him in mind to perfect it, that he might remember his mortality. The Christians in some part of the primitive Church took the sacrament every day, because they looked to die every day. Augustine would not for the gain of a million of worlds be an atheist for half an hour, because he had no certainty of his life for so short a time. His mother, Monica, was heard oft to say, How is it that I am here still? The women of the Isle of Man, saith Speed, whensoever they go out of their doors, gird themselves about with the winding sheet that they purpose to be buried in, to show themselves mindful of their mortality. The philosopher affirms that man is therefore the wisest of creatures, because he alone can number, - Bruta non numerant; this is an essential difference, - but especially in that divine arithmetic of so "numbering his days as to apply his heart to wisdom." This speaks him wise indeed, right in his judgment, right also in his affections. This will render him right in his practice too; as it did Waldus, the merchant of Lyons, who seeing one suddenly fall down dead before him, became a new man, and chief of those old Protestants, the poor men of Lyons, called also Waldenses from this Waldus. But the heart of fools is in the house of mirth.] As the heart of the wicked is light and little worth, so it is their trade to hunt after lying vanities (as the child doth after butterflies), to "rejoice in a thing of nothing"; he wiles away his time, either in "weaving spiders’ webs or hatching cockatrice’ eggs"; froth or filth is their recreation.

Verse 4. The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning] A wise man loves those occasions from which he can derive spiritual advantage; and therefore prefers visiting the sick, and sympathizing with those who have suffered privations by death. But the fool - the gay, thoughtless, and giddy - prefers places and times of diversion and amusement. Here he is prevented from seriously considering either himself or his latter end. The grand fault and misfortune of youth.

4. The heart of the wise] This follows as the natural sequel. Like goes to like. The impulse of the fool takes him to that which promises enjoyment; that of the wise leads him to that which has the promise of a higher wisdom and therefore of a more lasting gain.

House of mourning ... house of mirth - These phrases acquire a forcible significance from the Eastern custom of prolonging both festive and mournful celebrations through several days. See Genesis 50:10; Judges 14:17.

4. This verse is of the nature of an inference from the preceding. The wise do not shun the homes and scenes of sorrow, but take sincere part with them, while the fool loves only jest and mirth.