Ecclesiastes 6

Ecclesiastes 6:2

2. It is better to go &c.] When the wise man bids us go to the house of mourning, when he tells us that sorrow is better than laughter, he is not to be understood as prohibiting all mirth, as requiring us to wear a perpetual cloud on our brow, and to sequester ourselves from every cheerful entertainment of social life. His true meaning is, that there is a certain temper and state of mind which is of far greater consequence to real happiness, than the habitual indulgence of giddy and thoughtless mirth; that, for the attainment and cultivation of this temper, frequent returns of grave reflection are necessary; that, upon this account, it is profitable to give admission to those views of human distress, which tend to awaken such reflections in the mind; and that thus, from the vicissitudes of sorrow which we either experience in our own lot, or sympathize with in the lot of others, much wisdom and improvement may be derived. Dr. Blair.