lamb, as if he cut off a clog's neck : he that offereth an obla- tion, as if he offered swine's blood : he that burnetii incense, as if he blessed an idol." I pray you, Brethren, to mark tliese expressions, and to apply them to yourselves whilst living in an unliunibled and unconverted state: for, "whilst you regard any iniquity in your heart, the Lord will not hear you^:" your very prayers are turned into sin.]
2. " But the prayer of the upright is God's delight" —
["The upright" is he who truly and unfeignedly gives
himself up to God, to be saved in his appointed way,
and to serve him with a pure heart and mind Of such
an one God approves : and both his person and his services are accepted of him : " The prayer of such an one is God's delight." In itself it may be no more than a few broken accents, or a desire expressed only in sighs and groans : but it enters into the ears of tlie Lord of Hosts, and shall be answered by him to the full extent of its import. It is, in reality, the voice of his own Spirit in the suppliant : and as " he knows the mind of the Spirit," so he cannot but delight in every petition that is dictated by him ^. Besides, in the prayer of the upright there are dispositions exercised, which are "in the sight of God of great price ^ " The suppliant himself perhaps is mourn- ing as though he could never hope for acceptance: but God listens to him with unspeakable delight : he loves " the prayer that goeth not out of feigned lips ^ :" above all, he delights in the prayer of the upright, because it gives scope for the exer- cise of love and mercy towards the poor suppliant, and for a rich communication of all spiritual blessings to his soul. God " will be inquired of by his people V' before he will impart to them his promised blessings : and the moment they do pray to him, he is like a mother that hears the cry of her beloved infant, whom she instantly presses to her bosom, and in adminis- tering to whose necessities she finds relief, as it were, to her own soul. See this exemplified in his dealings with repenting Ephraim : " Surely I have heard Ephraim bemoaning himself thus : Thou hast chastised me, and I was chastised as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke : turn thou me and I shall be turned; for thou art the Lord my God." " Is not Ephraim my dear son ? is he not a pleasant child ? for since I spake against him, I do earnestly remxcmber him still : yea, my bowels are troubled for him ; I will surely have mercy upon him, saith the Lord*"." Here we see a true picture of what every upright soul shall experience. Let us only be " Israelites indeed, and without guile, and our blessed Saviour will see us under the fig-
g Ps. Ixvi. 18. " Rom. viii. 2G, 27. * 1 Pet. iii. 4.
^ Ps. xvii. 1. 1 Ezek. xxxvi. 37. »" Jer. xxxi. 18, 20.