stephen-charnock a-discourse-of-delight-in-prayer (continued)
Ps. XXXVn. 4.] DELIGHT IN PEAYEB. 375 he will bring smoking grace ; he desires the preparation of his heart as well as the answer of his prayer, Ps. x. 17.
II. Whence this delight springs.
1. From the Spirit of God. Not a spark of fire upon our own hearth that is able to kindle this spiritual delight. It is the Holy Ghost that breathes such an heavenly heat into our afiections. The Spirit is the fire that kindles the soul, the spring that moves the watch, the wind that drives the ship. The swiftest ship with spread sails will be but sluggish in its motion unless the wind fills its sails. Without this Spirit, we are but in a weak and sickly condition, our breath but short, a heavy and troublesome asthma is upon us : Ps. cxxxviii. 3, ' When I cried unto thee, thou didst strengthen me with strength in my soul.' As prayer is the work of the Spirit in the heart, so doth delight in prayer owe itself to the same author, God will make them joyful in his house of prayer, Isa. Ivi. 7.
2. From grace. The Spirit kindles, but gives us the oil of grace to make the lamp burn clear. There must not only be wind to drive, but sails to catch it. A prayer without grace is a prayer without wings. There must be grace to begin it. A dead man cannot rejoice in his land, money, or food ,* he cannot act, and therefore cannot be cheerful in action. Cheerfulness supposeth life ; dead men cannot perform a duty (Ps. cxv. 17, ' The dead praise not the Lord '), nor dead souls a cheerful duty. There must not only be grace infused, but grace actuated. No man in a sleep or swoon can rejoice. There must not only be a living principle, but a lively operation.
If the sap lurk only in the root, the branches can bring forth no fruit our best prayers, without the sap of grace diffusing itself, will be but as withered branches. Grace actuated puts heat into performances, without which they are but benumbed and frozen.* Rusty grace, as a rusty key, will not unlock, will not enlarge the heart : there must be grace to maintain it. There is not only need of fire to kindle the lamp, but of oil to preserve the flame ; natural men may have thenaffections kindled in a way of common working, but they will presently faint and die, as the flame of cotton will dim and vanish, if there be no oil to nourish it. There is a temporary joy in hearing the word ; and if in'one duty, why not in another, why not in prayer ? Mat. xiii. 20. Like a fire of thorns that makes a great blaze, but a short stay.
3. From a good conscience. A good heart is a continual feast, Prov.
XV. 15. He that hath a good conscience must needs be cheerful in his religious and civil duties. Guilt will come trembling, and with a sad countenance, into the presence of God's majesty. A guilty child cannot with cheerfulness come into a displeased father's presence. A soul smoked with heU cannot with delight approach to heaven. Guilty souls, in regard of the injury they have done to God, will be afraid to come ; and in regard of the foot of sin wherewith they are defiled, and the blackness they have contracted, they will be ashamed to come ; they know that by their sins they should provoke his anger, not allure his love. A soul under conscience of sin cannot look up to God, Ps. xl. 12 ; nor will God with favour look down upon it, Ps. lix. 2, It must be a pure heart that must see him with pleasure. Mat. v. 8 ; and pure hands must be lifted up to him, 1 Tim. ii. 8. Jonah was asleep after his sin, and was outstripped in quickness to pray, even by idolaters. The mariners jog him, but could not get him, that we read of, to call upon that God whom he had offended, Jonah, i. Where there is corruption, the sparks of sin will kindle that tinder, and weaken a * Reynolds.