Gospel discoveries are a feast, Isa. xxv. 6. Dulness becomes not such a
Ps. XXXVII. 4.] DELIGHT IN PKAYEE. 371
we shall receive them ; so when we delight in seeking him, we shall be answered by him.
1. The duty. In the act, ' delight ;' in the object, ' the Lord.'
2. The motive : ' he shall give thee the desires of thy heart ;' the most
substantial desires, those desires which he approves of. The desire of thy heart as gracious, though not the desire of thy heart as carnal ; the
desire of thy heart as a Christian, though not the desire of thy heart as a
creature. He shall give ; God is the object of our joy, and the author of our
comfort.
Doct. Dehght in God, in seeking him only, procures gracious answers ;
or, without cheerful prayers, we cannot have gracious answers.
There are two parts : 1, cheerfulness on our parts ; 2, grants on God's
part.
1. Cheerfulness and delight on our parts. Joy is the tuning the soul. The command to rejoice precedes the command to pray : 1 Thes. v. 16, 17,
' Rejoice evermore, pray without ceasing.' Delight makes the melody ; prayer else will be but a harsh sound. God accepts the heart only when it
is a gift given, not forced. Delight is the marrow of religion.
1. Dulness is not suitable to the great things we are chiefly to beg for. Gospel discoveries are a feast, Isa. xxv. 6. Dulness becomes not such a
solemnity. Manna must not be sought for with a dumpish heart. With joy we are to draw water out of the wells of salvation, Isa. xii. 3. Faith is
the bucket, but joy and love are the hands that move it. They are the Hur and Aaron that hold up the hands of this Moses. God doth not value that man's service, who accounts not his service a privilege and a pleasure.
2. Dulness is not suitable to the duty. Gospel duties are to be performed with a gospel temper. God's people ought to be a willing people, Ps. ex. 3, Villi, a people of willingness, as though in prayer no other faculty of the
soul had its exercise but the will. This must breathe fully in every word,
as the spirit in Ezekiel's wheels. Delight, like the angel, Judges xiii. 20, must ascend in the smoke and flame of the soul. Though there be a kind of union by contemplation, yet the real union is by afiection. A man cannot be said to be a spiritual king if he doth not present his performances with a royal and prince-like spirit. It is for vigorous wrestling that Jacob is called a prince. Gen. xxxii. 28.
This temper is essential to grace. Natural men are described to be of a heavy and weary temper in the ofi'ering of sacrifices, Mai. i. 13. It was but a sickly lame lamb they brought for an ofi'ering, and yet weary of it ; that which was not fit for their table they thought fit for the altar.
In the handling this doctrine I will shew,
I. What this delight is.
II. Whence it springs.
III. The reasons of the doctrine. IV. The use.
I. What this delight is. Delight properly is an affection of the mind that springs from the possession of a good which hath been ardently desired. This is the top-stone, the highest step. Delight is but an embryo till it come to fruition, and that certain and immutable ; otherwise, if there be probability or possibility of losing that which we have present possession of, the fear of it is as a drop of gall that infects the sweetness of this passion. Delight properly is a silencing of desire, and the banquet of the soul on the presence of its desired object.
But there is a delight of a lower stamp.
1. In desires. There is a delight in desire as well as in fruition, a