Note, 1. God so hates wicked people, whose hearts are malicious and
their lives mischievous, that even their sacrifices are an abomination
to him. God has sacrifices brought him even by wicked men, to stop the
mouth of conscience and to keep up their reputation in the world, as
malefactors come to a sanctuary, not because it is a holy place, but
because it shelters them from justice; but their sacrifices, though
ever so costly, are not accepted of God, because not offered in
sincerity nor from a good principle; they dissemble with God, and in
their conversations give the lie to their devotions, and for that
reason they are an abomination to him, because they are made a cloak
for sin, ch. vii. 14. See Isa. i. 11. 2. God has such a love for
upright good people that, though they are not at the expense of a
sacrifice (he himself has provided that), their prayer is a delight to
him. Praying graces are his own gift, and the work of his own Spirit in
them, with which he is well pleased. He not only answers their prayers,
but delights in their addresses to him, and in doing them good.