A discourse of the work of the Holy Spirit in prayer with a brief…

Can we more by any means grieve this Holy Spirit and endamage our own Souls? Hath God given unto us the Spirit of Grace and Supplication, and shall we be remiss, careless, and negligent in Prayer? Is not this the worst way whereby we may quench the Spirit, which we are so cautioned against? Can we go from day to day in the neglect of Opportunities, occasions and just seasons of Prayer? How shall we answer the Contempt of this gracious Aid offered us by Jesus Christ? Do others go from day to day in a neglect of this Duty, in their Closets and Families? blame them not, or at least they are not worthy of so much blame as we. They know not how to pray, they have no Ability for it. But for those to walk in a neglect hereof, who have received this Gift of the Holy Ghost enabling them thereunto, making it easy unto them, and pleasant unto the inner man, how great an Aggravation is it of their ⟨p. 164⟩Sin? Shall others at the tinkling of a Bell, rise and run unto prayers to be said or sung, wherein they can have no spiritual interest, only to pacify their Consciences and comply with the prejudices of their Education? and shall we be found in the neglect of that Spiritual Aid which is graciously afforded unto us? How will the blind Devotion and Superstition of multitudes, with their diligence and pains therein, rise up in Judgment against such negligent Persons? We may see in the Papacy, how upon the ringing of a Bell, or the lifting up of any Ensign of Superstition, they will some of them rise at Midnight; others in their Houses, yea in the Streets, fall on their knees unto their Devotions: Having lost the conduct of the Spirit of God, and his gracious Guidance unto the performance of Duty in its proper seasons, they have invented ways of their own to keep up a frequency in this Duty after their manner, which they are true and punctual unto. And shall they who have received that Spirit which the World cannot receive, be treacherous and disobedient unto his Motions, or what he constantly inclines and enables them unto? Besides all other Disadvantages which will ⟨p. 165⟩accrue hereby unto our Souls, who can express the horrible Ingratitude of such a Sin? I press it the more, and that unto all sorts of Prayer, in private, in Families, in Assemblies for that end, because the Temptations and Dangers of the days wherein we live do particularly and eminently call for it.