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

(5.) Frequency in Exercise is the immediate way and means of the Increase of this Gift, and its improvement. All spiritual Gifts are bestowed on men to be employed and exercised: For the manifestation of the Spirit is given to every one to profit withal, 1 Cor. 12. 7. God both requireth that his Talents be traded withal, that his Gifts be employed and exercised, and will also call us to an account of the discharge of the trust committed unto us in them, see 1 Pet. 4. 10, 11. Wherefore the Exercise of this and of the like Gifts tends unto their improvement on a double account. For (1.) whereas they reside in the mind after the manner and nature of an Habit or a Faculty, it is natural that they should be increased and strengthened ⟨p. 175⟩by Exercise, as all Habits are by a multiplication of Acts proceeding from them. So also by desuetude they will weaken, decay, and in the issue be utterly lost and perish. So is it with many as to the Gift of Prayer. They were known to have received it in some good measure of usefulness unto their own Edification and that of others. But upon a neglect of the Use and Exercise of it in public and private, which seldom goes alone without some secret or open enormities, they have lost all their Ability, and cannot open their mouths on any Occasion in Prayer, beyond what is prescribed unto them, or composed for them. But the just hand of God is also in this matter, depriving them of what they had, for their abominable neglect of his Grace and Bounty therein. (2.) The Increase will be added unto by virtue of Gods blessing on his own appointment. For having bestowed their Gifts for that End, where Persons are faithful in the discharge of the trust committed unto them, He will graciously add unto them in what they have. This is the eternal Law concerning the dispensation of Evangelical Gifts, Unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not, shall ⟨p. 176⟩be taken away, even that which he hath, Mat. 25. 29. It is not the mere having or not having of them that is intended, but the using or not using of what we have received; as is plain in the Context. Now I do not say that a man may or ought to exercise himself in Prayer merely with this design, that he may preserve and improve his Gift. It may indeed in some cases be lawful for a man to have Respect hereunto, but not only.