In volume one of his collected works the forgotten Puritan George Swinnock offers several hopes for his ministry. His ninth hope is that he would be a diligent preacher of God’s word, and he understands the necessity of prayer to the task:

Luther saith, He the prayeth hard, studieth hard. Lord, let all my sermons, as dew be heaven-born, that they may drop down upon my people like rain upon the mown grass. Let prayer be the key to open the mysteries of Christ to me, and let prayer be the turning of the key, to lock them up safe within me. Let prayer open and shut all my books, form and write, begin and conclude every sermon. Ah, now should he pray both for his preaching, and before he preacheth, who, by every sermon, preacheth his beloved neighbors into eternal burning, or eternal pleasures!

– George Swinnock, The Works of George Swinnock Vol:1, 324-325.