So if you feed not the soul diligently and use not the means constantly, you will breed weakness in the soul, and the more secure and remiss you are in the performance of holy duties, the weaker you are. It may be you think it will not weaken you to neglect private prayer, but omit it once, and it will make you careless, and the more you neglect, the more unfit and undisposed you will find yourselves. So you may think you may profane one Sabbath, neglecting therein the duties required and serving not God, but your own lusts.

But beloved, it will make you secure; the more a man doth in this kind the more he may do. For this is true in every art: every act begets a habit, and a habit brings custom. So it is as true in good things: the beginning of good brings many particular good things, and there fore if you can but get your hearts in a frame of grace, you will find a supply of grace because Christ says, “Whosoever has, to him more shall be given.” He that hath grace and is careful in the use of the means by God’s appointment, he shall thrive in holiness.

— John Preston

“The Saint’s Spiritual Strength,” in Remaines, 110-11

Ore from the Puritan’s Mine, 196

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