On Reading...and prayer

"Read and pray. He that makes not conscience of praying over what he reads, will find little sweetness or profit in his reading. No man makes such earnings of his reading, as he that prays over what he reads. Luther professeth that he profited more in the knowledge of the Scriptures by prayer, in a short space, than by study in a longer. As John by weeping got the sealed book open, so certainly men would gain much more than they do by reading good men's works, if they would but pray more over what they ready Ah, Christians! pray before you read, and pray after you read, that all may be blessed and sanctified to you."

From the preface to A mute Christian under the smarting rod; With Sovereign antidotes for every case. A Christian with an olive leaf in his mouth, when under the greatest afflictions, trials, troubles, and darkest providences; with answers to questions and objections, calculated to promote submission and silence under all the changes that may be experienced in this world, by Thomas Brooks.