“There is no estimating the influence which the prayers of a congregation may have on the ministrations of their pastor. May we not venture to affirm, that a main reason why so little apparent benefit accrues from the preaching of our day, is that so few and such spiritless petitions ascend to the mercy-seat of God, for the aid of that divine Agent, whose province it is to cause this preaching to tell upon the hearts and consciences of men! Without this auxiliary I can do little. With it I may do much.” — William Ashmead, A Sermon, Preached in the Second Presbyterian Church, Charleston, May 24, 1829, on Assuming the Pastoral Charge of Said Church (1829), pp. 39-40