Litchfield enquirer., 1829-12-03
AN ESSAY ON PRAYER.

ral heads, amongst which the following ar,
 the ehlef:-l. Uniformity as respects th,
 subject matter. By uniformity in tho mat ter of our prayers, is meant certain me.
 thodical and stated expression of the same
 sentiments and sentences in every address
 to God. Some people pray in such mo.
 notonous strain Ofsentences, that after you
 have heard him twice or thrice, you eau
 always anticipate the next sentence; and ifyou are obliged to attend upon such pray.
 CTS for considerable time, they become
 perfect opiates to your understanding and
 senses, and arc more to bo desired fot
 their soporIfcrous than for their deUOtioa0i
 powers. Such forms of prayer, (for forms
 they really are) argue that tho person is
 immutably the same tn his wants, sius, de- siros, and thanksgivipgs; or that he has, by indefatigable industry made out as many phrases as constitute one prayer of ordin- ary length, which is to serve him longer than the garments of the lsraclites, which did not require stich or patch for forty years. This is ono extreme, towards which, on the same side, there are many approx plantations, which, though not so glar- ing, are nevertheless as exceptonable. Call upon some of this class to pray, and let the occasion DO what it may, you must, expect to hear the same sins confessed, the same depravity lamen,od, tho same pe,i- tions offered, tho same ,hanksgivngs rec peated. All the difference between their thanksgiving before or after meals, md their public prayers, is, that the former are shorter than the latter. That in the public assembly, or that by the social hearth, is a long prayer: and that before dinner or supper is n short prayer. This is tho ef- feet of bad example or habit. For what is there in reason or in the sacred writings which could load person to think that when dinner or supper calls to give thanks to God for the repast provided, we should break forth into Il long confession of tho sins Of all our lives, declaration of all our duties, q recital ofall our petitions, or oven a summary of all our thanksgivings Can we not rationally and scripturally thank or bless God for tho favor before us thro' Je- sus Christ our Lord? Again, when wo arc called upon to thank God in the morning for tho mercios of the night, and supplicate his protection through the day, can we not conline ourselves to what is obviously the design of the excrcise? ? And in the evening when we arc called to thank him for tho fa- vors or the day, and imploro his guardian care through the night, can we not confine ourselves to that which immediately enters into the design of our worship.
 When persons pray for the snko of pray ing, it matters not what the subject matter of the prayer may be. And, really, there appear to bc more prayers made for Me sake of praying, having no other induce ment to the exercise than sense of duty. Tho prayers which flow from nothing else than sense of duty, are very insipid and irksome things, and might as well bo dis pcnscd with altogether. fla person prays evening and morning, either in public or in private, for the sake of keeping matters on good footing with conscience, his de- votion is to him as irksome as the sin-of- terings ofthc avaricious Jews; and as lse- less as the counting of beads by tho hour, or the hebdomadel repetition of !" Patcr Noster" to a person who knows not the meaning of a single word.
 We should, when we pray, have some- thing in view, or some special considcra. tion at the time inducing US to tho exercise. According to this consideration or design should be our prayer. For example If we bow the knee to pray in behalf of some afflicted person, our whole address to Heaven should have respect unto the case for which we pray, and every thing incom- patible with the case should be omitted for the time. Again: If we are called upon to return thanks for some favor bestowed, that should occupy our attention and char acterize our address to Heaven on that oc- casion. 1.-two or three persons first agree to ask for some particular blessing, either, for one of the company, for all of the com- pany, or for some absent person or per- sons, that should be the whole and exclu- sive burden of the prayer. If, then, these considerations wero regarded in all our
 prayers, there would be no danger of fall ing into that unmcaning monotony of ex-
 pression, and insipid uniformity of matter
 and manner so irrational and unscrlptural
 We should, moreover, possess much more
 of the true spirit of prayer, and be much
 more benefited ourselves from our pray.
 CTS, which is one happy end inseparably
 connected with the the proper exercise o
 prayer.
 Next to monotonous uniformity of ex.
 pression, we rank a verbose redundancy
 in the use of epiihe,s and phrases whicl
 swell the period without increasing ths