Thoughts on public prayer - Miller - X - Chapter 4 commenced

Required reading
Thoughts on public prayer by Samuel Miller (Available from Amazon or free here) - Commence Chapter 4 by reading up to the paragraph beginning 'XI The excellence of a public prayer may be marred by introducing into it a large portion of didactic statement...'

My summary
Today Miller warns us against some frequent faults in public prayer.

In our prayers we are advised to watch out for:
(i) frequent recurrence of favourite words and set forms of expression;
(ii) hesitation and apparent embarrassment in utterance;
(iii) ungrammatical expressions;
(iv) want of regularity and order;
(v) minuteness of detail;
(vi) excessive length;
(vii) abundant use of highly figurative language;
(viii) allusions to party politics;
(ix) expressions of the amatory class;
(x) wit, humour or sarcasm.

What grabbed me
Lots of great advice in today's reading.

I particularly appreciated the encouragement to structure our prayers: 'The want of regularity and order is a fault which frequently and greatly impairs the acceptable and edifying character of public prayers. All public prayer which bears the comprehensive character which belongs to that exercise, is made up of various departments; such as adoration, confession, thanksgiving, petition, and intercession. A public prayer which should be entirely destitute of any one of these departments, would be deemed essentially defective ; and a prayer in which these several departments should all be so mixed up together throughout the whole as that they should all go on together in this state of confused mixture, from the beginning to the end, would, doubtless, be considered as very ill judged and untasteful in its structure ; nay, as adapted essentially to interfere with the edification of intelligent worshippers. Not that the same order should always be maintained. This would be a serious fault of an opposite kind. It is the absence of all order that is here meant to be censured, and represented as a fault. '

Just as there should be some order to your sermons, you should have some order in your prayers.

Next week's reading
Conclude Chapter 4.

Now it's your turn
Please post your own notes and thoughts in the comments section below.