“Our public prayers too often consist almost entirely of passages of Scripture—not always judiciously chosen or well arranged — and common-place phrases, which have been transmitted down for ages, from one generation to another, selected and put together just as we would compose a sermon or essay, while the heart is allowed no share in the performance; so that we may more properly be said to make a prayer than to pray.”

—  Edward Payson

Source: Dictionary of Burning Words of Brilliant Writers (1895), P. 472.

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Edward Payson9
American religious leader 1783–1827

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