University of Virginia Library

Danger from audible prayer

The danger from prayer is that it may lead us into temp- tation. By it we may become involuntary hypocrites, ut- tering desires which are not real and consoling ourselves in the midst of sin with the recollection that we have prayed over it or mean to ask for- giveness at some later day. Hypocrisy is fatal to religion.

A wordy prayer may afford a quiet sense of self- justification, though it makes the sinner a hypocrite. We never need to despair of an honest heart; but there is little hope for those who come only spasmodi- cally face to face with their wickedness and then seek to hide it. Their prayers are indexes which do not correspond with their character. They hold secret fellowship with sin, and such externals are spoken of by Jesus as "like unto whited sepulchres . . . full . . . of all uncleanness."