What an example of vain repetitions! ’But when ye pray, use not vain repetitions, as the heathen do: for they think that they shall be heard for their much speaking. Be not ye therefore like unto them’ (Matt 6:7-8).
Charles W. Penrose
“It seems that many who have accepted the Christian religion…act as if they expected to be heard because of their many words. They also use what here are called vain repetitions. Now, prayer is not acceptable for its rhetoric. It is that which comes from the heart, the sincere sentiment, the secret feeling, which ascends to our Father and which He, who sees in secret, will reward openly. It is not a multitude of words and repetitions that is pleasing to the Lord, but the earnest desire of a humble heart. And this will be answered, no matter how broken or ungrammatical the language may be. On the other hand, no matter how flowery the language of the petition may be, if it does not convey the feelings of the heart, it is not true prayer.” (Collected Discourses, vol. 2, Charles W. Penrose, March 22, 1891)