Wesley Corpus

3. "But when thou prayest, enter into thy closet, and when thou hast shut the door, pray to thy Father which is in secret." -- There is a time when thou art openly to glorify God, to pray, and praise him, in the great congregation. But when thou desirest more largely and more particularly to make thy requests known unto God, whether it be in the evening, or in the morning or at noon-day, "enter into thy closet, and shut the door." Use all the privacy thou canst. (Only leave it not undone, whether thou hast any closet, any privacy, or no. Pray to God, if it be possible, when none seeth but He; but, if otherwise, pray to God.) Thus "pray to thy Father which is in secret;" pour out thy heart before him; "and thy Father which seeth in secret, he shall reward thee openly." 4. "But when ye pray," even in secret, "use not vain repetitions, as the Heathen do;" Mh battaloghshte. Do not use abundance of words without any meaning. Say not the same thing over and over again; think not the fruit of your prayers depends on the length of them, like the Heathens; for "they think they shall be heard for their much speaking." The thing here reproved is not simply the length, any more than the shortness, of our prayers; -- but, First, length without meaning; speaking much, and meaning little or nothing; the using (not all repetitions; for our Lord himself prayed thrice, repeating the same words; but) vain repetitions, as the Heathens did, reciting the names of their gods, over and over; as they do among Christians, (vulgarly so called,) and not among the Papists only, who say over and over the same string of prayers, without ever feeling what they speak: -- Secondly, the thinking to be heard for our much speaking, the fancying God measures prayers by their length, and is best pleased with those which contain the most words, which sound the longest in his ears. These are such instances of superstition and folly as all who are named by the name of Christ should leave to the Heathens, to them on whom the glorious light of the gospel hath never shined.