The person who leads the prayer in the worship must not use such words or modes of speech that his fellow worshippers do not understand.

The concluding and expressive amen loudly forbids and powerfully reproves allquaintexpressionsandlow language that are adapted to raise a smile, and every term and phrase that savors of wit or of contrivance. Because everything of this kind, being adverse to devout attention, to united fervor, and to the very nature of prayer, must be inimical (hostile; unfriendly) to an harmonious and solemn So be it. Nay, language, if not absolutely inadvertent (unintended; accidental), which has a natural tendency to provoke laughter in serious persons, treats them with rudeness and insults the majesty of that divine presence in which the speaker stands. Far from serving Jehovah with fear, and equally far from imitating the profound humility and reverence of the seraphim in their sublime worship (Isaiah 6:1-4), he by levity profanes the service of the Most Holy, wounds the devotional feelings of those who are truly pious, and shocks common sense, even in those that are ungodly.

The united and concluding amen very forcibly forbids and keenly reproves the use of all ambiguous phrases or expressions of doubtful meaning. For, to petitions and thanksgivings in such language, who, besides the person that uses them can say, “So be it”? Undesignedly to employ phraseology of this kind interferes with the intention of social (public) prayer; and to adopt it by choice or to have a latent meaning under well-known terms which the words themselves do not express is to be without integrity and to deceive those who unite in the solemn exercise. Never do ambiguities appear so hateful as when presented to the heart-searching God in social supplication and claiming the amen of private worshippers. For where, in whose presence, or on what occasion ought simplicity and sincerity to appear in their highest exercise, if not in professed converse with Him Whose eyes are as a flaming fire?

The devout and united amen of all that are present in social (public) worship entirely forbids and sharply reproves a polemical or controversial turn in prayer. For if he who is the mouth of a congregation, instead of addressing penitential confessions, ardent petitions, and grateful acknowledgments to God, undertake to confirm truth or to confute error, the attention of his fellow-worshippers is necessarily diverted from the proper object of their concluding amen to the pertinency and force, or the weakness and futility, of his arguments. The exercise of a praying frame is immediately suspended, and the spirit of devotion languishes. So that instead of adoring at the throne of grace and being conscious of it, they are deeply engaged in mental controversy and feel as if contending with opponents. But that all this is extremely foreign from the true nature and real design of social prayer is beyond a doubt.

Besides, however true the sentiment or commendable the practice which is thus defended in prayer may be, it is not improbable that some really pious persons in the assembly may have their doubts respecting the truth of such sentiment or the validity of such practice. But in social supplication, he who leads the devotion should endeavor so to express himself that every real Christian - that everyone who enjoys the Spirit of prayer and is not under the immediate influence of some prejudice or some temptation - may heartily unite in the closing amen. Nor is it unworthy of remark that though real converts very much differ as to some points of doctrine and certain modes of worship, yet observation has taught us that in their experience and in their prayers there is a pleasing harmony among them. I will add, it is not in preaching the Word as it is in prayer. For does a minister of Christ, as a public teacher, address an audience on the doctrine of grace or the doctrine of duty? Appearing under that character and in his individual capacity, he must, whether those around him approve or not, express his own views of truths and blessings, of obligations and of dangers, while the people hear and judge for themselves. But, when taking the lead in prayer, he appears not as a detached individual, nor yet as a public teacher, but as a member of the collective body, as the mouth of the congregation, or as the instrument of the whole assembly in making known their united requests to God.

The concluding and solemn amen absolutely forbids and severely reproves every appearance of angry, envious, and malevolent passion. For as our Lord has taught us that the least degree of malevolence toward our neighbors is abhorrent from the nature of acceptable prayer, when performed by an individual (Mark 11:25-26), so whatever wears the aspect of private resentment or seems inconsistent with genuine benevolence to our fellow-creatures in general must, so far as it appears, be an insuperable bar to that righteous, devout, and solemn amen which is required. For, as before demanded, where, when, in the presence of whom, and on what occasion, should the heart be filled with rectitude and with kind affections toward our brethren of the human race, if not when professedly prostrate at the feet of eternal Majesty, whether pleading for mercy or presenting our thanks for benefits received? Where should humility and meekness, where should the over-flowings of love to God and man, express themselves if not at the throne of grace?

In a word, the united, the solemn, the emphatic amen of silent worshippers in social prayer forbids and reproves every impropriety and moral defect in him who leads the devotion that has a natural tendency to interfere with devout attention, with deep solemnity, and with the lively exercise of holy affections toward God. If he, therefore, who is the mouth in social supplication do not appear to feel the solemnity of his own situation, as addressing the Most High; if he do not apparently pray with humility, with reverence, and from the heart; if his language and manner afford strong presumptive grounds of suspicion that he performs the service in a merely official, or in a customary way; if he protract the service to such a length as wearies the attention of those who are not under the power of bodily indisposition and have the Spirit of prayer; or if the rectitude of his habitual conduct and the piety of his general character be doubted by them, the concluding amen cannot be expected to have either that emphasis or that devotion which the nature of the case requires. Thus, we have seen how fruitful of caution and of admonition to everyone that is the mouth in social prayer is the closing and solemn So be it!

“Let mortification be especially directed to strike at those sins that act your master sins — that are most prevalent and predominant in your heart, that yet you have most prayed against and are least able to resist, that strongly assault you and most easily beset you and are masters over you.” - Christopher Love.

“Prayer is as natural an expression of faith as breathing is of life.” - Jonathan Edwards.

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