I often say my prayers

As a people who are taught to “come boldly unto the throne of grace” and “pray without ceasing,” we often may be weighed and found wanting when it comes to open, honest, sincere, continual prayer. The following hymn by John Burton investigates and questions the “heart” of our prayers.

The following hymn was possibly first published in The Union Hymn Book for the Use of Sunday Schools (Bath Sunday School Union,1840). The text below is as it appears in A Book of Praise for Home and School, compiled by Samuel D. Major (published initially in 1869, No. 237).

1. I often say my prayers;
But do I ever pray?
And do the wishes of my heart
Go with the words I say?

2. I may as well kneel down
And worship gods of stone,
As offer to the living God
A prayer of words alone.

3. For words without the heart
The Lord will never hear;
Nor will he to those lips attend
Whose prayers are not sincere.

4. Lord, teach me what I want
And teach me how to pray;
Nor let me ask thee for thy grace,
Not feeling what I say.

The Child’s Hymn Book (F. M. Caulkins, editor. New York, NY: American Tract Society, n.d. [ca. 1840-1850] includes Burton’s hymn under the title “How to Pray aright” (No. 176, 3 stanzas) with the following stanza that does not appear in Major’s Book of Praise for Home and School.[i]

’Tis useless to implore
Unless I feel my need—
Unless ’tis from a sense of want
That all my prayers proceed.

John Burton Jr. was born July 23, 1803, in Stratford, West Ham, Essex, England. The designation “Jr” suggests he is the son of John Burton. John Burton died January 22, 1877, and was buried at the West Ham Cemetery.

John Burton Jr. spent most of his life in his home county where he was born, Stratford, Essex. He ran a business as a cooper for about 50 years. He served as a deacon within the Congregational Chapel he attended. He was a popular hymn writer for children – He is best remembered for his hymnody, with his first submission being to the Evangelical Magazine in 1822. Burton often wrote under the pseudonym J. B. Essex. His publications include:

• One Hundred Original Hymns for the Young, 1850
• Hymns for Little Children, 1851
• The Book of Psalms in English Verse, 1871

The hymn is in Short Meter, and has appeared with the tunes State Street, Reeves, and Gorton.

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[i] This stanza appears in other books as well, as the second stanza of the hymn. Perhaps it is an original stanza by Burton and A Book of Praise for Home and School merely left it out. I have not found enough old sources to verify that.