The Prayer Book Explained | Page 7

petitions:
( Hallowed be Thy Name. Thy. ( Thy Kingdom come. ( Thy Will be done.
( Give us this day our daily bread. ( Forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive Us, our. ( them that trespass against us. ( Lead us not into temptation. ( Deliver us from evil.
{13}
There are, it appears, two motives which prompt a man to worship God. One of these is God; Man himself is the other.
a. Two Kinds of Worship.
Worship means 'worthiness,' and thence 'regarding anyone as worthy.' For this reason a magistrate is called 'his worship'; and a guild or company is called 'worshipful.' In the Marriage Service the man says to his wife "I thee worship" because he sets her before all else. In Wyclif's Bible (S. Matth. xix. 19) we find "Worschipe thi fadir and thi moder." In old days any act of mind or body acknowledging the worthiness of another was an Act of Worship. In later days the word 'Worship' has been limited.
Limitation 1. Since God alone is perfectly worthy, worship is now ascribed usually to God alone: any act of mind or body acknowledging the worthiness of God may still be called an Act of Worship. For instance, in Col. iii. 17-iv. 1, the duties of mankind in daily life are set forth as a constant acknowledgment of the presence of God. The repetition of the word (kurios) meaning 'Lord' and 'master'--10 times in 10 verses--falls on the ear like a peal of bells, calling us to make daily life an unbroken Worship of God.
Limitation 2. We ought not to forget that life is all one piece; and that the word Worship should describe what we do and say outside our prayers, as well as what we say and think in prayer and praise. The word is, however, more commonly limited to words and thoughts. These two limitations lead us {14} to a second definition of worship as words and thoughts which acknowledge the worthiness of God. We have nearly abandoned the word as describing the honour paid by one creature to another, and but rarely use it of acts of the body.
God is always the object of Worship: but the subject of worship is two-fold--we may speak of ourselves or we may speak of our God. When we chiefly think of God in worship we call it Praise: when we chiefly think of ourselves we call it Prayer.
These are then the two kinds of Worship--Praise and Prayer. It is evident that the Lord's Prayer teaches us to put Praise in the higher place.
b. Praise and Prayer.
Praise. There are two ways in which respect is paid to a man, viz. (1) Outspoken praise, (2) Deference to his words. In like manner we praise God (1) by dwelling with joy and gladness on His perfections; and (2) by listening with reverence to His Word.
Prayer, on the other hand, is that kind of worship which acknowledges God as the Source of all our help. Our needs are necessarily in our minds when we pray. We think of them in order to ask Him to help us; and we think of them again when we thank Him for the help which we have already had.
Thanksgiving might be coupled with Praise because its aim is to glorify God: but as its motive is the thought of human wants which have been already supplied, Thanksgiving is placed with the Prayers, which also relate to human wants.
{15}
We must therefore expect to find in Worship;
I. Praise. (1) Declaration of God's excellence. (2) Attention to His Word.
II. Prayer (3) Petitions for grace and help. (4) Thanksgivings for grace and help.
c. Intention and Setting.
The same words may serve for Praise and for Prayer. The plainest meaning of "Hallowed be Thy Name" is Praise to God. But it may be also a Prayer to Him to cause His Name to be hallowed. If we have no reason to the contrary, we shall use the Lord's Prayer as an act of Praise and Prayer--Praise in its first three petitions, Prayer in its last four. If, however, we want to ask Him to cause His Name to be hallowed and His Kingdom to come and His Will to be done, we can turn it all into a prayer.
This direction of our minds into a certain channel is called 'Intention'.
We have already said that Unity of Intention is the essence of congregational worship. Hence the Intention must be the same in all the worshippers if they use words suitable for both Praise and Prayer. If one is saying "Hallowed be Thy Name" and thinking chiefly of God's holiness, his Intention will be different from that of a neighbour who is thinking chiefly of the wickedness of sin. We need some agreement, that our intention may be the same.
This agreement might have been