ds 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.

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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