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.