This praise-termination belongs to the Lord's Prayer, and is not used for anything else. In like manner, other forms of praise have their own terminations. Thus Psalms and Lessons are used for praise and have praise-terminations.
When a Psalm is used for praise, its termination is Glory be to the father, &c.
When a Lesson is used for praise, its termination is a Canticle—i.e. one of the Bible songs of praise (from the Latin canticulum, a little song, a sonnet).
When the Creed is used for praise, since nothing can be added to the facts of God's Being and Work except the will to recite them devoutly, its praise-termination is Amen.
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The first Lord's Prayer.
The Lord's Prayer may be regarded as a brief summary of the acts of worship which come after it. Much care is required in order to use its familiar words with due devotion. When it is used, as here, for Praise, the following may be taken as examples of the thoughts which should accompany its several phrases.
Our Father, God is Love.
Which art in heaven, God is a spirit.
Hallowed be Thy Name, God's Holiness.
Thy Kingdom come, God's Power.
Thy Will be done, God's Perfectness.
In earth as it is in heaven, Holy, Holy, Holy, Lord
God Almighty.
Give us this day our daily Every good gift is from
bread, above.
Forgive us our trespasses, The mercy of the Lord
is from everlasting to
everlasting.
Lead us not into temptation, Thou art about my path
and about my bed.
Deliver us from evil, With power He commandeth
the unclean spirits, &c.
The Ladder of Praise.
The various parts of the Praise portion of the Service are not repetitions of the same ideas. We {39} have first, in the Psalms, the simpler thoughts about God. The First Lesson, taken from the Old Testament, advances to higher or more complex thoughts in Praise of Him. The next stage is reached in the Second Lesson; and the Apostles' Creed crowns the whole. Thus a Ladder of praise is made whereby we climb up to the thought of God in His Perfect Being, which is the very essence of Real Worship.