Word, The.—The name given to our Blessed Lord by St. John in the beginning of his Gospel, to set forth the preexistence and Divinity of the Son of God and the creation of the world by Him. Pearson on the Creed makes the following comment: "The Jews were constantly taught that the Word of God was the same with God, and that by that Word all things were made. And therefore, St. John delivered so great a mystery so briefly, as speaking to those who at once understood him. Only what they knew not was that this Word was made Flesh, and that this Word made Flesh was Jesus Christ." The Greek for "The Word" is Logos.
Words on the Cross, The Seven.—Our Blessed Lord was nailed to the Cross at nine o'clock in the morning and hanged thereon until three o'clock, when He died. During these six hours of His Crucifixion He uttered seven sayings, called the Seven Words from the Cross; they are as follows:
1. "Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do."
2. "To-day thou shalt be with Me in Paradise."
3. "Woman, behold thy Son." "Behold thy Mother."
4. "My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?"
5. "I thirst." {280}
6. "It is finished."
7. "Father, into Thy hands I commend My Spirit." (See THREE HOURS' SERVICE.)
Worship.—Our word worship is the modern form of the early English word worthship. And while the word was originally used to denote honor or respect paid to any one worthy of it, it came in time to be used exclusively of the giving of honor to God, of which He above all others is worthy. Thus we have the word applied almost exclusively to what we now call Public Worship. By this is meant the united homage of the members of the Church rendered to God as their Almighty King. And it is to be noted that whilst God accepts the worship of each individual or family, yet He loves more the Public Worship of His Church, for we read in the Book of Psalms, "The Lord loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob." While this is very manifest to any careful student of the Bible, yet in these our days there is nothing so misunderstood as the nature and obligation of Public Worship. So much so is this the case it has been declared that Worship is a "Lost Art." This has come to pass, no doubt, from the misapprehension of the purpose of this "assembling of ourselves together." The common idea is that we go to Church to "hear preaching." But preaching is not worship, nor is it the chief purpose of our coming together in the House of God each Lord's Day. We come together to worship, and the true idea of worship is to give, to render homage. Worship is an unselfish offering. It is giving God the praise. It is the grateful homage of grateful creatures to Him who {281} has blessed them and preserved them. Preaching is but an incident of such an assembly gathered for such a purpose, and oftentimes is not really necessary. It is also to be noticed that the Church's true worship is the Holy Communion; all other services are but adjuncts to the one service appointed by our Lord Himself. In the Primitive Church an ordinary Christian would not have considered that he had kept the Lord's Day as a day of worship if he had not attended a celebration of the Holy Communion. When, therefore, our people grasp these Scriptural ideas, then no longer can it be said that worship is a "Lost Art" among the American people. (See HOLY COMMUNION; also RESPONSIVE SERVICE.)