s.
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.
The first steps in this ladder are made by the use of the Book of
Psalms, which is divided into sections for these daily Services, and so
arranged that they supply different Psalms for 30 mornings and 30
evenings. If there are 31
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