Photo Prayer:
Eternal rest give unto them, O Lord, and let perpetual light shine upon them. Amen.
The worship of God is the second kind of action in which the virtue of Religion takes form. God possesses the right of receiving from His creatures a homage proportioned, as far as may be, to His character. He merits a respect and service not only higher in degree but different in kind from any consideration which is shown towards creatures. Several things are comprised in supreme divine worship.
1. The perception of God's greatness and His supremacy over us; of our absolute insignificance, our dependence on Him, and of our profound obligations towards Him.
2. The willing acknowledgment of this by humble submission, by adoration, and by praising and glorifying God.
3. A formal act of worship generally includes the expression of our homage by some external sign. This is not always a matter of strict necessity, but the natural impulse of all men has been to render God the double homage of mind and body, and to express it outwardly by word of mouth, by bodily posture, or by dedicating special places and special times to divine worship. The fundamental idea in worship is to render God His due and to consecrate oneself to Him. The mind which does not do this is deformed, maimed and horrible, diverted from its proper purpose, and useless the only useless thing in the great Universe a blot in creation, a noxious influence obstructing the development of natural and supernatural life.
