nder associations: therefore, I have no hesitation in
saying that the existence of a marked correspondence between its
teaching and that of the New Thought cannot but be a source of strength
and encouragement to any of us who have been accustomed in the past to
look to the old and hallowed Book as a storehouse of Divine wisdom. We
shall find that the clearer light will make the rough places smooth and
the dim places luminous, and that of the treasures of knowledge hidden
in the ancient volume the half has not been told us.

The Bible lays emphatic stress upon "the glorious liberty of the sons of
God," thus uniting in a single phrase the twofold idea of filial
dependence and personal liberty. A careful study of the subject will
show us that there is no opposition between these two ideas, but that
they are necessary correlatives to each other, and that whether stated
after the more concentrated method of the Bible, or after the more
detailed method of the New Thought, the true teaching proclaims, not our
independence of God, but our independence in God.

Such an enquiry naturally centres in an especial manner around the
sayings of Jesus; for whatever may be our opinions as to the nature of
the authority with which he spoke, we must all agree that a peculiar
weight attaches to those utterances which have come down to us as the
_ipsissima verba_ from which the entire New Testament has been
developed; and if an identity of conception in the New Thought movement
can be traced here at the fountain-head, we may expect to find it in the
lower streams also.

The Key to the Master's teaching is to be found in his discourse with
the Woman of Samaria, and it is contained in the statement that "the
Father" is Spirit, that is, Spirit in the absolute and unqualified sense
of the word, as appears from the original Greek, and not "A Spirit" as
it is rendered in the Authorised Version: and then as the natural
correlative to "the Father" we find another term employed, "the Son."
The relation between these two forms the great subject of Jesus'
teaching, and, therefore, it is most important to have some definite
idea of what he meant by these terms if we would understand what it was
that he really taught.

Now if "the Father" be Spirit, "the Son" must be Spirit also; for a son
must necessarily be of the same nature as his father. But since "the
Father" is Spirit, Absolute and Universal, it is evident that "the Son"
cannot be Spirit, Abso