which is its symbol, must
always be fully and perfectly itself, which is Life in all its unlimited
fulness.

In assigning to Affirmation, therefore, the importance which it does,
the New Thought movement is at one with the teaching of Jesus and Moses
and of the entire Bible. And the reason is clear. There is only one
Truth, and therefore careful seeking can bring men only to the same
Truth, whether they be Bible-writers or any other. The Bible derives its
authority from the inherent truth of the things it tells of, and not
vice versa; and if these things be true at all, they would be equally
true even though no Bible had ever been written. But, taking the Great
Affirmation as our guide, we shall find that the system taught by the
Bible is scientific and logical throughout, and therefore any other
system which is scientifically true will be found to correspond with it
in substance, however it may differ from it in form; and thus, in their
statements regarding the power of Affirmation, the exponents of the New
Thought broach no new-fangled absurdity, but only reiterate a great
truth which has been before the world, though very imperfectly
recognised, for thousands of years.

III

_The Father_

If, as we have seen, "the Son" is the differentiating principle of
Spirit, giving rise to innumerable individualities, "the Father" is the
unifying principle by which these innumerable individualities are bound
together into one common life, and the necessity for recognising this
great basis of the universal harmony forms the foundation of Jesus'
teaching on the subject of Worship. "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh,
when neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, shall ye worship
the Father. Ye worship that which ye know not; we worship that which we
know; for salvation is from the Jews. But the hour cometh and now is
when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth"
(Revised Version). In these few words the Great Teacher sums up the
whole subject. He lays particular stress on the kind of worship that he
means. It is, before all things, founded upon knowledge.

"We worship that which we know," and it is this knowledge that gives the
worship a healthful and life-giving quality. It is not the ignorant
worship of wonderment and fear, a mere abasement of ourselves before
some vast, vague, unknown power, which may injure us if we do not find
out how to propitiate it; but it is a definite act performed