Article September 11, 1909 Issue

When our Lord had the discussion with the woman of...

Alfred Farlow

Ashland (Ky.) Independent

When our Lord had the discussion with the woman of Samaria at the well, the woman said: "Our fathers worshiped in this mountain; and ye say, that in Jerusalem is the place where men ought to worship." The Master replied, "Woman, believe me, the hour cometh, when ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship the Father. Ye worship ye know not what: we know what we worship. ... But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him. God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth."

This was an entirely new proposition in respect to the question of worship, and in order that the position of the Master might be maintained, it became necessary for him to give the woman a fundamental lesson concerning the God to be worshiped. Evidently the belief that God had taken up His residence in Jerusalem, and that, therefore, prayers must be directed to that city, did not differ from the Samaritan's belief that God resided in a certain mountain. It was a belief in a humanly circumscribed being—a limited personality. Jesus corrected this erroneous belief by His teaching that God is infinite Spirit, everywhere present, and therefore must be worshiped spiritually, not materially: that it was not necessary to make a journey in order to find God, nor to cry aloud in order to make Him hear. It was only necessary to open our spiritual vision, to become conscious of the divine presence, and therefore discover that our prayers are heard even before they are uttered.

Mrs. Eddy has founded her entire system upon the Master's definition of God. She teaches that the personality of God is infinite Spirit, that our heavenly Father is omnipotent, omniscient, omnipresent Mind. Every statement contained in the Christian Science text-book, Science and Health, is consistently deduced from this premise. If God is Spirit, then His creation, which is after His kind, is spiritual; and, if spiritual, it is not material. This teaching explains the otherwise mysterious declaration of the Master: "It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing." "That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit is spirit."

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