136 SHEMITIC CIVILIZATION. 



higher degree of religious eminence than 

 man had ever reached before, having come 

 to look upon God in the relation of a son 

 to a father, devoted to his work, with an 

 oblivion of all beside, and an abnegation 

 never before so loftily carried out, the 

 victim at last of his idea, and deified by 

 his death, Jesus founded the eternal reli- 

 gion of mankind, —the religion of the soul 

 set free from all priesthood, all worship, 

 all observances; accessible to all races, su- 

 perior to the distinctions of caste — in one 

 word — absolute. " Woman, the time is 

 come when they will not worship any 

 more in this mountain, nor at Jerusalem, 

 but when the true worshippers will wor- 

 ship in spirit and in truth." 1 The genial 

 centre to which man, for centuries to come, 

 should trace back his joy, his hopes, his 

 consolation, and his motives for well-doing, 



1 Our version : — "" Woman, believe me, the hour cometh when 

 ye shall neither in this mountain, nor yet at Jerusalem, worship 



the Father But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true 



worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth" 

 (John iv. 21 and 23). — Translators Note. 



