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of God is true. We shall see that, only on the theory (which is contrary to
the Christian Faith) that the three Hypostases are three separate numerical
units,1 is this doctrine opposed to belief in the unity of the divine
nature, and that only in the same sense are unity and plurality opposite
ideas. The assertion that the doctrine is contrary to reason 2 is
founded upon this misunderstanding.
It is not hidden from men of understanding that God Most High has in some
measure revealed Himself in the works of creation as well as in His holy word,
though, of course, not so clearly. Proceeding as they do from the same great
author, the pages of creation in some degree serve as a commentary upon those of
the holy Scriptures, just as the latter in turn resolve many enigmas in the book
of nature
(موجودات), which would otherwise prove inexplicable to mankind. Whoever,
therefore, reflects upon those forces which are at work in the universe, and
studies the effects which these exert upon one another, their characters, and
their connexion with
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DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY
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each other, will by this means be better able to understand some of the
teachings of Holy Writ. So it is even with the doctrine of the Trinity in Unity;
for we shall see that some slight analogies to this great mystery exist in the
works of creation also. All God's works and all existent things represent the
thoughts of God Most High, the Causer of causes, which thoughts became as it
were clothed with material raiment at creation, so as to become visible to
mankind, in order that men, beholding them, might by the ladder of the visible
ascend to the comprehension of the invisible. Thus to a thoughtful and reverent
seeker after truth this transitory world with all its wonderful order and
arrangement is a school in which he may learn the elements of the knowledge of
the eternal, spiritual world. Had not man fallen into sin and thus wandered far
from God, and had not his spiritual understanding, through such alienation from
his Maker, become obscured and enfeebled, assuredly we should be able through
the study of the universe, and by means of our own inner sense to attain to a
far better knowledge of ourselves and of God than is now possible by such means.
Under these circumstances, perhaps, as some hold, a written word of God would
not have been necessary for us. But, in our present state of need and darkness,
into which we have fallen through sin, the written word is absolutely needful,
in order to be our guide and to testify to us of the One Incarnate
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