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of God which the holy Scriptures give us, and not, through our intellectual
pride and prejudice, to turn aside from the light, close our eyes, and
substitute man's philosophy for God's revelation. God Most Merciful gave us this
holy revelation because man's utmost efforts to find God had failed, as it is
written: 'Hath 1 not God made foolish the wisdom of the world? For
seeing that in the wisdom of God the world through its wisdom knew not God, it
was God's good pleasure, through the foolishness of the preaching 2
to save them that believe. Seeing that Jews ask for signs, and Greeks seek after
wisdom: but we preach Christ crucified, unto Jews a stumbling-block, and unto
Gentiles foolishness; but unto them that are called, both Jews and Greeks,
Christ the power of God, and the wisdom of God.'
The doctrine of the trinity of Hypostases in the unity of the divine nature
is doubtless mysterious; but, when we compare it with any of the philosophical
dogmas which we have considered above, it must be confessed that it is
simplicity itself. There may be something in the scriptural teaching on the
nature of God which exceeds the limits of our finite intellect and in that
sense is above reason; but it is certainly not contrary to reason, as these
philosophical theories are. Nor does the scriptural
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DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY
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doctrine of the Trinity in Unity lead either to pantheism or agnosticism, as
the human systems of speculation do. In this they tend to render the worship of
God an absurdity; for who can adore the universe as God, or worship an unknown
God? Pantheism does away with all distinction between right and wrong; and so
also does agnosticism, thus abolishing all morality. The scriptural doctrine of
the Trinity reveals God, enables men to know Him through His Word and His Holy
Spirit, leads them to hate sin and love holiness, to worship Him in spirit and
in truth. It also does away with fate, substituting for it the will of an
All-Wise, All-Good, All-Holy, All-Loving, Heavenly Father. True wisdom
therefore, the wisdom which is from above, leads us to accept what God has
taught us about His own most Holy Nature, and not to substitute for it the
baseless and illogical theories of men, which have neither analogy nor authority
to support them, and which satisfy neither reason nor conscience.
From what we have already said it will be clear to our honoured readers that
no philosopher has succeeded by means of his keenness of intellect in solving
the mystery of the divine nature. In fact we find that all human study and
effort has failed to fathom the measureless depths of the knowledge of God. The
finite cannot fully comprehend the infinite. Of God's nature man can know only
what God has revealed in the sacred Scriptures and in |
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