154 THE KEY OF MYSTERIES

where the Lord Jesus Christ Himself claims to be the 1 first and the last and the Living one', and tells us that He has been sent 2 by His Father, and that God the Father will send His Holy Spirit 3 into the hearts of true Christians, to guide them to a full knowledge of the truth.

Many other parts of the Old Testament that refer to the same doctrine become quite clear when we study God's later revelation given in the New Testament, which perfects 4 the teaching of the Old Testament prophets. There we see that the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity, which in the Old Testament is only dimly referred to, is clearly set forth to be accepted by all who truly believe in God and in what He has revealed in the holy Scriptures. In this as in many other matters, the light of the New Testament is needed to enable men fully to understand the Old, because these two divine revelations are one complete whole. Hence the Jews themselves, though they keep and reverence the Old Testament, yet are unable fully to understand its mysteries, because they reject the Gospel.

1 Rev. i. 17.
2 John iv. 34; v. 23-4, 30, 37; vi. 38, 39-40, 44, 57; vii. 16; viii. 16, 18; ix. 4; xi. 42; xii. 44-5, 49; xiv. 24; xv. 21; xvi. 5; xvii. 3, 8, 21, 23; xx. 21, etc.
3 John xiv. 16-17, 26; cf. John xv, 26 and xvi. 7, where Christ Himself promises to send the Holy Spirit.
4 See the revised Mizanu'l-Haqq, pt. i, ch. ii and pt. ii, chs. iii and iv.
DOCTRINE OF THE HOLY TRINITY 155

Although, however, the doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity in the divine unity is clearly stated in the New Testament, yet God who knoweth that which is concealed (عَالِمُ اْلغَيْب), of His boundless wisdom, has not deemed it either necessary or profitable to reveal to His creatures more of this great mystery of His own being than what has been already mentioned. God has taught us regarding this and all other matters, such as the life after death, the resurrection, etc., enough to enable us to do our duty, not enough to satisfy our curiosity. And, since man's feeble intellect is quite unable of itself to fathom the deep mysteries of the infinite nature of God Most High, therefore none of us dare say more about this subject than what is revealed in God's word (كلام). Our reason, however, is able to show us that we must accept as true whatever God who is the Truth (الحق) has taught us. Thus we learn that there is only one God, and that in the divine unity there are three divine Hypostases, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit. Nor ought it to cause us any surprise to find unfathomable mysteries in the divine nature: for God is Omniscient (عليم) and embraces all things within the compass of His boundless knowledge, yet He Himself cannot be fully known. He is All-Wise, and of the infinite ocean of His boundless wisdom, the wisdom