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

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