grief and enjoyed pure happiness, like men, and in this manner He showed other human attributes. Hence it is that He says in the Gospel that the Father sent ¹ the Son, and that He called Himself the Son of Man. Thus too He was born of the Virgin Mary, suffered pain, was crucified, died, was buried, rose again the third day from the dead, and afterwards ascended into heaven before His disciples' eyes. Thus, too, the Lord Jesus Himself said, 'The ² Father is greater than I', and, 'I ³ am come down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.' Thus also He became our intercessor and mediator, prayed for us when He was on earth, and 'ever ⁴ liveth to make intercession' for those who draw near unto God through Him. All this, of course, belongs to His perfect and sinless humanity, which is for ever united to His divine nature; and the difficulty which we are considering vanishes when we accept the inspired teaching of the Gospel on this subject. A third objection is raised by those who say, 'How is it possible that God should become man, or should appear with human attributes? How can the eternal (القديم) enter into any relation (علاقة) with the temporary (المحادث), or the creator become a creature, or the absolute (المطلق) become the conditioned

(المقيّد), or the infinite (غير الحدود), the finite (المحدود).' In reply we must point out the fact that the holy Scriptures, though they teach the doctrine of the incarnation of the Word of God (كلمة الله) nowhere assert that the divine nature was changed into humanity or lost its own divine attributes. It is admitted by Christians quite as much as by Muslims that the infinite does not become finite or the creator a creature. But the holy Scriptures, which God has given us by His Holy Spirit's inspiration, teach that the Almighty is able to bring Himself into such a relation (علاقة) with His creatures that He can reveal Himself to them. To deny this would be to reject all revelation and to declare all the prophets and apostles to be liars. Since the divine purpose of winning men's love required that God should reveal His love to them, it is not contrary to reason to believe that God, of His infinite goodness, has condescended to send His Word to assume human nature, and thus to enable men to know the divine Word, and in Him to see and know and love His Heavenly Father. In this matter, as has been already pointed out, belief in the revealed doctrine of the Most Holy Trinity (الثّالوث) renders it easier far to understand the possibility of the incarnation, and thus removes the difficulty which Muslims feel, because they do not