mystery, one of the many mysteries in our own nature. We do not understand it, yet we know that so it is. Each individual is a single person, yet none the less is he conscious of this distinction within himself, which does not, however, contradict the fact of his own single personality. We do not adduce this illustration as in any sense a proof of the truth of the doctrine of the Divine Trinity in Unity. The proof of the doctrine, as we have already said, is found in the Bible, and especially in the New Testament. We accept this doctrine solely because it has been Divinely revealed by Him who is the Truth (الحقّ). What we are now endeavouring to do is merely to show that certain arguments commonly brought against the doctrine are not sufficient to refute it. On the contrary, they arise in some measure from misunderstanding the Christian doctrine on the subject of God's Most Holy Nature. Hence it is our duty to try and explain this doctrine, and thus to remove out of the path of our Muslim brothers one of those stumbling-blocks which now prevent them from coming to the knowledge of truth.

It is a very remarkable fact that the Qur'an agrees with the Torah in using the first person plural of the verb and of the personal pronoun in speaking of God. In the Torah this usage seldom occurs, though examples of it are found in Gen. i. 26; iii. 22; xi. 7: but in the Qur'an they occur with great frequency. For instance, in Surah xcvi, Al 'Alaq, which some say contains the earliest revelation which Muhammad claimed to have received, although the Almighty is called

"the Lord" (ver. 8) and "God" (ver. 13), a singular noun being used in each case, yet in ver. 17 He is represented as saying, "We too will summon the guards of hell," using the verb in the first person plural. As both the Bible and the Qur'an therefore agree in the use of such language, it cannot be devoid of meaning. The Jews explain it by saying that God was addressing the angels: but this explanation does not suit the Torah, and is absolutely incompatible with

the language of the Qur'an. Nor does the usual explanation, that the plural is used to express God's majesty, completely satisfy an earnest inquirer. It is not our duty to comment upon the use of the plural in such places, but we can hardly be wrong in saying that the acceptance of the doctrine of the Trinity, as we have above set it forth, would render it easier to understand how belief in the Divine Unity can be reconciled with the use of "We" in the Qur'an in reference to God.

Although no similitude (مَشَلْ) drawn from created things can at all perfectly set forth the Divine Nature, yet there are others besides that already mentioned which may help to show that there are certain kinds of plurality which are quite consistent with a real unity. For example, in a single ray of white sunlight there exist three distinct kinds of rays, those of (1) light, (2) heat, and (3) chemical action. Yet these cannot be so completely separated from one another as to form three distinct rays: on the contrary, the unity of the ray requires the existence of all three within it. Another way of putting the illustration maybe employed. Fire, light, and heat are three, and yet one. There is no fire without light and heat, while light and heat are of the same nature and origin as fire. They are, moreover, of the same age with it. We may say that the fire gives out light and heat, and that light and heat are produced by fire, or that they proceed forth from the fire. But this does not imply that they are ever separated from the fire, and do not continue to exist in the fire at the very time at which they are rightly spoken of as having issued forth from it. In the same way, Mind, Thought, Speech, are one, and yet are distinct from one another. We cannot conceive of a mind utterly destitute of thought, and thought has within it speech (كَلاَمْ), whether uttered or unuttered. Here again we see that certain forms of plurality are not opposed to unity, and that there exist certain things the very nature of which is plurality in unity.