3. In perfect accordance with this view, the Church in her symbols endeavours to express the mystery, as set forth in Scripture; not to embrace it with the intellect, but to protect it both against Unitarianism and Tritheism; so that a Christian may possess saving faith in the triune God, Father, Son and Holy Spirit without the knowledge of these dogmatic forms; yet no one can reject these, without rejecting the Trinity. When modern theologians endeavour to shake these venerable safe-guards of our holy faith, we can only ascribe it to a secret leaning to Unitarianism; hence we have sufficient reason to hold fast the dogmatic representation of this doctrine in our creeds. 84 That neither the doctrine of the Incarnation nor that of the Trinity are in themselves irrational, may be inferred from the religious speculations of Pagan antiquity. As true religion commenced with manifestations of the Deity and ended with the Incarnation of the blessed Godhead, so Paganism commenced with oracles and pseudo-prophetical revelations, and propria principia consulenti: ἀδύνατον καὶ ἀντιφατικόν, absurdum et impossibile videatur." Quenst. Theolog. Didactico-polemica Vol. I. pag. 318.

84 Fides Catholica non in hac loquendi formula praecise sita est, quod tres sint personae in una div. essentia, sed in eo ut sincere credamus, Patrem, Filium et Spiritum S. unum esse Deum,ut per omnia et unitatem in Trinitate et Trinitatem in unitate veneremur. Gemina illic loquutionis illius necessitas statuitur a S. Augustino: altera ab humani eloquii inopia, altera ab haereticorum versutia Primo dictum ita fuit, quum non liceret aliter, ut aliquo saltem modo explicaretur ineffabilis illa Unitatis et Trinitatis ratio, non ut illud diceretur, sed ne taceretur... Patet igitur, quo pacto necessaria sint illae formulae, non quidem absolute, sed ex hypothesi tum declarandae ὀρθοδοξίας, tum dignoscendae ἑτεροδοξίας, tametsi hujus videatur potior esse, quam illius ratio." Calovii Dog. III. pag. 4.

ended with incarnations of the Deity. Again, may we not go further, and admit that some image, ideal or material, exists in almost every false creed, by which the blessed Trinity is adumbrated. We find in almost every Mythology a divine Triad, and in some cases even a Monad in connection with a Triad; we refer to the Trimurti of the Hindoos, the Triads of the ancient Egyptians, and Scandinavians, also to the Neo-platonic philosophy. To this may be added the remarkable fact, that the Jewish philosophers B. C. assumed three lights, three names and one substance in God. 85 Errors, when universal, may be invariably traced to some perversion of truth; if so, we may recognise a corruption of the Trinity in all these Triads, if not in Polytheism itself.

As far then as the philosophico-religious speculations of the Pagan and Jewish world have any weight, we have their testimony, that it is precisely the abstract metaphysical Monotheism of the Koran which satisfies neither faith nor reason. 86 Waving however the question, whether the dogma of the Trinity or this rigid Unitarianism be the more opposed to rea

85 See Maraccio Prodrom. Pars III. cap. IX. Ex veterum Hebraeorum doctrina, Sanctissimae Trinitatis Mysterium comprobatur. pag. 26-28.

86 "Es ist weniger Menschensache, den spekulativen Werth eines Lehrgebäudes zu verfolgen und zu ergründen; die Bemerkung dürfte demnach für Viele völlig unnüß sein, daß der Monotheismus des Islam die philosophirende Vernunft nicht befriedige und gerade dann verworfen werden müsse, wenn von der Denkbarkeit oder Undenkbarkeit einer bestimmten Vorstellung von Gott die Rede ist. Daß die Gottheit Eine Person sei, ist eben das ganz und gar Undenkbare, durchaus Unvernünftige, und aller wahren Spekulation Entgegengeseßte. Daß Gott nicht Mensch geworden, ist eben das Widersinnige." Möhler's Gesammelte Werke pag. 397.

son, let it suffice us to know and to feel that the Holy Trinity is what the human heart practically needs. Indistinct and undefined as were the longings expressed in Pagan errors, and far beyond the power of human reason to anticipate, yet they gave loud utterance of the real wants of man.

Lastly, our opponents have in themselves a species of unity in trinity, which though unable to understand, they will have some difficulty to deny. We do not allude to the human constitution in its threefold aspect, as an illustration of the Divine Trinity, but we would ask those, who consider that doctrine unreasonable, to explain how the human spirit acts upon the soul, and how the soul acts upon the body: let them define how their reasonable thoughts upon the Trinity produce the words, with which they oppose the truth, and how these words call forth corresponding thoughts in the minds of others, and when they have satisfactorily explained this mystery, we will undertake to explain the mystery of the holy Trinity.87 IfI have told you of earthly things, said our Lord, and ye believe not, how shall ye believe, if I tell you of heavenly things?"..

87 "1. Dieses Geheimniß bewahrt die Idee des göttlichen Lebens ohne die unstatthafte Annahme einer ewigen Schörfung; 2. erleichtert den Ge= danken der Offenbarung Gottes, ohne aufzuheben den Gedanken seiner Unerforschlichkeit; 3. stellt Gott in seiner Offenbarung, insbesondere im Sohne, als uns verwandt nahe, ohne aufzuheben die Idee der Unermeßlichkeit seines Wesens." Hahn.

CHAPTER V.

CHRIST THE SON OF GOD AND MOHAMMED THE SON OF ABDALLAH.

"What fellowship hath righteousness with unrighteousness? And what communion hath light with darkness? What concord hath Christ with Belial? What hath he that believeth with an infidel? 2 Cor. VI. 14. 15.

1. The comparison which devolves upon us in this chapter, is of a character from which we naturally recoil; but the interests of truth, and the arguments of our adversaries compel us to point out the infinite difference, existing between the prophet of the Arabs and the Messiah of the world: since it is against the Divine Sonship of the Redeemer, that the Koran chiefly levels its concentrated wrath. The Koran asserts that Christ is nothing but a messenger; Sur. V. 79. those are infidels, that confess Christ the son of Mary to be truly God. Sur. V. 19. Allah has no son, Sur. XXIII. 93. and the impossibility of this is proved from the fact of his having no partner. Sur. LXXII. 2.88 It is foreign to our intention to exhaust

88 "Offendi se ajunt Mahumetistae, quod Deo filium demum cum uxore non utatur; quasi filii vox in Deo non possit diviniorem habere significationem. At ipse Mahumetus multa Deo ascribit non minus indigna, quam si uxorem habere diceretur: puta manum ipsi frigidam esse, idque se tactu expertum: gestari in sella et his similia. Nos vero cum Jesum Dei filium dicimus, hoc significamus, quod ipse cum eum Verbum Dei dicit: verbum enim ex mente, suo quodam modo gignitur: adde jam, quod ex virgine, sola Dei opera vim paternam supplente, natus est, quod in coelum evertus Dei potestate, quae et ipsa Mahumeti confessa ostendunt Jesum singulari quodam jure Dei filium appellari posse et debere." Grot. de veritat. relig. Christ. pag. 288.

the subject in all its bearings; all that we contemplate, is to furnish hints and supply materials for the inexperienced Missionary, or any other Christian man who may have occasion to sustain an argument with Mohammedans on these momentous subjects. The Divine Sonship of Christ may be sometimes proved from the admissions, which the Koran has hazarded, respecting the dignity of "the son of Mary.” That mode of reasoning, which carries the argument within the camp of our opponents and fights with their weapons, if ably conducted, is one of the most powerful, which can be adopted; and is moreover accompanied with this singular advantage, that the Koran is proved to be inconsistent and false, if its admissions do not imply that Jesus is the Son of God.

When Christ is styled "the Word," not only His prophetical character, but also His pre-existence with the Father is admitted. If Jesus be the Word, in the sense of St. John, from whom alone, Mohammed could have borrowed the expression, He must have been with God from the beginning, and by Him all things were made. Christ could not be the Word, if he was not God or the Son of God; Mohammed therefore, either declared a falsehood when he admitted Christ to be the Word, or he is wrong in denying Him to be the Son of God.89

89 "Si interrogatus es a Saraceno, quis sit Christus? respondi ei: Verbum Dei, nec existimes peccare quia et verbum dicitur in Scriptura et brachium et potentia Dei et multa alia. Vicissem autem interroga ipsum et tu: a Scriptura quid dicitur Christus? Tum forte volet interrogare te et ipse aliud, cupiens sic effugare te: non vero