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THE HOLY TRINITY.
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prolific nature and of the equally prolific imagination of man. On the contrary, the terms employed to define and the attributes of what is defined distinctly point to a mental conception of a being, faculty or thing capable of being looked at from three different standpoints, though not of being partitioned off into as many separate compartments.
There can be no doubt but that the primary conception of the Holy Trinity is that of three different aspects of Life, which is by nature endowed with potential Divinity. This potential Divinity being the ideal as well as the source, or substantive cause, of the subsequent actual Godhood of the soul, is the first member the Father-of the Holy Trinity. The Son naturally represents the Soul that has conquered Death and obtained
that world and the resurrection from the dead' (Luke, xx. 36; Romans, viii. 14); for he then becomes an 'heir of God,' to use the significant language of St. Paul (Romans, viii. 17). Now, because the potential Divinity of the Soul is only realised by those who attain nirvana, in other words, since Godhood is brought into manifestation only by the Soul who becomes an 'heir of God, the Son alone is the revealer of the Father. Accordingly, the Bible tells us : · "No man hath seen God at any time; the only begotten Son, which is in the bosom of the Father, he hath declared him." - John, 1. 18.
Now, because the actual is the successor to the potential in point of time, Divinity in manifestation stands to the Divine in potency in the relation of a successor or son, whence the Pauline metaphor -an heir of God. Yet, in so far as the manifested
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