word, give me wisdom, that sitteth by thy throne. Who shall know thy thought, except thou give wisdom, and send thy Holy Spirit from above?"

It cannot therefore be seriously maintained that the mystery of the Divine Trinity was clearly revealed in the Old Testament. Aside from certain specially enlightened individuals, such as Abraham, Moses, Isaias, and David, the Jews could not, from the more or less enigmatic hints scattered through their sacred books, have obtained a sufficiently distinct knowledge of the Blessed Trinity to make it appear as an article of faith.

Nevertheless it remains true that the Trinity was not announced in the New Testament suddenly and without preparation. On the contrary, the great mystery of the Godhead was foreshadowed from the very beginning of the Jewish Covenant and assumed more definite and luminous proportions during and after the time of David, until at last it stood fully revealed in the mystery of the Incarnation, and the mission of the Holy Ghost on Pentecost Day.

33

READINGS: Drach, De l'Harmonie entre l'Église et la Synagogue, Paris 1844.-P. Scholz, Theologie des A. B., Vol. I, §§ 29 sqq., Ratisbon 1861.- Scheeben, Dogmatik, Vol. I, § 110, Freiburg 1875 (Wilhelm-Scannell's Manual, I, pp. 283 sqq.).

33 Matth. I, 18 sqq.; Luke I, 35,etc.

-*Heinrich, Dogmat. Theologie, 2nd ed., Vol. III, §§ 214-218, Mainz 1883.- Franzelin, De Deo Trino, thes. 6 and 7, Romae 1881. On the "Angel of Jehovah," cfr. A. Rohling in the Tübinger Quartalschrift, 1866, pp. 415 sqq., 527 sqq.—*L. Reinke, Beiträge zur Erklärung des A. T., Vol. IV, pp. 355 sqq.; J. Lebreton, Les Origines du Dogme de la Trinité, pp. 89 sqq., Paris 1910. On the Messias, cfr. *König, Theologie der Psalmen, Freiburg 1857; L. Reinke, Messianische Psalmen, 2 vols., Giessen 18571858; H. Zschokke, Theologie der Propheten, Freiburg 1877; H. P. Liddon, The Divinity of Our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, London 1867; A. J. Maas, S. J., Christ in Type and Prophecy, 2 vols., New York 1893-5.

On the Sapiential Books of the Old Testament cfr. *Fr. Klasen, Die alttestamentliche Weisheit und der Logos der jüdischalexandrinischen Philosophie, 1878; also J. Réville, Le Logos d'après Philon d'Alexandrie, Paris 1877; Zschokke, Der dogmatisch-ethische Lehrgehalt der alttestamentlichen Weisheitsbücher, Wien 1889; E. Krebs, Der Logos als Heiland im ersten Jahrhundert, Freiburg 1910; J. Lebreton, Les Origines du Dogme de la Trinité, 89 sqq., 441 sqq., Paris 1910.

SECTION 2

THE THREEFOLD PERSONALITY OF GOD AS TAUGHT IN THE NEW TESTAMENT-TEXTS TREATING

στασις =

OF THE THREE DIVINE PERSONS

TOGETHER

ὁμοούσιος

= =

Though the exact terms in which the Church has formally defined the dogma of the Blessed Trinity (Tpiás = trinitas, ovoía = substantia, Ópersona,1 oμoovσios consubstantialis) are not in the Bible, and may, therefore, in a sense be called unscriptural; yet materially, that is in substance, they correctly express the teaching of the New Testament, which, like the Church, explicitly acknowledges three real Persons in one Divine Nature, in which precisely the dogma of the "Trinity in Unity" consists.

As we are here dealing with a fundamental dogma of Christianity, the material correspondence of the New Testament doctrine with the formally defined teaching of the Church must be carefully and stringently demonstrated. We therefore proceed to a minute critical investigation of the various texts that are apt to throw light on the subject. Let us begin with those in which

1 Cfr. Hebr. I, 3, where iπóσтaσis is used as synonymous with substantia.

the threefold personality of God is distinctly and formally enunciated.

I. THE GOSPELS.-Four such texts occur in the Gospels. Though their combined effect is sufficiently compelling, they are not all of equal weight. The most convincing is the passage embodying the form of Baptism.

a) The first brief intimation of the functioning of Three Divine Persons is given in the Annunciation: "Spiritus Sanctus superveniet in te, et virtus Altissimi obumbrabit tibi; ideoque et quod nascetur ex te sanctum, vocabitur Filius Dei- The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the most High shall overshadow thee. And therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." 2 Here all three Divine Persons are distinctly mentioned: first, the Son who is to be born, second, the Holy Ghost, and third, the "Most High," who stands in the relation of a Father to Him of whom it is said 3 few verses farther up: "Hic erit magnus et Filius Altissimi vocabitur — He shall be great, and shall be called the Son of the most High." Where there is a Son of God, there must also be a Divine Father. The relative opposition between the terms Father and Son forbids the welding of both persons into one. This is sufficient evidence that we have here not merely three different names for one Divine Person, but three really distinct Hypostases, of which one is not the other. Nor can it have been the intention of the sacred writer merely to personify certain absolute attributes of the Deity. The Son of God, who is to be made flesh (Christ), manifestly represents a real Person.

Moreover, the strict monotheism of the Bible necessitates the assumption that the three Divine Persons mentioned in the text must be consubstantial, i. e., absolutely identical in essence.

b) The most glorious external manifestation of the Blessed Trinity occurred in connection with the Baptism of Christ. Christ, the Son of God, is standing in the Jordan; the Holy Ghost descends upon Him in the form of a dove, and the voice of the Father calls from Heaven: "This is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased." Here, too, the hypostatic difference between the three Persons, and the impossibility of blending them into one, is quite apparent. The "beloved Son" and the Father expressing His pleasure are clearly differentiated, while the Person of the Holy Ghost is emblemed by the dove, a symbolic figure which would be unsuited to any absolute attribute of the Godhead.5 Though the identity of Nature of the three Divine Persons is not expressly enunciated in the above-quoted passages, it may, as a matter of course, be presumed.

c) In His famous farewell discourse delivered after the last Supper, Christ announced that He was "going to the Father and would ask Him to send the Paraclete. The distinction here made between the three Divine Persons is as obvious as it is real. No one can be father and son under the same aspect, nor can any one send himself. When Christ says, for instance: Ego rogabo Patrem, et alium Paraclitum dabit vobis, ut maneat vobiscum in aeternum, Spiritum veritatis — I will ask the Father, and He will give you another Paraclete, that he may abide with you forever, the Spirit of truth,"

4 Matth. III, 13 sqq.; Mark I, 9 sqq.; Luke III, 21 sqq.; cfr. Job I,

32.

5 Cfr. T. J. Gerrard, The Wayfarer's Vision, pp. 200 sqq. 6 John XIV-XVI.

7 John XIV, 16 sq.