living reality is in no sense a mere Universal-embracing-individuals, as conceived by any of these schools of thought.

If, then, God is neither a mere Name, nor a mere Conception of the mind, nor a mere metaphysical Essence,¹ but is a transcendent and perfect living Reality, then the Godhead is in no sense a mere Universal, and the Persons of the Sacred Trinity are not particular individuals (gods) in the unity of the class (god), and the charge of Tritheism falls to the ground.

(2) The second consideration which reveals the fallacy of the objection is this: a genus (man for example) whatever be the degree of reality which it possesses, is not in the least affected by the destruction of one, or any number, of its constituent members. Annihilate Amr, Zaid and Ubaid, and as many others as you please, and the genus, as genus, still remains. It is not even, as genus, mutilated. This shows that genus is not really a living organic unity, which is bound up with the unimpaired existence of its members. But this is exactly what, with all reverence, we seem to see in God, who is highest and most perfect Life. He is a unity in and through the Persons, not one of whom has or can have any separated existence, but each lives for,

in, and through each. Therefore the Father is the one Substance of God, the Son is the one Substance of God, the Holy Spirit is the one Substance of God; not three gods, but One God. To whom be glory for ever.

v. That the Idea of the Trinity is, then, Meaningless and Barren

The final objection is as follows: If, as concluded last time, Father, Son, and Spirit, is each the one substance of God, this simply means that there is no reality whatever in the distinctions Father, Son, and Spirit, owing to the utter impossibility of assigning to any one of the so-called Persons anything peculiar to that Person. In other words, you can never say that any One does what the Other does not; and this fact lands you into the most hopeless contradictions.

This objection is strongly urged in a little book by a young Muhammadan doctor, a follower of the late Sheikh Muhammad Abdu, where he says:

Moreover, the idea of the Nazarenes that Allah is one in essence, three in persons, is impossible; for they believe that each Person is distinguished from the other by sundry properties: the first by His Fatherhood; the second by His Sonship, and by His Incarnation and indwelling; the third by Procession. These distinctions are conceived of as perfectly real, insomuch that what is ascribed to one must not be transferred to another. To this I reply: The property that constitutes the distinction inheres essentially in the Person to whom it belongs; that is, to His essence. Therefore, it inheres in the essence of Allah, for His essence is one and indivisible, as every Christian maintains; and the essence of each Person is the essence of Allah. But, on