God is pure perfection, and creatures are but imperfections. For God to
descend into the conditions of existence would be the greatest of
imperfections; on the contrary, His manifestation, His appearance, His
rising are like the reflection of the sun in a clear, pure, polished
mirror. All the creatures are evident signs of God, like the earthly
beings upon all of which the rays of the sun shine. But upon the plains,
the mountains, the trees and fruits, only a portion of the light shines,
through which they become visible, and are reared, and attain to the
object of their existence, while the Perfect Man(97) is in the condition
of a clear mirror in which the Sun of Reality becomes visible and manifest
with all its qualities and perfections. So the Reality of Christ was a
clear and polished mirror of the greatest purity and fineness. The Sun of
Reality, the Essence of Divinity, reflected itself in this mirror and
manifested its light and heat in it; but from the exaltation of its
holiness, and the heaven of its sanctity, the Sun did not descend to dwell
and abide in the mirror. No, it continues to subsist in its exaltation and
sublimity, while appearing and becoming manifest in the mirror in beauty
and perfection.
Now if we say that we have seen the Sun in two mirrors—one the Christ and
one the Holy Spirit—that is to say, that we have seen three Suns, one in
heaven and the two others on the earth, we speak truly. And if we say that
there is one Sun, and it is pure singleness, and has no partner and equal,
we again speak truly.
The epitome of the discourse is that the Reality of Christ was a clear
mirror, and the Sun of Reality—that is to say, the Essence of Oneness,
with its infinite perfections and attributes—became visible in the mirror.
The meaning is not that the Sun, which is the Essence of the Divinity,
became divided and multiplied—for the Sun is one—but it appeared in the
mirror. This is why Christ said, “The Father is in the Son,” meaning that
the Sun is visible and manifest in this mirror.
The Holy Spirit is the Bounty of God which becomes visible and evident in
the Reality of Christ. The Sonship station is the heart of Christ, and the
Holy Spirit is the station of the spirit of Christ. Hence it has become
certain and proved that the Essence of Divinity is absolutely unique and
has no equal, no likeness, no equivalent.
This is the signification of the Three Persons of the Trinity. If it were
otherwise, the foundations of the Religion of God would rest upon an
illogical proposition which the mind could never conceive, and how can the
mind be forced to believe a thing which it cannot conceive? A thing cannot
be grasped by the intelligence except when it is clothed in an
intelligible form; otherwise, it is but an effort of the imagination.
It has now become clear, from this explanation, what is the meaning of the
Three Persons of the Trinity. The Oneness of God is also proved.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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