Waiapu Church Gazette July 1st, 1944. "TRINITY-TIDE"

Waiapu Church Gazette, Volume 35, Issue 5, 1 July 1944, Page 4

Waiapu Church Gazette July Ist, 1944. "TRINITY-TIDE"

To the ordinary churchgoer Trinity Sunday is possibly the least inspiring of all the Christian festivals. For one thing, it commemorates, not an event, by a dogma, and, the ordinary man has a definite, if somewhat unaccountable, distaste for , dogma, at least m matters of religion. For smoother: thing, the dogma presents uncommon difficulties. It is. paradoxical m character, and the ordinary man distrusts paradox; it is couched m terms of a bygone metaphysic, which is admittedly hard to explain or understand, Let all this be admitted, yet is still remains true that the Dostrine of the Trinity is? one of unique value and importance; and that m more ways than one. . It is intellectually the most satisfying conception ' which human language can frame of the- mystery of the Divine Being. No human formula, is adequate to the task of explaining thaj; mystery, but some formulas are more adequate than others, and, m the opinion of great thinkers like the philosopher Hegel, the Doctrine of the Trinity is the most adequate of them all. God the Creator cannot be less great m His Being than is man. whom He created. The greatness of man resides m his personality, m his powder of free choice, of taking means to ends, of choosing, willing and loving. Therefore, however much more He may be, God must at least be personal. But here a difficulty comes m. Man develops his personality through contact with persons, and cannot, m the nature of things, develop it m any other way. He could -not, for instance, learn to love if there were no one for him to love: he could not achieve unselfishness if there were riot but himself to -consider. He could not even recognise his own selfhood if there were .no other selves from whom to

distinguish himself. But God, by definition, existed before all creation, and whatever He is He must have been from all eternity. Since, there--fore, He must be characterised by personality, He must somehow, contain within His own Being 'the distinction of persons, through which alone personality can exist. That very briefly and inadequately is the , philosophical justification of the doctrine. It is that which makes it intellectually the most satisfying doctrine of God which can be framed m human language. / , It is also morally , the, most stimulating idea of God. Gregory of - Nyssa had a remarkable success m converting the people of his See City^ .to Christianity. He was once asked how he had done it and he' replied, "By preaching the Doctrine of the Trinity." Amongst the most fundamental of human needs is that for discovering the secret of unity m diversity. It is needed m the Church, where diversities of view have led to disastrous disunity. It is needed m the world of nations whichj, unless it can -find that secret, seems doomed to futility and chaos. It is therefore an unique important stimulus m pursuing this quest to know that within the Being of God Himself there is to be found that -every* unity m diversity which is the object of a man's persistent and pathetic search. ' . In the light of the Trinity-Tide assurance, he knows that m that quest he is pursuing no; mirage nor will-of-the-wisp, but something which is integral to the Universe, and is found at its very heart. Once more the doctrine is morally the most reassuring of all the doctrines. In no sphere is man more conscious of the need % pr achieving unity ift diversity than m the sphere , of his own life. Self -integration is

one of the watchwords of modern psychology; anil self-disintegration is one. of the commonest of human experiences/ WJhen St. Paul says, "The good\that I would I do not, but the ev# that I would not that I do . . , I find another law m my being warding against the law of my mind," he is- speaking not of himself alone, but for all mankind. It is one thing to recognise and admire the Christian ideal; it is quite s another to achieve it. It is therefore ' everything to be told of a God Who has not only promulgated the moral law, but has Himself submitted to it, and achieved its perfect fulfilment, and has/moreover, pledged Himself to communicate a share of His own victorious Spirit to all who- ask it. In the. sphere of Ethics that is the Doctrine of the Trinity.— The Church Standard; . -