el with light, even when the darkness of ignorance covered the lands
of Christendom, dispelled only here and there by rays of knowledge
emanating from Jewish quarters.(221)

12. The proofs of the unity of God adduced by Mohammedan and Jewish
thinkers were derived from the rational order, design, and unity of the
cosmos, and from the laws of the mind itself. These aided in endowing
Judaism with a power of conviction which rendered futile the conversionist
efforts of the Church, with its arguments and its threats. Israel's only
One proved to be the God of truth, high and holy to both the mind and the
heart. The Jewish masters of thought rendered Him the highest object of
their speculation, only to bow in awe before Him who is beyond all human
ken; the Jewish martyrs likewise cheerfully offered up their lives in His
honor; and thus all hearts echoed the battle-cry of the centuries, "Hear O
Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One," and all minds were illumined
by the radiant hope, "The Lord will be King of the earth; on that day the
Lord shall be One, and His name shall be One."

13. Under all conditions, however, the doctrine of unity remained free
from outward compulsion and full of intrinsic vigor and freshness. There
was still room for differences of opinion, such as whether God's life,
power, wisdom, and unity are attributes--distinct from His being, and
qualifying it,--or whether they are inherent in His nature, comprising His
very essence. This controversy aimed to determine the conception of God,
either by Aristotelian rationalism, as represented by Maimonides, or by
the positive religious assumptions of Crescas and others.

This is Maimonides' statement of the unity: "God is one; that is, He is
unlike any other unit, whether made one in point of numbers or species, or
by virtue of composition, separation, and simplification. He is one in
Himself, there being no multiplicity in Him. His unity is beyond all
definition."(222)

Ibn Gabirol in his "Crown of Royalty" puts the same thought into poetic
form: "One art Thou; the wise wonder at the mystery of Thy unity, not
knowing what it is. One art Thou; not like the one of dimension or number,
as neither addition nor change, neither attribute nor quality affects Thy
being. Thou art God, who sustainest all beings by Thy divinity, who
holdest all creatures in Thy unity. Thou art God, and there is no
distinction between Thy unity, Thy eternity, and Thy being. All is
mys