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56 A CLOUD OF WITNESSES.

Again he says : —

" It was Swedenborg*s idea of the Trinity, that it existed in one, as the Will, Understanding, and Energy — as Cause, Manifestation, and Operation; and this is plain, however difficult any opposite method of interpretation may be. The Unity of the Godhead is a doctrine so dear to Christian minds —the Trinity has so often proved a stumbling-block to young believers, and a ground of contempt to sneering skeptics, that every one must hail a solution that may at once retain the grandeur and the intention of the mystery, and yet make it more plain to the understanding. We would be the last to reject Revelation on account of its mysteries : . . . but it would be madness to prefer the mystery to the sunlight, when the one streams through the heart and region of the other." (p. 257.)

REGENERATION

Mr. Hood then passes on to another central doctrine of Christianity — " the great fact in human history called Regeneration." And the following is his confession on this subject:—

" The new birth is the everlasting puzzle, and the occasion of everlasting sneers and contempt to almost

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