it. Let it be clearly understood that a knowledge of details is not
necessary to belief. It is purely a matter of revelation. There may be
good reasons why details are not given. The fact is enough for the
present; details will be known in due time.

So the sermon I have referred to related wholly to worldly success, with
a mere glance at the possibility of a future life, which in reality
favored unbelief. The whole sermon struck me as a kind of religious
exploitation of materialism.

Just now I have met with a magazine article in which the phrase
"eternal death" is used. The author is an eminent Presbyterian minister,
whom I know well. I really could not understand his meaning. I wrote to
him asking whether he meant eternal extinction or eternal torment; or
whether he threw out the phrase loosely, leaving his readers to take
whichever view they chose. Here is his reply:

"I thank you for your kind reference to my articles on the Sunday School
Lesson, and note your question about the phrase, 'Eternal Death,' The
meaning of the phrase in my mind is largely determined by the meaning of
the corresponding phrase, 'Eternal Life.' In His use of the latter
phrase, our Lord evidently lays emphasis, not upon the thought of
duration, but upon that of quality. Eternal Life is a certain kind of
life which He gives to His people now. Similarly, Eternal Death is a
state in which people may exist even while they are in this world. It is
eternal in regard to duration in this sense, that it has no awakening;
its tendency is to persist forever. But that is not to say that God
cannot bring one from a state of eternal death into that of eternal
life. I do not know whether I have made myself clear, but it is somewhat
in this way that the matter presents itself to my mind."