ETERNAL PERDITION.
(TO THE EDITOR OF THE "SPECTATOR.") SIR,—In your courteous notice of an article of mine in the current Contemporary Review, you speak of my "defence of eternal per- dition, which is really an able plea for the Catholic doctrine of purgatory." Will you kindly allow me to explain ?-1. That the present article comprises only the opening portion—somewhat less than a third—of the entire essay, and the direct argument against Universalism (from reason and revelation) does not begin till further on.
2. That the phrase you quote from the title is not of my selec- tion. I had simply entitled the paper, "Catholic Eschatology and Universalism," which was altered by the editor, after it had passed out of my control, on grounds which appeared to him suf- ficient, to "Eternal Perdition and Universalism, from a Roman Catholic Point of View." I regret the change of title myself, and fear that the latter part of it especially may give rise to miscon- ceptions, for when I come to examine the authority for the doc- trine of eternal punishment, I have purposely avoided discussing it from an exclusively "Roman Catholic point of view," for the obvious reason that among Roman Catholics, as such, there is no question on the subject, and my argument is of course primarily addressed to those who entertain doubts or objections, not to
those who have none.—I am, Sir, &c., H. N. OXENHAM.
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