30 JUNE 1939, Page 20

[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR] SIR,—If Mr. Joad had

studied the documents which he criti- cises he would have discovered a definition of the word " eternal "—" And this is life eternal: to know Thee and Jesus Christ whom Thou hast sent." So that, as F. D. Maurice pointed out, " eternal " refers to quality, not to duration. The pundits of King's College expelled him but he found his reward elsewhere. Similarly in Lowes Dickinson's Magic Flute the young man asks Jesus, " Are there heaven and hell?" and receives the reply, " Both ; here."—Yours, &c.,