Correspondence.

Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4494, 31 May 1883, Page 2

Correspondence.

These columns are open to all correspondence of pubi interest, but we do not hold ourselves responsib'e fo the opinions of writers. Correspondence must in all loses bo authenticated by the real name and ddress of the writer—not necessarily for publication, but as a g-uarancee of good faith.

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.) Sib,—Your correspondent, whom I might as well call Mr W., says that I have no foundation to build upon ; as I have Riven up the Bible, I have nothing __ solid to rely upon. It is always unfair in a controversy to make one say what one never did say—this is building a snow man in order that we might easily destroy it. I wish to say that I have given up no part of the Bible, which I have good reasons for believing to be true; but this point is worthiooking-at, to ace on what foundation we both rest. He says he rests upon the Bible, but this I deny; he rests solely upon his interpretation of it, which is another thing. When so many people interpret the,.Bible in so many different ways—one cbntrit dieting another—they all cannot be right;;.-, but Mr W. says that his is th"c right '6tie^: and if it is so, then all the others are wrong; and this is the foun» dation be relies upon. Can anything be more false and rotten? But what a ■ strange amount of conceit it, must, Jake before coming to the conclusion that he isC^ right, and all others are wrong? Is he quite sure that he has a greater amount of . brains and a larger grasp of thought than ; any other man ? He might ask on what do I rely to get to know what is truth P My repjy is that I rely upon all the powers ■ God has given me, upon all the senses, and every faculty of the mind, Treason, common sense, and the intuition of the soul,;, by.-, these powers I gather a n the light and knowledge I can from the Bible, and from the heavens above, and the: earth beneath, from the vegetable, animal, and mineral r world. God still speaks to me through His works, and it is for us to get to understand what He says. Here we have the book of nature direct from Himself; it has not gone through any translation. This book is infallibly, correct, if we could only read it right. The Bible is one source of knowledge, but there are other sources to get light and knowledge from, which«*we cannot get from the Bible. We cannot learn from the Bible who we ought to marry, what business we ought to follow, nor where we should live, nor learn from it the laws of health. All these things are of vast importance, and we have to use our judgment, or follow the light within, as the Quakers call it, that we may know what we ought to do. We could not get to know that : the Bible was true in any other way, than by using our reason. Let us try Mr W.s favorite hobby, which he rides so hard, and tires everybody with; I mean the second coming of Christ, and the end of the world. My opinion is that this great event according to his ideas will never come to pass. The following are my reasons for so thinking :— The primitive Christians fwere- 1' deceived about it. They said that generation should not pass away before this great event should happen; they ex- ~ pected it then; they said the end of all things was at hand. It did not take place in that day; a few have been expecting it '* ever since. • Eighteen centuries haye 1 gone since then, and as yet it has not taken > place. Another reason I have is that it - took God millions of years to bring' this '- world forward to its present perfection— •. c and then to destroy it in a day ! What should we think of a man who spent .„ twenty years in building a large mansion and then destroyed it in a day P Yet,. .. this is the position they place God in: ■• that He did not know what He was about. I believethat part of the Bible where it is said, " He that feareth God and worketh righteousness shall be accepted of Him," or, in other words, everyone who lives up to his conviction of truth and duty is on the road of eternal progress, whatever his; belief is.—l am, &c, . . '

J. H6b».