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Thames Star, Volume XIV, Issue 4498, 5 June 1883, Page 2

(To the Editor of the Evening Star.)

Sib, —Your correspondent, 'Mr W., had the first'word, and he appears determined to have the last. He calls me a Spiritist —a name I "abnot acknowledge. He ought to know that it is rude arid vulgar to call one nick-names. If his object be to give offence it is a very poor one ; but he does not appear to be satisfied in call* ing me a Spiritist, but—as though he was determined to scale the climax of slander and abuse—he makes it out that I am a Nihilist, a Socialist, Communist, and a Fenian, and my object is to reduce to chaos every lawful institution. Is it not awful to have a man of this description at large, right in your midst, and no one to know about it until Mr W. made the discovery ? Are you not afraid the place will be blown up some of these nights ? What is that terrible passage of mine that he builds all this upon? It is because I advocated that men should be conscientious arid upright, that they should act up to their convictions of truth and duty in matters of religion. But Mr W. appears to wilfully misconstrue this from religious to civil matters, and pretends to see something in it alarming ; but I maintain there is nothing in it but what is consistent with the right of private judgment as advocated by all Protestants, and accords with that passage of the Apostles where he recommends us to prove all things, and only hold fast to that which is good. I should like to know from Mr W. if we have not to use our judgment and go by our honest convictions on religion, what we have to be gutded by ? Shall we advocate that everyone goes contrary to his conviction P Would that be an im* provement? I suppose Mr W. would say the Bible ; and that brings us back to the starting point, that really means to be guided by Mr W. and his party, who alone give the right meaning to the Bible; if that be it, theD I say Lord have mercy on us, for we shall need it. Mr W. says that my object cannot be mistaken— it is to make the whole world a pandemonium of infernalism. Is not this rather strong ? But I venture to say in contradiction to this statement that there is not one. individual but himself that would interpret it in his way—that no one can see so much blackness and darkness ia it as he can, The old Book says " out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and if we have to judge of what is in the heart by what comes but, what a strong amount of darkness and misery there must be at the fountain from whence all those black thoughts spring; what an uncomfortable thought to think that all the world is wrong but ourselves, that there are no righteous but one. When Mr W. finds he cannot answer my arguments he resorts to slander and abuse and becomes quite reckless of what he says, in trying to put me down and prevent me from using my right of private judgment and thinking for myself; by making me out to be a Nihilist and a Fenian, and this is his accustomed, style of writing, he has such a reckless way of writing, he appears to have no regard for truth when he writes about Catholicism, Spiritualism, or any other thing that he does not believe in ; his object is to make them look black. Because I advocate that every man should act up to. his honest conviction of religion, what is truth and right, and on this sentence, he has made me out to be a very lowlip black character; he relies too much upon the four points to believe in,, and too little upon chanty, honesty, truthfulness, purity, tern perance, and uprightness. We live in two different worlds of thought, his is a dark cold miserable one, no body right but him , and his small party.- 1 believe there is a great deal of badness in it, but vast more | goodness; the badness is wortai and will

die oat, the goodness is ioamogtal and cannot die but will lire on for ever.—lam, <fcc,j ,&Hobn: [This correspondence must now cease. —Ed. Staui]