Morning journal and courier., 1886-08-30
AT LAKE PLEASANT.
A Day Among The Spir1tualists-What Prominent Spiritualist Says
 About Spirttualism And The

A Prominent SpiritualIst Says
 About Spirttualism And The
 Church.
 About 5000 people were present yesterday at Lake Pleasant and spent the time in try ing to keep cool with the aid of fans, ice cream and soda water. About 1000 excur- sionists were present, and most of them looked nearly melted, and as if they wished they had not come. The visitors walked up and down the avenues and gazed into the pretty cottages, nearly every one of which was covered on the outside with such signs as ''clairvoyant," ''test medium, ;" material izing meedium," Lodgings" "seances at 8 p. m," printed on cards of all kinds and colors. In the cottages the tenants sat with fans in their hands trying to keep cool. The Fitchburg band gave three concerts during the day, after which large crowd occupied seats in a maple grove and watched and lis tened to the mediums as they "called back" or assumed to call back departed spirits in @ way which amazed them all Others who did not care for this kind of spirits, stood around the many stalls and partook of other spirits, although the State is prohibition one, and they had to drink
 three per cent. The steamer Daisy carried
 parties around the lake at intervals of ten
 minutes each, the only place where person
 could keep cool. In an interesting letter
 sent to the prominent spiritualists of Lake
 Pleasant, 8 spiIitualist says concerning spiritualism and the church: Don't damn
 the church. There seems to be a growing
 tendency on the part of some of the speakers
 of the Spiritualist platform to haul
 the church over the coals
 every little while and rake
 everybody that advocates Christianity.
 Don't do it, friends. The church has been
 .1,s
 this world of ours. It may not agree with
 all your ideas of progress. It may be bigoted
 in some of it's doctrines and wrapped up in
 it's creed and dogmas, but so are you, so are
 all of us. No religion has ever been advanced
 but had it's faults. Some are shown in one
 shape, some in another. Under our wise
 constitution each individual has an undis-
 puted right to worship God as he sees 6t
 Some feel the need of the church and it's
 surroundings, because they feel help and strength in it. You do not seem to feel the need of this in your spiritual belief, and yet you are more or less surrounded by condi- tions, which, to the outside world, look as unreasonable as the superstitions you ridi- cule, as the legends of the church. For the manifestations of your phenomena, you claim conditions, which you call based on scienti fc principles. It is not for us to say you are not right Those manifestations are said to. need just such conditions you give for their production. Now the church has it's manifestations and these manifestations are subject to stat ed conditions. In this respect the differ ence between you as a religious organization is not dissimilar. You cling to your institu- tions, you believe in ghosts and the purity of your worship. The church does the same. Why should you ridicule it's beliefs and su- perstitions and denounce it's most sacred le- gends as humbuggery and delusive hopes and he oII and ric Ia Ra look upon your religion all pure and in fallible. when to the eye of the church-goer your faults and frivoIties, super stitions and spasms are as ap parent as those to you speak of in the church are to you Don't degrade Spiritualism by damning everything else, for if you do you are no better than those who abuse and denounce you. If there is grand truth underlying the religion you teach, if it possesses the beauties and happi ness claimed for it, there is no need of seek ing to degrade other institutions in the effort to build this up. It doesn't need it; the bright light that it reflects over the turbu lent waves of the religious sea we dare say has been instrumental in doing much good. So has the teachings of the church, and when those teachings are de- nounced and ridiculed from the spiritual it degrades and bellies spiritualism and loses rather than holds converts. You CdA1 VAAoO OAA OOAAOA Ah5SAoooAOAAc down. Build for yourself Make your re- ligion as broad as you want. Let it draw into the church representatives of every be- lief and creed. Make it's inspirations like the bounte ous river of life and mould it's members into one common brotherhood, if you will, but in all good workings use chari ity, deal justly build wisely and your will prosper, according to the abundance of your faith and the purity and elevation of your work. Make your platform educational. Teach your mediums the power of knowledge. Purify the vessel by which the water is taken from the fountain, that the people drinking of it's contents may find it pure, clear and wholesome Do this and your religion will prosper far more wisely than by seeking to build on the shattered ruins of torn down dogmas and creeds."
 Last week was very quiet one at the lake, the only excitement being the exposure of Mrs. Mary Eddy, one of the mediums, as fraud. She was suspected of being fraud, and last week she was asked to sit under test condi- lions. This she refused to do, as the people thought she would, and they have set her ! flown a9 a fraud and humbug. l
 The special train over the Northampton road left New Haven at 6:30 am. with seven l cars, but before Lake Pleasant was reached l here were thirtern well filled cars attached | % the train. The train left the lake at 4:30, l thriving in New Haven at pm.