The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863

From several places we get the indications of new sermons against Spiritism all of them with the same bottom line that we have talked about before. Since they are always variants of the same theme, we find no need to analyze them. We will limit ourselves to point out certain passages followed by a few reflections.

“Brothers, this is a Christian that speaks to Christians and as such we have the right of being stunned by the growth of Spiritism among us. What is Spiritism, I ask you, if not a mixture of horrors that only madness may justify?”

We have nothing to say about this one but that all sermons given in this town were not able to hinder the growth of Spiritism as confirmed by the speaker. Therefore, the arguments offered against it are less valid than his own. Now, if the sermons are from God and Spiritism is from the devil, it means that the devil is stronger than God. Nothing is further from the truth. It is a well-known fact that Spiritism propagates following the sermons for the simple reason that people find the arguments, given by Spiritism, more convincing than those offered by the adversaries. It is a fabric of horrors, may be, but you must agree that if those Spirits were to take over your ideas instead of demons you would see saints and far from condemning the evocations you would encourage them.

“Our century no longer respects anything. Not even the ashes of the graves are respected for insensible people dare to call the dead for their entertainment. Nevertheless, that is what is happening and this is where we got at with this pretense century of lights: talk to the dead.”

Talking to the dead is not something of this century since history of all peoples demonstrates that this has happened at all times. The only difference is that today it happens everywhere without the superstitious accessories that surrounded the evocations in former times; it is done with a more respectful and religious sentiment. It must be one out of two options: it is possible or not. If it is not then it is a deceiving belief like believing in the Friday the 13th or throwing salt over your shoulder for good luck. Hence, we don’t see so much horror and don’t find someone disrespectful when talking to people that are no longer here. If the dead come to talk to us it must be allowed by God unless we admit that they come without such a permission or against His will which would imply that God does not care about it or that the evokers are more powerful than God. Notice, however, the contradictions. On the one side, you say that it is only the devil that communicates, on the other hand that the ashes of the dead are disturbed by calling them. If it is the devil then it is not the dead hence they are not disturbed and there is no lack of respect. If they are the dead then it is not the devil. You must find reconciliation in this capital point. Admitting that it is the dead then we acknowledge that there would be profanation by calling them lightheartedly for futile reasons and particularly to make money out of that. We condemn all these things and take no responsibility for those who stay away from the principles of serious Spiritism as much as you do not take for the false followers that only bear the mask of religion; that preach what they do not practice or that speculate with sacred things. Evocations made in burlesque conditions that were cited by one eloquent speaker that we will mention below would be a sacrilege but thank God, we are not into that and do not believe that the sermon of Mr. Viennois also mentioned below is not in such a case either.

“I witnessed these facts myself and heard them preaching moral and charity, that is true. But what are the basis of that moral and that charity? Ah! None. Can we call moral a doctrine that rejects the eternal penalties?”

If such a moral teaching leads to good without fear of the eternal penalties, it can only have a greater merit. In the past, it was considered impossible to control the students without the support of a teacher. Were they better? No. This is no longer used in our days and they are not worse, much to the contrary. Hence the current method is preferable. The goodness of a given method is evaluated by the effects. As a matter of fact, who are the addressees of that moral teaching? Precisely those who do not believe in the eternal penalties. Do we preclude those who believe in the eternal penalties from believing? Absolutely not. Once more, we do not address those who have faith and to whom their faith suffices but those who don’t have one or that are in doubt.

Would you prefer to see them not believe at all? That would not be as acceptable. Are you afraid of having your sheep stolen? That is because you are not as confident in the power of your means to keep them. You are afraid of having them attracted by the kind herb of forgiveness and by the divine mercy. Would you then believe that those who are not as sure and that fluctuate around you will prefer the flames of hell? On the another hand, who are the ones that must be more convinced than those at the heart of the Church? Well! Tell us why haven’t such a perspective stopped all the atrocities, all the deviations against the divine and human laws plentifully found in history and that incessantly multiply in our days? Are they crimes or are they not?

Then if those who have such a belief by profession are not stopped how can you expect those who do not believe to obey? No, the enlightened person of our times requires a rational leash. The belief in the eternal penalties, perhaps useful in former times, is out of fashion. It extinguishes daily and however much you try you will not give life back to a cadaver as you cannot revive medieval habits, ideas and costumes. If the disappearance of such a belief jeopardizes the Catholic Church security then it is the case to feel sorry to having it based on such a fragile basis because if there is a corroding germen that is the dogma of the eternal penalties.

“Thus I appeal to the morality of every honest soul; I appeal to the magistrates because they are responsible for all evil that similar heresy brings to our minds.”

We did not know that the magistrates in France were in charge of persecuting the heretical because if there are Catholics among them there are also Protestants and Jewish who would then be assigned with their own persecution and condemnation. And there are servants of the highest echelons.

“Yes, the Spiritists, and I am not afraid of openly declaring that, are not only due to be delivered to the police and the imperial court but also, hear me well, are liable before the civil courts because they are deceivers who sign communications in the name of honored people who certainly would not have signed them when alive, people of prominence these days.”

The Spiritists are really fortunate since Confucius, Socrates, Plato, Saint Agostino, Saint Vincent de Paul, Fénelon and others cannot come to sue them for the crime of falsifying their writings. But here is what I think: if there were a lifeline it would be exactly in the courts where they would find justice because there they would have found the jurors who judge according to their consciences. There are Protestants and Jewish among them too; there are even – something terrible! – Philosophers and unbeliever free-thinkers that due to our modern laws are found everywhere. Thus, if we are accused of making Saint Agostino say something heterodox we will also find jurors that will acquit us. Oh! The perversity of this century! If we think that Voltaire, Diderot, Luther,Calvino, John Huss and Arius could have been jurors by birth right, that they could have been judges, mayors, ministers of justice and even the cult ones! You see them, those animals of hell, pronouncing about a question of heresy because in order to have a signature of Fénelon placed in a heretical communication condemned it is necessary to judge the question of heresy and who in the jury will have competence for that?

“However, it would be so easy to stop such harm! What is it that would be necessary to do? The minimal. Even without given them the honor of the chief of police you could have a sergeant at the entrance of each group saying: Nobody is allowed here! I paint the picture of evil and provide the medicine, nothing more nothing less, because I let go the remedy of the inquisition.”

Many thanks but there is no merit in offering what one does not have. Unfortunately, you do not have the inquisition without which it would be doubtful that you would grant us with the indult. Why don’t you ask the magistrates then to bar the entrance of the synagogues and those of the temples of the Protestants where they publicly preach dogmas that are not those of yours? As for the Spiritists they don’t have temples or priests but groups what to you is the same thing and that a sergeant before each one would have it all resolved. It is in fact very simple. But you forgot that the Spirits break any barrier and enter anywhere without permission, even in your house for you have them around you, listening to you unsuspectedly, and even more, speaking to your ears. Analyze your memories and you will see that you had more than one manifestation without soliciting it.

It seems that you ignore something that you should know. The Spiritist groups are not absolutely necessary. They are only gatherings where people feel happy for finding others who share the same beliefs. A proof of that is the fact that in France today there are more than 600,000 Spiritists, 99% of which are not part of any group and have never step foot in any of them; that these groups do not exist in a number of cities; that nor the groups nor the societies open their doors to the public to preach their doctrine to the passerby; that Spiritism preaches itself and by the force of things because it responds to a need of our times; that its contagiousness is in the example of those who are happy with such beliefs and that they are found everywhere, all over the world, without the need to look for them in the groups.

Thus, it is not groups that make the propaganda since they do not welcome the first one that shows up. That happens from neighbor to neighbor, from individual to individual. Admitting the interdiction of every meeting the Spiritists would still be free to gather at home as it does happen in thousands of places without any damage to Spiritism; on the contrary we have always condemned the large assemblies as more harmful than helpful and the intimacy acknowledged as the most favorable condition to the manifestations. Will you stop the family gatherings? Would you place a sergeant at the doorway of each house to watch what happens by the fireplace? That is not done in Spain or in Rome where there are more Spiritists than you think. That would be the last thing needed to promote even more the importance of Spiritism.

Let us now admit the legal interdiction of the groups. Do you know what those Spiritists that you accuse of spreading disorder would do? They would say: “We respect the law; dura lex, sed lex (it is harsh but it is the law). Let us give the example and show that if we preach union, peach and concord that is not to become a factor of disorder. The organized societies are not a necessary condition for the existence of Spiritism. There isn’t any material link among than that can be broken in case they are suppressed. What the Spiritists teach in those groups they also teach from person to person. Spiritism has this incredible privilege of having its focus everywhere. Its sign of connection is the love of God and towards the neighbor and to put it to work there is no need of official meetings. It reaches both friend and foe.

Anyone may say the same; hasn’t authority found resistance where it expected submission? If the Spiritists are such a turbulent and perverted people as you pretend to be, why in places where they are found in larger numbers law enforcement has less difficulty in their work, to the point of one of them saying that if everyone in his region was Spiritist he could close shop? Why in the military there is less disciplinary penalties among the Spiritists? Furthermore, you don’t imagine that nowadays there are Spiritists everywhere from the top to the bottom of the social scale; that there are mediums and gatherings even at the homes of those who you incite against us. Hence you must see that your means is insufficient. It is necessary to find another one.

Spiritism pleases because it does not impose itself. It is accepted by the free-will and free exam. In that it is from our time. It pleases by the kindness, by the consolations given in hard times, by the unbreakable faith in the future that it entails, by the belief in the goodness and mercy of God. Besides, it is based on positive, material and irrefutable facts that defy any denial. That is the secret of such a fast propagation.

What is it that you offer instead? Always the eternal penalties, not so good for the current times; then the deformation of your doctrines. You accuse them of preaching abortion, adultery and every crime. Who do you think you can blame for that? Certainly not the Spiritists. Perhaps those who don’t know Spiritism? But among these there many want to know what this dreadful doctrine is; they read and then learning that it says exactly the opposite to what you accused it of saying they leave you and seek that doctrine, and all that without soliciting.

I know well that the position is embarrassing because you say this: if we speak against Spiritism we recruit followers for it; if we remain quiet, it walks on its own. What to do then? People used to say in former times: allow the justice of the king to follow its course; now one must say: allow the justice of God to follow its course. (To be continued in the next issue).