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The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864 > September
September
The music magazine of the Siècle, June 21st, 1864 brought the following article:
“With the title - An orphan in shackles - Mr. Pontécoulant has just published excellent news in favor of a good cause. It seems that the director of a detention center conceived an ingenious idea to make music penetrate the cells of the inmates. He thought that his duty was not only that of punishment but also correction. To be sure about the character of the prisoner hurt by the punishment he went straight to music. He started by creating a singing school. The inmates that showed good behavior considered a reward to take part in the choral. The prison was therefore transformed. Among the one thousand prisoners one hundred were chosen to take part in the first rehearsals. It had a very reassuring effect on those men. Any breach of regulations could keep them away from the school; they organized themselves in order to keep up with their obligations, that up until then was neglected.
In order to better explain the importance of such choral I remind you that they are commonly imposed to be quiet. They think but do not speak. They could forget their languages for not using them in those circumstances. Easy to understand that such spoken and sung plays are to them like a gift from heavens. It is the time to hear voices, break their solitude, to be moved and to exist. I repeat, the results are excellent. From seventy singers that formed the choral this year sixteen found remission. Isn’t that convincing?
I forgot to say that the experiment was carried out in Melun. It is a test to be encouraged, an example to be followed. Who knows those hardened hearts may feel the ice breaking and still like something! By learning to sing they also learn to not slander any more. Their isolation becomes populated, their minds are calmed and their tasks become lighter. Then, when their time is done, sometimes reduced thanks to their dedication and good behavior, they are out and away from rage and bad behavior. One day I visited the health clinic of Dr. B…, accompanying one alienist. During the journey he said: - The showers, the showers! The only thing I know is the showers and the tight jacket! It is the panacea… Any other palliative is useless when dealing with a furious mad person. Then screams at the end of the garden drew our attention. – Look, he said, I see one that will have to endure one of two processes, perhaps the two. Wanted to follow him? You will see the effect. The poor miserable guy floundered in the hands of the guards. His mouth was only curses and his eyes only fire. Appeasing him without the support of the strongest means seemed impossible. Suddenly a voice was heard on the other side of the garden. It came from an isolated pavilion that gave the impression of having been raised on its own, with its virgin vine and weeds falling from the roof in a flowery thorn bush. The voice sang the romance of Saul, from Desdemona. I stopped to listen. I don’t know if the impression I had was due to the place and the occasion but I affirm that I had never before felt so much touched. I later on learned that the voice belonged to a woman of the world that had lost her reason as the result of her own misery. The mad person then stopped suddenly, no longer struggling or saying blasphemies.
“With the title - An orphan in shackles - Mr. Pontécoulant has just published excellent news in favor of a good cause. It seems that the director of a detention center conceived an ingenious idea to make music penetrate the cells of the inmates. He thought that his duty was not only that of punishment but also correction. To be sure about the character of the prisoner hurt by the punishment he went straight to music. He started by creating a singing school. The inmates that showed good behavior considered a reward to take part in the choral. The prison was therefore transformed. Among the one thousand prisoners one hundred were chosen to take part in the first rehearsals. It had a very reassuring effect on those men. Any breach of regulations could keep them away from the school; they organized themselves in order to keep up with their obligations, that up until then was neglected.
In order to better explain the importance of such choral I remind you that they are commonly imposed to be quiet. They think but do not speak. They could forget their languages for not using them in those circumstances. Easy to understand that such spoken and sung plays are to them like a gift from heavens. It is the time to hear voices, break their solitude, to be moved and to exist. I repeat, the results are excellent. From seventy singers that formed the choral this year sixteen found remission. Isn’t that convincing?
I forgot to say that the experiment was carried out in Melun. It is a test to be encouraged, an example to be followed. Who knows those hardened hearts may feel the ice breaking and still like something! By learning to sing they also learn to not slander any more. Their isolation becomes populated, their minds are calmed and their tasks become lighter. Then, when their time is done, sometimes reduced thanks to their dedication and good behavior, they are out and away from rage and bad behavior. One day I visited the health clinic of Dr. B…, accompanying one alienist. During the journey he said: - The showers, the showers! The only thing I know is the showers and the tight jacket! It is the panacea… Any other palliative is useless when dealing with a furious mad person. Then screams at the end of the garden drew our attention. – Look, he said, I see one that will have to endure one of two processes, perhaps the two. Wanted to follow him? You will see the effect. The poor miserable guy floundered in the hands of the guards. His mouth was only curses and his eyes only fire. Appeasing him without the support of the strongest means seemed impossible. Suddenly a voice was heard on the other side of the garden. It came from an isolated pavilion that gave the impression of having been raised on its own, with its virgin vine and weeds falling from the roof in a flowery thorn bush. The voice sang the romance of Saul, from Desdemona. I stopped to listen. I don’t know if the impression I had was due to the place and the occasion but I affirm that I had never before felt so much touched. I later on learned that the voice belonged to a woman of the world that had lost her reason as the result of her own misery. The mad person then stopped suddenly, no longer struggling or saying blasphemies.
-The voice! The voice! He said… Shush! He then listened, only showing ecstasy. He had calmed down.
- Then? I asked the astonished alienist, what now of your famous subject?
- Let us see. Say that riff as if the animals were about to be gathered.
He would rather have been turned into pieces than taken back his brutal statement. Systematic persons are like that. Facts are nothing to them. Whatever contradicts them is treated as exception. Do not try to fight them because they have a fixed idea and when all arguments have been used they will turn their faces the other way. No concessions! They are either convinced or not. In several homes of the mentally ill, in particular Bicêtre, they understood the benefit that can be obtained with music and they use it successfully. The masses are sung by patients there. With the exception of rare incidents, everything follows the program without the need of any repression of misconduct. There is a more horrible disease than madness. I mean cretinism. Mad persons have the moments of lucidity, sometimes only affected by a mania. They talk reasonably well about every subject, with the exception of the one that makes them fantasize. One says that he is made of glass, recommending that they only be touched with extreme care; the other points to a person and says: do you see that guy? He believes to be a child of God but I am Jesus Christ! A third one invites you to his great hunting expeditions in his huge territory; he even hears the wolves, the servants, the bands that greet him and the prey that screeches; he is happy in his dream; it is almost always an ambitious person that has fallen more or less close to the target. All of those curable and incurable have a point of reference to the imagination. But what is left to the others, the ones with cretinism? Those remain squatting at a corner wall, on a stone, deformed faces like horrible balls of flesh, never showing any spark of intelligence, not even showing animal instincts. They are completely lost, body and soul, aren’t they? Are they lowered too much in their humane dignity, are they too much degraded? The have ears but don’t hear, have eyes but don’t see, their senses are extinct. These are like living-dead. They uselessly tried to bring anything back on them, through force and kindness. It was desperation.
Then they started singing simple notes in their presence until they repeated them mechanically. Simple and short songs were sung, that they repeated. Now they sing. Singing is a joy to them. They are controlled by music. It is both their punishment and reward; they obey; they are aware of their actions. They work. There you have them half-way into mental rehab.
There are regions in which that cruel disease reproduces incessantly. Is it the air or the water that does that? On morning, after a long hunting expedition at night, I had just entered the shanty of a shepherd in the Pyrenees looking for refreshment. I found a debilitated man, a drained mother and three weak children, one of which tucked in a pile of rotten straw. When I examined that miserable creature the father said: - oh this one has never lived; he was born like that. Cretinism here sweeps one out of three persons. I am paying for my debt. Does he recognize you, I asked.
Not me, not his brothers; he remains in the position that you see and only wakes up from that torpid state at sunset and when I gather the disperse herd; he then agitates and seems to enjoy, as if something was making him happy.
-And what do you think may be causing that? I asked. I don’t know, he says.
-Which signs you use? A. – The riff of every shepherd.
The kind old man stood at the door, brought his hands in a shell around his mouth and initiated his song of calling the herd. A strange thing happened. The ill boy rose up like a spring, screaming something inarticulate. We could guess that he wanted to speak. I explained that music acted upon his muscles with great power. The father understood and then said in a strong slang: - I know songs; I will pass them to him.
Two years later I saw those people again, bringing them a hurt chamois. The boy had become meek. I published this story before others thought that music could be used in healing processes in similar cases. My report was considered a fable. Later on experience made its way with the mentally ill but it did not preclude my alienist from sustaining that there is nothing better than force and shower. He was convict of that.”
-o-
We do not know if the author of the article, Mr. Chadeuil, is anti-spiritualist but it is certain that it is strongly anti-Spiritist considering all the sarcasm thrown towards the belief in Spirits on every occasion he found in his Musical Review. In order to deny a doctrine that is based on facts and accepted by millions of people has he seen, observed and studied? Has he scrupulously sought information from all available sources? His own articles demonstrate ignorance about what they discuss. On which basis then can he affirm that it is a ridiculous belief? In his personal opinion the idea of people communicating with the Spirits is ridiculous like every other idea with some importance was considered ridiculous by people, even the most enlightened. These are, no doubt, the application of his remarkable and true words from his article:
“Systematic persons are like that. Facts are nothing to them. Anything that denies them is treated as an exception. Do not try to fight them because they have their fixed idea and when all arguments have expired they will laugh on your face.”
Isn’t that the story of the speck and the log once again? It is true that we don’t know if the reflection is his or Mr. Pontécoulant’s.Regardless, he cites it as a praise therefore he does accept it. But let us leave Mr. Chadeuil’s opinion aside because it does not matter and let us look at the article in itself that attests an important fact: the influence of music upon criminals and mentally ill. The influence of music onto customs has been acknowledged at all times. Its application to criminals would be an undisputable progress and could only bring satisfactory results. It excites the sleeping fibers of sensitivity, predisposing them to receive educating impressions. But is that enough? No. It is like harvesting in blank land that requires the plantation of new ideas, provoking a profound impression into those deviated minds. It is necessary to break the barrier of hearts to only then speak to the souls. They lack a faith in God, in their own soul and in the future; not a vague, uncertain faith that is incessantly bombarded by doubt, but a faith based on certainty, the only one that can become unbreakable. Music can undoubtedly predispose to but not give that faith. Yet it is not a support that can be neglected. Such initiative as so many others that humanity and civilization cannot but applaud constitute commendable solicitude towards the well-being of prisoners. There still remains, however, to attack the evil on its root. One day the full support that can be found in the Spiritist ideas will be acknowledged, an influence that has already been demonstrated through the many transformations that it has led to in the most rebellious minds. Those that have investigated this doctrine in depth and meditated about its inevitable consequences are the only ones that can understand its breaking power imposed onto pernicious tendencies. The reason for such a power is in the fact that the doctrine touches directly the very causes of those tendencies that are in the imperfection of the Spirit, whereas most of the time people seek such causes in the imperfection of matter. Spiritism presently, as a moral doctrine, is no longer in the condition of a simple theory. It is practiced by a large number of those that accept its principles. It is possible to affirm that according to what happens and given the produced results there will be a reduction in the number of crimes and offenses proportional to its propagation. That is what the near future will demonstrate. In the expectation that the experience may happen in a large scale it daily happens in an individual basis. The Spiritist Magazine has already provided innumerous examples of that; we will only remind you of the letters from two prisoners published in the issues of November 1863 and February 1864.
We leave up to our reader the appreciation of the fact described above regarding madness. It is undoubtedly a strong criticism to the alienists that only know the showers and the straitjackets. Spiritism comes to cast an entirely new light onto mental illnesses, demonstrating the duality of human beings and the possibility of acting separately upon the material and the spiritual creature. The continually growing number of doctors that accept such principle will certainly bring significant changes to the treatment of those kinds of diseases. Letting aside the Spiritist idea, per se, the confirmation of the effect of music in similar cases is already a step forward in the spiritualist avenue, from which the alienists have so far kept a distance in detriment of patients. The effect produced on those with idiocy and cretinism is even more characteristic. The so called mad people have almost always been intelligent people before; that is not the case with cretinism that seems to have been attributed an absolute thoughtless mind. Experimental Spiritism here also demonstrates that those patients are advanced and not retarded minds that are, however, inhabiting imperfect bodies.
Given the equality in intelligence, the difference between the mad person and the one showing cretinism is that the former is born with normal brains that later one are disorganized whereas the latter is a Spirit incarnate in a body whose brain is atrophied since day one, never allowing a free manifestation of thoughts. It is like a strong and energetic person whose freedom of movement was removed.
Such constraint is a true punishment to the Spirit because the capacity to think is there but at the same time the person feels the abjection imposed by the disease. Let us then suppose that in a given time one can disconnect the organs from the mind: the Spirit would recover its freedom and the one with the highest degree mental illness would become an intelligent person. It would be like a prisoner leaving prison or a musician before a perfect instrument or still like a mute person recovering the ability to speak. What is then missing is not the faculty of thinking but the neural networks that allow the manifestation of the thoughts.
In a normally formed child the exercise of the faculties of the Spirit leads to the development of the corresponding organs that offer no resistance. In those patients, however, the action of the Spirit is incapable of producing any development that remained in a rudimentary state, like a fruit that was aborted.
The total cure of a person with idiocy is then impossible; all that can be expected is a slight improvement. That is why nobody knows any treatment that may be applied to the organs; it is the Spirit that must be addressed. Studying the faculties and discovering the kernel one must exercise it through the Spirit and if the resistance is broken an at least partial manifestation becomes then possible. If there is an external media capable of reaching the organs is undoubtedly music. It is capable of vibrating those dormant fibers like a huge noise that comes to the ears of a deaf person. The Spirit shakes with that, like from a memory, and the provoked activity doubles the efforts to overcome the obstacles.
To the one that only sees an organized machine in a human being, without taking into account the intelligence that presides over the activity of that physical organization, everything is problem and obscurity in the vital functions as everything is uncertainty in the treatment of diseases. That is why, most of the time, the problem is not faced head-on; more than that: everything is darkness in the evolution of humanity, everything is trial and error in social institutions and that is why the wrong path is followed so frequently.
If you just hypothetically admit that human beings have a duality, the presence of an intelligent being, independent of matter, pre-existent and that outlives the body that is only a temporary envelope, and everything is explained. Through positive experiences Spiritism turns that hypothesis into reality, then revealing the law that governs the relationships between the Spirit and matter.
You may then laugh, oh skeptical, at the Doctrine of the Spirits, born out of the vulgar phenomena of the dancing tables, like the electrical telegraphy came out of Galvani’s dancing frogs, but understand that by denying the Spirits you are denying yourself and that the greatest discoveries were laughed at.
Then they started singing simple notes in their presence until they repeated them mechanically. Simple and short songs were sung, that they repeated. Now they sing. Singing is a joy to them. They are controlled by music. It is both their punishment and reward; they obey; they are aware of their actions. They work. There you have them half-way into mental rehab.
There are regions in which that cruel disease reproduces incessantly. Is it the air or the water that does that? On morning, after a long hunting expedition at night, I had just entered the shanty of a shepherd in the Pyrenees looking for refreshment. I found a debilitated man, a drained mother and three weak children, one of which tucked in a pile of rotten straw. When I examined that miserable creature the father said: - oh this one has never lived; he was born like that. Cretinism here sweeps one out of three persons. I am paying for my debt. Does he recognize you, I asked.
Not me, not his brothers; he remains in the position that you see and only wakes up from that torpid state at sunset and when I gather the disperse herd; he then agitates and seems to enjoy, as if something was making him happy.
-And what do you think may be causing that? I asked. I don’t know, he says.
-Which signs you use? A. – The riff of every shepherd.
The kind old man stood at the door, brought his hands in a shell around his mouth and initiated his song of calling the herd. A strange thing happened. The ill boy rose up like a spring, screaming something inarticulate. We could guess that he wanted to speak. I explained that music acted upon his muscles with great power. The father understood and then said in a strong slang: - I know songs; I will pass them to him.
Two years later I saw those people again, bringing them a hurt chamois. The boy had become meek. I published this story before others thought that music could be used in healing processes in similar cases. My report was considered a fable. Later on experience made its way with the mentally ill but it did not preclude my alienist from sustaining that there is nothing better than force and shower. He was convict of that.”
-o-
We do not know if the author of the article, Mr. Chadeuil, is anti-spiritualist but it is certain that it is strongly anti-Spiritist considering all the sarcasm thrown towards the belief in Spirits on every occasion he found in his Musical Review. In order to deny a doctrine that is based on facts and accepted by millions of people has he seen, observed and studied? Has he scrupulously sought information from all available sources? His own articles demonstrate ignorance about what they discuss. On which basis then can he affirm that it is a ridiculous belief? In his personal opinion the idea of people communicating with the Spirits is ridiculous like every other idea with some importance was considered ridiculous by people, even the most enlightened. These are, no doubt, the application of his remarkable and true words from his article:
“Systematic persons are like that. Facts are nothing to them. Anything that denies them is treated as an exception. Do not try to fight them because they have their fixed idea and when all arguments have expired they will laugh on your face.”
Isn’t that the story of the speck and the log once again? It is true that we don’t know if the reflection is his or Mr. Pontécoulant’s.Regardless, he cites it as a praise therefore he does accept it. But let us leave Mr. Chadeuil’s opinion aside because it does not matter and let us look at the article in itself that attests an important fact: the influence of music upon criminals and mentally ill. The influence of music onto customs has been acknowledged at all times. Its application to criminals would be an undisputable progress and could only bring satisfactory results. It excites the sleeping fibers of sensitivity, predisposing them to receive educating impressions. But is that enough? No. It is like harvesting in blank land that requires the plantation of new ideas, provoking a profound impression into those deviated minds. It is necessary to break the barrier of hearts to only then speak to the souls. They lack a faith in God, in their own soul and in the future; not a vague, uncertain faith that is incessantly bombarded by doubt, but a faith based on certainty, the only one that can become unbreakable. Music can undoubtedly predispose to but not give that faith. Yet it is not a support that can be neglected. Such initiative as so many others that humanity and civilization cannot but applaud constitute commendable solicitude towards the well-being of prisoners. There still remains, however, to attack the evil on its root. One day the full support that can be found in the Spiritist ideas will be acknowledged, an influence that has already been demonstrated through the many transformations that it has led to in the most rebellious minds. Those that have investigated this doctrine in depth and meditated about its inevitable consequences are the only ones that can understand its breaking power imposed onto pernicious tendencies. The reason for such a power is in the fact that the doctrine touches directly the very causes of those tendencies that are in the imperfection of the Spirit, whereas most of the time people seek such causes in the imperfection of matter. Spiritism presently, as a moral doctrine, is no longer in the condition of a simple theory. It is practiced by a large number of those that accept its principles. It is possible to affirm that according to what happens and given the produced results there will be a reduction in the number of crimes and offenses proportional to its propagation. That is what the near future will demonstrate. In the expectation that the experience may happen in a large scale it daily happens in an individual basis. The Spiritist Magazine has already provided innumerous examples of that; we will only remind you of the letters from two prisoners published in the issues of November 1863 and February 1864.
We leave up to our reader the appreciation of the fact described above regarding madness. It is undoubtedly a strong criticism to the alienists that only know the showers and the straitjackets. Spiritism comes to cast an entirely new light onto mental illnesses, demonstrating the duality of human beings and the possibility of acting separately upon the material and the spiritual creature. The continually growing number of doctors that accept such principle will certainly bring significant changes to the treatment of those kinds of diseases. Letting aside the Spiritist idea, per se, the confirmation of the effect of music in similar cases is already a step forward in the spiritualist avenue, from which the alienists have so far kept a distance in detriment of patients. The effect produced on those with idiocy and cretinism is even more characteristic. The so called mad people have almost always been intelligent people before; that is not the case with cretinism that seems to have been attributed an absolute thoughtless mind. Experimental Spiritism here also demonstrates that those patients are advanced and not retarded minds that are, however, inhabiting imperfect bodies.
Given the equality in intelligence, the difference between the mad person and the one showing cretinism is that the former is born with normal brains that later one are disorganized whereas the latter is a Spirit incarnate in a body whose brain is atrophied since day one, never allowing a free manifestation of thoughts. It is like a strong and energetic person whose freedom of movement was removed.
Such constraint is a true punishment to the Spirit because the capacity to think is there but at the same time the person feels the abjection imposed by the disease. Let us then suppose that in a given time one can disconnect the organs from the mind: the Spirit would recover its freedom and the one with the highest degree mental illness would become an intelligent person. It would be like a prisoner leaving prison or a musician before a perfect instrument or still like a mute person recovering the ability to speak. What is then missing is not the faculty of thinking but the neural networks that allow the manifestation of the thoughts.
In a normally formed child the exercise of the faculties of the Spirit leads to the development of the corresponding organs that offer no resistance. In those patients, however, the action of the Spirit is incapable of producing any development that remained in a rudimentary state, like a fruit that was aborted.
The total cure of a person with idiocy is then impossible; all that can be expected is a slight improvement. That is why nobody knows any treatment that may be applied to the organs; it is the Spirit that must be addressed. Studying the faculties and discovering the kernel one must exercise it through the Spirit and if the resistance is broken an at least partial manifestation becomes then possible. If there is an external media capable of reaching the organs is undoubtedly music. It is capable of vibrating those dormant fibers like a huge noise that comes to the ears of a deaf person. The Spirit shakes with that, like from a memory, and the provoked activity doubles the efforts to overcome the obstacles.
To the one that only sees an organized machine in a human being, without taking into account the intelligence that presides over the activity of that physical organization, everything is problem and obscurity in the vital functions as everything is uncertainty in the treatment of diseases. That is why, most of the time, the problem is not faced head-on; more than that: everything is darkness in the evolution of humanity, everything is trial and error in social institutions and that is why the wrong path is followed so frequently.
If you just hypothetically admit that human beings have a duality, the presence of an intelligent being, independent of matter, pre-existent and that outlives the body that is only a temporary envelope, and everything is explained. Through positive experiences Spiritism turns that hypothesis into reality, then revealing the law that governs the relationships between the Spirit and matter.
You may then laugh, oh skeptical, at the Doctrine of the Spirits, born out of the vulgar phenomena of the dancing tables, like the electrical telegraphy came out of Galvani’s dancing frogs, but understand that by denying the Spirits you are denying yourself and that the greatest discoveries were laughed at.
We got this from Spain on August 1st, 1864:
“Dear Master,
I take the liberty of sending you the new ordination of Monsignor Pantaleon, Bishop of Barcelona, just published in El Diario of Barcelona on July 31st. As you can see he wants to follow the footsteps of his predecessors. As for myself, sincere Spiritist, I forgive his cursing towards us but cannot help it thinking that he could use his education in a more beneficial way for the good of faith and his fellow human beings. To give only one example we have all the time these gruesome bull-fighting shows in which the poor animals, after spending their life serving people, come to die in those sad arenas for the cheers of a bloodthirsty multitude, whose instincts are excited in those barbarian games.
That is what you should attack, Monsignor, and not Spiritism that daily brings you back stray sheep that you had lost because I, who sincerely believed in God and that acknowledged his greatness in nature, I could not come close to a Church before becoming a Spiritist, given the huge disagreement before my eyes between those that believe to be God’s representatives on Earth and that great figure of Jesus Christ that the Gospels show us to be love and abnegation. Yes, I used to say to myself, Jesus sacrificed for us; he makes his triumphal entry in Jerusalem, simply dressed and riding a donkey, and you that are supposedly his representative are covered in silk, gold and diamonds. Is that what the Divine Messiahs called neglecting the earthly fortunes when teaching his apostles? No. Yet, Monsignor, I must confess that since the time I became Spiritist I was able to return to your churches; I was able to pray to God from the bottom of my heart, despite the mundane music dressed like opera there; I was able to pray thinking that all the theatrical pageantry could be useful to some people in helping to raise their souls to God; I was then able to forgive your luxury and even understand it in a way. As you see, Monsignor, it is not against the Spiritists that you should direct your rage and if, as I do believe so, you are only concerned with the wellbeing of your herd, you must rethink the way you see Spiritism that only preaches love to our neighbors, forgiveness of offenses, kindness, charity and love towards our enemies. Dear Master, forgive me for these lines that were suggested by this new ordination. Spiritism came to revive my faith, explaining to me all miseries of life that up until now I was incapable of understanding. Sincerely persuaded that we work towards our own advancement and that of humanity I will unstoppably propagate this doctrine in my circle of relationships, and for that I will employ a profound conviction and the means that God gave me.
Sincerely, etc.”
“Dear Master,
I take the liberty of sending you the new ordination of Monsignor Pantaleon, Bishop of Barcelona, just published in El Diario of Barcelona on July 31st. As you can see he wants to follow the footsteps of his predecessors. As for myself, sincere Spiritist, I forgive his cursing towards us but cannot help it thinking that he could use his education in a more beneficial way for the good of faith and his fellow human beings. To give only one example we have all the time these gruesome bull-fighting shows in which the poor animals, after spending their life serving people, come to die in those sad arenas for the cheers of a bloodthirsty multitude, whose instincts are excited in those barbarian games.
That is what you should attack, Monsignor, and not Spiritism that daily brings you back stray sheep that you had lost because I, who sincerely believed in God and that acknowledged his greatness in nature, I could not come close to a Church before becoming a Spiritist, given the huge disagreement before my eyes between those that believe to be God’s representatives on Earth and that great figure of Jesus Christ that the Gospels show us to be love and abnegation. Yes, I used to say to myself, Jesus sacrificed for us; he makes his triumphal entry in Jerusalem, simply dressed and riding a donkey, and you that are supposedly his representative are covered in silk, gold and diamonds. Is that what the Divine Messiahs called neglecting the earthly fortunes when teaching his apostles? No. Yet, Monsignor, I must confess that since the time I became Spiritist I was able to return to your churches; I was able to pray to God from the bottom of my heart, despite the mundane music dressed like opera there; I was able to pray thinking that all the theatrical pageantry could be useful to some people in helping to raise their souls to God; I was then able to forgive your luxury and even understand it in a way. As you see, Monsignor, it is not against the Spiritists that you should direct your rage and if, as I do believe so, you are only concerned with the wellbeing of your herd, you must rethink the way you see Spiritism that only preaches love to our neighbors, forgiveness of offenses, kindness, charity and love towards our enemies. Dear Master, forgive me for these lines that were suggested by this new ordination. Spiritism came to revive my faith, explaining to me all miseries of life that up until now I was incapable of understanding. Sincerely persuaded that we work towards our own advancement and that of humanity I will unstoppably propagate this doctrine in my circle of relationships, and for that I will employ a profound conviction and the means that God gave me.
Sincerely, etc.”
The following is the ordination of Mr. Bishop. We reproduced it in full in order to not diminish its reach. Mr. Bishop of Barcelona is deservedly considered a man of merits; he must have then gathered the strongest arguments against Spiritism. Our readers will judge if he is more fortunate than his comrades and if the final blow to us will be given from the other side of the Pyrenees. We will just intercalate some observations.
“We, D. D. Pantaleon Monserra y Navarro, by the grace of God and the Saint Apostolic Se, Bishop of Barcelona, knight of the Gran-Cross of the American Order of Isabel, the Catholic, from the Counsel of Her Majesty, etc.
To our beloved and faithful diocesans,
Placed on Earth as in a region of darkness that impedes the vision of things placed on a superior order, man cannot move one step ahead to seek them without the clarification of faith. If separated from that guide he will trip and fall today in the extreme of disbelief that denies everything, and tomorrow in the superstition that believes everything. Our time that intends to follow reason and commonsense, not admitting as true but those things shown by fallacious witnesses, is trespassed by a huge current of ideas, consequently leading to the denial of the supernatural and an excessive credulity. One and the other are the product of human intelligence pride that refuses to give reasonable attention to the revealed word of God.
The current generation is forced to witness this said display given to us by the most advanced peoples in science and civilization. The United States, the so called model nation, and some parts of France, including Alger, are for some time involved in the ridiculous study and application of Spiritism that comes, with such a name, resurrect the former practices of necromancy by the evocation of invisible Spirits in their resting places, beyond the grave, consulting them to uncover hidden secrets under the veil of God cast onto time and eternity.”
Observation: If we are prone to reproach for having relationships with the Spirits it would be necessary that the Church did preclude them from being evoked since it is evident that there are a large number of spontaneous manifestations, even with people that have never heard about Spiritism. How did the Fox sisters in the United States, the first to reveal their presence in that country, how did they come to enter into communication with the evocations, if not through the Spirits that came to manifest to them when they did not even dreamed about it? Why have those Spirits left their designated place beyond the grave? Was it with or without God’s permission? Spiritism has not come out from the mind of a single man like a philosophical system created by imagination. If the Spirits had not manifested by themselves there would not be Spiritism. If they cannot be stopped from manifesting then Spiritism cannot be stopped like a river that cannot be stopped in its course unless the source is suppressed. Pretending that the Spirits do not manifest is a question of fact not opinion. There is no possible argument against the evidence of facts.
“That exaggerated desire to know everything by ridiculous and reproachable means is not but the fruit of this need, this emptiness that mankind experiments after rejecting everything that has been presented as truth by their sovereign, legitimate and infallible: the Church.”
Observation: If what that infallible sovereign proposes as truth is demonstrated to be an error by the observations of science is someone at fault by rejecting it? Was the Church infallible when those that believed in the movement of Earth or in the antipodes were condemned? When even today it condemns people that believe that Earth was not formed in six times twenty four hours? If the Church wants to have its word accepted it would be necessary that none of the teachings be belied by the facts.
“At a time of eagerness to know everything by themselves the truth was rejected as superstition because they did not understand it or there was no agreement with the messages received about it. Later on what was neglected was then considered necessary; it was examined again and depending on the imagination of whoever examined it, if persons of lively imagination or nervous and irritable temperament, people then admitted in their belief system what thy heard an learned from the evoked Spirits, in a moment of melancholic exaltation.”
Observation: We had never thought that faith, that is, the adoption or rejection of the truths taught by the Church, according to the exam performed by the one that sincerely wanted to return there, was a matter of temperament. If to give the Church preference when compared to other beliefs one must not be nervous or irritable nor have a lively imagination there will be a lot of people that will definitely be excluded by the force of their personality. We believe that in this century of intellectual development faith is a matter of understanding.
“That is how a religion was created; by renovating the deviations and aberrations of paganism it threatens to lead a society that seeks the supernatural to madness, extravagance and to the filthiest cynicism.”
Observation: Here we have once again a prince of the Church proclaiming in an official decree that Spiritism is a created religion. It is the case of repeating here what we have already said about it: If one day Spiritism becomes a religion the Church would have been the first to propose the idea. In any case this new religion, in case it becomes one, will stay away from paganism for the main reason that it does not admit a localized hell with material penalties, whereas the hell of the Church with its flames, tridents, boilers, sharp blades and nails that shatter the condemned ones and the demons that excite the fire constitute an amplified copy of Tartarus.
“The great promoter of that sect of modern illuminati, Mr. Allan Kardec himself, confesses that in The Spirits’ Book by saying that sometimes those Spirits are happy to respond ironically and equivocally, confusing the unfortunate ones that consult them. And although it warns about the need to identify between serious and superficial Spirits he cannot give us the necessary rules to such identification, a confession that reveals the whole deception and vanity of Spiritism with its deplorable consequences.”
Observation: We refer Mr. Bishop of Barcelona to The Mediums’ Book, chapter XXIV.
“If that system that establishes a monstrous commerce between light and darkness, truth and error, good and evil, and in one word God and Belial, if it does not make proselytes in Spain, there is undoubtedly eager promoters and the metropolis of our dioceses is the chosen theater to employ all means that can be suggested by the absence of truth and moral ruin. The proof of that is in the fraudulent spread that is taking place, despite the effort carried out by local authorities, of thousands of volumes of The Spirits’ Book translated to Spanish, written by the first preacher of these lies, Allan Kardec.”
Observation: It is very difficult to conciliate these two statements: Spiritism does not make proselytes in Spain and that there is undoubtedly eager promoters. Also, one cannot understand how come a country that has no Spiritists would receive thousands of The Spirits’ Book.
“Reading that original publication we say to ourselves: each century has its concerns, its favorite mistakes, and ours is a tendency to deny what is invisible, seeking certainly only in what is tangible matter. Isn’t that incredible, hadn’t we seen it, that at the height of the nineteenth century, rich in discoveries regarding the laws of nature, observations and experiences, had adopted the dreams of magic and apparitions of Spirits by the evocation of a simple mortal? However, that is the case! It is this new heresy apparently imported from idolater countries to the countries of the new world, invading the old, and here found followers, despite the lighthouse of Christianity that has illuminated it for eighteen centuries, condemning such ridiculousness, despite the light beam spread all over the world and in particular in Europe.”
Observation: Considering that the Mr. Bishop of Barcelona is so much surprised by the fact that the nineteen century accepts Spiritism so easily, despite the positive tendencies and the richness of its discoveries with respect to the laws of nature, we would tell him that it is precisely the aptitude towards these discoveries that produces such a result. The relationships between the visible and invisible worlds constitute one of the great natural laws that was reserved to the nineteen century to reveal, as well as so many other laws. Fruit of experience and observation, based on positive facts up until now misunderstood, badly studied and even worse explained, Spiritism is the expression of that law and for that very reason destroy the fantastic, the marvelous and supernatural falsely attributed to those facts, making us enter the category of natural phenomena.
Since Spiritism comes to explain what was inexplicable; demonstrate what affirms and provides reason; since Spiritism does not wish to be credited by word; since it leads to examination and only wants to be accepted with knowledge of cause, for these reasons Spiritism corresponds to the positive ideas and tendencies of the century. Far from being an anomaly, the easy acceptance of Spiritism is a consequence of its own nature that places it among the sciences of observation. Had it been surrounded by mystery and had it claimed a blind faith it would have been repealed as an anachronism.
Young still, Spiritism like any new idea of certain importance finds opposition as from:
1.Those that only believe in tangible matter and deny any intellectual power beyond mankind;
2.Certain wise persons who believe that there is no more secret in nature or that they are the only ones supposed to unveil what is still hidden;
3.Those that always fought against the ascendance of the human Spirit because they fear the development of the ideas that may harm their personal interests if allowing things to be seen very clearly;
“We, D. D. Pantaleon Monserra y Navarro, by the grace of God and the Saint Apostolic Se, Bishop of Barcelona, knight of the Gran-Cross of the American Order of Isabel, the Catholic, from the Counsel of Her Majesty, etc.
To our beloved and faithful diocesans,
Placed on Earth as in a region of darkness that impedes the vision of things placed on a superior order, man cannot move one step ahead to seek them without the clarification of faith. If separated from that guide he will trip and fall today in the extreme of disbelief that denies everything, and tomorrow in the superstition that believes everything. Our time that intends to follow reason and commonsense, not admitting as true but those things shown by fallacious witnesses, is trespassed by a huge current of ideas, consequently leading to the denial of the supernatural and an excessive credulity. One and the other are the product of human intelligence pride that refuses to give reasonable attention to the revealed word of God.
The current generation is forced to witness this said display given to us by the most advanced peoples in science and civilization. The United States, the so called model nation, and some parts of France, including Alger, are for some time involved in the ridiculous study and application of Spiritism that comes, with such a name, resurrect the former practices of necromancy by the evocation of invisible Spirits in their resting places, beyond the grave, consulting them to uncover hidden secrets under the veil of God cast onto time and eternity.”
Observation: If we are prone to reproach for having relationships with the Spirits it would be necessary that the Church did preclude them from being evoked since it is evident that there are a large number of spontaneous manifestations, even with people that have never heard about Spiritism. How did the Fox sisters in the United States, the first to reveal their presence in that country, how did they come to enter into communication with the evocations, if not through the Spirits that came to manifest to them when they did not even dreamed about it? Why have those Spirits left their designated place beyond the grave? Was it with or without God’s permission? Spiritism has not come out from the mind of a single man like a philosophical system created by imagination. If the Spirits had not manifested by themselves there would not be Spiritism. If they cannot be stopped from manifesting then Spiritism cannot be stopped like a river that cannot be stopped in its course unless the source is suppressed. Pretending that the Spirits do not manifest is a question of fact not opinion. There is no possible argument against the evidence of facts.
“That exaggerated desire to know everything by ridiculous and reproachable means is not but the fruit of this need, this emptiness that mankind experiments after rejecting everything that has been presented as truth by their sovereign, legitimate and infallible: the Church.”
Observation: If what that infallible sovereign proposes as truth is demonstrated to be an error by the observations of science is someone at fault by rejecting it? Was the Church infallible when those that believed in the movement of Earth or in the antipodes were condemned? When even today it condemns people that believe that Earth was not formed in six times twenty four hours? If the Church wants to have its word accepted it would be necessary that none of the teachings be belied by the facts.
“At a time of eagerness to know everything by themselves the truth was rejected as superstition because they did not understand it or there was no agreement with the messages received about it. Later on what was neglected was then considered necessary; it was examined again and depending on the imagination of whoever examined it, if persons of lively imagination or nervous and irritable temperament, people then admitted in their belief system what thy heard an learned from the evoked Spirits, in a moment of melancholic exaltation.”
Observation: We had never thought that faith, that is, the adoption or rejection of the truths taught by the Church, according to the exam performed by the one that sincerely wanted to return there, was a matter of temperament. If to give the Church preference when compared to other beliefs one must not be nervous or irritable nor have a lively imagination there will be a lot of people that will definitely be excluded by the force of their personality. We believe that in this century of intellectual development faith is a matter of understanding.
“That is how a religion was created; by renovating the deviations and aberrations of paganism it threatens to lead a society that seeks the supernatural to madness, extravagance and to the filthiest cynicism.”
Observation: Here we have once again a prince of the Church proclaiming in an official decree that Spiritism is a created religion. It is the case of repeating here what we have already said about it: If one day Spiritism becomes a religion the Church would have been the first to propose the idea. In any case this new religion, in case it becomes one, will stay away from paganism for the main reason that it does not admit a localized hell with material penalties, whereas the hell of the Church with its flames, tridents, boilers, sharp blades and nails that shatter the condemned ones and the demons that excite the fire constitute an amplified copy of Tartarus.
“The great promoter of that sect of modern illuminati, Mr. Allan Kardec himself, confesses that in The Spirits’ Book by saying that sometimes those Spirits are happy to respond ironically and equivocally, confusing the unfortunate ones that consult them. And although it warns about the need to identify between serious and superficial Spirits he cannot give us the necessary rules to such identification, a confession that reveals the whole deception and vanity of Spiritism with its deplorable consequences.”
Observation: We refer Mr. Bishop of Barcelona to The Mediums’ Book, chapter XXIV.
“If that system that establishes a monstrous commerce between light and darkness, truth and error, good and evil, and in one word God and Belial, if it does not make proselytes in Spain, there is undoubtedly eager promoters and the metropolis of our dioceses is the chosen theater to employ all means that can be suggested by the absence of truth and moral ruin. The proof of that is in the fraudulent spread that is taking place, despite the effort carried out by local authorities, of thousands of volumes of The Spirits’ Book translated to Spanish, written by the first preacher of these lies, Allan Kardec.”
Observation: It is very difficult to conciliate these two statements: Spiritism does not make proselytes in Spain and that there is undoubtedly eager promoters. Also, one cannot understand how come a country that has no Spiritists would receive thousands of The Spirits’ Book.
“Reading that original publication we say to ourselves: each century has its concerns, its favorite mistakes, and ours is a tendency to deny what is invisible, seeking certainly only in what is tangible matter. Isn’t that incredible, hadn’t we seen it, that at the height of the nineteenth century, rich in discoveries regarding the laws of nature, observations and experiences, had adopted the dreams of magic and apparitions of Spirits by the evocation of a simple mortal? However, that is the case! It is this new heresy apparently imported from idolater countries to the countries of the new world, invading the old, and here found followers, despite the lighthouse of Christianity that has illuminated it for eighteen centuries, condemning such ridiculousness, despite the light beam spread all over the world and in particular in Europe.”
Observation: Considering that the Mr. Bishop of Barcelona is so much surprised by the fact that the nineteen century accepts Spiritism so easily, despite the positive tendencies and the richness of its discoveries with respect to the laws of nature, we would tell him that it is precisely the aptitude towards these discoveries that produces such a result. The relationships between the visible and invisible worlds constitute one of the great natural laws that was reserved to the nineteen century to reveal, as well as so many other laws. Fruit of experience and observation, based on positive facts up until now misunderstood, badly studied and even worse explained, Spiritism is the expression of that law and for that very reason destroy the fantastic, the marvelous and supernatural falsely attributed to those facts, making us enter the category of natural phenomena.
Since Spiritism comes to explain what was inexplicable; demonstrate what affirms and provides reason; since Spiritism does not wish to be credited by word; since it leads to examination and only wants to be accepted with knowledge of cause, for these reasons Spiritism corresponds to the positive ideas and tendencies of the century. Far from being an anomaly, the easy acceptance of Spiritism is a consequence of its own nature that places it among the sciences of observation. Had it been surrounded by mystery and had it claimed a blind faith it would have been repealed as an anachronism.
Young still, Spiritism like any new idea of certain importance finds opposition as from:
1.Those that only believe in tangible matter and deny any intellectual power beyond mankind;
2.Certain wise persons who believe that there is no more secret in nature or that they are the only ones supposed to unveil what is still hidden;
3.Those that always fought against the ascendance of the human Spirit because they fear the development of the ideas that may harm their personal interests if allowing things to be seen very clearly;
4. Finally, those that have no preconceived idea and for not having studied Spiritism assess it by the misinterpretations given by the adversaries that try to discredit the doctrine. This constitute the large category of opposition but it is diminishing day by day because the number of those that study the doctrine also increases daily; preventions fall flat before a serious examination and before the confirmation that people were mistaken about certain points.
Judging by the space covered by Spiritism in such a short time it is easy to predict that the only adversaries that will remain are the ones with preconceived ideas and since these are a small minority their influence will be null. They will suffer the influence of the masses and feel forced to follow the current. The manifestation of the Spirits is not only a belief: it is a fact. Denial has no value before a fact unless demonstrated that such a fact does not exist, something that has not happened yet. Because such a fact is confirmed in all corners of the globe on a daily basis one does believe in what is seen. That is what explains the deniers’ impotence to stop the spread of the ideas. A belief is only ridiculous when false; it is no longer ridiculous if based on something positive. Ridicule is the attribute of someone that is adamant in denying evidence.
“You must be convinced of this, dear children and brothers, of the need that mankind has to believe and when the true beliefs are neglected even the false ones are embraced with little enthusiasm. That is why the great Pascal says in one of his thoughts: – ‘the non-believers are the ones that are most prone to believe in everything’ – The Spirit of darkness uses people as his toy and instrument of his evil intents, using their vanity, credulity and presumption to turn them into promoters and apostles of what they laughed at before, of something that they qualified as chimeric invention and scarecrow of weak souls. No, brothers, the true faith, the doctrine of Christianity, the constant teaching of the Church have always reprimanded the practice of those evocations that lead to believe that people have some power upon the Spirits that only God actually has. ‘It is not in the power of a mortal that souls separated from their bodies after death come to reveal to them secrets that are covered by the veil of the future’ ()”.
Observation: Spiritism also says that it is not given to the Spirits the revelation of the future and formally condemns the use of communications from beyond the grave as a means of foretelling. It says that the Spirits come to instruct us and help us improve and not to read the future to us. Besides, it says that nobody can force the Spirits to come to communicate when they do not wish to do so. It is a malicious deviation of objective to pretend that Spiritism is about necromancy (The Mediums’ Book, chap. XXVI).
“Had the divine wisdom considered useful to the happiness and rest of human beings the instruction about relationships between the world of the Spirits and the corporeal world that would have been revealed to us in such a way that no mortal could have been mistaken in their communications; it would have taught us a means of recognizing the truth or indicating the error and it would not have abandoned us to find such discernment through reason, that is a very weak light to uncover those regions that extend beyond death.”
Observation: If God allows such relationships to take place today – since we must admit that nothing happens without God’s consent – it is because God considers it to be useful to the happiness of mankind, by given proof of a future life in which many no longer believe and because the always rising number of nonbelievers demonstrates that the Church alone is impotent to keep them stable. God sends helpers in the Spirits that manifest. Repealing them is not a proof of submission to God’s will; cursing and mistreating their interpreters is to do the same as the Jewish with respect to the prophets, something that made Jesus cry for the fate of Jerusalem.
“Thus, when a miserable mortal, deviated by imagination, pretends to send us news about the fate of the souls in the other world; when people of short vision dare to want to reveal to humanity and to an individual their indefectible future destiny they steal a power that belongs to God and that is not renounced except if to the good of the peoples, warning or reproaching them through his envoys that, like prophets, carry with them the proof of their mission in the miracles that they carry out and in the constant realization of what they announce.”
Observation: So, you deny the predictions of Jesus since you do not acknowledge his announcements about what happens today. What do these words mean? “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”[1]
“We can consider as visionaries those that have abandoned the truth and have given attention to fables, willing to have their fantastic dreams and delirious imagination heard as if they were revelations. Writing to Timothy St. Paul forearmed him against all that (I Tim. 4:7).[2] The apostle already foresaw eighteen centuries ago what disbelief would offer in our days to fulfill the hole that is left in a soul that has no faith.”
Observation: In fact, disbelief is the ulcer of our times. It does leave a huge emptiness in one souls. Why the Church does not fight against it then? Why can’t the Church keep the followers in their faith? Yet, it has the material and spiritual means to do so. Doesn’t the Church has immense treasures, a countless army of preachers and the religious education of youth? If its arguments are not successful against disbelief it means that they are not strong enough. Spiritism does not follow those steps. It does what the Church does not. It addresses those that the Church cannot reach and is able to give them faith in God, their own soul and a future life. What to think of a doctor that, incapable of healing his patient, would oppose that the patient accepted the care of another doctor that could save him? It is true that Spiritism does not preconize one cult in detriment of another; that does not cast anathema onto any one otherwise it would be welcome by him whose exclusive cause he would have embraced; but it is precisely because he is the bearer of a rallying word to which all can answer: "there is no salvation but through charity," that Spiritism comes to put an end to the religious antagonisms that have shed more blood than the wars of conquests.
“After having rehearsed fortune telling and animal somnambulism through magnetism, unable to get anywhere beyond the reproach of every sensible person; after having seen discredited the turning tables, they unrooted the infect cadaver of that Spiritism with the absurd of the transmigration of souls, neglecting the articles of our symbol as taught by the Church, trying to replace them by others that destroy them, admitting an immortality of the soul, a purgatory and a hell that are different from what our Catholic faith teaches us.”
Observation: This is very true. Spiritism does not admit a hell where there are flames, tridents, boilers and sharp blades; Spiritism does not admit either that it is a joy to the elected ones to lift the cover of the boilers to find their the condemned ones there, perhaps a father, a mother or a brother; Spiritism does not admit that it is pleasing to God to hear for the whole of eternity the screams of desperation of his creatures, not being touched by the tears of regret, more cruel than that tyrant that had a breather built between the jail cells of his palace and his own bedroom, to have the pleasure of hearing the groaning of his victims; Spiritism does not admit, finally, that supreme happiness consists of a perpetual contemplation that would be a perpetual uselessness, nor that God may have created the souls to enjoy a few years of active existence followed by the eternal punishments or the useless beatitude. If that is the cornerstone of the edifice then the Church is right about fearing the new ideas. Such beliefs are not the ones capable of topping up the huge abyss of disbelief.
“With that and with what was said by the wise Bishop of Alger, everything that the disbelievers were able to do was to change places to entice a number of believers whose simple and not much enlightened faith is easily given to anything that is extraordinary and, at the same time, placing a new obstacle to the conversion of those souls buried in religious indifference that when realized that someone wanted to reduce Christianity to a fabric of superstitions they ended up saying blasphemies against that belief and its author.”
Observation: Here we have something singular! It is Spiritism that preclude the Church from converting the souls buried in religious indifference. Why then hasn’t the Church converted them before the appearance of Spiritism? Is Spiritism more powerful than the Church? If those that are indifferent are more easily attracted to Spiritism it seems that what is given to them is then more convenient.
“To avoid having people of little faith scandalized by what they read in The Spirits’ Book precluding them from believing that those teachings are in harmony with all cults and beliefs, including the Catholic faith as pretended by Allan Kardec, we remind them that the Sacred Scriptures condemn them as madness, saying by the mouth of Ecclesiasts: “Foretelling and dreams are vain things and the heart suffers with such chimeras; be suspicious every time they do not come from the Almighty because our dreams make people sad and those that trust them are abated.” (Ec. XXXVI: 5,7)
Jesus reproaches his disciples for having believed in the apparition of a ghost when they saw him walking on waters and he does not want them to believe that unless through the signs that he provides of himself. (Luke XXIV: 39).
The Church and its saint fathers as interpreters of the divine word have constantly repealed these deceiving practices through which one believes that the Spirits communicate with people and an enlightened reason also repeals them for it realizes that it cannot embrace the truths and all things of the supernatural past without the support of faith. How can someone’s mind, by itself, pretend to reach something that cannot be verified and that took place somewhere and under unforeseeable circumstances? If on other occasions we have raised our voice against this impious materialism and that systematic disbelief that denies the immortality of the soul when separated from the body, in the different states reserved by the divine justice in eternity, today we are forced to protest against that active communication attributed to the evocation of the dead, pretending to reveal things that are only perceptible by the infinite arms of God.
My beloved brothers and children, don’t be carried away by these empty fables that contain the same mistakes and concerns found in barbarian and ignorant peoples and every absurd invention of persons whose souls, weakened by the absence of a true faith and by superstition, abjure the true religion revealed by the son of God, degrades human reason and expels purity from the soul. Far from our well beloved diocesans, and in particular those readers that rightly so are considered enlightened and civilized, far from them to believe in those novels written by dreamers like Allan Kardec, people of exalted and delirious imagination! Far from you then that anti-Christian faith that brings ghosts from the grave, the errant Spirits; far from you that superstition brought into our religion by pagan people converted to Christianity, and whose writings of their supporters were soon expelled.”
Observation: The Spiritists have never ever made ghosts come out of their tombs by the very simple fact that those tombs only contain mortal remains that are destroyed and not resuscitated. The Spirits are everywhere in space, happy for being free and disentangled from the body that made them suffer. That is why they are not attached to their remains, trying on the contrary to be further away than closer. Spiritism has always rejected the idea that such evocations would be easier near the tombs from where something that is not there cannot come out. It is only in theaters that such things are seen.
“Carefully avoid having your children reading such productions and becoming impressed by their figures, carried away by the curiosity of the youth, things that have the effect of clouding the common sense of a large number of people that are now suffering in mental health institutions, victimized by Spiritism. Do everything in your power, my dear brothers and children, to keep pure the doctrine that was taught to us by our divine Teacher. Refer solely to his sacred word when dealing with the future. Knowing that it is only up to the Divine Providence to know how to guide mankind through the vicissitudes of life, trying their faith and reviving their hope and not willing to probe their future fate, make sure that such a fate is ensured through their good works and through that confirming your vocation of sons of God called to share the treasures of our Celestial Father.”
Observation: Instead of trimming the curiosity of kids wouldn’t such a suggestion stimulate that of their parents, and isn’t that what it does? As for mental diseases it is always the same story that is becoming worn out and whose result has not been more successful than the pretense ghosts. Experiments happening everywhere, more in the privacy of families than in public, mediums found everywhere, in all layers of society at all ages, each one knowing well how to position themselves with respect to the veracity of the phenomena. That is why all efforts employed to fantasize Spiritism are fruitless. The number of those deceived by false allegations is very small and many of these find out the truth by themselves. How can one persuade a whole crowd that it is night time when in fact it is daylight and everyone can clearly see that? Such a capacity of practical control given to everyone is one of the special characters of Spiritism and it is what constitutes its strength. That is much different when compared to philosophical doctrines that can be fought against by reason. Spiritism is based on facts and observations that each person incessantly has at their disposal. The whole argumentation of Mr. Bishop of Barcelona is summarized like that: the manifestations of the Spirits are fables imagined by non-believers in order to destroy religion. One must only believe what we say because we are the owners of the truth. Do not analyze anything beyond that because there is the risk of being seduced.
“In order to avoid the dangers that may affect you and considering the divine authority that was given to us to point that out to you and keep you safe according to the mandate that was assigned to us and acknowledged by the Article 3rd of the last agreement, and according to what was foreseen by the saint canons and the rules of the kingdom with respect to the sins that we have indicated and fought against, we condemn The Spirits’ Book translated to Spanish with the title ‘Le Libro de los Espiritus’, by Allan Kardec, as from articles 8 and 9 of the promulgated catalogue given the prescription for that objective by the Council of Trento. We therefore prohibit the reading of such a book by every diocesan of ours, without exception, and command them all to deliver to their respective priests the books that may eventually fall in their hands so that they can be sent to us safe and dry.
Given in our visit to Mataro on July 27th, 1864.”
Pantaleón, Bishop of Barcelona
By the order of SES Monsignor Bishop
Don Lazaro Bauluz, secretary
-o-
The prohibition assigned by the bishop of Barcelona to all of his diocesans, without exception, to get involved with Spiritism is based on that of the bishop of Alger. We strongly doubt that it will be more successful than the other although in Spain because in that country the ideas spread like elsewhere, even under the muzzle that keep them like in a hot greenhouse. The auto-da-fé of Barcelona accelerated its blossom. Apparently the effect produced by that ceremony did not correspond to the expectation since it was not repeated. Yet they now want to execute in private what they no longer dare do in public.
By inviting his diocesans to return all the books that fall in their hands Monsignor Pantaleon certainly does not wish to collect them. He prohibits the evocation of the Spirits and that is his own right but he forgot something of paramount importance: prohibiting the Spirits from entering Spain.
He is surprised by the fact that Spiritism creates roots so easily in the nineteenth century. We must be even more surprised by seeing the resurrection of Middle Ages habits in this century. And what is even more astonishing is to find people, in fact educated people that understand so little the nature and the strength of the idea to believe that one is capable of blocking its path as one does to a parcel of merchandise at customs’ border.
You regret Monsignor that the non-believers and the indifferent ones remain deaf to the voice of the ministers of the Church while they listen to Spiritism. The reason is that they are more touched by the words of charity, encouragement and consolation than those of anathema. Do you believe to lead them by swearing at them like the recent words said by the priest of Villemayor-de-Ladre against a poor schoolmaster that made the mistake of displeasing him?
Here is the canonic formula published by Madrid Correspondence on June 1864 by which the famous imprecation of Camille is almost a sweetness. The poet was able to put it in the mouth of a pagan; he dared not put it in the mouth of a Christian.
“Damned be August Vincent; damned be the clothes that cover him, the ground on which he steps, the bed in which he sleeps and the table at which he eats; damned be the bread and everything else that feeds him, the spring from where he drinks and everything else that he drinks. May earth open up below his feet and bury him at this time; may Lucifer seat on his right hand side. Nobody should talk to him or face excommunication for just saying good-bye to him; damned may also be his fields upon which no rain shall ever fall so that they produce nothing; damned be his horse, his house and all his properties. Damned be also his parents, the children that he may have or will have that will be in small number and bad ones; these shall beg around and nobody will give them the alms but if they get some they must not eat from them. And even more, may his wife widow right now and his children orphan without a father.”
-o-
Was it really in a Christian temple that such horrible words were pronounced? Was it really a minister of the Gospels, a representative of Jesus Christ that pronounced such words? Who would, out of a personal insult, curse a person to the execration of her fellow human beings, to the eternal damnation and to all miseries of life, that person, her parents, current and future children and everything else that belongs to that person? Jesus has never used similar language; he prayed for his executioners and said: “Forgive your enemies”; he makes us daily repeat in the Our Father prayer: “Lord, forgive our offenses as we have forgiven the ones that offended us”. When he reproaches the Scribers and Pharisees does he cast the rage of God upon them? No, he foresees the miseries that may reach them.
And you, Monsignor, you are surprised by the progress of disbelief? You should be surprised, instead, by the fact that right in the nineteenth century Jesus Christ’s religion is so little understood by the very ones that are in charge of teaching it. Don’t be surprised then that God sends His good Spirits to refresh our memories about the true meaning of His law. They do not come to destroy Christianity but to free it from the false interpretations and abuse introduced by humanity.
[1] Joel 2:28
[2]“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;”
“You must be convinced of this, dear children and brothers, of the need that mankind has to believe and when the true beliefs are neglected even the false ones are embraced with little enthusiasm. That is why the great Pascal says in one of his thoughts: – ‘the non-believers are the ones that are most prone to believe in everything’ – The Spirit of darkness uses people as his toy and instrument of his evil intents, using their vanity, credulity and presumption to turn them into promoters and apostles of what they laughed at before, of something that they qualified as chimeric invention and scarecrow of weak souls. No, brothers, the true faith, the doctrine of Christianity, the constant teaching of the Church have always reprimanded the practice of those evocations that lead to believe that people have some power upon the Spirits that only God actually has. ‘It is not in the power of a mortal that souls separated from their bodies after death come to reveal to them secrets that are covered by the veil of the future’ ()”.
Observation: Spiritism also says that it is not given to the Spirits the revelation of the future and formally condemns the use of communications from beyond the grave as a means of foretelling. It says that the Spirits come to instruct us and help us improve and not to read the future to us. Besides, it says that nobody can force the Spirits to come to communicate when they do not wish to do so. It is a malicious deviation of objective to pretend that Spiritism is about necromancy (The Mediums’ Book, chap. XXVI).
“Had the divine wisdom considered useful to the happiness and rest of human beings the instruction about relationships between the world of the Spirits and the corporeal world that would have been revealed to us in such a way that no mortal could have been mistaken in their communications; it would have taught us a means of recognizing the truth or indicating the error and it would not have abandoned us to find such discernment through reason, that is a very weak light to uncover those regions that extend beyond death.”
Observation: If God allows such relationships to take place today – since we must admit that nothing happens without God’s consent – it is because God considers it to be useful to the happiness of mankind, by given proof of a future life in which many no longer believe and because the always rising number of nonbelievers demonstrates that the Church alone is impotent to keep them stable. God sends helpers in the Spirits that manifest. Repealing them is not a proof of submission to God’s will; cursing and mistreating their interpreters is to do the same as the Jewish with respect to the prophets, something that made Jesus cry for the fate of Jerusalem.
“Thus, when a miserable mortal, deviated by imagination, pretends to send us news about the fate of the souls in the other world; when people of short vision dare to want to reveal to humanity and to an individual their indefectible future destiny they steal a power that belongs to God and that is not renounced except if to the good of the peoples, warning or reproaching them through his envoys that, like prophets, carry with them the proof of their mission in the miracles that they carry out and in the constant realization of what they announce.”
Observation: So, you deny the predictions of Jesus since you do not acknowledge his announcements about what happens today. What do these words mean? “And it shall come to pass afterward, that I will pour out my Spirit on all flesh; your sons and daughters will prophesy, your old men shall dream dreams, and your young men shall see visions.”[1]
“We can consider as visionaries those that have abandoned the truth and have given attention to fables, willing to have their fantastic dreams and delirious imagination heard as if they were revelations. Writing to Timothy St. Paul forearmed him against all that (I Tim. 4:7).[2] The apostle already foresaw eighteen centuries ago what disbelief would offer in our days to fulfill the hole that is left in a soul that has no faith.”
Observation: In fact, disbelief is the ulcer of our times. It does leave a huge emptiness in one souls. Why the Church does not fight against it then? Why can’t the Church keep the followers in their faith? Yet, it has the material and spiritual means to do so. Doesn’t the Church has immense treasures, a countless army of preachers and the religious education of youth? If its arguments are not successful against disbelief it means that they are not strong enough. Spiritism does not follow those steps. It does what the Church does not. It addresses those that the Church cannot reach and is able to give them faith in God, their own soul and a future life. What to think of a doctor that, incapable of healing his patient, would oppose that the patient accepted the care of another doctor that could save him? It is true that Spiritism does not preconize one cult in detriment of another; that does not cast anathema onto any one otherwise it would be welcome by him whose exclusive cause he would have embraced; but it is precisely because he is the bearer of a rallying word to which all can answer: "there is no salvation but through charity," that Spiritism comes to put an end to the religious antagonisms that have shed more blood than the wars of conquests.
“After having rehearsed fortune telling and animal somnambulism through magnetism, unable to get anywhere beyond the reproach of every sensible person; after having seen discredited the turning tables, they unrooted the infect cadaver of that Spiritism with the absurd of the transmigration of souls, neglecting the articles of our symbol as taught by the Church, trying to replace them by others that destroy them, admitting an immortality of the soul, a purgatory and a hell that are different from what our Catholic faith teaches us.”
Observation: This is very true. Spiritism does not admit a hell where there are flames, tridents, boilers and sharp blades; Spiritism does not admit either that it is a joy to the elected ones to lift the cover of the boilers to find their the condemned ones there, perhaps a father, a mother or a brother; Spiritism does not admit that it is pleasing to God to hear for the whole of eternity the screams of desperation of his creatures, not being touched by the tears of regret, more cruel than that tyrant that had a breather built between the jail cells of his palace and his own bedroom, to have the pleasure of hearing the groaning of his victims; Spiritism does not admit, finally, that supreme happiness consists of a perpetual contemplation that would be a perpetual uselessness, nor that God may have created the souls to enjoy a few years of active existence followed by the eternal punishments or the useless beatitude. If that is the cornerstone of the edifice then the Church is right about fearing the new ideas. Such beliefs are not the ones capable of topping up the huge abyss of disbelief.
“With that and with what was said by the wise Bishop of Alger, everything that the disbelievers were able to do was to change places to entice a number of believers whose simple and not much enlightened faith is easily given to anything that is extraordinary and, at the same time, placing a new obstacle to the conversion of those souls buried in religious indifference that when realized that someone wanted to reduce Christianity to a fabric of superstitions they ended up saying blasphemies against that belief and its author.”
Observation: Here we have something singular! It is Spiritism that preclude the Church from converting the souls buried in religious indifference. Why then hasn’t the Church converted them before the appearance of Spiritism? Is Spiritism more powerful than the Church? If those that are indifferent are more easily attracted to Spiritism it seems that what is given to them is then more convenient.
“To avoid having people of little faith scandalized by what they read in The Spirits’ Book precluding them from believing that those teachings are in harmony with all cults and beliefs, including the Catholic faith as pretended by Allan Kardec, we remind them that the Sacred Scriptures condemn them as madness, saying by the mouth of Ecclesiasts: “Foretelling and dreams are vain things and the heart suffers with such chimeras; be suspicious every time they do not come from the Almighty because our dreams make people sad and those that trust them are abated.” (Ec. XXXVI: 5,7)
Jesus reproaches his disciples for having believed in the apparition of a ghost when they saw him walking on waters and he does not want them to believe that unless through the signs that he provides of himself. (Luke XXIV: 39).
The Church and its saint fathers as interpreters of the divine word have constantly repealed these deceiving practices through which one believes that the Spirits communicate with people and an enlightened reason also repeals them for it realizes that it cannot embrace the truths and all things of the supernatural past without the support of faith. How can someone’s mind, by itself, pretend to reach something that cannot be verified and that took place somewhere and under unforeseeable circumstances? If on other occasions we have raised our voice against this impious materialism and that systematic disbelief that denies the immortality of the soul when separated from the body, in the different states reserved by the divine justice in eternity, today we are forced to protest against that active communication attributed to the evocation of the dead, pretending to reveal things that are only perceptible by the infinite arms of God.
My beloved brothers and children, don’t be carried away by these empty fables that contain the same mistakes and concerns found in barbarian and ignorant peoples and every absurd invention of persons whose souls, weakened by the absence of a true faith and by superstition, abjure the true religion revealed by the son of God, degrades human reason and expels purity from the soul. Far from our well beloved diocesans, and in particular those readers that rightly so are considered enlightened and civilized, far from them to believe in those novels written by dreamers like Allan Kardec, people of exalted and delirious imagination! Far from you then that anti-Christian faith that brings ghosts from the grave, the errant Spirits; far from you that superstition brought into our religion by pagan people converted to Christianity, and whose writings of their supporters were soon expelled.”
Observation: The Spiritists have never ever made ghosts come out of their tombs by the very simple fact that those tombs only contain mortal remains that are destroyed and not resuscitated. The Spirits are everywhere in space, happy for being free and disentangled from the body that made them suffer. That is why they are not attached to their remains, trying on the contrary to be further away than closer. Spiritism has always rejected the idea that such evocations would be easier near the tombs from where something that is not there cannot come out. It is only in theaters that such things are seen.
“Carefully avoid having your children reading such productions and becoming impressed by their figures, carried away by the curiosity of the youth, things that have the effect of clouding the common sense of a large number of people that are now suffering in mental health institutions, victimized by Spiritism. Do everything in your power, my dear brothers and children, to keep pure the doctrine that was taught to us by our divine Teacher. Refer solely to his sacred word when dealing with the future. Knowing that it is only up to the Divine Providence to know how to guide mankind through the vicissitudes of life, trying their faith and reviving their hope and not willing to probe their future fate, make sure that such a fate is ensured through their good works and through that confirming your vocation of sons of God called to share the treasures of our Celestial Father.”
Observation: Instead of trimming the curiosity of kids wouldn’t such a suggestion stimulate that of their parents, and isn’t that what it does? As for mental diseases it is always the same story that is becoming worn out and whose result has not been more successful than the pretense ghosts. Experiments happening everywhere, more in the privacy of families than in public, mediums found everywhere, in all layers of society at all ages, each one knowing well how to position themselves with respect to the veracity of the phenomena. That is why all efforts employed to fantasize Spiritism are fruitless. The number of those deceived by false allegations is very small and many of these find out the truth by themselves. How can one persuade a whole crowd that it is night time when in fact it is daylight and everyone can clearly see that? Such a capacity of practical control given to everyone is one of the special characters of Spiritism and it is what constitutes its strength. That is much different when compared to philosophical doctrines that can be fought against by reason. Spiritism is based on facts and observations that each person incessantly has at their disposal. The whole argumentation of Mr. Bishop of Barcelona is summarized like that: the manifestations of the Spirits are fables imagined by non-believers in order to destroy religion. One must only believe what we say because we are the owners of the truth. Do not analyze anything beyond that because there is the risk of being seduced.
“In order to avoid the dangers that may affect you and considering the divine authority that was given to us to point that out to you and keep you safe according to the mandate that was assigned to us and acknowledged by the Article 3rd of the last agreement, and according to what was foreseen by the saint canons and the rules of the kingdom with respect to the sins that we have indicated and fought against, we condemn The Spirits’ Book translated to Spanish with the title ‘Le Libro de los Espiritus’, by Allan Kardec, as from articles 8 and 9 of the promulgated catalogue given the prescription for that objective by the Council of Trento. We therefore prohibit the reading of such a book by every diocesan of ours, without exception, and command them all to deliver to their respective priests the books that may eventually fall in their hands so that they can be sent to us safe and dry.
Given in our visit to Mataro on July 27th, 1864.”
Pantaleón, Bishop of Barcelona
By the order of SES Monsignor Bishop
Don Lazaro Bauluz, secretary
-o-
The prohibition assigned by the bishop of Barcelona to all of his diocesans, without exception, to get involved with Spiritism is based on that of the bishop of Alger. We strongly doubt that it will be more successful than the other although in Spain because in that country the ideas spread like elsewhere, even under the muzzle that keep them like in a hot greenhouse. The auto-da-fé of Barcelona accelerated its blossom. Apparently the effect produced by that ceremony did not correspond to the expectation since it was not repeated. Yet they now want to execute in private what they no longer dare do in public.
By inviting his diocesans to return all the books that fall in their hands Monsignor Pantaleon certainly does not wish to collect them. He prohibits the evocation of the Spirits and that is his own right but he forgot something of paramount importance: prohibiting the Spirits from entering Spain.
He is surprised by the fact that Spiritism creates roots so easily in the nineteenth century. We must be even more surprised by seeing the resurrection of Middle Ages habits in this century. And what is even more astonishing is to find people, in fact educated people that understand so little the nature and the strength of the idea to believe that one is capable of blocking its path as one does to a parcel of merchandise at customs’ border.
You regret Monsignor that the non-believers and the indifferent ones remain deaf to the voice of the ministers of the Church while they listen to Spiritism. The reason is that they are more touched by the words of charity, encouragement and consolation than those of anathema. Do you believe to lead them by swearing at them like the recent words said by the priest of Villemayor-de-Ladre against a poor schoolmaster that made the mistake of displeasing him?
Here is the canonic formula published by Madrid Correspondence on June 1864 by which the famous imprecation of Camille is almost a sweetness. The poet was able to put it in the mouth of a pagan; he dared not put it in the mouth of a Christian.
“Damned be August Vincent; damned be the clothes that cover him, the ground on which he steps, the bed in which he sleeps and the table at which he eats; damned be the bread and everything else that feeds him, the spring from where he drinks and everything else that he drinks. May earth open up below his feet and bury him at this time; may Lucifer seat on his right hand side. Nobody should talk to him or face excommunication for just saying good-bye to him; damned may also be his fields upon which no rain shall ever fall so that they produce nothing; damned be his horse, his house and all his properties. Damned be also his parents, the children that he may have or will have that will be in small number and bad ones; these shall beg around and nobody will give them the alms but if they get some they must not eat from them. And even more, may his wife widow right now and his children orphan without a father.”
-o-
Was it really in a Christian temple that such horrible words were pronounced? Was it really a minister of the Gospels, a representative of Jesus Christ that pronounced such words? Who would, out of a personal insult, curse a person to the execration of her fellow human beings, to the eternal damnation and to all miseries of life, that person, her parents, current and future children and everything else that belongs to that person? Jesus has never used similar language; he prayed for his executioners and said: “Forgive your enemies”; he makes us daily repeat in the Our Father prayer: “Lord, forgive our offenses as we have forgiven the ones that offended us”. When he reproaches the Scribers and Pharisees does he cast the rage of God upon them? No, he foresees the miseries that may reach them.
And you, Monsignor, you are surprised by the progress of disbelief? You should be surprised, instead, by the fact that right in the nineteenth century Jesus Christ’s religion is so little understood by the very ones that are in charge of teaching it. Don’t be surprised then that God sends His good Spirits to refresh our memories about the true meaning of His law. They do not come to destroy Christianity but to free it from the false interpretations and abuse introduced by humanity.
[1] Joel 2:28
[2]“Have nothing to do with irreverent, silly myths. Rather train yourself for godliness;”
Barcelona, June 13th 1864 – medium Mrs. J…
“I come to you so that you may kindly recommend me to God in your prayers because I suffer and I wish that the charitable incarnate souls may show compassion to a poor Spirit that begs God’s forgiveness. I spent a long time on the wrong path but today I come to alert those that do the same: Stop your iniquities, impure souls, stop your disbelief and your wandering life; stop every wrong doing because God says to the good Spirits: Go and purify those souls that have never known good; evil must stop for the time has come when Earth must progress. For that to happen the stained souls that come to inhabit here must be purified to be able to return good and charitable.” That is what God said to the good Spirits. As for myself, I was one of the worst ones in obsession and now I tell those that do what I did: Stray souls, follow me; ask for God forgiveness and these pure souls that reach out to you; beg and God will forgive you; but you must forgive also and regret. Forgiveness is so soothing! Had you known it and you would not waste any time to move away from the swamp of evilness in which you remain stuck, immediately flying out into the arms of the angels that are near you! Stop, stop brothers, I beg you; stop and follow me; regret!
My friends – allow me to call you so although you do not know me – I am one of those Spirits that did everything but good; but to every sin mercy and since God forgives me and the angels call me brother I hope that you that practices charity may pray for me because I still have very tough trials to endure. But I do deserve them.
- Have you turned to good long ago?
My friends – allow me to call you so although you do not know me – I am one of those Spirits that did everything but good; but to every sin mercy and since God forgives me and the angels call me brother I hope that you that practices charity may pray for me because I still have very tough trials to endure. But I do deserve them.
- Have you turned to good long ago?
- No my friends, it was a short while ago; I am the obsessing Spirit of the girl from Marmande; I am Julio, coming to the charitable souls asking you to pray for me and to tell my former companions: Stop. Do no more evil because God forgives the regretful sinners. Regret and you shall be acquitted. I come to bring you words of peace. Receive from the angel present here the sacred baptism as I have received.
Dear friends, I leave you now requesting that you do not forget me in your prayers.
Good-bye.”
Julio
We then asked if the Spirit of Little Carita, his protecting Spirit, was following him; he answered positively. We asked that good Spirit for some words with respect to obsessions that have been fighting for so long. Here is what the Spirit said:
“My friends, the obsessions that constitute the torment of those poor incarnate souls are very painful, in particular to the mediums that wish to use their faculties to do good and cannot because malevolent Spirits have seized them and do not give them peace; but it is not necessary to wait for those obsessions to come to an end. Pray a lot, ask God, the goodness itself, to abbreviate your suffering and trials. Dear souls, evoke these stray Spirits; pray for them; moralize them; ask for the advice of the good Spirits. You are well surrounded. Don’t you have several of those ethereal souls near you, waking for and protecting you? Those that seek to help you progress and approach God? That is their mission. They work incessantly to prepare the endless path to you. If you are not freed, my dear friends, it is undoubtedly because you are not pure enough for the task that you imposed on yourself. You have freely chosen your trial and you must strive to be successful because the Spirits guide you and sustain you, helping you to lead a sacred life through the depuration of suffering, atonement and charity.
So long, dear friends. I leave you asking God to protect you and these poor obsessed, having them always protected by the purified Spirits of your group (see the Spiritist Review February, March and June 1864: Cure of the obsessed young lady of Marmande).”
Little Carita
“My friends, the obsessions that constitute the torment of those poor incarnate souls are very painful, in particular to the mediums that wish to use their faculties to do good and cannot because malevolent Spirits have seized them and do not give them peace; but it is not necessary to wait for those obsessions to come to an end. Pray a lot, ask God, the goodness itself, to abbreviate your suffering and trials. Dear souls, evoke these stray Spirits; pray for them; moralize them; ask for the advice of the good Spirits. You are well surrounded. Don’t you have several of those ethereal souls near you, waking for and protecting you? Those that seek to help you progress and approach God? That is their mission. They work incessantly to prepare the endless path to you. If you are not freed, my dear friends, it is undoubtedly because you are not pure enough for the task that you imposed on yourself. You have freely chosen your trial and you must strive to be successful because the Spirits guide you and sustain you, helping you to lead a sacred life through the depuration of suffering, atonement and charity.
So long, dear friends. I leave you asking God to protect you and these poor obsessed, having them always protected by the purified Spirits of your group (see the Spiritist Review February, March and June 1864: Cure of the obsessed young lady of Marmande).”
Little Carita
-o-
These are two Spirits that violated the order and crossed the Pyrenees without permission, not taking into account the commandment given by Monsignor Pantaleón and, what is even worse, without been evoked or called. It is true that the order had not been given yet. We shall see now if they will be less daring. One can say that if they were not called in this gathering they were used to call others and that since the door was found open they did as well enter but the time is not far when they will see there, like elsewhere and in Poitiers, for example, such manifestations among those who have not heard about Spiritism and even among the scrupulous observers of the commandment, closing the doors of their homes despite the alguazils.
Considering that the Spirits mentioned here allowed such an outrage we ask Mr. Bishop what is ridiculous about it and where is the disgusting cynicism that in his opinion is the result of Spiritism: a young lady of Marmande that did not think about the Spirits nor her parents, and that perhaps did not even believe in them is committed by a bizarre disease for about a year, a terrible disease that even science fails. Some Spiritists believe to see in such an event the action of a bad Spirit. They try the healing without medication, through prayer and the evocation of that bad Spirit; in five days they not only achieve the cure but return that Spirit to the good path. What is wrong with that?
Where is the absurd? Then the same Spirit comes to Barcelona, without being invited, asking for prayers that he needs for his purification. He puts himself as an example and incites his former companions to renounce to evil. The good Spirit that follows him preaches the evangelical moral. What is disgusting and ridiculous about it? Ridiculous, you say, is to believe in the manifestation of the Spirits. But what are those two creatures that have just communicated? An effect of imagination? No because nobody was thinking about them nor in the event that they just mentioned. When you die, Monsignor, you will see things differently and we beg God to enlighten you as God did to your predecessor, today one of the protectors of Spiritism in Barcelona. Among the communications given by him in the Spiritist Society of Paris this is the first one, already published in the Spiritist Review. We, nonetheless, reproduce it here for the edification of those that do not know it (See the Spiritist Review, August 1862: Death of the Bishop of Barcelona, and with respect to the details of the auto-da-fé the issues of November and December 1861).
“Helped by your Spiritual guide (St. Louis) I was able to come to teach you by my example and say: Do not repeal any of the announced ideas because one day, a day that will have the weight of a century, those collected ideas will shout like the voice of the angel: Cain, what have you done to your brother? What have you done to our power that should console and elevate humanity? The person that voluntarily lives deaf and blind in Spirit, like others are in their bodies, will suffer, atone and reborn to start again the intellectual work that was avoided by their pride and laziness. That terrible voice told me: You burnt the ideas and the ideas will burn you. Pray for me. Pray for the prayer said by the persecuted on behalf of the persecutor pleases God.
The one that was a bishop and now is no more than a penitent.”
The Spirits did not stop in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz, Seville, Murcia and many other cities receive their communications to which the auto-da-fe gave a new impulse, increasing the number of followers. Without having the prophetic gift we can say that not a half-century will pass without the whole Spain becoming Spiritist.
-o-
Considering that the Spirits mentioned here allowed such an outrage we ask Mr. Bishop what is ridiculous about it and where is the disgusting cynicism that in his opinion is the result of Spiritism: a young lady of Marmande that did not think about the Spirits nor her parents, and that perhaps did not even believe in them is committed by a bizarre disease for about a year, a terrible disease that even science fails. Some Spiritists believe to see in such an event the action of a bad Spirit. They try the healing without medication, through prayer and the evocation of that bad Spirit; in five days they not only achieve the cure but return that Spirit to the good path. What is wrong with that?
Where is the absurd? Then the same Spirit comes to Barcelona, without being invited, asking for prayers that he needs for his purification. He puts himself as an example and incites his former companions to renounce to evil. The good Spirit that follows him preaches the evangelical moral. What is disgusting and ridiculous about it? Ridiculous, you say, is to believe in the manifestation of the Spirits. But what are those two creatures that have just communicated? An effect of imagination? No because nobody was thinking about them nor in the event that they just mentioned. When you die, Monsignor, you will see things differently and we beg God to enlighten you as God did to your predecessor, today one of the protectors of Spiritism in Barcelona. Among the communications given by him in the Spiritist Society of Paris this is the first one, already published in the Spiritist Review. We, nonetheless, reproduce it here for the edification of those that do not know it (See the Spiritist Review, August 1862: Death of the Bishop of Barcelona, and with respect to the details of the auto-da-fé the issues of November and December 1861).
“Helped by your Spiritual guide (St. Louis) I was able to come to teach you by my example and say: Do not repeal any of the announced ideas because one day, a day that will have the weight of a century, those collected ideas will shout like the voice of the angel: Cain, what have you done to your brother? What have you done to our power that should console and elevate humanity? The person that voluntarily lives deaf and blind in Spirit, like others are in their bodies, will suffer, atone and reborn to start again the intellectual work that was avoided by their pride and laziness. That terrible voice told me: You burnt the ideas and the ideas will burn you. Pray for me. Pray for the prayer said by the persecuted on behalf of the persecutor pleases God.
The one that was a bishop and now is no more than a penitent.”
The Spirits did not stop in Barcelona, Madrid, Cadiz, Seville, Murcia and many other cities receive their communications to which the auto-da-fe gave a new impulse, increasing the number of followers. Without having the prophetic gift we can say that not a half-century will pass without the whole Spain becoming Spiritist.
-o-
Murcia, Spain June 28th, 1864
“Question to a protector Spirit – Can you talk about the state of the incarnate souls in worlds superior to ours? A. – I take a world in comparison to yours that is noticeably more advanced in which the belief in God, the immortality of the soul, the succession of the existences to get to perfection are all truths acknowledged and understood by all and where the communication between the corporeal and the invisible worlds is very easy for that very reason. The beings there are less materialized than those on your Earth and are not subjected to all needs imposed on you. They form the transition between the corporeal and incorporeal. There is no barriers there separating the peoples, nor wars; everybody lives in peace practicing charity and true fraternity with one another; human laws are useless there; each person uses their own conscience as their tribunal. Evil is rare there and even that evil would almost be good for you. Compared to you they would be perfect but they are still far from the perfection of God; they still need several incarnations in several worlds to achieve purification. The one that seems perfect to you on Earth would be considered a rebel and criminal in the world that I am talking about. Your greatest wise men would be the last ignorant there. In the superior worlds the productions of nature have nothing in common with yours. Everything there is adequate to the less material nature of the inhabitants. It is not through the sweat of their faces and physical work that they win their bread. The soil naturally produces what they need. They are inactive though but their occupations are much different when compared to yours. Not having to provide for the body they do provide for the Spirit; since they understand very well why they were created they are positive about their future and work tirelessly for the betterment and purification of their soul. Death there is considered a benefit. The day a soul leaves its material envelope is a day of happiness. The future beyond is known. One moves on first to wait for their parents, friends and sympathetic Spirits that were left behind.
World of peace, happy dwelling where the vicissitudes of material life are unknown, where the tranquility of one’s soul is not disturbed by ambition or greed and where the inhabitants live happily. The achieve the objectives sought for so many centuries; they see, know, understand and rejoice for thinking about the future that awaits and work with greater eagerness to promptly get there.”
A protector Spirit
This communication does not offer anything that had not been said yet about more advanced worlds but it is not less interesting to see the agreement established in the teachings of the Spirits and in the several corners of the globe. With such elements how could it be possible not to have unity in the doctrine?
Since the establishment of the fundamental points of the doctrine the Spirits have little new things to say. They can’t do much more than repeating the same things with new terms, develop and comment the same subjects, and that establishes a certain uniformity in their teachings. Before moving on to new matters they allow time of maturity to those that are already established. But we see them touching a new subject whenever the time is right for that, something that would have been premature if brought up earlier.
“Question to a protector Spirit – Can you talk about the state of the incarnate souls in worlds superior to ours? A. – I take a world in comparison to yours that is noticeably more advanced in which the belief in God, the immortality of the soul, the succession of the existences to get to perfection are all truths acknowledged and understood by all and where the communication between the corporeal and the invisible worlds is very easy for that very reason. The beings there are less materialized than those on your Earth and are not subjected to all needs imposed on you. They form the transition between the corporeal and incorporeal. There is no barriers there separating the peoples, nor wars; everybody lives in peace practicing charity and true fraternity with one another; human laws are useless there; each person uses their own conscience as their tribunal. Evil is rare there and even that evil would almost be good for you. Compared to you they would be perfect but they are still far from the perfection of God; they still need several incarnations in several worlds to achieve purification. The one that seems perfect to you on Earth would be considered a rebel and criminal in the world that I am talking about. Your greatest wise men would be the last ignorant there. In the superior worlds the productions of nature have nothing in common with yours. Everything there is adequate to the less material nature of the inhabitants. It is not through the sweat of their faces and physical work that they win their bread. The soil naturally produces what they need. They are inactive though but their occupations are much different when compared to yours. Not having to provide for the body they do provide for the Spirit; since they understand very well why they were created they are positive about their future and work tirelessly for the betterment and purification of their soul. Death there is considered a benefit. The day a soul leaves its material envelope is a day of happiness. The future beyond is known. One moves on first to wait for their parents, friends and sympathetic Spirits that were left behind.
World of peace, happy dwelling where the vicissitudes of material life are unknown, where the tranquility of one’s soul is not disturbed by ambition or greed and where the inhabitants live happily. The achieve the objectives sought for so many centuries; they see, know, understand and rejoice for thinking about the future that awaits and work with greater eagerness to promptly get there.”
A protector Spirit
This communication does not offer anything that had not been said yet about more advanced worlds but it is not less interesting to see the agreement established in the teachings of the Spirits and in the several corners of the globe. With such elements how could it be possible not to have unity in the doctrine?
Since the establishment of the fundamental points of the doctrine the Spirits have little new things to say. They can’t do much more than repeating the same things with new terms, develop and comment the same subjects, and that establishes a certain uniformity in their teachings. Before moving on to new matters they allow time of maturity to those that are already established. But we see them touching a new subject whenever the time is right for that, something that would have been premature if brought up earlier.
A Spirit that believes to be a medium
Mrs. Gaspard, friends with Mrs. Delanne, was an eager Spiritist; she was sorry for not being a medium; she wanted to be a clairvoyant medium in particular. For a long time she suffered a lot from an aneurism. On the evening of July 2nd last she suddenly died from the rupture of that aneurism. Mrs. Delanne had not been informed yet about the occurrence when during the day she heard several knocks around her bedroom; in the beginning she did not give much attention to them but the persistence of the knocks made her think that it could be a Spirit willing to communicate. Since she is a very good medium she grabbed a pencil and wrote the following:
“Oh my good Mrs. Delanne, you made me wait a lot! I came quickly to tell you about my new faculty: I am a clairvoyant medium now! I saw my dear Emilio, my children, everyone, my mother and Mr. Gaspard’s mom. Oh, he will be really happy when he learns about it! Thank you God for such a great favor!
Q. – Is that really you, Mrs. Gaspard that speaks now? A. – How come? You don’t see me? I have been close to you for a long time. I was impatient because you did not answer me. Come on! You do see me right? It is your turn now. Besides, it will do you good. We will stroll around now that I am feeling good. Oh how nice to see those that we love once again! However that is what healed me. How God is good and how he follows his promises when we are faithful to his commandments! Ah! My Emilio! When I think that my poor father will still say that I am mad! Never mind. I will tell him, anyhow. Let us go now? It is good if we take your mother with us. It will be good for her. Poor woman. She is so nice!
Q. – Let us see, good Mrs. Gaspard, we will leave, I will follow you. Are we really going to your house in Châtillon? Tell me what is it that you see, or even better, what is going on there now? A. – Strange things!”
After these words the Spirit leaves and Mrs. Delanne obtains nothing else.
To better understand the final part of the communication we say that a trip to the country side in Châtillon had been planned some time ago by the two ladies. Surprised by a sudden death Mrs. Gaspard was not aware of her situation and still believes to be alive. Since she sees the Spirits of her beloved ones she believes to have turned into a clairvoyant medium. It is a remarkable particularity of the transition from the corporeal to the spiritual life.
Besides, Mrs. Gaspard believes to be healed since she is free from her suffering and comes to Mrs. Delanne to renew her invitation. Her ideas are confused though since comes to give notice through knocks near her friend, not understanding that she would not be recognized in that way if she were alive.
Mrs. Delanne soon understands the singularity of the situation and to avoid confusing her even further invites her to their trip to Châtillon. The Spirit no doubt is brought to that place by an unforeseen circumstance for she writes: “Strange things” and breaks the communication.
As a matter of fact the delusion did not take long. Starting from the very next day Mrs. Gaspard was completely detached and dictated an excellent communication addressed to her husband and her friends, congratulating them for having learned about Spiritism that had allowed her a death without the anguishes of the separation.
Mrs. Gaspard, friends with Mrs. Delanne, was an eager Spiritist; she was sorry for not being a medium; she wanted to be a clairvoyant medium in particular. For a long time she suffered a lot from an aneurism. On the evening of July 2nd last she suddenly died from the rupture of that aneurism. Mrs. Delanne had not been informed yet about the occurrence when during the day she heard several knocks around her bedroom; in the beginning she did not give much attention to them but the persistence of the knocks made her think that it could be a Spirit willing to communicate. Since she is a very good medium she grabbed a pencil and wrote the following:
“Oh my good Mrs. Delanne, you made me wait a lot! I came quickly to tell you about my new faculty: I am a clairvoyant medium now! I saw my dear Emilio, my children, everyone, my mother and Mr. Gaspard’s mom. Oh, he will be really happy when he learns about it! Thank you God for such a great favor!
Q. – Is that really you, Mrs. Gaspard that speaks now? A. – How come? You don’t see me? I have been close to you for a long time. I was impatient because you did not answer me. Come on! You do see me right? It is your turn now. Besides, it will do you good. We will stroll around now that I am feeling good. Oh how nice to see those that we love once again! However that is what healed me. How God is good and how he follows his promises when we are faithful to his commandments! Ah! My Emilio! When I think that my poor father will still say that I am mad! Never mind. I will tell him, anyhow. Let us go now? It is good if we take your mother with us. It will be good for her. Poor woman. She is so nice!
Q. – Let us see, good Mrs. Gaspard, we will leave, I will follow you. Are we really going to your house in Châtillon? Tell me what is it that you see, or even better, what is going on there now? A. – Strange things!”
After these words the Spirit leaves and Mrs. Delanne obtains nothing else.
To better understand the final part of the communication we say that a trip to the country side in Châtillon had been planned some time ago by the two ladies. Surprised by a sudden death Mrs. Gaspard was not aware of her situation and still believes to be alive. Since she sees the Spirits of her beloved ones she believes to have turned into a clairvoyant medium. It is a remarkable particularity of the transition from the corporeal to the spiritual life.
Besides, Mrs. Gaspard believes to be healed since she is free from her suffering and comes to Mrs. Delanne to renew her invitation. Her ideas are confused though since comes to give notice through knocks near her friend, not understanding that she would not be recognized in that way if she were alive.
Mrs. Delanne soon understands the singularity of the situation and to avoid confusing her even further invites her to their trip to Châtillon. The Spirit no doubt is brought to that place by an unforeseen circumstance for she writes: “Strange things” and breaks the communication.
As a matter of fact the delusion did not take long. Starting from the very next day Mrs. Gaspard was completely detached and dictated an excellent communication addressed to her husband and her friends, congratulating them for having learned about Spiritism that had allowed her a death without the anguishes of the separation.
Letter sent from Brunswick to the Pays:
“A peasant woman from the region of Lutter has just given birth to a child with the full looks of a monkey for the body is almost entirely covered by tuffs of black hair and not even the face escaped the strange covering. Married for twelve years and although remarkably resigned the poor lady has not yet given birth to a single child that does not carry a more or less horrible disease. Her ten-year-old oldest daughter is hunchbacked and her face seems to be a thorough copy of Polichinelo’s. Her second son, a seven-year-old boy is paraplegic. The third girl not yet five years old is deaf-mute and mentally challenged. Finally the fourth one that is only two years old is totally blind. What could be the cause of that strange phenomenon? That is something for science to explain. The father is perfectly healthy and nothing can explain the kind of fatality that has fallen upon that family.”
Monitor, July 29th 1864
“That is something for science to explain”, the newspaper says. There are many other facts about which science remains powerless not to mention the events of Morzine and Poitiers. The reason for that is very simple. Science is adamant in only looking for causes in matter only taking into account the known laws. With respect to certain phenomena science is in the position that it would be if it had never moved on from the physics of Aristotle; if it were still ignorant about the law of gravitation or electricity; where religion was while neglecting the law of movement of the globes; where still today are those that disregard the geological law of formation of the globe.
Two forces share the world: spirit and matter. Spirit and matter have their own laws. Now, since these two forces incessantly act upon one another it follows that certain material phenomena have their causes in the action of the spirit and that some cannot be totally understood if the action of the other are not taken into account. Beyond the tangible laws, therefore, there is another one that has a capital importance in the world, the relationships between the visible and invisible worlds. When science acknowledges the existence of that law it will then find there the solution to an infinite number of problems against which it uselessly crashes.
The monstrosities, like all other congenital diseases, undoubtedly have a physiological cause that belongs to the field of material science. However, supposing that science come to grips with the secret of such deviations of nature, there will still be the problem of the initial cause and the conciliation of the fact with God’s justice. If science says that it is not in its scope religion cannot say the same. When science demonstrates the existence of something it assigns religion with the duty of finding the proof of the sovereign wisdom there. Hasn’t religion ever probed the mystery of those abnormal existences from the point of view of the divine fairness? Or those fatalities that seem to persecute certain families without currently known causes? No because religion feels its own impotence and fears these terrible questions to its absolute dogmas. Up until now people accepted the fact without going further but now they think, ponder and want to know; they question science that seeks the answer in the material fibers and remains mute; question religion that responds: Impenetrable mystery!
Low and behold! Spiritism comes to tear off that mystery and make the dazzling justice of God come out of that. It demonstrates that those disinherited souls since birth in this world have already lived before and that they atone now in misshapen bodies their past faults. It demonstrates the observation, and reason confirms, because one could not admit that they would be punished just when they leave the hands of God and when they had not done anything.
It is okay, they will tell the creature that has just been born like that. But how about the parents? The mother that only gives birth to disgraced creatures; that is precluded from one single child that can make her proud and that she can joyfully show around? Spiritism responds to that: God’s justice, atonement, trial to her maternal kindness because it is a test and a big one to only see deformed kids around her instead of gracious ones. Spiritism then adds: there isn’t a single breach of God’s laws that sooner or later will not have dismal consequences on Earth or in the spiritual world, in this life or in the next one.
For the same reason there isn’t a single vicissitude of life that is not consequence and punishment for a past fault and that is how it is going to be for each one of us while there is no regret, while there is no atonement or reparation of what has been done. One returns to Earth to atone and make amendments. It is up to each one of us to improve significantly down here to avoid returned as a condemned one. God frequently uses the one that must be punished to punish others. That is why the Spirits of those children that must incarnate in deformed bodies for punishment are, regardless of their will, instruments of atonement to the mother that gave birth to them. That distributive justice, proportional to the extension of the wicked actions, is worth more than the eternal, irremissible penalties that forever eliminate the path of regret and reparation.
The fact above was read at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies as a subject for philosophical studies and a Spirit gave the following explanation:
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, July 29th 1864
If you could see the hidden benefits that move your world you would understand how things are linked together from the tiniest to the greatest things; you would understand above all the intimate relationship between the physical and the spiritual world, that great law of nature; you would see the multitude of intelligences that preside over everything and utilize them for the accomplishment of our Creator’s designs. Consider for a moment that you are in front of a hive whose bees were invisible. The work that you would be carried out every day would cause you admiration and you would perhaps say: that is a singular effect of chance! Well then! You are really in front of a huge atelier led by uncountable legions of workers that are invisible to you, from which some are manual labor workers that just obey and execute, while others command and lead, each in their own sphere of activities proportional to their development and advancement and from there, step by step, to the supreme will that drives everything.
That is how the action of God is explained in their minimal details. Like the earthly sovereign God has the ministers and these have their subordinates, secondary gears of the great governance of the universe. If in a well administered country the last shanty feels the effects and the solicitude of the chief of state what to think of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty reaching the minimal details of creation!
Do not believe that the woman that you have just mentioned is a victim of chance or of a blind fatality. No. What happens to her has a cause, rest assured. She is punished in her pride; she neglected the weak and the sick; she was tough to the unfortunate people from whom she looked the other way with disgust instead of embracing them with the looks of commiseration; she was proud of the physical beauty of her children in detriment of the least favored mothers; she exhibited them proudly because to her the beauty of the body was more important than the soul; she therefore led them to vices that delayed their progress instead of developing the qualities of the heart. God allowed her to only have disabled children in this present life so that her maternal kindness helped her to overcome her rejection for the miserable ones. To her it is a means of punishment and progress. In such punishment, however, both the justice and benevolence of God shine out incessantly punishing with one hand while the other provides the means of recovery.
A protector Spirit
“A peasant woman from the region of Lutter has just given birth to a child with the full looks of a monkey for the body is almost entirely covered by tuffs of black hair and not even the face escaped the strange covering. Married for twelve years and although remarkably resigned the poor lady has not yet given birth to a single child that does not carry a more or less horrible disease. Her ten-year-old oldest daughter is hunchbacked and her face seems to be a thorough copy of Polichinelo’s. Her second son, a seven-year-old boy is paraplegic. The third girl not yet five years old is deaf-mute and mentally challenged. Finally the fourth one that is only two years old is totally blind. What could be the cause of that strange phenomenon? That is something for science to explain. The father is perfectly healthy and nothing can explain the kind of fatality that has fallen upon that family.”
Monitor, July 29th 1864
“That is something for science to explain”, the newspaper says. There are many other facts about which science remains powerless not to mention the events of Morzine and Poitiers. The reason for that is very simple. Science is adamant in only looking for causes in matter only taking into account the known laws. With respect to certain phenomena science is in the position that it would be if it had never moved on from the physics of Aristotle; if it were still ignorant about the law of gravitation or electricity; where religion was while neglecting the law of movement of the globes; where still today are those that disregard the geological law of formation of the globe.
Two forces share the world: spirit and matter. Spirit and matter have their own laws. Now, since these two forces incessantly act upon one another it follows that certain material phenomena have their causes in the action of the spirit and that some cannot be totally understood if the action of the other are not taken into account. Beyond the tangible laws, therefore, there is another one that has a capital importance in the world, the relationships between the visible and invisible worlds. When science acknowledges the existence of that law it will then find there the solution to an infinite number of problems against which it uselessly crashes.
The monstrosities, like all other congenital diseases, undoubtedly have a physiological cause that belongs to the field of material science. However, supposing that science come to grips with the secret of such deviations of nature, there will still be the problem of the initial cause and the conciliation of the fact with God’s justice. If science says that it is not in its scope religion cannot say the same. When science demonstrates the existence of something it assigns religion with the duty of finding the proof of the sovereign wisdom there. Hasn’t religion ever probed the mystery of those abnormal existences from the point of view of the divine fairness? Or those fatalities that seem to persecute certain families without currently known causes? No because religion feels its own impotence and fears these terrible questions to its absolute dogmas. Up until now people accepted the fact without going further but now they think, ponder and want to know; they question science that seeks the answer in the material fibers and remains mute; question religion that responds: Impenetrable mystery!
Low and behold! Spiritism comes to tear off that mystery and make the dazzling justice of God come out of that. It demonstrates that those disinherited souls since birth in this world have already lived before and that they atone now in misshapen bodies their past faults. It demonstrates the observation, and reason confirms, because one could not admit that they would be punished just when they leave the hands of God and when they had not done anything.
It is okay, they will tell the creature that has just been born like that. But how about the parents? The mother that only gives birth to disgraced creatures; that is precluded from one single child that can make her proud and that she can joyfully show around? Spiritism responds to that: God’s justice, atonement, trial to her maternal kindness because it is a test and a big one to only see deformed kids around her instead of gracious ones. Spiritism then adds: there isn’t a single breach of God’s laws that sooner or later will not have dismal consequences on Earth or in the spiritual world, in this life or in the next one.
For the same reason there isn’t a single vicissitude of life that is not consequence and punishment for a past fault and that is how it is going to be for each one of us while there is no regret, while there is no atonement or reparation of what has been done. One returns to Earth to atone and make amendments. It is up to each one of us to improve significantly down here to avoid returned as a condemned one. God frequently uses the one that must be punished to punish others. That is why the Spirits of those children that must incarnate in deformed bodies for punishment are, regardless of their will, instruments of atonement to the mother that gave birth to them. That distributive justice, proportional to the extension of the wicked actions, is worth more than the eternal, irremissible penalties that forever eliminate the path of regret and reparation.
The fact above was read at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies as a subject for philosophical studies and a Spirit gave the following explanation:
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, July 29th 1864
If you could see the hidden benefits that move your world you would understand how things are linked together from the tiniest to the greatest things; you would understand above all the intimate relationship between the physical and the spiritual world, that great law of nature; you would see the multitude of intelligences that preside over everything and utilize them for the accomplishment of our Creator’s designs. Consider for a moment that you are in front of a hive whose bees were invisible. The work that you would be carried out every day would cause you admiration and you would perhaps say: that is a singular effect of chance! Well then! You are really in front of a huge atelier led by uncountable legions of workers that are invisible to you, from which some are manual labor workers that just obey and execute, while others command and lead, each in their own sphere of activities proportional to their development and advancement and from there, step by step, to the supreme will that drives everything.
That is how the action of God is explained in their minimal details. Like the earthly sovereign God has the ministers and these have their subordinates, secondary gears of the great governance of the universe. If in a well administered country the last shanty feels the effects and the solicitude of the chief of state what to think of the infinite wisdom of the Almighty reaching the minimal details of creation!
Do not believe that the woman that you have just mentioned is a victim of chance or of a blind fatality. No. What happens to her has a cause, rest assured. She is punished in her pride; she neglected the weak and the sick; she was tough to the unfortunate people from whom she looked the other way with disgust instead of embracing them with the looks of commiseration; she was proud of the physical beauty of her children in detriment of the least favored mothers; she exhibited them proudly because to her the beauty of the body was more important than the soul; she therefore led them to vices that delayed their progress instead of developing the qualities of the heart. God allowed her to only have disabled children in this present life so that her maternal kindness helped her to overcome her rejection for the miserable ones. To her it is a means of punishment and progress. In such punishment, however, both the justice and benevolence of God shine out incessantly punishing with one hand while the other provides the means of recovery.
A protector Spirit
The Moniteur of August 6th carries the following article reproduced by the Siècle on the following day:
“Yesterday, Thursday at 2 pm a nineteen year old young man, son of a doctor, committed suicide in his house at Chaussée des Martyrs, with a gunshot wound in his mouth. The bullet shattered his head and yet the death was not instantaneous. He kept his mind for a few moments, responding to questions addressed to him saying that with the exception of the pain that he would cause to his father he had no remorse for what he had done. He then became delirious and despite the care that was given to him he died early in the evening after agonizing for five hours. People say that the young man had these ideas of suicide for some time and supposedly, with our without reason, that the study of Spiritism that he was doing had something to do with his fatal resolution.”
-o-
That news will certainly make the circuit of the press like the other case of the supposed four mad men of Lyon, each time repeated with the addition of one zero such is the avidity of our adversaries when they look for the occasion of attacking Spiritism. It does not take long for the truth to be know but what does it matter! People expect that from a good little slander there is always something left. Yes, something remains from that: a stain on the slanderers. As for the Doctrine there has no sign that it is affected by that since it follows its ascending march. We congratulate the director of the Avenir, Mr. d’Ambel, for being so careful in obtaining the information about the true cause of the event. Here is what he said about it in the issue of August 11th, 1864:
“We confess that the news brought us the most profound astonishment. It is impossible not to protest against the carelessness with which the official institution accepted similar accusation. Spiritism is completely foreign to the action of that unfortunate young man. Neighbors of the place where the sinister took place we know perfectly well that the cause of the terrifying suicide was something else. We must indicate the true cause of the catastrophe with great reservation. Nonetheless truth is truth and our Doctrine must not carry such unfair imputation. The man that is presented as someone eager to study Spiritism had long ago failed his baccalaureate exams. Studying was as unpleasant to him as the paternal profession. He would soon be submitted to new exams and it was in consequence of a lively discussion with his father that fearful of another failure he made the decision and executed it. We add the fact that if he had really known Spiritism our Doctrine would have stopped him at the fatal ramp, showing him the whole horror that inspire suicide in us and all of the terrible consequences that it carries along. (See The Spirits’ Book, items 943 to 957).”
“Yesterday, Thursday at 2 pm a nineteen year old young man, son of a doctor, committed suicide in his house at Chaussée des Martyrs, with a gunshot wound in his mouth. The bullet shattered his head and yet the death was not instantaneous. He kept his mind for a few moments, responding to questions addressed to him saying that with the exception of the pain that he would cause to his father he had no remorse for what he had done. He then became delirious and despite the care that was given to him he died early in the evening after agonizing for five hours. People say that the young man had these ideas of suicide for some time and supposedly, with our without reason, that the study of Spiritism that he was doing had something to do with his fatal resolution.”
-o-
That news will certainly make the circuit of the press like the other case of the supposed four mad men of Lyon, each time repeated with the addition of one zero such is the avidity of our adversaries when they look for the occasion of attacking Spiritism. It does not take long for the truth to be know but what does it matter! People expect that from a good little slander there is always something left. Yes, something remains from that: a stain on the slanderers. As for the Doctrine there has no sign that it is affected by that since it follows its ascending march. We congratulate the director of the Avenir, Mr. d’Ambel, for being so careful in obtaining the information about the true cause of the event. Here is what he said about it in the issue of August 11th, 1864:
“We confess that the news brought us the most profound astonishment. It is impossible not to protest against the carelessness with which the official institution accepted similar accusation. Spiritism is completely foreign to the action of that unfortunate young man. Neighbors of the place where the sinister took place we know perfectly well that the cause of the terrifying suicide was something else. We must indicate the true cause of the catastrophe with great reservation. Nonetheless truth is truth and our Doctrine must not carry such unfair imputation. The man that is presented as someone eager to study Spiritism had long ago failed his baccalaureate exams. Studying was as unpleasant to him as the paternal profession. He would soon be submitted to new exams and it was in consequence of a lively discussion with his father that fearful of another failure he made the decision and executed it. We add the fact that if he had really known Spiritism our Doctrine would have stopped him at the fatal ramp, showing him the whole horror that inspire suicide in us and all of the terrible consequences that it carries along. (See The Spirits’ Book, items 943 to 957).”
Our readers remember a brochure with the same title published by Mr. Flammarion that we made reference with a deserved praise in the Spiritist Review of January 1863. The success of the little book led the author to develop the same thesis in a more complete piece of work in which the issue is treated in every angle that it encompasses from the point of view of Astronomy, Physics and natural Philosophy.
He makes abstraction of Spiritism and for that very reason he addresses both the followers as well as the non-believers. However, since the theory of the plurality of the inhabited worlds is intimately linked to the Spiritist Doctrine it is very nice to see it consecrated by science and philosophy. From that point of view the remarkable work of science has its place guaranteed in the libraries of the Spiritists.
It is from the same point of view, abstraction made of the revelation of the Spirits, that the important issue of the plurality of the existences will be handled in a book in preparation, edited by Mr. Didier & Co. The name of the author, known in the scientific world, is a guarantee that his book will be up to the task.
He makes abstraction of Spiritism and for that very reason he addresses both the followers as well as the non-believers. However, since the theory of the plurality of the inhabited worlds is intimately linked to the Spiritist Doctrine it is very nice to see it consecrated by science and philosophy. From that point of view the remarkable work of science has its place guaranteed in the libraries of the Spiritists.
It is from the same point of view, abstraction made of the revelation of the Spirits, that the important issue of the plurality of the existences will be handled in a book in preparation, edited by Mr. Didier & Co. The name of the author, known in the scientific world, is a guarantee that his book will be up to the task.
That is the fourth periodical Spiritist publication that shows up in Bordeaux and that we have the pleasure of including in the assessment we made in our last issue about that kind of publication. We know Mr. Bez since long ago and he is one of the pillars of the cause. His flagship is the same as ours and we have faith in his forethought and moderation. It is then another media that comes to join forces with those that defend the true principles of the Doctrine. We welcome it!
We were told that soon Marseille will also have its Spiritist journal. The multiplication of these special newspapers has given us suggestions of important considerations of your interest that a lack of space forces us to postpone to a next issue.
Allan Kardec
We were told that soon Marseille will also have its Spiritist journal. The multiplication of these special newspapers has given us suggestions of important considerations of your interest that a lack of space forces us to postpone to a next issue.
Allan Kardec