October
Meditation
Article sent from St. Petersburg
By C. Tschokke
Among the books of high religiousness whose authors, imbued with true Christian ideas, treat all religious and abstract questions with an enlightened zeal, free from prejudice and fanaticism, one of those that enjoy in Germany a very high esteem in Germany, deserved in all respects, is unquestionably the one entitled Hours of Piety (Stunden der Andacht), by G. Tschokke, a distinguished Swiss writer, author of many literary works, written in German and much appreciated in Germany; this book has made more than forty editions since 1815. The so-called Orthodox, even Protestants, generally find that this book is too liberal in its ideas, in matters of religion, and that the author does not rely enough on the dogmas and decisions of the Councils; but the enlightened believers, those who seek the consolations of religion and desire to acquire the necessary enlightenment to understand its truths, after having read and meditated on it, will do full justice to the enlightenment and touching piousness of the author.
We give here the translation of two meditations contained in this remarkable book, because they contain quite Spiritist ideas, exposed with perfect accuracy, more than fifty years ago. In both we find a very exact and admirably elaborated definition of the spiritual body or perispirit, very sound and very lucid ideas on the resurrection, and the plurality of existences, through which the great light of the sublime doctrine of reincarnation is already projected, this cornerstone of modern Spiritism.
W. Foelkner
141st Meditation
Of birth and death
Both birth and death are surrounded by impenetrable darkness. No one knows where they came from, when God called them; no one knows where they are going to, when God calls them. Who could tell me if I did not already exist, before taking my current body? What is this body that belongs so little to myself, that during an existence of fifty years, I would have changed it several times like an outfit? I no longer have the same flesh and the same blood that I had at the breast, in the years of my youth and at the age of maturity; the parts of my body that belonged to me during the first age, have already been dissolved and evaporated for a long time. The Spirit alone remains the same during all the variations that its earthly envelope undergoes. Why would I need the body that I had as a very young child, in my life? If I existed before that, where was I? And when I get rid of my current garments, where will I be? Nobody answers me. I came here as if by a miracle and it is by a miracle that I will disappear. Birth and death remind man of this truth so often forgotten by him, that he is under the power of God.
But, at the same time, this truth is a consolation. The power of God is the power of wisdom, the enchantment of love. If the beginning and the end of my life are shrouded in darkness, I must think that it must be a blessing for me, as everything that comes from God is blessing and grace. When all around me proclaims his supreme wisdom and infinite goodness, can I believe that the darkness that surrounds the cradle and the coffin are the only exceptions? Is it possible that I have already existed once, several times even? Who knows the mysteries of the nature of the Spirits?[1] Wouldn’t my presence on Earth be perhaps a faint image of the eternal existence? Don't I already see here my passage from eternity into eternity, as in an opaque mirror?
Dare I lull myself to strange forebodings? Would this life really be a miniature image of the eternal existence? What if I already had several existences, if each of my existences is a waking hour of the childhood of my Spirit, and each change of its envelope, of its relations or what is called death is a break for an awakening with new strength? It is true that it is impossible for me to know how many times and how I lived before God called me to my present existence; but does the breastfeeding child know more than I do about his first hours? Has he lost so much for not being able to remember his first laugh and his first tears? When he is older, he will not remember it anymore, of course, but he will know what he was in his early years; he will know that he smiled, that he cried, that he watched, slept, dreamed, just like the others.
If it is possible here on Earth, why would it be impossible that one day, after a more elevated journey of my immortal Spirit, it can remember and analyze his voyage, the different circumstances in which he found himself during his journey, and in the worlds that he has inhabited? How old am I now? I am still like the child that after one hour forgets the events of the previous hour and is not in a condition to keep the memory of a dream that transported it to the external life, detaching it from the previous wakening state; but I am like the child that at least knows how to recognize its parents. It forgets the pleasures and sorrows of the past moment; but the child recognizes their cherished features again, at every awakening. It is like so with me: I also recognize my Father, my God in the All-Eternal. I would have looked for him with my own eyes, I would have called him, even when no one had told me about him; for the remembrance of the heavenly Father is said to be innate in every man. All peoples keep this memory, even the wildest whose solitary islands, bathed by the ocean, were never approached by civilized travelers. Innate, they say; we should perhaps say inherited, transported from a previous life, just as the little child carries the memory of his mother over, from a previous awakening to a later one.
But I fall into dreams! Who can approve or reject them? They are like the first vague and faint memories a child has of something that seems to have taken place in his past waking moments. Our boldest assumptions, even when we believe them to be true, are but fleeting and confused reflections of our feelings from a forgotten past. Besides, I do not reproach myself for them. Even supposing them to be chimerical, they cheer me up, for looking at our earthly life like an hour of a lactating child, what a vast and immeasurable prospect of eternity unfolds before me! What will then be the more advanced youth, the full maturity of my immortal Spirit, when I have many more times still watched, slept, and ascended a greater number of degrees of the spiritual ladder?
The day of earthly death will then become my new birthday to a higher and more perfect life, the beginning of a sleep that will be followed by a refreshing awakening. Divine grace will smile at me with a love greater than the affection with which an earthly mother smiles at her child awakened from sleep, when he opens his eyes.
143rd Meditation
Of the transfiguration after death
If I have the right of bourgeoisie in two worlds, if I belong not only to earthly life, but also to spiritual life, it is very forgivable, I think, to sometimes occupy myself with what awaits me in the latter, to which a vague ardor constantly attracts me ... In good will I entertain myself with the memory of those that were dear to me, and that death has taken away, as with those who, in this world, fill me with joy by their presence, for the former have not ceased to exist, although deprived of a material body. The destruction of the body does not carry the destruction of the Spirit. I continue to cherish you, my absent friends, my dear deceased! Can I fear not to equally be the object of your affection? Certainly not. No mortal has the power to separate Spirits united by God, just as much as no tomb has such power.
Although the fate that awaits me in another world is hidden from me, I believe I am allowed to sometimes meditate on this subject and to try to guess, by what I see here, what could happen to me there. If we are refused to see on Earth, we must try to nurture the faith in us that vivifies everything. - Jesus Christ often spoke in lofty allegories, of the state of the soul after the death of the body, and his disciples also liked to discuss this subject with their confidants, as well as with those that doubted the possibility of the resurrection of the dead.
The doctrine of the resurrection of the body has been one of the oldest in the Jewish religion. The Pharisees taught it, but in a crude and material way, claiming that all the bodies buried in the tombs, were necessarily to one day become the envelope and the instrument of the Spirits who had animated them during their earthly life – an opinion that was fully refuted by another Jewish religious party, the Sadducees.
Christ, one day engaged in pronouncing between these two opposing opinions, demonstrated that the two Jewish religious parties had arrived, out of aberrations, at quite opposite errors; that the immortality of the soul, that is, the continuation of its existence in the next world, or the resurrection of the dead, could and will infallibly occur, without having to be a grossly material resurrection of bodies , provided with all the requirements and all the earthly senses necessary for their conservation and reproduction. The Sadducees recognized the truth of his words. “Master, you answered very well, they said. (Luke; chapter XX, v. 27 to 39).
What Jesus rarely discussed publicly in detail became the subject of his intimate conversations with his disciples. They had the same ideas as him about the state of the soul after death and about the Jewish doctrine concerning resurrection. “Fools that you are,” said the apostle Paul, “don’t you see that what you sow does not come to life unless it dies first? And when you sow, you're not sowing the body of the plant that's to be born, but the seed only, like wheat or something. The body, like a seed, is now put in the ground, full of corruption and it will be raised incorruptible. It is put in the ground like an animal body, and it will rise again like a spiritual body. As there is an animal body, there is also a spiritual body. Flesh and blood cannot possess the kingdom of God, and corruption will not possess this incorruptible inheritance. (1. Cor., Chap. XV, v. From 37 to 50).
The human body, made up of earthly elements, will return to the earth and enter the elements that make up the bodies of plants, animals, and men. This body is incapable of eternal life; being corruptible, it cannot inherit incorruptibility. A spiritual body will be born from death, that is, the spiritual self will rise as transfigured above the parts of the body struck by death, in greater freedom and provided with a spiritual envelope.
This doctrine of the gospel, as it emerged from the revelations of Jesus and his disciples, corresponds admirably with what we already now know about the nature of man. It is indisputable that the Spirit or the soul, besides his earthly body, is clothed with a spiritual body, that like the reproduction of the flower of a rotten seed, is released by the death of the material body.
It is often said, by allegory, that the sleep is the brother of death; it really is. Sleep is only the retreat of the Spirit or the soul, the temporary abandonment made by it of the exterior and coarser parts of the body. The same takes place at the time of death. During sleep, in those parts of our body abandoned for some time by our higher personality, only vegetative life resides. Man remains in a state of insensitivity, but his blood circulates in his veins, his breathing continues; all the functions of its vegetative life are in full swing, resembling those of the unconscious life of plants.
This temporary retreat from the spiritual element of man seems necessary, from time to time, for the latter ends up destroying itself, so to speak, by too prolonged use, and weakens in service to the spirit. Vegetative life, abandoned to itself, and left at rest by the activity of the Spirit, can then continue to work unhindered for its restoration, according to the laws of matter. That is why, following a healthy sleep, we feel our body rested and our Spirit rejoices; but after death, the vegetative life also abandons the material elements of the body, that were bonded by that, and they disaggregate.
The abandoned body of the Spirit or of the soul may, in some cases, appear to us alive, even when true death has already been accomplished, that is, when the spiritual element has already left it. The corpse abandoned by its Spirit continues to breathe, its pulse beating; we say: "He is still alive." On the other hand, it can sometimes happen that the vital force, having positively abandoned some parts of the body, these are truly dead, while the Spirit and the body remain united in other parts of the body where the vital force still resides.
Sleep, one of the greatest secrets of human existence, deserves our most constant and attentive observations; but the difficulty presented by these observations becomes greater since to make them, the observing Spirit is forced to submit to the laws of matter, and to allow it to act, to give it the ability to lend itself more easily to its use and experiences. Every sleep is the food of the vital force. The Spirit has nothing to do with it, for sleep is as completely independent of Spirit as digestion, the transformation of food into blood, growing hair, or separating unnecessary fluids from the body. The waking state is a consumption of the vital force, its expansion outside the body and its external action; sleep is an assimilation, an attraction of this same force from outside. That is why we find sleep, not only in men and animals, but also in plants, that when the night comes, close the petals of their flowers, or let their leaves hang down after having folded them.
So, what is the state of our spiritual element during its retreat from our exterior senses? It is no longer able to receive impressions from the outside, through the eyes, ears, by taste, smell, and touch; but could we say that during such moments, our self is annihilated? If this were so, our body would receive another Spirit every morning, another soul, in place of the one that would be destroyed. The Spirit, having withdrawn from its senses, continues to live and act, although it can only manifest itself imperfectly, having renounced for some time the instruments that it is accustomed to using ordinarily.
Dreams are all evidence of the continued activity of the Spirit. The awakened man remembers having dreamed, but these memories are most often vague or obscure by the vivid impressions that suddenly rush towards the Spirit upon awakening, through the intermediation of the senses. If even at this moment he does not know what visions he had during the sleep, he nevertheless retains, at the time of a sudden awakening, the awareness that his attention has become detached from something that had preoccupied him until then, within himself.
Sleep always consists of visions, desires, and feelings, but which are formed independently of external objects since the external senses of man remain inactive; that is why they seldom leave a vivid and lasting impression in the memory. The Spirit therefore had to be occupied, although after sleep we could not recall the results of its activity. But what man can remember the thousands of these rapid visions that present themselves to the Spirit, even in the waking state, at such and such time of the day? Does he have the right to claim that his Spirit did not have visions just when he was first and foremost active and reflecting?
During sleep, the Spirit retains the sense of its existence, just as well as during its waking state. Even during his sleep, he knows how to distinguish himself perfectly from the objects of his visions. Whenever we recall a dream, we find that it was our own self that, with a much imperfect sense of its individuality, floated among the images of its own fantasy. We can forget the accessories of dreams that have only produced a weak impression on us, and during which our Spirit has not reacted strongly with its desires and feelings; therefore, we could also forget that we had the feeling of our existence then, but this is no reason to suppose that this was suspended for a single moment, for the fact that we do not remember it anymore!
There are men who, preoccupied with serious reflections, do not know, even in a waking state, what is going on around them. Their Spirit, having withdrawn from the external parts of the body and the organs of the senses, concentrates and deals only with itself, and outwardly they appear to be dreaming or sleeping with their eyes open. But who could deny that they have fully retained the feeling of their existence, during those moments of deep meditation, although then they do not see with their eyes and do not hear with their ears? Another proof of the incessant continuation of the feeling of our existence and our identity is the power that one has to wake up by oneself, at a pre-determined time.
Consequently, one cannot say that a man, plunged into a somewhat deep sleep, has lost the knowledge of himself, when on the contrary, he carries within him the feeling of his existence, but without being able to manifest it. This is precisely the case in fainting spells, when the spiritual element of man withdraws by the effect of a temporary and partial disturbance of his vegetative life, for the Spirit flees all that is dead, and only holds on thanks to the vital force, to what by itself, is only inert matter. The unconscious man gives no external sign of life, but he is not deprived of it, as he is not during his sleep. Many fainting people, as well as sleeping ones, often retain the memory of some of the visions they had during that state, which is so close to that of death; others forget them. There are fainting spells in which the whole body remains pale, cold, deprived of breath and movement, quite like a corpse, while the Spirit, still in communication with some of the senses, understands everything that is happening around him, without being able, as in the cases of catalepsy, to give any exterior sign of life and consciousness. How many people were buried alive in this way, in full knowledge of everything that was ordered for their burial by their parents or their friends, deceived by a fatal appearance![2]
Another very remarkable state of man gives us proof of the uninterrupted activity of the Spirit and the knowledge of himself that is never lost, even when he no longer remembers it afterwards. It is the state of somnambulism. Man falls asleep in his ordinary sleep. He does not hear, see, or feel anything; but suddenly, he seems to be waking up, not from his sleep, but within himself. He hears, but not with his ears; he sees, but not with his eyes; he feels, but not through his skin. He walks, he talks, he does a lot of things and fulfills several functions, to the general astonishment of the assistants, with the greatest circumspection and more perfection than in his waking state. He remembers in this state, very distinctly, the events that happened while he was awake, even those that he forgets during his vigil, when he is in possession of all his senses. After remaining in this state for some time, the somnambulist falls back into ordinary sleep, and when he is awakened from it, he remembers absolutely nothing of what happened, he has forgotten everything he has said and done, and often he refuses to believe what the spectators say about him. Could one, however, deny to his Spirit the knowledge of himself, as well as his remarkable activity during the sleepwalking? Who would dare? The somnambulist, having fallen again into the sleep that constitutes his inner awakening, remembers perfectly, in this incomprehensible state for himself, all that he had done and thought before in such a state, and of which he had completely lost the memory during the waking state of his exterior senses.
How to explain this phenomenon? How can it be that a sleeping man can not only see and hear with his exterior senses inactive, but do that more positively, more perfectly than in a waking state? Because we know that the body is nothing other than the vessel or the outer envelope of the soul; that without it he can feel nothing, and that the eye of a corpse sees just as little as the eye of a statue. It is therefore the soul and only the soul that feels, sees, and hears what is happening outside of it. The eye, the ear, etc., are only instruments and favorable instruments of the external envelope to provide the soul with exterior impressions. But there are circumstances in which this rough envelope being broken or damaged, the soul pierces it, so to speak, and continues its action, without needing its external senses for that. It then reacts with increased vigor, but quite differently from its ordinary or waking state, against what is not dead in man.
It is in fact the soul that feels and not the body; therefore, it is the soul that forms the true body of Spirit, and the material body is only its outer framework, its covering, its envelope. Experience and countless examples sufficiently prove to us that the Spirit never loses its activity and self-awareness, even when it cannot thoroughly remember every detail of its existence. Knowing that the Spirit, absorbed in deep reflections, loses sight of his own body and all that surrounds it; that in certain illnesses he may find it absolutely impossible to act on the exterior parts of his body, and may sometimes do without them altogether (as in the state of somnambulism), for the performance of his purposes, we must understand clearly how the immortal Spirit, having left its material and perishable envelope, preserves, after its earthly death, the consciousness and the feeling of its existence, although being unable to manifest it to the living through the corpse, since it no longer belongs to him. At the same time, we understand what the spiritual body is, of which the apostle Paul speaks; what we must understand by the imperishable body that must be reborn from the perishable body (1. Cor., XV:4); how weakness breaks out and is sown in the tomb, and how strength arises and rushes up to heaven, ripe for a better life (1. Cor., XV, 43). That is the real resurrection from death, the spiritual resurrection. What is dust in us must become dust and ashes again; but the Spirit, clothed in a transfigured body, henceforth bears the image of heaven, just as until then he had carried the image of Earth (1. Cor., XV, 49).
The rotting earthly body in the tomb no longer feels anything, but it also never felt anything on its own. It was therefore the spiritual body, the soul, that perceived and felt everything. She will also continue to do so, delivered from her broken vessel, but only in an infinitely more delicate and promptly way. The Spirit, being aware of itself in its spiritual envelope, will then be able to admire the glory of God in his creations, just as well and infinitely better, and at the same time possess the faculty of seeing and loving those who are dear to him; but he will no longer experience material and sensual needs, he will no longer shed tears. He will become the image of heaven, that is his true homeland. How will I feel when you call me to you, my Creator, my Father! At the time of my transfiguration, when, surrounded by my loved ones weeping around me, and seeing my beloved ones that preceded approaching me, I will bless them all with equal love! And when, sanctified by Jesus Christ, participating in his reign, I will present myself before you, O my God, worshiping you with the liveliest gratitude, the deepest veneration, boundless admiration! May my immortal Spirit be mature enough then to enjoy such supreme bliss! Amen.
[1] One should remember that these lines were written fifty years before the revelations of the Spirits collected by Spiritism. (Note from the translator to French).
[2] The famous German physiologist, Doctor Buchner, published in 1859, in the issue 349, of Disdascalia, a scientific journal which appeared in Darmstadt, an article on the use of chloroform, at the end of which he adds these very remarkable words in the mouth of the author of Force et Matière: “The discovery of chloroform and its extraordinary effects is not only of great significance for medical science, but also for two of our main sciences: physiology and – do not be too surprised by it - philosophy.” What leads the materialist doctor to say that, even from a psychological point of view, the use of chloroform is of some weight, is that the patients, during the operations they have undergone, found themselves in a state of semi-dizziness, produced by the effect of chloroform, have many times declared, after waking up, that during the operation, they had not felt any pain, nor a feeling of anguish or fear, but that they had perfectly heard everything that was going on and being said around them, without however being in a position to make any movement whatsoever, nor to move a single one of their limbs. Doesn’t this positively prove the possibility of the existence of the Spirit outside of matter, that dies as soon as the Spirit that vivified it leaves it definitively? Doesn't magnetism, too, offer some tangible proof, so to speak, of the existence of the soul, independent of matter, and how is it treated by scholars and academics? Instead of giving it their full attention and applying themselves to studying it seriously, they constrain themselves to denying it, which is certainly more convenient, but does not do honor to our scientific corporations. (French translator note).
Doctrine of Lao-Tse, Chinese Philosopher
We owe the following notice to the kindness and enlightened zeal of one of our correspondents in Saigon (Cochinchina).[1]
For the sake of clarity, let us first say what Lao-Tse designated by the word “tas”; it was a denomination given by him to the first being; powerless as he was to call him by his eternal and unchanging name, he called him his principal attributes: tas, supreme reason. It seems, at first glance, that the Chinese word ... (Here our correspondent transcribes this word in Chinese characters that our printer cannot reproduce), whose figurative pronunciation is tas, has some phonetic analogy with the Theos of the Greeks or the Deus of the Latins, whence came our French word Dieu; and yet no one believes that the Chinese language and the Greek language have ever had any points in common. Moreover, the recognized anteriority of the Chinese nation and civilization suffices to prove that this is a typically Chinese expression.[2]
The tas, or Lao-Tse's supreme universal reason, has two natures or modes of being: the spiritual or immaterial mode, and the bodily or material mode. It is the spiritual nature that is the perfect nature; it is from her that man emanated; it is to her that he must return by freeing himself from the material ties of the body; annihilation of all material passions, estrangement from worldly pleasures, are effective means of making oneself worthy of her and returning to her. But let's listen to Lao-Tse speaking for himself. I will use the translation of Pauthier, a sinologist as erudite as he is conscientious. His works on the Chinese philosopher and his doctrine are more remarkable and freer from suspicion because, having died a long time ago, he was ignorant of even the name of the Spiritist Doctrine.
In the twenty-first section of Supreme Reason, Lao-Tse establishes a true cosmogony:
The material forms of the great creative power are only the emanations of the tas; it is the tas that produced the existing material beings. (Before) it was just complete confusion, indefinable chaos; it was chaos, a confusion inaccessible to human thought. Amid this chaos, there was a subtle, life-giving principle; this subtle, vivifying principle was the supreme truth. Amid this chaos, there were beings, but beings in germs; imperceptible, indefinite beings. Amid this chaos, there was a principle of faith. From antiquity to the present day, his name has not faded away. He carefully examines the good of all beings. But how do we know the virtues of the crowd? By this tas, this supreme reason.
Beings with bodily forms were formed from raw material, confused. Before the existence of heaven and earth, it was only an immense silence, an immeasurable void, without perceptible forms. He existed alone, infinite, immutable. He circulated in space without feeling any attenuation.
We can consider him as the mother of the universe; I do not know his name, but I designate him by his attributes, and I say Great, Elevated. Being (recognized) elevated, great, I name it: extended far away. Being (recognized) lying in the distance, I name it: distant, infinite.
Being (recognized) distant, infinite, I name it: the one that is the opposite to me.
Man has his law on Earth. Earth has its law in heaven; heaven has its law in the Tas or the supreme universal reason; supreme reason has its own law.
Elsewhere, Lao-Tse says:
We must strive to achieve the last degree of immateriality, to be able to maintain the greatest possible immutability. All beings appear in life and fulfill their destinies; we contemplate their successive renewals. These material beings are constantly showing themselves with new outer forms. Each of them returns to its origin. To return to one's origin means to become at rest: to become at rest means to accomplish one's mandate.
To accomplish one's mandate means to become eternal; to know that one becomes eternal (or immortal) means to be enlightened; not to know that one becomes immortal is to be given over to error and to all kinds of calamities. If we know that we become immortal, we contain, we embrace all beings; embracing all beings in a common affection, one is just, equitable to all beings; being just and equitable to all beings, we have the attributes of the sovereign; possessing the attributes of the sovereign, one reaches the divine nature; from the divine nature, one comes to be identified with the tas; being identified with the supreme universal reason, one subsists eternally; the body itself being subjected to death, there is no need to fear any annihilation.
Let us now see what the moral of the Chinese philosopher is.
The holy man does not have an inexorable heart; he makes his heart according to the hearts of all men. The virtuous man, we must treat him as a virtuous man; the vicious man, we must also treat him as a virtuous man: this is the wisdom and virtue.
The sincere and faithful man, we must treat him as a sincere and faithful man; the insincere and unfaithful man, we must also treat him as a virtuous man: This is wisdom and sincerity.
These maxims correspond to what we call indulgence and charity; Spiritism, by showing us that progress is a law of nature, clarifies this thought better by saying that it is necessary to treat the vicious man as being able to one day, and following his successive existences, become virtuous, to which we must provide him with the means, instead of relegating him to the pariahs of eternal condemnation, and thinking that we ourselves may have been worse than him.
The whole doctrine of Lao-Tse exudes the same leniency, the same love for men, together with an extraordinary elevation of feelings. His wisdom is revealed above particularly in the following passage, in which he reproduces the famous axiom of ancient wisdom: Know thyself, without knowing Thales's formula:
He who knows men is educated; those who know themselves are truly enlightened.
He who subjugates men is powerful; he who tames himself is truly strong.
He who accomplishes difficult and meritorious works leaves a lasting memory in the memory of men. He who does not dissipate his life is imperishable; he who dies and is not forgotten has eternal life.
It is certain, as the eminent translator points out, that one would not find in Greece, before Aristotle, a series of maxims so logically devised. As for the principles themselves, they certainly constitute a doctrine, and if it is true that there is nothing incompatible with what reason admits, why should it not be as good as so many others that barely support the discussion? “True religion, it has been said, necessary for salvation, must have started with mankind;” Now, since it is essentially one, like the truth, like God, the primitive religion was already Christianity, just as Christianity since the Gospel is the primitive religion considerably developed.
Don’t we see retraced, in this series of teachings, the very principles that serve as the basis of Spiritism, despite one point only, with a slight pantheistic tendency of non-distinction, or rather of the identification of the creature sanctified with the Creator, a tendency that, if it is negative, it can be due to the influence of the environment where the philosopher Lao-Tseu lived, to a too long continuation, perhaps, given to this remarkable chain of arguments, or finally, to the imperfect interpretation made by us of his own thought?
If, then Lao-Tse remains among those powerful voices of wisdom and reason through the centuries, as it has been proven, that the providential and natural laws of human societies bring up at certain times, to protest energetically against a state of social dissolution, and bring the minds back to the eternal destinies of mankind; if his doctrine can be the basis of true religion, that as we have seen, is necessary for salvation, it must have existed at all times. Since the philosophical principles of Spiritism are, in substance, only those of Lao-Tse, can we not consider the truth of the Spiritist Doctrine as being proven, morally, outside the teachings of Christ?”
Observation: As we can see, the Chinese are not quite as barbaric as it is generally believed; they have long been our elders in civilization, and some of them would serve more than one of our contemporaries in terms of philosophy. How is it then that a people that had wise men like Lao-Tse, Confucius and others, still have customs so little in harmony with such beautiful doctrines? The same could be said of Socrates, Plato, Solon, etc., in relation to the Greeks; of Christ, whose precepts are far from being practiced by all Christians.
The works of these men that appear from time to time among peoples, like meteors of intelligence, are never sterile; they are seeds that remain latent for many years, that benefit only a few individuals, but that the masses are incapable of assimilating. The peoples are slow to change, until a violent shock brings them out of their apathy.
It should be noted that most of the philosophers have paid little attention to the practice of their ideas; fully involved in the work of design and development, they have neither the time, nor sometimes even the aptitude necessary for the execution of what they conceive. This work is up on others that are imbued of them, and it is often these same works, skillfully implemented, that serve, after several centuries, to mobilize and enlighten peoples.
Few Chinese, apart from a few scholars, undoubtedly know Lao-Tse; today that China is open to the western nations, it would not be impossible the latter would help popularize the works of the philosopher in his own country; and who knows if the points of contact that exist between his doctrine and Spiritism will not one day be a link for the fraternal alliance of beliefs? What is certain is that when all religions recognize that they worship the same God by different names; that when they grant him with the same attributes of sovereign goodness and justice; when they will only differ in the form of worshiping, the religious antagonisms will fall. It is to this result that Spiritism must lead.
[1] Southern part of what is modernly known as Vietnam (T.N.)
[2] It is almost superfluous to say that the Chinese word tas has no meaning in relation to the French word tas, being only its figurative pronunciation.
Funeral of Mrs. Victor Hugo
Mrs. Victor Hugo, who died in Brussels, was brought back to France to be buried on August 30th, in Villequiers (lower Seine), with her daughter and her son-in-law. Mr. Victor Hugo accompanied her to the border. Mr. Paul Meurice said the following words by the grave:
"I would just like to say goodbye to you from all of us. You know very well, you who surround her - for the last time! - what was, - what is this soul, so beautiful and so sweet, this adorable spirit, this big heart. Ah! This big heart above all! How she loved to love! How she loved to be loved! How she knew how to suffer with those she loved! She was the wife of the greatest man there is, and by heart she rose to that genius. She almost equaled him, for she understood him. She must leave us! And we must leave her!
She has already found something to love. She found her two children here and there (pointing to her daughter's grave and to the sky). Victor Hugo told me at the border last night: Tell my daughter that while I wait, I'm still sending her mother. It is said, and I believe it is understood. "
And now, goodbye! Farewell to those present! Farewell to the absent! Farewell our friend! Farewell our sister! Goodbye, but so long! "
M. Paul Foucher, brother of Mrs. V. Hugo, in the letter he wrote in France, giving an account of the ceremony, ended with these words: “We parted heartbroken, but calm and convinced more than ever that the disappearance of a being is an appointment at an indefinite time."
On this occasion, we believe we should recall the letter from Mr. Victor Hugo to Mr. Lamartine, at the time of the death of the latter's wife, dated May 23rd, 1863, and that was reproduced by most of the newspapers of the time.
“Dear Lamartine,
A great misfortune strikes you; I need to place my heart close to yours. I worshiped the one you loved. Your elevated Spirit sees beyond the horizon; you clearly see the future life. It is not to you that it is necessary to say: hope. You are one of those who know, and that are hoping. She is always your companion, invisible, but present. You have lost the woman, but not the soul. Dear friend, let's live in the dead.
Tuus,
Victor Hugo.”
The words spoken by Mr. Victor Hugo, and what he has written in many circumstances, prove that he believes not only in that vague immortality in which, with very few exceptions, all mankind believes, but in that clearly defined immortality, that has a goal, satisfies reason and dispels uncertainty about the fate that awaits us; that represents to us the souls or Spirits of those who left Earth as concrete, individual beings, inhabiting space, living among us with the memory of what they have done down here, benefiting from intellectual progress and moral accomplishment, preserving their affections, invisible witnesses of our actions and feelings, communicating thoughts with those who are dear to them; in short, to that consoling immortality that fills the void left by those absent, and through which solidarity is perpetuated between the spiritual world and the bodily world. Now, this is all spiritualism. What does he add to that? The material proof of what until him was only a seductive theory. While some people came to this belief through intuition and reasoning, Spiritism started from fact and observation.
We know the consequences of a painful catastrophe in which Mr. Victor Hugo lost his daughter and his son-in-law, Mr. Charles Vacquerie, on September 4th, 1843. They traveled by sailing boat, from Villequiers to Caudebec, in the company of the uncle of Mr. Vacquerie, a former sailor, and a ten-year-old child. A gust of wind capsized the boat, and all four perished.
What could be more significant, imbued with a deeper and more just idea of immortality than these words: Tell my daughter that in the meantime I am still sending her mother! What calm, what serenity, what confidence in the future! Wouldn't we just say his daughter left for a trip, to which he assk them to say: "I am sending your mother to you while I wait for me to join you"? What consolation, strength and hope don’t we draw from this way of understanding immortality! It is no longer the soul lost in the infinite, which the very certainty of its survival leaves no hopes of meeting again; leaving Earth and those she loved forever, whether in the delights of contemplative bliss or in the eternal torments of hell, separation is eternal. One understands the bitterness of regret with such a belief; but, for this father, his daughter is still there; she will receive her mother when she comes out of her earthly exile, and she hears the words he sends for her!
Anyone who has come to this is a Spiritist, because, if he wants to think seriously, he cannot escape all the logical consequences of Spiritism. Those who reject this qualification, only knowing the ridiculous images of mocking criticism, they have a false idea of it. If they took the trouble to study it, analyze it, fathom its scope, they would gladly, on the contrary, find in the ideas that make them happy, a sanction capable of strengthening their faith. They would no longer just say: "I believe, because it seems right to me," but: "I believe, because I understand."
Let us put in parallel the feelings which animated Mr. Victor Hugo in this circumstance, and in all those where his heart was struck by similar wounds, the definition of immortality given by Le Figaro, on April 3rd, 1868, under the heading: Figaro dictionary: Immortality, tale of nurses to reassure their clients.
Moralizing effect of reincarnation
Le Figaro of April 5th, 1868, the same newspaper that, two days before, published this definition of immortality: "Tale of nurses to reassure their clients," and the letter reported in the previous article contained the following piece:
“Composer E… firmly believes in the migration of souls. He recounts, in good faith, that in previous centuries he had been a Greek slave, then a famous Italian histrion and composer, but jealous and who prevented his colleagues from performing ...
- I am well punished today, he adds with philosophy, it is my turn to be sacrificed to others and to see my paths blocked!
This way of consoling oneself is well worth another.”
This idea is pure Spiritism, because not only it is the principle of the plurality of existences, but that of the atonement of the past, by the penalty of retaliation in successive existences, according to the maxim: "One is always punished by which one has sinned.” This composer explains his tribulations like so; he consoles himself for it by the thought that he only has what he deserves; the consequence of this thought is that, in order not to deserve it again, it is in his best interest to seek to improve himself; Isn't that better than blowing his brains out, which is what the thought of nothingness would logically lead him to?
This belief is therefore a powerful and quite natural cause of moralization; it is outstanding by the relevance and the material fact of the miseries which one endures, and for one not being able to explain them, one places them on the account of fatality or the injustice of God; it is understandable to everyone, to the child and to the most illiterate man, because it is neither abstract nor metaphysical; there is no one who does not understand that one can have already lived, and that if one has already lived, one can live again. Since it is not the body that can revive, it is the most obvious sanction of the existence of the soul, of its individuality and of its immortality.
It is therefore to popularize it that the efforts of all those who are seriously concerned with the improvement of the masses must be geared; it is for them a powerful lever with which they will do more than by the idea of devils and hell, that is laughed at today.
Since it is the order of the day, germinates on all sides, its logic becomes easily accepted, and it quite naturally opens a door to the Spiritists for the propagation of the Doctrine. Let them therefore stick to this idea, that nobody laughs at, accepted by the most serious thinkers, and they will do more proselytes by this route than by that of material manifestations. Considering that today it is the sensitive string, that is the one that must be played, and when it has vibrated, the rest will come by itself. To those who are frightened by the mere word Spiritism, do not speak of it; speak of the plurality of existences, of the many writers who advocate this idea; speak also, especially to the afflicted, as Victor Hugo does, of the presence around us of the loved ones we have lost; they will understand you, and later, they will be quite surprised for being unsuspectedly Spiritists.
A Materialistic Profession of Faith
Le Figaro of April 3rd, 1868 contained the following letter about the debates that took place around that time in the Senate, regarding certain lessons taught at the School of Medicine.
“Paris, April 2nd, 1868.
Mr. Editor,
An error that concerns me slipped from the last talk given by Doctor Flavius. I did not attend Mr. Sée's inaugural lecture last year, and therefore I have no saying in this matter. Furthermore, it is an error of form and not of the substance, but to each one according to their actions. My name must be replaced by that of my friend Jaclard, who does not believe in an immortal soul any more than I do. And to tell the truth, I hardly see, in the whole Senate, someone other than Mr. Sainte-Beuve who dared, on the occasion, to entrust us with the care of his molars or the management of his digestive tract.
And since I have the floor, allow me one more word. We must put an end to a joke that is starting to get annoying, besides having an air of retreat. The School of Medicine, says Dr. Flavius, stronger in childbirth than in philosophy, is neither atheist nor materialist; it is positivist. But what is positivism, if not a branch of that great materialist school that goes from Aristotle and Epicurus to Bacon, to Diderot, to Virechow, Moleschoff and Büchner, not counting the contemporaries and compatriots whom I do not name - and for good reason.
The philosophy of A. Comte had its usefulness and its glory at a time when Cousinism[1] reigned supreme. Today that the flag of materialism has been raised in Germany by illustrious names, in France by young people among whom I am proud of and have the pretension to count myself, it is good that positivism goes back to its modest role. Above all, it is good that it does not affect materialism any longer, its master and ancestor, a disdain or reticence that are inopportune, to say the least.
Receive, Mr. Editor, the assurance of my highest consideration.
A. Regnard,
Former hospital intern."
Materialism, as we see, also has its fanaticism; only a few years ago it would not have dared to display itself so boldly; today, it openly defies spiritualism, and positivism is no longer radical enough to its eyes; it has its public manifestations, and it is publicly taught to the youth; it also has what it reproaches in others, intolerance that goes as far as intimidation. Imagine the social state of a people imbued with such doctrines!
These excesses, however, have their usefulness, their reason of existence; they frighten society, and good always comes out of bad; it takes the excess of evil to make people feel the need for the better, without which man would not come out of his inertia; he would remain impassive in the face of an evil that would be perpetuated, thanks to its insignificance, while a great evil awakens his attention and makes him seek the means of remedying it. Without the great disasters that took place at the beginning of the railroads, and that were terrifying, the small, isolated accidents, passing almost unnoticed, the safety measures would have been neglected. It is with moral as it is with physical: the more excessive the abuse, the shorter the term.
The primary cause of the development of incredulity, as we have said many times, is in the insufficiency of religious beliefs in general, to satisfy reason, and in their principle of immobility that forbids any concession on their dogmas, even in the face of evidence; if, instead of staying behind, they had followed the progressive movement of the human mind, always keeping themselves at the level of science, it is true that they would differ a little from what they were in the beginning, as an adult differs from the child in the cradle, but faith, instead of dying out, would have grown with reason, because it is a necessity for humanity, and they would not have opened the door to disbelief that undermines what is left of it; they reap what they have sown.
Materialism is a consequence of the time of transition in which we live; it is not progress, far from it, but an instrument of progress. It will disappear by proving its insufficiency for the maintenance of social order, and for the satisfaction of serious minds who seek the why of everything; for that, it was necessary to see it at work. Humanity, that needs to believe in the future, will never be satisfied with the void it leaves behind, and will seek something better to fill it.
[1] Related to Victor Cousin (1792-1867) T.N.
Semi-Spiritist Profession of Faith
In support of the reflections contained in the previous article, we are pleased to reproduce the following letter, published by La Petite Presse, on September 20th, 1868.
“Les Charmettes, September 1868.
My dear Barlatier,
You know the romance: when you are Basque and a good Christian ...
Without being Basque, I am a good Christian, and the priest of my village who ate my kale soup yesterday, allows me to tell you about our conversation.
Are you going, he said to me, to take King Henry back? – With pleasure, I replied, for I lived during that time. My worthy priest jumped on his feet.
I then told him of my conviction that we had already lived and that we would still live. Another exclamation from the brave man. But in the end, he agreed that Christian beliefs do not exclude such opinion, and he let me go my way.
Now, my dear friend, believe that I did not want to amuse myself with the candor of my priest, and that this conviction of which I speak is strongly rooted in me. I lived at the time of the League, under Henri III and Henri IV. When I was a child, my grandmothers spoke to me about Henri IV, and told me about a good man whom I did not recognize at all, a grizzled monarch, buried in a draped cowl, devout to the excess and having never heard about Belle Gabrielle. It was Father Péréfixe’s. The Henri IV that I knew, hard worker, kind, quick, a little forgetful, it is the true one; it is the one that I have already told you, the one that I will tell you again. Do not laugh. When I came to Paris for the first time, I recognized myself everywhere in the old quarters, and I have a vague memory of having been in the rue de la Ferronnerie, the day when the people lost their good king, the one who had wished every Frenchman had a chicken in the pan on Sundays. What was I at that time? Not much, probably a young cadet from Provence or Gascony; but I would not be surprised if I were in the guard of my hero.
Then, soon my first feuilleton of King Henry's second youth, and believe me
All yours,
Ponson du Terrail”
When Mr. Ponson du Terrail ridiculed Spiritism, he did not suspect, and perhaps he still does not suspect today, that one of the fundamental bases of this doctrine is precisely the belief of which he makes such an explicit profession of faith. The idea of the plurality of existences and of reincarnation is evidently more and more present in literature, and we would not be surprised if Méry, who remembered so well what he had been, had not woken up retrospective memories in more than one of his comrades, being the first initiator of Spiritism among them, because they read him, while they do not read the Spiritist books. They find in it a rational, fruitful idea, and they accept it.
La Petite-Presse is currently publishing a book with the title Mr. Médard, a novel whose story is entirely Spiritist; it is the revelation of a crime by the apparition of the victim, in very natural conditions.
Instructions of the Spirits
We extract the following from a letter addressed to us from Santa-Fé de Bogota (New Granada)[1] by one of our correspondents, Dr. Ignacio Pereira, physician, surgeon, founding member of the Homeopathic Institute of the United States of Colombia:
“It has been three years since, by the change of the seasons in our regions, the summer has become very long, and diseases quite unknown to our country have appeared in some plants; potatoes have been attacked with dry gangrene, and from the microscopic observations that I have made on plants affected with that disease, I recognized that it is produced by a plant parasite called perisporium solani. For three years our globe has been in the grip of disasters of all kinds; floods, epidemics, epizootics, famine, hurricanes, seaquakes, earthquakes have, one by one, ravaged various regions.
Knowing that when a comet approaches Earth, the seasons become irregular, I thought that these bodies could also produce an action on organic beings, cause climatic disturbances, causes of certain diseases, and perhaps influence the physical state of the globe by the production of various phenomena.
The Spirit of my brother, whom I questioned on this subject, limited himself to saying that it is not a comet that acts, but planet Jupiter that every forty years is in its closest path to Earth, recommending that I should not pursue this study on my own.
Concerned about his answer, I studied the chronicle of forty years ago, and found that the seasons were irregular then as today, in our regions; the wheat was attacked by a disease known by the name of anublo; there were also plagues on men and animals and earthquakes that caused great disasters.
This question seems important to me; that is why, if you think advisable to submit it to the teaching of the Spirits of the Parisian Society of Spiritist studies, I should be much obliged if you would let me know their opinion."
Answer
September 18th, 1868
There isn’t a single phenomenon in nature, however small it may be, that is not regulated by the exercise of the universal laws that govern creation. It is the same with great cataclysms, and if scourges of all kinds are rife on Earth at certain times, it is not only because it is necessary to be so, given their moral consequences, but it is also because the influence of celestial bodies on one another, the combined reactions of all natural agents must inevitably lead to such a result.
Since everything is subjected to a series of laws, eternal like the one who created them, and since we cannot go back to their origin, there isn’t a phenomenon that is not subjected to a law of periodicity or a series, that provokes its return at certain epochs, under the same conditions, or by following, as intensity, a law of increasing or decreasing geometric progression, but continuous. No cataclysm can arise spontaneously, and if it seems so by its effects, the causes that provoke it have been put into action for a somewhat long time. They are therefore spontaneous only in appearance, since there is none that isn’t prepared at length, and that does not obey a constant law. Consequently, I fully share the opinion expressed by the Spirit of Jenaro Pereira, as to the periodicity of the irregularities of the seasons; but regarding their cause, it is more complex than he supposed.
Each celestial body, in addition to the simple laws that govern the division of days and nights, seasons, etc., undergoes revolutions that require thousands of centuries for their perfect accomplishment, but that like shorter revolutions, pass through all periods, from birth to a maximum effect, after which there is a decrease to the last limit, to then begin to go through the same phases again.
Man embraces only the phases of a relatively short duration, and of which he can observe the periodicity; but there are some that include long generations of beings, and even successions of races, whose effects, consequently, have for him the appearances of novelty and spontaneity, while if he could look over a few thousand centuries back, he would see, between these same effects and their causes, a correlation that he did not even suspect. These periods, that confuse the imagination of humans by their relative length, are however only instants in the eternal duration.
Remember what Galileo said, in his uranographic studies that you had the great idea of including in your Genesis, about time, space and the indefinite succession of worlds, and you will understand that the life of one or more generations, compared to the whole, is like a drop of water in the ocean. Hence, don’t be surprised for not being able to grasp the harmony of the general laws that govern the universe; whatever you do, you can only see a small corner of the picture, and that is why so many things seem anomalies to you.
In the same planetary system, all the bodies that depend on it react on each other; all the physical influences are united in it, and there isn’t one of the effects, that you designate by great disturbances, that is not the consequence of the aggregated influences of the whole system. Jupiter has its periodic revolutions like all other planets, and these revolutions are not without influence on the modifications of Earth’s physical conditions; but it would be a mistake to regard them as the sole or preponderant cause of these modifications. They intervene in part, like those of all the planets of the system, as the terrestrial movements themselves intervene to contribute to modifying the conditions of the surrounding planets. I go further: I say that the systems react on each other, due to the coming together or the distance that results from their translational movement through the myriads of systems that make up our galaxy. I go further still: I say that our galaxy, that is like an archipelago in the immensity, also having its translational movement through the myriads of galaxies, is influenced by those to which it approaches. Thus, the galaxies react on the galaxies, the systems react on the systems, as the planets react on the planets, as the elements of each planet react on each other, and so forth, step by step up to the atom; hence, in each world, local or general revolutions, that only appear to be disturbances because the brevity of life only allows partial effects to be seen.
Organic matter cannot escape these influences; the disturbances that it undergoes can therefore alter the physical state of living beings, and determine some of these diseases that plague plants, animals, and humans in general; these diseases, like all plagues, are for the human intelligence a stimulus that pushes it, by necessity, to the search for the means of combating them, and to the discovery of the laws of nature.
But organic matter, in turn, reacts onto the Spirit; the latter, by its contact and its intimate connection with the material elements, also undergoes influences that modify its dispositions, without however depriving it of its free will, overexcite or slow down its activity, and by that very fact, contribute to its development. The effervescence that sometimes manifests itself in a whole population, among men of the same race, is not a coincidence, nor the result of a whim; it has its cause in the laws of nature. This effervescence, at first unconscious, that is only a vague desire, an undefined aspiration towards something better, a need for change, results in a quiet agitation, then in actions that bring about moral revolutions that, believe it, also have their periodicity, like the physical revolutions, because everything is linked. If the spiritual sight were not circumscribed by the material veil, you would see these fluidic currents that, like thousands of conducting wires, connect the things of the spiritual world to the material world.
When you are told that humanity has reached a period of transformation, and that Earth must rise in the hierarchy of the worlds, do not see anything mystical in these words, but on the contrary, the accomplishment of one of the great fatal laws of the universe against which all human ill-will is shattered.
I will say to Mr. Ignacio Pereira: We are far from advising you to give up studies that are part of your future intellectual baggage; but you will undoubtedly understand that this knowledge must be, like all others, the fruit of your labors and not that of our revelations. We can tell you that are on the wrong track, and even point out the true path to you, but it is up to your initiative to lift the veils in which the natural manifestations that have hitherto escaped your investigations are still enveloped, and to discover the laws by the observation of the facts; observe, analyze, classify, compare, and from the correlation of facts deduce, but do not rush to an absolute conclusion.
I will end by telling you: In all your research, take the example of the natural laws, that are all interdependent; and it is this solidarity of actions that produces the magnificent harmony of their effects. Men, be united, and you will progress harmonically towards the knowledge of happiness and truth.
F. Arago.”
Allow me to add a few words, as a complement, to the communication just given to you by the eminent Spirit of Arago. Yes, of course humanity is changing as it has already changed in other eras, and each transformation is marked by a crisis that is to the human race what growth crises are to individuals; crises often throbbing, painful, that carry generations and institutions with them, but that are always followed by a phase of material and moral progress.
Earthly humanity, having arrived at one of these periods of growth, has been amid the work of transformation for nearly a century; that is why it is agitated on all sides, in the grip of a sort of fever and as if moved by an invisible force, until it has resumed its place on new bases. Then, whoever sees it, will find it much changed in its manners, its character, its laws, its beliefs, in all its social condition, in a word. One thing that will appear strange to you, but that is nonetheless a rigorous truth, is that the world of the Spirits, that surrounds you, suffers the impact of all the upheavals that agitate the world of the incarnates; I say more: it takes an active part in it. This is not surprising to anyone who knows that the Spirits are one with humanity; that they leave it and must return there; it is therefore natural that they are interested in the movements that affect men. Be sure, then, that when a social revolution takes place on Earth, it also stirs up the invisible world; all passions, good and bad, are overexcited there as among you; an indescribable effervescence reigns among the Spirits who are still part of your world and who are waiting for the moment to return there.
The disturbances of the physical elements are sometimes added to the agitation of the incarnate and the discarnate, most often even, because everything suffers in nature; it is then, for some time, a real general confusion, but that passes like a hurricane, after which the sky becomes serene again, and humanity, reconstituted on new bases, imbued with new ideas, traverses a new stage of progress. It is in the period that begins that we will see Spiritism flourish, and that it will bear its fruits. It is therefore for the future, more than the present, that you are working; but it was necessary that these works be elaborated in advance, because they prepare the paths of regeneration by the unification and the rationality of beliefs. Fortunate are the ones that benefit from it today, for it will be much gain and spared sorrows to them.
Dr. Barry.”
[1] From 1830 to 1856, the country was known as New Granada, and from 1856 to 1863, it was known as the Grenadine Confederation. It became the United States of Colombia in 1863, and it changed its name to the Republic of Colombia in 1886 (source: history.state.gov, T.N.)
Varieties
A fine example of evangelical charity
An act of charity carried out by Mr. Ginet, a road worker of Saint-Julien-sous-Montmelas, is recounted by the Echo de Fourvière:
“On January 1st, at nightfall, there was a beggar by profession crouching at the Place de Saint-Julien, covered with infected wounds, dressed in bad rags full of vermin, and so wicked that everyone feared her; she only responded to the good done to her by punches and insults. Suddenly weakened, she would have succumbed at the pavement had it not been for the charity of our road worker, who got over his disgust, took her in his arms and carried her to his house.
This poor man has only a very tiny accommodation for himself, for his sick wife and his three small children; he has no other resource than his modest salary. He put the old beggar on a bunch of straw given to him by a neighbor, and looks after her all night, trying to keep her warm.
At dawn, weakening more and more the woman said to: "I have money on me, I am giving it to you for your care. She adds these words: "Mr. priest ..." and she then expired. The road worker, without worrying about the money, runs to find the priest; But it was too late. He then hastens to warn the relatives that live in a neighboring parish in a comfortable condition. They arrive, and their first word is, "my sister had money on her, where is it?". The road worker replies: "She told me, but I didn't worry about it." They sought, and in fact found more than 400 francs in one of her pockets.
Completing his work, the charitable worker, with the help of a neighbor, buried the poor dead woman. Some people thought that he should place the coffin in a nearby closed shed overnight. “No,” he said; “this woman is not a dog, but a Christian.” And he kept her in his house all night, with the lamp on.
To the people who expressed their surprise to him and urged him to ask for a reward, he said: “Oh! it was not interest that made me act. They will give me what they want, but I will not ask for anything. I can, in the position in which I am, find myself in the same situation, and I would be very happy if people had pity on me."
What does it have to do with Spiritism?, a skeptical would ask; - It is because evangelical charity, as recommended by Christ, being a law of Spiritism, every truly charitable act is a Spiritist act, and the action of this man is the application of the law of charity in its purest and more sublime, for he has done good, not only without hope of return, without thinking of his personal responsibilities, but almost with the certainty of being paid for with ingratitude, contenting himself with saying that, in such a case, he would have liked the same thing to have been done to him. - Is this man a Spiritist? - We do not know, but it is not likely; in any case, if he is not by the letter, he is in his heart - If he is not a Spiritist, then it was not Spiritism that led him to this action! - Certainly. - So why does Spiritism see a merit in this? - Spiritism does not claim the action of this man for its own benefit, but it prides itself on professing the principles that led him to doing it, without ever having claimed to have the privilege of inspiring good feelings. It honors good wherever it is found; and even when its adversaries practice it, it offers them as an example to its followers.
It is unfortunate that newspapers are less eager to reproduce good deeds, in general, than crimes and scandals; if there is a fact that testifies to human perversity, we can rest assured that it will be repeated all along, as bait to the curiosity of readers. The example is contagious; why not put the example of good rather than that of evil before the eyes of the masses? There is here a great question of public morality that we will deal with later with all the developments that it entails.
A haunted castle
“An old Hungarian general, well known for his bravery, received a great inheritance, then resigned and wrote to his servant to buy him a certain property that was for sale and that he indicated to him. The servant responded immediately, advising the general not to buy the said property, since it was haunted by the Spirits.
The brave old man insists, saying that this is one more reason for him to make this purchase, and urges him to secure the deal immediately.
The property is therefore purchased, and the new owner sets out to settle there. He arrives at eleven o'clock in the evening at the house of his servant, not far from the castle, to where he wants to go immediately. - Please, said his old servant to him, wait until tomorrow morning and do me the honor of spending the night with me. - No, said his master, I want to spend it in my castle. The servant is therefore forced to accompany him there, with several peasants carrying torches; but they do not want to enter and withdraw, leaving the new landlord alone.
He had with him an old soldier who had never left him, and a huge dog that would have strangled a man with one blow.
The old general takes a seat in the castle library, has the candles lit, puts a pair of pistols on the table, grabs a book and stretches out on a sofa, while waiting for the ghosts, for he is certain that if there are really some in the castle, they would not be dead, but living well; it was also for this reason that he had the pistols cocked and made his dog lie down under the couch; as for the old soldier, he was already snoring in a room next door to the library.
Soon after the general thinks he hears a noise in the drawing-room, listens attentively, and the noise redoubled. Full of himself, he takes a candle in one hand, a pistol in the other, and enters the room where he sees no one; he searches everywhere, he even lifts the draperies; there is nothing, absolutely nothing. He then goes back to the library, picks up his book, and he had hardly read a few lines when the noise is heard with much more intensity than the first time. He picks up a candle and a pistol, enters the living room again and sees that a chest of drawers had been opened. Convinced this time that he was dealing with thieves and yet seeing no one, he calls his dog and says: Seek! The dog starts to sniff all over and goes back to hide under the couch. The general begins to search himself, walks back to the library, lies down on the sofa, but cannot sleep all night. In recounting this fact to us, the general says: “I was only scared twice, at eighteen, when a bomb exploded at my feet, on the battlefield; the second time, when I saw my dog taken by fear."
We will refrain from any comment regarding the very authentic fact reported above and will content ourselves with asking the adversaries of Spiritism, how the dog's nervous system was shaken.
We will further ask how the nervous over-excitation of a medium, however strong it may be, cam produce direct writing, that is, can force a pencil to write on its own.
Another question: We believe that the nervous fluid retained and concentrated in a container, could equal, and even surpass the force of steam; but while the said fluid is free, could it lift and move heavy furniture, as it so often happens?
Ch. Péreyra.”
Bibliography
Unpublished correspondence of Lavater with Empress Marie of Russia, on the future of the soul.
The interest that has been attached to these letters, that we have published in the Spiritist Review, suggested to Messrs. Lacroix and Cie, from the International Bookstore, 15 Boulevard Montmartre, the great idea of turning it into a separate publication. The propagation of these letters can only have a very useful effect on people strange to Spiritism. – Large brochure, in-8. Price: 50 cents.