The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863

Allan Kardec

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Preached at Metz Cathedral, 27-29th May 1863 by Rev. Father Letierce, from the Company of Jesus

Refuted by a Spiritist from Metz and preceded by considerations about Spiritist madness[1]



We are always pleased to see serious followers entering the fight when they add calm and moderation to the logical arguments. This is a behavior that we must always follow even against those who do not use the same methods as us. We congratulate the author of this brochure for being able to unite these two qualities in his very interesting and conscious work that will be, no doubt, received with the deserved consideration. The letter inserted at the introduction of the work is a testimony of sympathy that we could not acknowledge better than by transcribing it here in full for it is a proof of how much he understands the doctrine as well as the following thoughts that he uses as an epigraph:

We believe that there are facts that are not visible to the eye or tangible to the hand; that cannot be reached by the scalpel or the microscope however perfect we can imagine them to be; that equally escape taste, smell, hearing and that nonetheless are susceptible to verification with an absolute certainty. (Ch. Jouffroy, preface of Esquisses de philosophie morale, page 5).”

“Do not believe in every Spirit but have them tested to see if they are from God.” (Gospel)

“Dear Master,

Will you kindly accept the offer of this modest defense of Spiritism, a scream of outrage against the attacks against our sublime moral? To me that would be the strongest evidence that these pages are dictated with the same spirit of moderation that we daily admire in your work and that should guide us in all of our endeavors. Please accept it as a naïve essay of one of your recent followers, as the profession of faith of a true believer.”







“If my effort succeeds I shall attribute its success to your elevated sponsorship; if my unskilled voice does not find echo, Spiritism will not lack other defenders and I will be appeased with my own conscience for having been approved by the immortal apostle of our philosophy.”

-o-

We extracted the following passage from the brochure with one of the sermons by Rev. Father Letierce to give an idea of the power of his logic.

“There is nothing that may shock reason by the admission, within certain limits, of the communication between the Spirits of the dead with the living ones. Such communication is perfectly compatible with the nature of the human soul and numerous examples are found in the Gospels and in the Life of Saints. But they were saints, they were apostles.

“As for us, poor sinners, on the ramp of corruption, we who would frequently only need a helping hand to guide us back to good, isn’t that a sacrilege, an insult to the divine justice, to ask the good Spirits that God has spread around us for advices and guidance for our moral and philosophical instruction? Isn’t that an impious audacity to ask the Creator to send us guardian angels to endlessly remind us about the observation of his laws, about charity, the love to our neighbors and to teach us about what to do to the limit of our strength in order to achieve their own level of perfection as soon as possible?”

“That appeal to the soul of the righteous ones, in the name of God’s benevolence, is only heard by the soul of the bad ones, in the name of the infernal powers. Yes, the Spirits do communicate with us but not the condemned Spirits. Their communications and teachings, it is true, are such that could have been dictated by the purest angels. All of their speeches breathe the highest virtues from which the lowest ones must serve us as an ideal of perfection that we can hardly achieve in this life but it is only a trap to better attract us; it is like poison covered in honey with which the devil wants to kill our soul.”

“In fact, the soul of the dead, according to Allan Kardec, has three classes: those that arrived at the state of pure Spirits, those that are on the path towards perfection and the soul of the bad ones. The first ones, given their own nature, cannot attend our appeal. Their state of purity makes it impossible to have any communication with human beings that are trapped in a very thick envelope. By the way, what would they do on Earth? Preach things that could not be understood?

“The second ones have a lot to work for their own moral betterment to waste any time and come to talk to us. They are not the ones that come to assist us in our sessions either.”

“What is our last resort then? As I said, it is the soul of the sinners and these are the ones who are always ready to come. Always available to take advantage of our error and our need for instructions they come to us in large numbers to drag us along with them to the abyss where they were thrown by the just punishment of God.”







[1] Brochure in-18, price 1 franc; by mail 1.1 franc – Paris: Didier & Co., Ledoyen; Metz: Linden, Verronnais bookstores.


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