The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864

In a Catechism of perseverance at the Diocese of Langres in regards to the ordination reported above a lesson about Spiritism was given as a matter to be handled by the students. Here is the textual narrative of one of them:



“Spiritism is the works of the devil that invented it. Dealing with Spiritism is the same as to enter into direct contact with the devil. Diabolic superstition! God sometimes allows such things in order to revive the faith of the followers. The devil pretends to be good, sacred, and cites texts of the Scriptures.”



Such a means of reviving the faith seems to be a very bad choice.



“Tertullian that lived in the second century says that they made the goats and tables talk; it is the essence of idolatry. Those satanic operations were rare in certain Christian countries and are very common today. Such demoniac power showed its full shine with the surge of Protestantism.”



These are kids well convinced of the great power of the devil. Isn’t that the case that it should have made them doubt a little bit the power of God when one sees the devil winning so many times?



“Spiritism was born in America at the heart of a Protestant family called Fox. The devil showed up first with scaring knocks. They became impatient and tried to find out about the origin of those knocks. One day Mr. Fox’s daughter started saying: Knock here, knock there and the noises happened where she had ordered.”



Always the excitement against the Protestants! We then have children educated in the hatred against their fellow citizens sometimes members of the same family! Fortunately this is countered by the spirit of tolerance that reigns in our days without which we would see the renovation of the bloody scenes of past centuries.



“That heresy vulgarized soon; it soon counted on five hundred thousand followers. The invisible Spirits were given to do all sorts of things. Just after the request of a simple creature they would move tables covered by hundreds of books; hands without bodies were seen. That is what happened in America and came to France through Spain. Soon the Spirit was forced by God and the angels to acknowledge that it was the devil so that righteous people would not fall in their traps.”



We believe to be well aware of the march followed by Spiritism and never heard that it came to France through Spain. Would that be the case to rectify the history of Spiritism?



From the confession of the adversaries of Spiritism one can see how fast the new idea gained terrain. An idea that has just appeared and conquered five hundred thousand followers is not without value and demonstrates the path that it will follow later on. That is how ten years later one of them increases the number to twenty million in France alone and forecasts that the heresy will soon gain another twenty million (see The Spiritist Review, July 1863). But then if everybody is heretic what is it that will be left to orthodoxy? Wouldn’t that be the case to apply the maxim: When everybody is wrong everybody is right? What would the instructor have answered if a young boy from his juvenile auditorium had framed the following question: how come St. Peter in his first preaching converted only three thousand Jews while Spiritism that is the works of the devil has immediately made five hundred thousand followers? Would Satan be more powerful than God?



He would perhaps have answered: The reason is that they were Protestants.



“Satan says that he is a good Spirit but he is a liar. One day they wanted the table to speak; it did not want to answer and they thought that the presence of a priest precluded that. Finally two knocks were heard warning that the Spirit was there. They asked:

Then there are priests that attend such diabolic sessions? The terrible boy could have asked why, when they come, they do not scare the devil away?



“This is a diabolic scene. Here is what Mr. Allan Kardec said: The lewdness of the mystifying Spirits goes beyond imagination. There was two Spirits, one representing good and the other evil. After a few months one said:

-I am tired of repeating mellow words to you, words that I do not accept.

-You are then the evil Spirit? – A. Yes.

-Talking about God, the virgin and the saints, doesn’t it make you suffer? – A. Yes.

-Do you want good or evil? – A. Evil.

-Aren’t you the Spirit that was speaking before? – A. No.

-Where are you? – A. In hell.

-Do you suffer? – A. Yes.

-Always? – A. Yes.

-Are you submitted to Jesus Christ? – A. No, to Lucifer.

-Is he eternal? – A. No.



This report is undoubtedly dramatic but someone that could demonstrate any involvement from us with such a thing would be very skillful. It is so sad to see what people do convey give faith to others. They forget the fact that these children will grow and think. A faith that is founded on such proofs is right to fear conspiracies.



“We have just seen the evil Spiritism forced to confess what it is. This is another statement written by the pencil in the hands of a medium: - if you want to give yourself to me in soul, Spirit and body I will satisfy your desires; if you want to be with me write your name below mine. He then wrote: Giefle or Satan. The medium then trembled and did not write. Every session ended with these words:



The devil wanted people to cut a deal with him.



-Give me your soul!

-Who are you?

-I am the devil.

-What do you want?





What will those children say when they witness some evocations and instead of a deal with the hellish the hear this from the Spirits: “Love God above all and your neighbor as yourselves; practice the charity taught by Christ; be good to all even to your enemies; pray to God and follow the commandments so that you may be happy in this world and in the next”?



“All of those prodigies, all of those extraordinary things come from the Spirits of darkness. Mr. Home, an eager Spiritist, tell us that the ground sometimes shakes under his feet, apartment buildings tremble, people shiver; an invisible hand touches your knee and shoulders; a table jumps. People then ask:

-Are you there? –A. Yes.



And the table lifts twice!”



Once more all that is very dramatic. However among the listeners more than one has undoubtedly wished to see that and will not miss the first opportunity. Susceptible young ladies of a delicate built will also be found, some that before the slightest sway will see the hand of the devil and will feel ill.



“All these things are ridiculous. The sacred Church, the mother of all of us, makes us see that it is all just a lie.”





If all that is ridiculous and deceptive why then giving so much importance to that? Why scaring the children with scenes that have nothing of real? If there is lie isn’t that in those very images?



“For example, the evocation of the dead. We cannot believe that it is our relatives that are talking to us; it is Satan speaking and going by the name of a dead person. We are certainly in communication through the communion of the saints. We have examples of apparitions of the dead in the life of the saints but that is a rare miracle of the divine wisdom. Here what is said: Demons sometimes manifest as if they were dead people and sometimes as if they were saints.”

“Sometimes” is not the same as always hence it may happen that the communicating Spirit is not a demon.

“They can do many other things. One day a medium that could not draw reproduced the image of Jesus Christ and the Saint Virgin having the hand led by a Spirit; the images were presented to some of our best artists and were considered worthy of being exposed.”

On hearing that one student might think: Ah if a Spirit could guide my hand to do my homework and win an award! Let us try!

“Saul consulted with the medium of Endor and God allowed Samuel to appear to him to say: Why do you bother me in my sleep? Tomorrow you will be with me in the tomb. Our Sauls of theater could well think about this story. St. Philip Neri says: If the Saint Virgin or even Jesus Christ shows up spit on their faces because it would just be a deception of the devil to induce you in error.”

What is then the meaning of the apparition of the Hail Lady of La Salette to two poor children? According to this instruction of catechism she should have been spat on the face.

“Our Saint Father Pope Pius IX expressly prohibited these things. Mr. Bishop of Langres and many others did the same. Life is at risk. Two old men committed suicide because the Spirits had told them that they would enjoy eternal happiness after death. Danger to reason. Several mediums went mad and in a psychiatric home there was more than forty that went crazy.”

We still don’t know the papal bull that expressly prohibits to get involved with such things. If it did exist Mr. Bishop of Langres and the others would not have failed to mention it. The story about the two old men that was mentioned is inaccurate. It was proved through official documents presented to the court and notably through letters written by them before their death that they were committing suicide for lack of money and their fear of becoming miserable (see The Spiritist Review, April 1863). The story of forty persons in a psychiatric homes is truer. It would be very difficult to justify by the name of those pretense mad persons that a first newspaper indicated to be four, a second one forty, a third one four hundred and a fifth said that they were working in the amplification of the home. An instructor of catechism should collect his historical information from another source other than gossips from newspapers.

The children have confidence in stories that are told seriously. However the stronger the confidence the greater the contrary reaction later on when they get to know the truth. This is said generally and not only with respect to Spiritism. If we analyze the work of that young man let it be clear that it is not the opinion of a child that we refute but the one that constitutes the summary of the narrative. If all instructions of that kind were carefully investigated we would be less surprised by the fruits that are picked up later on. It is necessary a lot of care and experience to educate children since we cannot imagine the reach of a single imprudent word that like a bad weed germinates in those young imaginations like in a virgin soil.

As it seems the adversaries of Spiritism don’t think it is too spread yet. One could say that they are imperceptibly impelled to engineer means of propagating it ever further. After the sermons whose result is well-known we could not find a more efficient way of doing that than turning it into homework of lessons of catechism. The sermons act upon the departing generations. The lessons above act upon the newcomers. We would be wrong to assess them negatively.