First a special prayer for the moment that served the general evocation that operates as introduction to the ordinary sessions. Here how it was said:
“Praise God, the sovereign Lord of all things! Lord, we beg you to spread your sacred blessing over this whole assembly. We glorify your name and thank you for you illuminated our paths with the divine light of Spiritism. Thanks to that light doubt and disbelief disappeared from our souls and will also disappear from this world; future life is a reality and we follow without uncertainty with respect to the future that is reserved to us. We know where we came from, where we are going to and why we are on this Earth. We know the causes of our miseries and know that everything is justice and wisdom in your work. We know that the death of the body does not interrupt the life of the Spirit but that it opens the door to true life; that it does not break any sincere love; that those that are dear to us are not lost and that we shall meet again in the world of the Spirits. We know that while we wait they are by our side; they see and hear us and can continue their relationships with us. Help us God to spread among our brothers on Earth that are still living in ignorance the benefits of this sacred belief because it soothes every pain, consoles those in affliction and gives them courage, resignation and hope in the greatest pains of life. We beg you to extend your mercy on our deceased brothers and on all of those that are recommended to us, irrespective of their beliefs on Earth. Allow our good thoughts to carry relief, consolation and hope to those in suffering.”
The President then addresses the following words to the Spirits:
“Dear Spirits of our former colleagues Jobard, Sanson, Costeau, Hobach and Poudra,
When we invited you to this commemorative meeting our objective is not only that of giving you a testimony of our memory that you know well is very dear to us; we are here in particular to congratulate you for the position that you hold in the spiritual world and to thank you for the excellent instructions that from time to time you come to give us since your departure. The Society rejoices for the assurance that you are happy. It is honored for having counted you among its members and to have you now among its counselors of the invisible world. We have appreciated the wisdom of your communications and we shall be happy every time you kindly come to join our activities. To this testimony of gratitude we add all of those good Spirits that routinely or eventual come to us to bring their lights: John Evangelist, Erastus, Lamennais, Georges, François-Nicolas-Madeleine, St. Augustine, Sonnet, Baluze, Vianney priest d’Ars, Jean Raynaud, Delphine de Girardin, Mesmer as well as those that only use the name Spirit. We owe a particular tribute of acknowledgement to our spiritual president, St. Louis. We thank him for taking our Society under his sponsorship and by the evident proofs of protection that he has given us. He equally beg for his assistance in this circumstance. Our thoughts go out to all of the followers and apostles of our Doctrine that have left Earth and in particular to those that are personally known to us as: N. N…
To all of those that God allows to come and hear us we say:
Dear brothers in belief that have preceded us in the world of the Spirits, we unite in our thoughts to testify our sympathy to you and to ask for the Almighty blessings to you. We thank him for having given you the grace of being enlightened by the lights of truth before you left Earth because those lights guided you on your return to the Spiritual world. The faith and confidence in God that you got from that preserved you from the disturbances and anguishes that follow the separation of those that doubt and are afflicted by disbelief. It gave you courage and resignation in the trials of the earthly life; it showed you the objective and the need for good and the inevitable consequences of evil and now you harvest the fruits. You left Earth without sorrow knowing that you would find assets infinitely more valuable than those that you left behind. You left the planet with the positive certainty that you would meet again those that were object of your love and of being able to return, as a Spirit, to sustain and give consolation to those that you left on Earth. Finally, you are in the world of the Spirits like in a country that you knew in anticipation.
We are very happy for having seen your beliefs confirmed by all of those that among you communicated with us. None came to say that had been eluded in her hopes and that we were eluding ourselves with respect to the future, but on the contrary all of them said that there were indescribable splendors in the world of the Spirits and that her hopes had been surpassed. It is now up to you who enjoys the happiness of having had faith, and that receives the reward for your submission to the law of God, to come to help those, among your brothers on this Earth, that are still in darkness. Be the missionaries of the Spirit of Truth for the progress of mankind and for the accomplishment of the designs of the Almighty.
Our thoughts are not addressed only to our brothers in Spiritism since all human beings are brothers, irrespective of their beliefs. If we were exclusivists we would not be Spiritists nor Christians. That is why we involve in our prayers, exhortations and congratulations all of those Spirits that can benefit from our support, according to their current condition, having or not shared our beliefs.
The knowledge of Spiritism is not indispensable to a future life because it does not has the privilege of making elections. It is a means of arriving more easily and more securely to the objective through a rational faith given by Spiritism and by the charity that it inspires. It illuminates the path so that people march more safely. Good and evil are better understood through Spiritism. It gives more strength to practice one and avoid the other. To please God the only thing we need is to observe his laws, that is, to practice charity that summarizes all others. Well, charity may be practiced by everyone. Detach oneself from all vices and all inclinations that are contrary to charity is then the essential condition to salvation.”
-o-
After those words special prayers were said to each category of Spirits with the proper nomination of each one. They were partially taken from the Imitation of the Gospel. The series of prayers ended with the developed Our Father (see Spiritist Review, August 1864). After that the mediums were ready to serve the Spirits that wanted to communicate. No particular evocation was carried out. We give below the main communications that were received:
I
“My children, a strange communion connects the living ones to the dead. Death continues the planned work and does not break the links of the heart. Such a certainly enriches the treasure of love spilled upon creation. Human progress obtained to the price of painful sacrifices and bloody hecatombs approach mankind to the Divine Verb making them spell the sacred word that fell from the lips of Jesus and reanimated a fainting humanity. Love is the law of Spiritism; it dilates the heart and actively extends love to those that disappeared in the vague obscurity of the tomb. Spiritism is not a vain sound, fallen from mortal lips and carried by a blow of wind. It is the powerful and sturdy faith proclaimed by Moses at Mount Sinai, the faith affirmed by the martyrs, intoxicated by hope, the law discussed by the uneasy philosophers that the Spirits finally come to proclaim.
Spiritists! The great name of Jesus must fluctuate like a flag above your teachings. Before you were, the savior carried the revelation in his heart and his carefully measured word indicated each one of the phases that you cover today. The mysteries shall fall before the prophetic breath that opens your intelligences today, like the walls of Jericho in the old days.
Be united in your intentions as you do in this blessed gathering. The warmth that comes out of your hearts covers the distance that separates us, dissipating the fumes of doubt, personality and indifference that frequently obscures the spiritual sight. Love and pray for your works.”
John Evangelist, medium Mrs. Costel
II
“My good friends, your prayers and your reverence have attracted numerous Spirits to whom you did a lot of good. A meeting like yours has such a power of attraction that the vibrations of your thoughts reached all corners of space. A multitude of brothers, less advanced or in suffering, followed the superior Spirits. Before hearing you they had no faith; they now wait and believe. Your voices, together with mine, will have them blessed from now on. They know you are strong before your trials. Like you they will be willing to deserve the eternal life, the Godly life.
Forget nobody, dear President. As for myself I am proud to see my name warmly welcomed among former co-workers. I always heard that a curious person behind the door can never hear a praise; nonetheless we are invisible witnesses; our count is infinite; what we hear, contrary to the earthly case, is forgiveness, prayer and benevolence; it is the practice of charity, the noblest flagship. May your example spread like a loving echo so that every Spirit in suffering may hear everywhere words that may guide them to the eternal truths! They say that Paris is a city of noise and obliviousness. The mystic affirm that it is the modern Babylon. I strongly protest since Paris is the city of careful thoughts, of fecund ideas and noble feelings. It is a city that irradiates over the universe; it will always the city that teaches the great principles, the great abnegation and solid virtues. Observe this city well on this day that each one of you carry a tear for the absent loved ones. It left aside its multiple life to seek shelter in the tombs and this human river, circumspect and nonbeliever is taken by respect. They say that Paris is not Spiritist. Look around in the universe to find a city where the most modest grave is more venerated and flowery. The city of the great births feels better the great losses; it cries true tears and does not bother with appearances. Paris is, no doubt, a city of pleasures to certain persons but it is also the city of work and thoughts to the majority. It is not fundamentally materialistic. It is this city that provides the Spiritist light to the universe and that light will come back still more depurated and augmented. All peoples will come to you for the truths of Spiritism, much preferred to the vain and futile pleasures that leave nothing in the minds. There is a rational idea in the air, approved by every progressive person. It is the idea that everyone should be able to read. However beautiful our doctrine is, it finds obstacles in ignorance. Our duty, therefore, of all of us Spiritists, is to diminish the number of ignorant brothers so that The Spirits’ Book may not continue to be dead letter to so many pariah. The work towards a spread in education paves the way to Spiritism and at the same time destroys fanaticism; it diminishes the deviations of ignorance forming persons that will live and die well. Having accomplished this great act of charity you will no longer see delayed Spirits coming back on this day of the dead, requesting incarnation to be able to learn and to accomplish missions now promised to their new skills. These educated Spirits can go to other planets and have their voices heard teaching and giving the bread of life that is knowledge that makes us worthy of God.
Legions of ignorant souls beg around you. They are your dead. Do not forget their asking. Your prayer will be useful to them but your actions are needed to do them an even more essential service.
So long brothers,
Your devout co-disciple,”
Sanson, medium Mr. Leymarie
III
“A day of happiness to the Spirits of the Lord that unite to address prayers to God in favor of the Spirits because this sacred communion of thoughts replicates also in superior regions! Oh Yes, happy are the poor disinherited that understand the objective of our prayers said to speed up their progress! Thanks to Spiritism many have already entered the avenue of regret and were able to improve. It is that grace from heavens that opened their hearts to their sorrow and gave them hopes to one day join you. Thank you all Christian Spiritists for having asked God that allowed me to come and say: Courage! The Spirits that came here enjoy and thank you for your good thoughts.
To my good friend Canu in particular I say: Be happy for knowing that your friend Hobach is here in person, surrounded by friendly and protecting Spirits, attracted by sympathy, coming here to elevate their souls to the Creator since everything comes from him and must return to him. Let us then always seek the sincere gatherings so that we can take advantage of the teachings received there and may the invisible ones and the incarnate progress towards infinity, that is, to the Supreme Being that created us for good and towards the progressive march of his works. Yes, a thousand times thank you for I read in every heart the feelings for those that ware particularly loved; but also those that cry may hold their tears because they will meet us in a better world where the law of justice is sovereign and emanates from God.”
Hobach, medium Mrs. Patet
IV
“Brothers and friends in Spiritism, you gathered today to address the Lord with your vows and prayers for the Spirits that are dear to you and that have accomplished their missions here. Many among them, my dear friends, carried out their tasks honorably and received the reward for their work in this life of misery and atonement. Oh my dear Spiritists! They watch you; they protect you and today the join you in your vows and requests that you send to our common Father. Most of them are around you, happy for seeing your reverence at this solemn time. But your thoughts and prayers must be in particular with those that did not understand their mission in the world of transition. Ah those need friendly hearts, compassionate souls that remember them with their prayer but a sincere prayer, a prayer that reaches out to the Eternal. Ah how many of these souls are abandoned and forgotten by those that should think of them and by relatives sometimes very close to them! Those are not Spiritists, dear friends; they do not understand the effect that the prayers may exert on them. No, they do not know charity; they do not believe in another life after this one; they believe that there is nothing after death. How many, in these days of mourning, visit the tombs of their loved ones with their cold and dry hearts? When they go it is out of convenience; their souls have no hope; they do not imagine that the souls that are remembered are there with them, waiting for a prayer from the bottom of their hearts. Oh my friends, do it yourselves, do it with your prayers what is not done by your brothers. The only see the remains in death, forgetting that the soul outlives. Pray for your prayers shall be heard by the Almighty!
A Spirit that also needs a share of your prayers,”
Lalouze, medium Mrs. Lampérière
V
“
Dear friends, how many actions of grace don’t we owe you in exchange for your good and generous prayers! Yes, we are grateful for you devotion and charity. Never before have so warm and enthusiastic prayers been carried on the white wings of pure Spirits to the divine throne. Never before people understood so well the utility of a common prayer whose weight falls onto imperfect Spirits that come here ever in greater numbers feeding from your generous and fraternal environment because there is no separation here; the little ones and the disinherited of Earth are received by you like the great and the princes; you pray for the rich as you do for the poor. Ah divine fraternity, you grow and grow continually until you meet the sublime Regenerator that sends you to bring people back to the right path from which they had moved away so many centuries ago! Ask and it will be given, knock and the door will be opened to you[1] said Jesus. Yes, knock on your passions and the beam of divine clarity will inundate your soul. Ask for the faith and it shall be granted. Ask for patience and that will be given. In a word, ask for every necessary virtue so that you can leave behind the old person that must disappear forever and give place to the new good person. To you I am an unknown Spirit who has taken this hand by the charity of St. Joseph.”Medium Mr. LampérièreVI
“My very dear wife I saw your sighs and tears. Always crying. I also saw your prayers. Let me thank you for them. Now, my dear friend, rest assured. With that you disturb my happiness. Be happy for you are happier than many others; you have brothers around you that love you and rejoice for having you around them. See how blessed you are among many others! I can only praise you my brothers for having welcomed my dear wife among you. I thank you for everything you do for her… and additionally for your charity in inviting me today! I was among the first ones to sustain and propagate with all my heart this sacred doctrine. Ah had I known what I know and see now! Believe, believe! It is all I can tell you. Do whatever you can to spread it and to attract people to your hearts. There is nothing more beautiful, nothing truer than what is found in your books.”
Cousteau, medium Ms. Béguet
VII
“Thank you so much beloved brothers for you kind memory and your good prayers. Thanks to you dear President for the fortunate initiative of having a communion of thoughts and ideas, praying for everyone. Yes, we are all here; we happily hear your sincere prayers addressed to our Father of mercy in favor of each one of us. Yes, we are happy because the pray said from the heart reaches God and from God we receive the necessary strength to fight the bad influences that the frivolous Spirits try spill onto those that labor in the sacred work. Those prayers to us are like a solemn appeal and we stand all here by your side. From far away or from nearby we all promptly attended that fortunate appeal. We wish that your example be followed by every serious center because such prayers said with such honesty and selflessness reach God like sacred emanations returning to each one of us. Thank once more my dear friends and although my name had not be mentioned you can see that I am here. This must demonstrate to you that we are happy and in large number. The mother of an honorary member of your Society,”
Aimée Bredard, from Bordeaux, medium Mrs. Delanne
VIII
“My good friends, I would see each one of you leaving with the pious silence that the prayer leaves in your heart, after you have said those prayers and associated yourselves to the group with all of your hearts. You raised your souls to God in favor of all of those that have left Earth; you brought kind memories of the past and in this very moment, don’t you feel stronger? A short while ago, while your souls were lifted into the skies in a common impulse, didn’t you feel the warm breath of other souls mixing up their prayers to yours? Aren’t you impregnated by them? Why haven’t you gone with the quiet aroma from beyond the grave instead of demanding voices? Isn’t that enough happiness to live with the sweet thoughts that emanate from the sacred fluids of prayer? Nonetheless I understand that this mute language is not enough for you. The warm winds are not enough to the loving heart that demands for an echo responding to their voice. I forgive you for such natural desire. Why couldn’t each one of you to enjoy a second benefit that is provided by your new faith; the communication with those that are dear to you through the mediums?
However, how large your assembly is compared to the number of hands that can write! Who among you can say that they are the fortunate ones that will hear their voices? I see a much larger number of Spirits than the number of incarnate souls here. They agglomerate around each one of our intermediaries: Georges, Sanson, Costeau, Jobard, Dauban, Paul, Émile and a hundred more whose names I cannot tell you are here and would like to speak with you. I refrain their impulses and tell them that I shall be the interpreter between them and you. They want that very much but how about you? I will be the fathers to some and the mothers to others; to this one I will be a son, a daughter, a husband, a wife, and to all I will be a friend, a brother that loves you and that would like that all of you united in one single heart form a single thought, a single soul responding to this communication concentrated in my thought and in my soul.
Ah your dear dead did not wait for this day to come to each one of you. Don’t you feel them surrounding you all the time, calling you to the cast and divine secrets of the duty through what you call the voice of your conscience? Don’t you feel them really close at the times of sadness and suffering? They tell you: have courage! And particularly to you, Spiritists, they show you the skies and the innumerable stars that cover the immense blue as a sign of alliance between the Lord and you.
No, my dear friends, they did not leave you behind in their thoughts. To you, mother, your daughter says: I left first, like the branch that is broken by the storm detaches from the trunk, but I still live out of your sap and your love in the vastness, and in this rosary of pearls that my soul carries isn’t there some emeralds that came from you?
Father, I hear your son saying: I left to come back and help you to better love God in your prayers. I left because your forehead did not bow before the great provider of all things; he wanted you to remember him, making you hear the modulations from beyond the grave by the voice of your son. Brother, I hear your brother talking to you about the play time of the old days, your fights, your happiness and your suffering. I left to the beyond before you, he says, but I am not dead. I paved the way for you; there you will find more glory than on Earth. Throw away your purple mantle and dress up with the coat for your trip since the Lord loves more poverty than richness. I hear kind whispering responding to your sighs; the lover responding to the lover; the husband to the wife. What a beautiful harmony!
Rejoice, therefore! How many happy tears! How many touching impulses! Wives, feel your hands pressed by the invisible hands of your husbands. At this time thy come to renovate the eternal vows; they come to tell you what I did myself: that death does not break the links of the heart and that the unions continue beyond the grave. I would like very much to name all of the dear dead here but I cannot. Hear their voices yourselves. Each one of you will acknowledge them in the sacred concert that raises in the skies. Together they sing a song of graces to the Lord.”
St. Augustine, medium Mr. Vézy
IX
“Since my medium could not serve all of the Spirits here I come to replace one Spirit that perhaps wanted to communicate. Since it is not out of context in this meeting I want to give you some advices with respect to the proper way of doing things in order to really obtain responses from the Spirits that are evoked.There are many mediums here and many Spirits that would like to communicate, however, only a few will be able to achieve that because they would not have had time to establish the fluidic communication with them. The identity of communications is something difficult to establish and you may rarely be assured of that identity. However, if you wanted to help the Spirits a little by preparing yourselves previously for the evocations there would be more frequent identification. The fluids must always be similar because without that similarity there is no communication possible. But you, the mediums, you have many diverse fluids and among them some may be used by the Spirits in case they were given time to influence those fluids.People generally call this one or that one at a short notice, without having called them in their thoughts, without having offered them one’s fluidic instrument, without having given them time to prepare and vibrate in sync with their own thoughts. Do you think this is right? No, because they are forced to utilize the intermediation of your familiar Spirits and you cannot recognize them so positively then, forced to attest thoughts that are sometimes very different from what they had when alive, finding no particularity that may help you confirm identity.Believe me when you want to evoke someone think for some time about that Spirit that you wish to call and by that you are offering the Spirit much better means of communicating with you in person. I speak in the name of all of those that are friends and familiar to my medium and I wish to thank the President for the words full of energy that he pronounced to all of us. It is certainly pleasant to unite with so many persons with good and benevolent wishes and us, Spirits prone to good and instructor Spirits, we consider our duty to accomplish the missions that have been assigned to us and to all Spiritist hearts.” (See below an observation about the article Spiritist Communication regarding the Imitation of the Gospel).
A Spirit, medium Ms. A.C.
[1] Mathew 7:7
