Multiple Manifestations
Cures, raining tablets - letter from Mr. Delanne
Our colleague Mr. Delanne writes on April 2nd last:
“Dear master, I met our brothers from Barcelona again. There, like in France, the Doctrine propagates and the followers are passionate and enthusiastic. In a group that I visited I saw worthy competitors of that Mr. Dombre from Marmande. I attested the thorough cure of a lady that suffered from a terrible obsession for at least fifteen years, well before one had heard about the Spirits. Doctors, priests and exorcists, everything had been tried uselessly. Today that mom has gone back home, embraced by her loved ones that constantly thank God for such a miraculous cure. That result needed only two months to be achieved by both the evocation of the obsessing Spirit as well as the collective and sympathetic prayers.
In another session there was the evocation of a Spirit called Joseph that obsessed a driver for eighteen years and that now is about to be cured. I had never before been touched as much by the pain experimented by the patient during the evocation. He starts calmly and then he is suddenly overwhelmed by jerky movements and nervous trembling; he is taken by an invisible enemy, becoming agitated by terrible convulsions; his chest inflates and he seems to suffocate; he then recovers his breath and contorts his body like a serpent, rolls over on the floor, suddenly stands up and hits his own head. He only pronounced broken words, in particular repeated no, no! The lady medium remained in prayer. Soon the invisible lets his prey go for a moment and takes her hand over; he would have hurt her if he was allowed to.
That worst kind of Spirit has been evoked for about fifteen days; he had never, however, declared the reason for his vengeance. After being pressured by me he finally confessed that the so called Joseph had stolen his other half. I made him understand that if he stopped and showed the slightest sign of regret God would allow him to see her again. I do anything for her, he said. Then, repeat: God, forgive my sins. After some hesitation he said: I will try but watch him if I am not allowed to see her. He then wrote: God, forgive my mistakes. Time was critical. What would follow next? We then consulted our guides who said: You did well by placing the whole trust in God and in us; that is the key to bring him to you and later on he will see his loved one; have no fear; it is a promise that will bring him to good.
After that scene Joseph, worn out like a fighter, extenuated by the fatigue, feels bad about the terrible possession of his invisible enemy. Mr. B… then applied energetic magnetic passes that ended up by calming him down completely. May God allow this cure to be as brilliant as the preceding one!
That is what those dear brothers were up to. What energy, conviction and courage are needed to achieve such cures! It is only faith, hope and charity in particular that can surpass similar obstacles and face so fearlessly such kind of terrible adversaries. I was exhausted!
A few days later in Carcassonne I experienced emotions of a different kind. I was visiting Mr. President Jaubert. We have had several manifestations for some time, he said. I will take you to the young lady that is the object of such manifestations. As if on purpose the woman was not feeling well. Her stomach was inflated to the point that she could not dress properly. The guides were consulted and the session postponed to the next day at 8 pm. Mr. C…, a retired Captain, offered his salon to us. It was a large and empty room, with carpet only. There was only a mirror on the fireplace, a chest and chairs; there was no paintings, curtains or cloths; truly, the apartment of a man. We were nine persons in total, all keen followers.
As soon as we moved in a lot of tablets fell noisily in one corner of the room! It would be hard to describe my feelings because the honorability of the attendees and the emptiness of the chosen room were kind of done by design by the Spirits to eliminate any doubt or anything that could be suspicious or a fraudulent maneuver. And despite that prodigy I never stopped watching and examining the walls, asking around if they were part of some kind of plot.
The young lady medium took a pencil and wrote this: - Tell Delanne to place a hand on his stomach and the inflammation will cease. Pray before that – We were all praying then. I was at one end of the room when suddenly another fall of candies happened at the opposite corner from where the first one had occurred. You can imagine our astonishment. I approached the patient; the swelling was much less significant than on the day before. I imposed my hand and it totally disappeared as if magic. I am cured, she said. Her tight dress became loose. It was attested by everyone. We joined our thoughts and thanked the Spirits for such goodness. A third fall of tablets took place. I shall never forget that in my life. Although the other participants were used to such manifestations, they were all amazed. Each one of them has an object that has been given by the Spirits. Mr. Jaubert told me that he had seen his desk moving and lifting several times, without the support of any hands; his hat taken to one place or another in the room. A similar event of instantaneous cure had also been produced some months before, by the hand of Mr. Jaubert.
The young lady medium that is also a very lucid somnambulist, was asleep. I then told her: Do you want to come along to Paris? – Yes. I would like you to go to my house. I see you wife, she said; she is pleasantly lying down and reading. She then described the apartment with great accuracy. Here the conversation she established with my wife: Ma’am, do you know that your husband is with us? – No, but tell my husband to write to me. Low and Behold! I had not seen your son. He is nice. Your wife tells me that she has another very nice son also. Ask her to tell you his age. Nine months, she says. – That is correct.
Since I knew that there was a gathering at your house, dear President, I asked her to go and visit you. She dared not enter given that there was a multitude of people and great Spirits. She described you very well as with several of our colleagues.”
Observation: Let us pay, for starter, a fair tribute of praise to our brothers from Barcelona for their zeal and dedication. As Mr. Delanne says, to carry out such things one needs the courage and perseverance that only faith and charity may give. May they receive here the demonstration of fraternal sympathy from the Parisian Society!
The events in Carcassonne will make the unbelievers smile and they will certainly say that this is a comedy; if not they would say that they are miracles but the times of miracles are over. The response to that is that there isn’t any miracle there and that these are only natural phenomena whose theory they will understand when they take the burden of studying them. That is why we do not take that of explaining it to them. As for the comedy one needs to understand who would have benefited from that representation. Prestidigitation can certainly produce things that are as impressive as those, even the simulated cure of a swollen bladder. But once again, who would benefit from that? One is always strong when capable of opposing the most absolute selflessness to the accusation of charlatanism; this would no longer hold if there were the slightest suspicion of material interest. And also, who would play a role in such a comedy? A young woman from a good family that does not join the spectacle, that does not give sessions at home or elsewhere and does not speak of herself? That is not in the interest of swindlers. Will that be the businesses of the Vice-President of a Court, honorable businessmen and the most honorable officers, all well positioned in society? Can such suspicion reach them? Some will say that yes, this is in the interest of the doctrine and aims at soliciting followers. But wouldn’t that be a strange way of founding a doctrine on pillars of charlatanism and by honest people? But our adversaries do not look closely at this when it comes to contradictions; logic is the least of their concerns.
There is, however, an important point make here. Who was attending the session reported by Mr. Delanne? Was there any nonbeliever that they were trying to convince? No, not one. They were all followers that had already witnessed those facts several times. Would they have then tried to deceive one another by such a deception? However much you try, gentlemen, the Spirits do that in so many ways to attest their presence that those that laugh will definitely not be on our side. You can verify it but the always growing number of followers. Had you found a single serious argument you would not have forgotten that; but you attack precisely the charlatans and exploiters that are never endorsed by Spiritism and with whom we always declare to have nothing in common. You support us there instead of causing us harm. You point out the fraud whenever you find it; we ask for no more. You have never seen us defending them nor supporting those that out of their own weaknesses fell in the hands of justice or placed themselves on the opposite side of the law. Every sincere Spiritist that strictly follows the duties outlined by the doctrine conciliates respect and consideration and has nothing to fear.
