An earthly atonement – the young Francis People who have read Heaven and Hell no doubt remember the touching story of Marcel, the child of No. 4, reported in chapter VIII of Terrestrial Atonement. The following fact presents a case somewhat analogous and no less instructive, as an application of sovereign justice, and as an atonement of what often seems inexplicable, in certain positions of life.
A twelve-year-old child died in October 1866, from a good and honest family; for nine years, the child’s life had been only one continuous suffering, that neither the loving care with which he was surrounded, nor even the aid of science had been able to soften. He was afflicted with paralysis and dropsy; his body was covered with wounds, invaded by gangrene, and his flesh was falling apart. In the extreme of pain he would often cry out, "What have I done, my God, to deserve such a pain? Since I came into the world, I have not harmed anyone!” Instinctively, this child understood that the suffering had to be an atonement, but in ignorance of the law of solidarity of successive existences, his thought not going back beyond the present life, he did not realize the cause that could justify in him such a cruel punishment.
A particularity worth noting was the birth of a sister, when he was about three years old. It was at this time that the first symptoms of the terrible disease to which he was to succumb began. From this moment, he also established such a repulsion for the newcomer that he could not bear her presence, and that her sight seemed to redouble his sufferings. He frequently reproached himself for this feeling that nothing justified, because the little girl did not share it; on the contrary, she was gentle and loving to him. He said to his mother: "Why is the sight of my little sister so painful to me? She's good to me, but I can't help it but hate her.” However, he could not bear to see her hurt or grieved; far from rejoicing in her sorrows, he suffered when he saw her crying. It was obvious that two feelings were fighting in him; he understood the injustice of his antipathy, but his efforts to overcome it were powerless.
It would be quite natural for such illnesses to be the consequences of misconduct, at a certain age; but of what serious enough sins can a child of this age be guilty of enduring such a martyrdom? Where else could this repulsion for a harmless being come from? These are problems that present themselves every moment, and that lead a multitude of people to doubt the justice of God, because they find no solution in any religion; These apparent anomalies, on the contrary, find their complete justification in the solidarity of existences. A Spiritist observer could therefore say, with every reason, that these two beings had known each other, and had been placed next to each other in the present existence for some atonement and reparation of some wrongdoing. From the brother's state of suffering, one could conclude that he was the culprit, and that the ties of close kinship, that united him to the object of his antipathy, were imposed on him to prepare, between them, the ways of a re-approximation. Thus, we already see in the brother a tendency and efforts to overcome his estrangement, that he recognizes as unjust. This antipathy did not have the characteristics of the jealousy that is sometimes noticed in children of the same blood; it came therefore, in all likelihood, from painful memories, and perhaps from remorse that the little girl's presence aroused. Such are the deductions that one could rationally draw, by analogy, from the observation of the facts, and that were confirmed by the Spirit of the child.
Evoked, almost immediately after his death, by a friend of the family to whom he was very fond, he could not, at first, fully explain himself, and promised to give more details later. Among the various communications he gave, here are the two that relate more particularly to the question:
“You expect from me the account I promised you of what I was in a previous existence and the explanation of the cause of my great suffering; it will be a lesson for all. These teachings are everywhere, I know; it is found everywhere, but the account of facts of which one has seen the consequences oneself, is always, for those that exist, a much more striking proof.
I have sinned, yes, I have sinned! Do you know what it is to have been a murderer, to have attempted against the life of your fellow human? I did not do it the way the assassins do when killing immediately, either with a string, or with a knife, or any other instrument; no, it is not how I did it. I killed, but I killed slowly, causing suffering to a creature I hated! Yes, I hated him, this child that I thought didn't belong to me! Poor innocent! Had he deserved such a sad fate? No, my poor friends, he hadn't deserved it, or at least it wasn't up to me to put him through this torment. I did, however, and that is why I was forced to suffer, as you have seen.
I suffered, my God! Is it enough? You are too good, Lord! Yes, in the presence of my crime and atonement, I believe you were too merciful. Pray for me, dear parents, dear friends; my sufferings are now over. Poor Mrs. D ... I make you suffer! It is because it was very painful for me to come and confess this immense crime!
Hope, my good friends, God has forgiven my fault; I am now in joy, and yet also in sorrow; do you see! It is all very well to be in a better state, have atoned: the thought, the memory of our crimes leave such an impression that it is impossible not to feel all the horror for a long time yet, because it is not only on earth that I suffered, but before, in this spiritual life! And, what pain I had in deciding to come and suffer this terrible atonement! I cannot tell you all this, for it would be too dreadful! The constant sight of my victim, and the other, the poor mother! Finally, my friends: prayers for me and thanks to the Lord! I promised you this story. I had to pay my debt to the end, whatever it might cost me.
(up until this point the medium had written under the influence of great emotion; he continued with more calm).
And now, my good parents, a word of consolation. Thank you, oh thank you that helped me in this atonement, and who carried part of it; you have softened, as much as it depended on you, what was bitter in my state. Do not be upset, it is a thing of the past; I am happy, I told you, especially when comparing the past state with the present state. I love you all; Thank you; I kiss you; love me always. We will meet again, and, all together, we will continue this eternal life, trying that the future life completely redeems the past life.
Your son, François E.”
In another communication the Spirit of young Francis supplemented the above information:
“Question: Dear child, you did not say where your antipathy for your little sister came from.
Answer: Can't you guess it? This poor and innocent creature was my victim whom God had attached to my last existence, like a living remorse; that is why her sight made me suffer so much.
Request. However, you didn't know who she was.
Answer: I did not know it when I was awake, otherwise my torments would have been a hundred times more dreadful; as dreadful as they had been in the spiritual life, when I saw her endlessly; but do you believe that my Spirit, in the times when it was free, did not know it? It was the cause of my hatred, and if I tried to fight it, it was that I felt instinctively that it was unfair. I was not yet strong enough to do good to the one I couldn't help hating, but I didn't want her to be harmed: it was the beginning of reparation. God took this feeling into account for me, which is why he allowed me to be released early from my life of suffering, otherwise I could have lived for many more years in the horrible situation in which you saw me.
Therefore, bless my death that put an end to the atonement, for it was the pledge of my rehabilitation.
Question: (to the medium's guide). Why aren’t atonement and repentance in the spiritual life sufficient for rehabilitation, without adding bodily suffering?
Answer: Suffering in one world or another is always suffering, and one suffers while the rehabilitation is not complete. This child suffered a lot on earth; Well, that is nothing compared to what he endured in the spiritual world. Here he had, as a compensation, the care and affection with which he was surrounded. There is still this difference between bodily suffering and spiritual suffering, that the former is almost always voluntarily, accepted as a complement of atonement, or as a test to advance more rapidly, while the other is imposed.
But there are other reasons for the corporeal suffering: it is, first of all, so that reparation may take place under the same conditions in which the damage was done; then to serve as an example for the incarnate. Seeing their fellows suffer and knowing the reason for it, they are much more impressed by it than knowing that they are unhappy as Spirits; they can better understand the cause of their own suffering; divine justice is somehow palpable in their eyes. Finally, bodily suffering is an opportunity for the incarnate to exercise charity among themselves, a test for their feelings of compassion, and often a means of repairing previous wrongs; for, believe it, when an unfortunate person is in your way, it is not the result of chance. For the parents of young François, it was a great test to have a child in this sad condition; well, they have fulfilled their mandate with dignity, and they will be all the better rewarded for it, for having acted spontaneously, by the impulse of their own heart. If the Spirits did not suffer in the incarnation, it is because there would only be perfect Spirits on earth.
