THE IDENTITY OF SPIRITS.

Possible proofs of identity. — Distinguishing between good and evil Spirits.

— Questions on the nature and the identity of Spirits.

Possible proofs of identity.

— The question of the identity of Spirits is one of the most controverted, even among the adherents of Spiritism.

The fact is that, indeed, the Spirits do not bring us a certificate of standing, and it is known with what ease some among them take names that never belonged to them.

This, for that very reason, is, after obsession, one of the greatest difficulties of practical Spiritism.

Nevertheless, in many cases, absolute identity is nothing more than a secondary question of no real importance.

The identity of the Spirits of ancient personages is the most difficult to establish, often becoming impossible, on which account we remain confined to a moral appraisal.

Spirits are judged, like men, by their language.

If a Spirit presents itself with the name of Fénelon, for example, and utters trivialities and puerilities, it is clear that it cannot be he. But if it says only things worthy of the character of Fénelon, things that he would not refuse to subscribe to, there is, if not material proof, at least every moral probability that it is in fact he.

In this case, above all, it is that the real identity becomes an accessory question. Since the Spirit says only things that may be turned to good account, it matters little under what name it says them.

It will be objected, no doubt, that the Spirit who takes a supposed name, even if only for good, nonetheless commits a fraud: it cannot, therefore, be a good Spirit.

Here there are delicacies of nuance very difficult to grasp, which we shall attempt to develop.

To the extent that Spirits purify themselves and rise in the hierarchy, the distinctive characters of their personalities are effaced, in a certain way, in the uniformity of perfection; nevertheless, they do not for that reason any the less preserve their individualities.

This is what occurs with the superior Spirits and the pure Spirits.

At that culminating point, the name they had on Earth, in one of the thousand ephemeral corporeal existences through which they passed, is something absolutely insignificant.

Let us note further that Spirits are drawn toward one another by the resemblance of their qualities, and thus form groups, or families, by sympathy.

On the other hand, if we consider the immense number of Spirits who, since the origin of times, must have climbed to the highest ranks, and if we compare it to the so restricted number of men who have left a great name on Earth, we shall understand that, among the superior Spirits who can communicate, the majority must lack names for us.

But, since we have need of names in order to fix our ideas, they may take that of a known personage whose nature is most identified with theirs.

It is thus that our guardian angels most often make themselves known by the name of one of the saints whom we venerate, and, generally, by that of the one who inspires in us the most sympathy.

It follows from this that, if the guardian angel of a person gives itself out as being St. Peter, for example, that person can have no material proof that it is exactly the apostle of that name. It may as well be he, as a Spirit entirely unknown, but belonging to the family of Spirits of which St.

Peter forms part.

It follows further that, whatever be the name under which someone invokes his guardian angel, the latter will answer the appeal that is addressed to it, because what draws it is the thought, the name being indifferent to it.

The same occurs every time that a superior Spirit communicates spontaneously, under the name of a known personage. Nothing proves that it is exactly the Spirit of that personage; but, if it says nothing that belies the character of the latter, there is a presumption that it is the same, and, in any case, it may be said that, if it is not he, it is a Spirit of the same degree of elevation, or perhaps even one sent by him.

In sum, the question of name is secondary, the name being able to be regarded as a simple indication of the category that the Spirit occupies on the Spiritist scale.

The case takes on a different aspect when a Spirit of an inferior order adorns itself with a respectable name, so that its words may merit credence, and this case is so frequent that no precaution will be excessive against such substitutions.

Thanks to these borrowed names, and, above all, with the aid of fascination, it is that some systematic Spirits, prouder than they are wise, seek to make the most ridiculous ideas accepted.

The question of identity is, then, as we have said, almost a matter of indifference, when it is a matter of general instructions, since the best Spirits can substitute for one another, without serious consequences.

The superior Spirits form, so to speak, a collective whole, whose individualities are, with rare exceptions, unknown to us. It is not their person that interests us, but the teaching that they afford us — 15 Now, since that teaching is good, it matters little whether the one who gave it is named Peter or Paul. It must be judged by its quality and not by its insignia.

If a wine is bad, it is not the label that will make it better.

It is no longer so with intimate communications; for there it is the individual, his very person, that interests us; it is very reasonable, therefore, that, in those circumstances, we should seek to assure ourselves that the Spirit who answers our call is really the one we desire.

Much easier to verify is the identity, when it is a matter of contemporary Spirits, whose characters and habits are known, because, precisely, those habits, of which they have not yet had time to divest themselves, are what make them recognizable, and we say at once that this constitutes one of the surest signs of identity.

The Spirit may, no doubt, give proofs of it, complying with the request that is made to it; but it proceeds thus only when it suits it. Generally, such a request offends it, on which account it should be avoided.

In leaving its body, the Spirit has not divested itself of its susceptibility;

any question that has as its aim to put it to the test vexes it. There are questions that no one would dare to address to it, were it to present itself alive, for fear of failing in propriety; why should it be shown less consideration after its death?

To a man who presents himself in a drawing room, stating his name, would anyone ask him, point-blank, under the pretext that there are impostors, to prove that he is who he says he is? Certainly, that man would have the right to remind the interrogator of the rules of civility. It is what the Spirits do, by not answering, or by withdrawing.

Let us make, for example, a comparison. Suppose that the astronomer Arago, while alive, were to present himself in a house where no one knew him, and that he were apostrophized in this manner: You say that you are Arago, but we do not know you;

deign to prove it, by answering our questions. Solve such a problem of Astronomy; tell us your name, your given name, those of your children, what you were doing on such a day, at such an hour, etc. What would he answer?

Well then: as a Spirit, he will do what he would have done in life, and the other Spirits proceed in the same manner.

While they refuse to answer puerile and extravagant questions, which everyone would have scruples about addressing to them, were they alive, the Spirits give spontaneously irrefutable proofs of their identity,

by their characters, which are revealed in the language they use, 3 by the employment of the words that were familiar to them, 4 by the citation of certain facts, of particulars of their lives, at times unknown to those present and whose exactness can be verified.

The proofs of identity stand out, moreover, from a countless number of unforeseen circumstances, which do not always present themselves on the first occasion, but which arise with the continuation of the manifestations.

It is fitting, then, to await them, without provoking them, observing carefully all those that may proceed from the nature of the communications. (See the fact referred to in no. 70.)

A means employed, sometimes with success, to succeed in identifying a Spirit that communicates, when it becomes suspect, consists in making it affirm, in the name of God Almighty, that it is really who it says it is.

It frequently happens that the one who has presented itself with a usurped name recoils before the sacrilege, and that, having begun to say: I affirm, in the name of…, it stops and traces, in anger, worthless strokes on the paper, or breaks the pencil.

If it is more hypocritical, it sidesteps the question by means of a mental reservation, writing, for example: I assure you that I tell the truth, or else: I attest, in the name of God, that it is indeed I who speak to you, etc.

There are some, however, with no scruples whatever, who swear to all that is demanded of them.

One of these communicated to a medium, calling itself God, and the medium, honored with so high a distinction, did not hesitate to believe it.

Evoked by us, it did not dare to sustain its imposture and said: I am not God, but I am his son. — Are you then Jesus? This is not probable, inasmuch as Jesus is placed much too high to employ a subterfuge. Do you dare, nevertheless, to affirm that you are the Christ? — I do not say that I am Jesus; I say that I am a son of God, because I am one of his creatures.

It must be concluded from this that the refusal of a Spirit to affirm its identity, in the name of God, is always a manifest proof that the name it has taken is an imposture; but also that, if it affirms it, that affirmation is nothing more than a presumption, not constituting sure proof.

Equally one may include among the proofs of identity the resemblance of the handwriting and of the signature; but, besides the fact that it is not given to all mediums to obtain this result, it does not represent, invariably, a sufficient guarantee.

There are forgers in the world of Spirits, as there are in this one.

There one has, then, nothing more than a presumption of identity, which only acquires value through the circumstances that accompany it.

The same occurs with all material signs, which some people hold to be talismans inimitable by lying Spirits.

For those who dare to perjure themselves by the name of God, or to falsify a signature, no material sign can offer a greater obstacle.

The best of all proofs of identity lies in the language and in the fortuitous circumstances.

It will be said, no doubt, that, if a Spirit can imitate a signature, it can also perfectly well imitate the language.

This is exact; some we have seen take audaciously the name of the Christ and, in order to foist their mystification, simulate the evangelical style and pronounce right and left these well-known words: Verily, verily I say unto you.

Studying, however, without prejudice, the dictation, in its entirety, scrutinizing the depth of the ideas, the scope of the expressions, when, alongside fine maxims of charity, one sees puerile and ridiculous recommendations, one would have to be fascinated to be deceived.

Yes, certain parts of the material form of the language can be imitated, but not the thought.

Never will ignorance imitate true knowledge, and never will vice imitate true virtue.

At some point, the tip of the ear will always appear. It is then that the medium, as well as the evoker, has need of all perspicacity and of all deliberation, in order to disentangle truth from imposture.

They must persuade themselves that perverse Spirits are capable of all stratagems, and that, the more venerable the name with which a Spirit presents itself, the greater the distrust it should inspire.

How many mediums have had apocryphal communications signed by Jesus, Mary, or a venerated saint!

Distinguishing between good and evil Spirits.

— If the absolute identity of Spirits is, in many cases, an accessory question of no importance, it is no longer so with the distinction to be made between good and evil Spirits.

Their individuality may be indifferent to us; their qualities, never.

In all instructive communications; it is upon this point, consequently, that the attention must be fixed, because it alone can give us the measure of the confidence we should have in the Spirit that manifests itself, whatever be the name under which it does so.

Is the Spirit that communicates good or evil? At what degree of the Spiritist scale is it found? These are the capital questions. (See: Spiritist scale, in The Spirits' Book, no. 100.)

We have already said that Spirits must be judged, like men, by the language they use.

Suppose that a man receives twenty letters from persons unknown to him;

by the style, by the ideas, by an immensity of indications, in short, he will ascertain whether those persons are educated or ignorant, polite or ill-mannered, superficial, profound, frivolous, proud, serious, flighty, sentimental, etc. So it is, too, with Spirits.

We should regard them as correspondents whom we have never seen and seek to know what we would think of the knowledge and character of a man who said or wrote such things.

It may be established as an invariable rule without exception that — the language of Spirits is always in relation with the degree of elevation to which they have already arrived.

The truly superior Spirits not only say only good things, but also say them in terms free, in an absolute manner, of all triviality.

However good these things may be, if a single expression denoting baseness mars them, this constitutes an unmistakable sign of inferiority;

with all the more reason, if the whole of the dictation offends propriety by its coarseness.

The language always reveals its origin, whether by the thoughts it expresses, or by the form, and, even should some Spirit wish to delude us regarding its alleged superiority, it will suffice to converse for some time with it to appraise it.

Goodness and affability are essential attributes of purified Spirits.

They have no hatred, neither toward men, nor toward other Spirits.

They lament weaknesses, criticize errors, but always with moderation, without bitterness and without animosity.

Let it be admitted that truly good Spirits can wish only good and say only good things, and it will be concluded that all that denotes, in the language of Spirits, a lack of goodness and of benignity cannot come from a good Spirit.

Intelligence is far from constituting a sure indication of superiority, inasmuch as intelligence and morality do not always go paired.

A Spirit may be good, affable, and have limited knowledge, while another, intelligent and instructed, may be much inferior in morality.

It is a fairly widespread belief that, by interrogating the Spirit of a man who, on Earth, was learned in a certain specialty, the truth will be obtained with more certainty. This is logical; nevertheless, it is not always what occurs.

Experience demonstrates that the learned, as much as other men, especially those disincarnated only a short time, still find themselves under the dominion of the prejudices of corporeal life; they do not immediately divest themselves of the spirit of system. It may, then, happen that, under the influence of the ideas they espoused in life and of which they made for themselves a title of glory, they see with less clarity than we suppose.

We do not present this principle as a rule; far from it. We say only that the fact occurs and that, consequently, the human science they possess does not always constitute a proof of their infallibility, as Spirits.

In submitting all communications to a scrupulous examination, in scrutinizing and analyzing their thought and their expressions, as is customary when it is a matter of judging a literary work, rejecting, without hesitation, all that offends against logic and good sense, all that belies the character of the Spirit that is supposed to be the one that is manifesting itself, one carries discouragement to the lying Spirits, who end by withdrawing, once they are well convinced that they will not succeed in deluding.

We repeat: this means is unique, but it is infallible, because there is no bad communication that resists a rigorous criticism.

The good Spirits are never offended by it, for they themselves advise it, and because they have nothing to fear from examination. Only the evil ones take offense and seek to avoid it, because they have everything to lose. By that alone they prove what they are.

Here is the counsel that St. Louis gave us in this regard:

“Whatever be the legitimate confidence that the Spirits who preside over your labors inspire in you, there is one recommendation that will never be too much to repeat and which you should always have present in your remembrance, when you devote yourselves to your studies: it is to weigh and meditate, it is to submit to the crucible of the most severe reason all the communications that you receive; it is not to fail to ask for the explanations necessary to forming a sure opinion, the moment a point appears to you suspect, doubtful, or obscure.”

The means of recognizing the quality of Spirits may be summarized in the following principles:

1st There is no other criterion than good sense for assessing the value of Spirits.

Absurd will be any formula that they themselves give for that purpose, and it cannot come from superior Spirits;

2nd Spirits are appraised by the language they use and by their actions. These are translated by the sentiments they inspire and by the counsels they give;

3rd Granted that good Spirits can only say and do good, from a good Spirit cannot come that which tends toward evil;

4th The superior Spirits always use a language that is dignified, noble, elevated, without a taint of triviality; they say everything with simplicity and modesty, never boast, nor pride themselves on their knowledge, or on the position they occupy among the others.

That of the inferior or vulgar Spirits always reflects something of human passions.

Every expression that denotes baseness, pretension, arrogance, braggadocio, acrimony, is a characteristic indication of inferiority and of deceit, if the Spirit presents itself with a respectable and venerated name; 5th One should not judge the quality of the Spirit by the material form, nor by the correctness of the style.

One must probe its inmost depths, analyze its words, weigh them coldly, maturely, and without prejudice.

Any offense against logic, against reason and deliberation, cannot leave doubt as to its origin, whatever be the name with which the Spirit parades itself; 6th The language of elevated Spirits is always identical, if not as to form, at least as to substance.

The thoughts are the same, at any time and in every place. They may be more or less so according to the circumstances, the needs, and the faculties that they find for communicating; but they will never be contradictory.

If two communications, confirmed by the same name, show themselves to be in contradiction, one of the two is evidently apocryphal, and the true one will be that in which NOTHING belies the known character of the personage.

Of two communications signed, for example, with the name of St. Vincent de Paul, one of which inclines toward union and charity and the other tends toward discord, no sensible person could be mistaken; 7th The good Spirits say only what they know; they keep silent or confess their ignorance regarding what they do not know.

The evil ones speak of everything with assurance, without concerning themselves with the truth.

Every notorious scientific heresy, every principle that shocks good sense, points to fraud, the moment the Spirit gives itself out for an enlightened Spirit; 8th The frivolous Spirits are also recognized by the ease with which they predict the future and specify material facts of which it is not given us to have knowledge.

The good Spirits cause future things to be sensed beforehand, when such presentiment is fitting; never, however, do they determine dates.

The prediction of any event for a determined epoch is an indication of mystification; 9th The superior Spirits express themselves with simplicity, without prolixity.

They have a concise style, without exclusion of the poetry of ideas and of expressions, clear, intelligible to all, without requiring effort to be understood.

They have the art of saying many things in few words, because each word is employed with exactness.

The inferior Spirits, or false sages, conceal beneath bombast, or emphasis, the emptiness of their ideas. They use a language that is pretentious, ridiculous, or obscure, by dint of wishing it to appear profound; 10th The good Spirits never command; they do not impose themselves, they counsel, and, if they are not heeded, they withdraw.

The evil ones are imperious; they give orders, wish to be obeyed, and do not depart, come what may.

Every Spirit that imposes betrays its inferiority.

They are exclusivist and absolute in their opinions; they claim to have the privilege of truth.

They demand blind belief and never appeal to reason, knowing that reason would unmask them; 11th The good Spirits do not flatter; they approve the good that is done, but always with reserve.

The evil ones lavish exaggerated praises, stimulate pride and vanity, although preaching humility, and seek to exalt the personal importance of those whom they wish to win over; 12th The superior Spirits despise, in all things, the puerilities of form.

Only vulgar Spirits attach importance to petty particulars, incompatible with truly elevated ideas.

Every meticulous prescription is a sure sign of inferiority and of fraud, on the part of a Spirit that takes an imposing name; 13th One should distrust the singular and ridiculous names that some Spirits adopt, when they wish to impose upon credulity; it would be supremely absurd to take such names seriously;

14th One should equally distrust the Spirits that with great ease present themselves, giving extremely venerated names, and not accept what they say, except with great reserve.

There, above all, it is that a severe verification becomes indispensable, this being often nothing more than a mask that they take, in order to give it to be believed that they are in intimate relations with the exalted Spirits.

By this means, they flatter the vanity of the medium and frequently take advantage of it to induce him to lamentable and ridiculous attitudes; 15th The good Spirits are very scrupulous as regards the attitudes they would advise.

These, whatever the case, never fail to aim at a serious and eminently useful end.

One should, then, hold as suspect all those that do not present this character, or that are condemnable before reason; and it behooves one to reflect maturely before adopting them, in order to avoid disagreeable mystifications; 16th The good Spirits are also recognized by the prudent reserve they keep regarding all matters that may bring about compromise.

It is repugnant to them to unveil evil, whereas frivolous, or malevolent Spirits delight in putting it in evidence.

While the good ones seek to attenuate errors and preach indulgence, the evil ones exaggerate them and fan discord, by means of perfidious insinuations; 17th The good Spirits prescribe only good.

No maxim, no counsel, that does not conform strictly to pure evangelical charity, can be the work of good Spirits;

18th Never do the good Spirits advise anything but what is perfectly rational.

Any recommendation that departs from the straight line of good sense, or from the immutable laws of Nature, denounces a backward Spirit and, therefore, one little deserving of confidence; 19th The evil Spirits, or simply imperfect ones, also betray themselves by material indications, regarding which no one can be mistaken.

Their action upon the medium is at times violent and provokes abrupt and intermittent movements, a feverish and convulsive agitation, which is at variance with the calm and the gentleness of the good Spirits; 20th Often, the imperfect Spirits take advantage of the means they have at their disposal, of communicating, to give perfidious counsels.

They excite distrust and animosity against those who are antipathetic to them. Especially those who can unmask their impostures are the object of the greatest animadversion on their part.

They take aim at weak men, in order to induce them to evil. Employing alternately, the better to convince them, sophisms, sarcasms, insults, and even material demonstrations of the hidden power they possess, they exert themselves to divert them from the path of truth; 21st The Spirits of those who on Earth had a single preoccupation, material or moral, if they are not stripped of the influence of matter, continue under the dominion of earthly ideas and bring with them a part of the prejudices, of the predilections, and even of the manias that they had in this world. This is easy to recognize by the language they make use of; 22nd The knowledge with which some Spirits deck themselves, sometimes with a kind of ostentation, does not constitute a sign of their superiority.

The unalterable purity of the moral sentiments is, in this regard, the true touchstone;

23rd It is not enough that a Spirit be interrogated in order for the truth to be known.

We need, before all, to know to whom we are addressing ourselves; 3 inasmuch as the inferior Spirits, ignorant as they are, treat frivolously the most serious questions.

Neither is it enough that a Spirit was on Earth a great man, for it, in the Spirit world, to find itself in possession of sovereign knowledge.

Only virtue can, purifying it, bring it closer to God and enlarge its knowledge; 24th On the part of superior Spirits, jest is often fine and lively, never, however, trivial.

In mocking Spirits, when they are not coarse, the biting satire is, not rarely, very apropos;

25th By studying carefully the character of the Spirits that present themselves, above all from the moral point of view, one recognizes in them their nature and the degree of confidence they should merit. Good sense could not deceive;

26th To judge Spirits, as to judge men, it is necessary, first, that each one know how to judge himself.

There are many people, unfortunately, who take their own personal opinions as the exclusive paradigm of the good and the bad, the true and the false; all that contradicts their way of seeing, their ideas, and the system they have conceived, or adopted, appears bad to them.

Such people evidently lack the foremost quality for a sound appraisal: rectitude of judgment. Of this, however, they have not even a suspicion. It is the defect about which men most delude themselves.

All these instructions proceed from experience and from the teachings of the Spirits. We shall complete them with the very answers that they gave, on the most important points.

— Questions on the nature and the identity of Spirits.

1st By what signs can the superiority or the inferiority of Spirits be recognized?

“By the language, as you distinguish a scatterbrain from a sensible man.

We have already said that the superior Spirits never contradict themselves and say only things that may be turned to good account. They wish only good, which constitutes their sole preoccupation.

“The inferior Spirits still find themselves under the influx of material ideas; their discourses are tinged with the ignorance and the imperfection that are characteristic of them.

Only to the superior Spirits is it given to know all things and to judge them dispassionately.” 2nd Is science always a sure sign of the elevation of a Spirit?

“No, inasmuch as, if it is still under the influence of matter, it may have your vices and prejudices.

There are people who, in this world, are excessively envious and proud; do you think that, the moment they leave it, they lose these defects? After the departure from here, the Spirits, above all those who nourished well-marked passions, remain wrapped in a kind of atmosphere that preserves in them all the bad things with which they became impregnated.

“These semi-imperfect Spirits are more to be feared than the evil Spirits, because, in the majority of them, they unite to intelligence cunning and pride.

By the pretended knowledge on which they pride themselves, they impose upon the simple and the ignorant, who accept from them without examination the absurd and lying theories.

Although such theories cannot prevail against the truth, they do not for that reason fail to produce a passing harm, since they hamper the march of Spiritism, and the mediums voluntarily make themselves blind regarding the merit of what is communicated to them.

This is a point that demands great study on the part of enlightened Spiritists and of mediums. To distinguish the true from the false, it is that all the attention must be made to converge.” 3rd Many protecting Spirits designate themselves by the names of saints, or of known personages. What should one think in this regard?

“Not all the names of saints and of known personages would suffice to furnish a protector to every man.

Among the Spirits, few there are who have a name known on Earth.

That is why, most often, they state no name.

You, however, almost always want a name; then, in order to satisfy you, the Spirit takes that of a man whom you knew and whom you respect.” 4th Cannot the use of that name be regarded as a fraud?

“It would be a fraud on the part of an evil Spirit, that wished to deceive; but, when it is for good, God permits that the Spirits of the same category proceed thus, because there is among them solidarity and an analogy of thoughts.”

5th Thus, when a protecting Spirit says it is St. Paul, for example, it is not certain that it is the Spirit itself, or the soul, of the apostle who had that name?

“Exactly, inasmuch as there are thousands of persons to whom it has been said that they have for guardian angel St. Paul, or some other.

But what does that matter to you, since the Spirit that protects you is as elevated as St. Paul? I have already said it: as you need a name, they take one so that you may call them and recognize them, in the same way that you take baptismal names to distinguish yourselves from the other members of your family. They may, then, equally take those of the archangels Raphael, Michael, etc., without anything further resulting from it.

“Add to this that, the more elevated a Spirit is, the more extensive is its radiation. It follows, therefore, that a protecting Spirit of a very elevated order may have under its tutelage hundreds of incarnates.

Among you, on Earth, there are notaries who take charge of the affairs of a hundred and two hundred families; why should you suppose that we are less apt, spiritually speaking, for the moral direction of men, than those are for the material direction of their interests?” 6th Why is it that the Spirits that communicate frequently take the names of saints?

“They identify themselves with the habits of those to whom they speak and adopt the names most appropriate to cause a strong impression on men by reason of their beliefs.”

7th When evoked, do the superior Spirits always come in person, or, as some suppose, do they have themselves represented by mandataries charged with transmitting their thoughts?

“Why should they not come in person, if they can? If, however, the evoked Spirit cannot come, the one that presents itself is necessarily a mandatary.”

8th And is the mandatary always sufficiently enlightened to answer as the Spirit that sends it would do?

“The superior Spirits know to whom they entrust the charge of substituting for them.

Besides, the more elevated the Spirits are, the more they merge through the communion of thoughts, in such wise that, for them, personality is a matter of indifference, as it should also be for you.

Do you think, then, that in the world of superior Spirits there are none but those whom you knew on Earth, as capable of instructing you? You are so prone to regard yourselves as the types of the universe, that you always suppose there is nothing more outside your world.

In truth, you resemble those savages who, never having left the island they inhabit, believe that the world does not extend beyond it.” 9th We understand that it is so, when it is a matter of serious teaching; but, how do the superior Spirits permit that others, of low standing, adopt respectable names, in order to induce men into error, by means of maxims not rarely perverse?

“It is not with the permission of the former that the latter do it. Does not the same occur among you?

Those who in this way deceive men will be punished, rest assured, and their punishment will be proportioned to the gravity of the imposture.

Furthermore, if you were not imperfect, you would have around you none but good Spirits; if you are deceived, only of yourselves should you complain.

God permits that this happen, in order to test your perseverance and your discernment, and in order to teach you to distinguish truth from error.

If you do not do it, it is that you are not sufficiently elevated and still need the lessons of experience.” 10th Does it not happen that the little-advanced Spirits, but animated by good intentions and by the desire to progress, see themselves designated at times to substitute for a superior Spirit, in order that they may have the occasion to exercise themselves in teaching their brethren? “Never, in the great centers; I mean: in the serious centers, and when it is a matter of administering a general teaching.

Those that present themselves there do so on their own account, in order, as you say, to exercise themselves. That is why their communications, although good, bear the stamp of their inferiority.

Delegated they are only for communications of little importance and for those that may be called personal.” 11th It is noted that, at times, ridiculous Spiritist communications show themselves interspersed with excellent maxims. How to explain this anomaly, which seems to indicate the simultaneous presence of good and evil Spirits?

“The evil, or frivolous Spirits, also take to enunciating maxims, without perceiving well their scope, or their meaning. Among you, will all those who enunciate them be superior men? No; 2 the good and the evil Spirits do not go together; 3 it is by the constant uniformity of the good communications that you will recognize the presence of the good Spirits.” 12th Do the Spirits that induce us into error always proceed aware of what they do?

“No; 2 there are Spirits that are good, but ignorant, and that may deceive themselves in good faith.

The moment they have consciousness of their insufficiency, they agree to it and say only what they know.”

13th Does the Spirit that gives a false communication always do it with malevolent intention?

“No; 2 if it is a frivolous Spirit, it amuses itself in mystifying, without other aim.”

14th Some Spirits being able to deceive by the language they use, it follows that they can also, in the eyes of a seeing medium, take on a false appearance?

“This occurs, however, more rarely.

Nevertheless, it only takes place with an end that the evil Spirits themselves are unaware of. They then serve as instruments for a lesson.

The seeing medium can see frivolous and lying Spirits, as others hear them, or write under their influence.

The frivolous Spirits can take advantage of this disposition, to deceive, by means of false appearances; this depends on the qualities of the Spirit of the medium himself.” 15th In order not to be deceived, does it suffice that one be animated by good intentions? And serious men, who do not mix vain curiosity into their studies, are they also subject to being deceived?

“Evidently, less than others; 2 but man always has some weak points that attract the mocking Spirits.

He judges himself strong and often is not. He should, then, always distrust the weakness that is born of pride and of prejudices.

No one takes sufficiently into account these two causes of fall, of which the Spirits take advantage who, flattering the manias, are certain of success.” 16th Why does God permit that evil Spirits communicate and say bad things?

“Even in what there is of the worst, a teaching is always to be gathered. It is for you to know how to gather it.

It is necessary that there be communications of all kinds, in order that you may learn to distinguish the good Spirits from the evil ones and in order that they may serve you as a mirror to yourselves.” 17th Can the Spirits, by means of written communications, inspire unfounded distrust against certain persons and cause dissension among friends?

“Perverse and envious Spirits can do, in the field of evil, what men do. That is why the latter should be on their guard.

The superior Spirits are always prudent and reserved, when they have to censure; they say nothing evil: they warn cautiously.

If they wish that, in their own interest, two persons cease to see each other, they will give cause to incidents that will separate them in a wholly natural manner.

A language apt to sow discord and distrust is always the work of an evil Spirit, whatever be the name with which it adorns itself.

Thus, then, make use of much circumspection in receiving what evil a Spirit may say of one of you, above all when a good Spirit has spoken well to you of the same person, and distrust also yourselves and your own prejudices.

Of the communications of the Spirits, keep only what there is of the beautiful, of the great, of the rational, and what your conscience approves.” 18th By the ease with which the evil Spirits intrude into the communications, it seems legitimate to conclude that we shall never be certain of having the truth?

“It is not so, for you have a judgment with which to appraise them.

By the reading of a letter, you know perfectly well how to recognize whether it was an uneducated fellow, or a well-educated man, a fool or a sage, who wrote it; why could you not succeed in this, when it is the Spirits that write to you?

On receiving a letter from an absent friend, what is it that assures you that it comes from him? The handwriting, you will say; but, are there not forgers who imitate all handwritings; rascals who can know your affairs? Nevertheless, there are signs that will not permit you any mistake. The same occurs with regard to the Spirits.

Imagine, then, that it is a friend who writes to you, or that you are reading the work of a writer, and judge by the same processes.” 19th Could the superior Spirits prevent the evil Spirits from taking false names?

“Certainly they can; but, the worse the Spirits are, the more obstinate they show themselves and often resist all injunctions.

It is also necessary that you know that there are persons in whom the superior Spirits take more interest than in others and, when they judge it fitting, they preserve them from the attacks of falsehood.

Against these persons the deceiving Spirits can do nothing.” 20th What is the reason for such partiality?

“There is no partiality, there is justice.

The good Spirits take interest in those who make judicious use of the faculty of discerning and work seriously at improving themselves.

They give these their preferences and second them; little, however, do they trouble themselves with those alongside of whom they lose their time in fine words.” 21st Why does God permit that the Spirits commit the sacrilege of falsely using venerated names?

“You might also ask why God permits that men lie and blaspheme.

The Spirits, as well as men, have their free will for good, as much as for evil, but, neither the one nor the other will the justice of God fail to reach.”

22nd Are there efficacious formulas for expelling the deceiving Spirits?

“A formula is matter; much more worth has a good thought directed to God.”

23rd Some Spirits say they have at their disposal inimitable graphic signs, kinds of emblems, by which they can be known and prove their identity; is it true?

“The superior Spirits have no other sign by which to make themselves recognized than the superiority of their ideas and of their language.

Any Spirit can imitate a material sign.

As for the inferior Spirits, these betray themselves in so many ways, that one would have to be blind to let oneself be deluded.” 24th Cannot the deceiving Spirits also counterfeit the thought?

“They counterfeit the thought, as the scene-painters counterfeit Nature.”

25th It seems thus easy always to discover the fraud by means of an attentive study?

“Doubt it not.

The Spirits deceive only those who let themselves be deceived.

But, one must have the eyes of a diamond merchant, to distinguish the true stone from the false. Now, he who does not know how to distinguish the fine stone from the false one addresses himself to the lapidary.” 26th There are people who let themselves be seduced by an emphatic language, who appreciate words more than ideas, who even take false and vulgar ideas for sublime ones. How can these people, who are not fit to judge the works of men, judge those of the Spirits? “When these people are modest enough to recognize their incapacity, they do not trust in themselves; 2 when through pride they judge themselves more capable than they are, they bring with them the penalty of the foolish vanity they nourish.

The deceiving Spirits know perfectly to whom they address themselves.

There are simple and little-instructed people more difficult to deceive than others, who have finesse and knowledge.

By flattering their passions, they make of the man what they will.” 27th In writing, does it happen that the evil Spirits sometimes betray themselves by involuntary material signs?

“The skillful ones, no; 2 the clumsy ones lead themselves astray.

Every useless and puerile sign is a sure indication of inferiority.

Nothing useless do the elevated Spirits do.”

28th Many mediums recognize the good and the evil Spirits by the agreeable or painful impression they experience at their approach. We ask whether the disagreeable impression, the convulsive agitation, the malaise are always indications of the bad nature of the Spirits that manifest themselves? “The medium experiences the sensations of the state in which the Spirit that approaches him is found.

When happy, the Spirit is tranquil, light, deliberate, 3 when unhappy, it is agitated, feverish, and this agitation is naturally transmitted to the nervous system of the medium.

In sum, what occurs is what occurs with man on Earth: the good man is calm, tranquil; the evil one is constantly agitated.”

NOTE. There are mediums of greater or lesser nervous impressionability, on which account the agitation cannot be regarded as an absolute rule. Here, as in all things, the circumstances must be taken into account.

The painful and disagreeable character of the impression is an effect of contrast, inasmuch as, if the Spirit of the medium sympathizes with the evil Spirit that manifests itself, the proximity of the latter will affect him not at all, or very little.

Nevertheless, one must not confound the rapidity of the writing, which derives from the extreme flexibility of certain mediums, with the convulsive agitation that the slower mediums may experience at the contact of the imperfect Spirits.