The false Father Ambrose.

— One of the reefs that Spiritist communications present is that of the impostor Spirits, who can mislead as to their identity and who, shielded behind a respectable name, attempt to pass off the grossest absurdities. On several occasions we have already pronounced ourselves on this danger, which ceases to exist for whoever investigates, simultaneously and rigorously, the form and the substance of the language of the invisible beings with whom we communicate. We will not repeat here what we have already said about it; read the matter attentively, in this Review, in The Spirits' Book, and in our Practical Instruction, and you will see that nothing is easier than to forearm oneself against such frauds, however little our good will may be. We will reproduce only the comparison that follows, which we have cited elsewhere: “Suppose that, in a room adjoining the one in which you are, there are several persons whom you do not know, nor can you see, but whom you hear perfectly; by their conversation would it not be easy to recognize whether they are ignorant or learned, honest people or malefactors, serious men or scatterbrains, in short, well-bred or coarse persons? Let us take another comparison, without leaving our material humanity: let us suppose that a man presents himself to you under the name of a distinguished man of letters; before such a name you receive him, at first, with all the consideration due to his supposed merit; but if he expresses himself like a rascal, you will soon recognize the deception and expel him, as one does an impostor. The same happens with the Spirits: they are recognized by their language; that of the superior Spirits is always dignified and in harmony with the sublimity of their thoughts; never does a triviality stain their purity. The coarseness and the baseness of expressions belong only to the inferior Spirits. All the qualities and all the imperfections of the Spirits reveal themselves through their language, and one can, with reason, apply to them the adage of a celebrated writer: The style is the man.

These reflections are suggested to us by an article that we found in the Spiritualiste de la Nouvelle-Orléans, of the month of December 1857. It is a conversation that was established between two Spirits, through mediumship, in which one called himself Father Ambrose and the other made himself pass for Clement XIV. Father Ambrose was a respectable priest, who died in Louisiana in the last century; he was a man of worth and highly intelligent, having left a venerated memory. In this dialogue, where the ridiculous vies with the ignoble, it is impossible for us to be mistaken as to the quality of the interlocutors, and it must be admitted that those Spirits took very few precautions to disguise themselves. What man of good sense, even for an instant, could suppose that Father Ambrose and Clement XIV could have descended to such trivialities, which more resemble a circus performance? Comedians of the lowest category, parodying these two personages, would not have expressed themselves differently. We are persuaded that the circle of New Orleans, where the fact occurred, understood as we did; to doubt it would be to commit an injury. We regret only that, in publishing it, they did not have it followed by some corrective observations, which would have prevented superficial persons from taking it as a sample of the serious style from beyond the tomb. We hasten, however, to say that the circle does not have only communications of this kind: there are others, of a very different character, in which is found all the sublimity of the thought and of the expression of the superior Spirits.

We thought that the evocation of the true and of the false Father Ambrose could offer useful material for observation on the impostor Spirits; this is what we did, as can be judged by the following interview:

I pray to God Almighty to permit the Spirit of the true Father Ambrose, deceased in Louisiana, in the last century, and who left a venerated memory, to communicate with us.

Answer. – Here I am.

Could you tell us whether it was really you who had, with Clement XIV, the conversation referred to in the Spiritualiste de la Nouvelle-Orléans, the reading of which we made in our last session?

Answer. – I pity the men who were deceived by the Spirits, as much as I pity the latter.

Which Spirit was it that took your name?

Answer. – A charlatan.

And the interlocutor, was it really Clement XIV?

Answer. – It was a Spirit sympathetic to that one, who had taken my name.

How could you permit such a thing in your name, and why did you not unmask the impostors?

Answer. – Because I cannot always prevent men and Spirits from amusing themselves.

We conceive that with regard to the Spirits; nevertheless, the persons who collected those words were serious, and in no way sought to amuse themselves.

Answer. – A reason all the more so: for that very reason they ought to have thought that such words would be nothing but the language of mocking Spirits.

Why do the Spirits, in New Orleans, not teach principles identical to those that are taught here?

Answer. – The Doctrine that is dictated to you will soon serve them; there will be but one.

Considering that this Doctrine must be taught there later, it seems to us that, if it were done immediately, it would accelerate progress and prevent the harmful uncertainty from taking hold of some persons.

Answer. – The designs of God are often impenetrable; will there not perchance be other things that seem to you incomprehensible in the means He employs to attain His ends? It is necessary that man accustom himself to distinguish the true from the false, although not all can suddenly receive the light without being dazzled.

Could you, I beg you, give us your personal opinion on reincarnation?

Answer. – The Spirits are created ignorant and imperfect; a single incarnation would not suffice for them to learn everything; it is necessary that they reincarnate, in order to profit from the happiness that God reserves for them.

Can reincarnation occur on the Earth, or only on other globes?

Answer. – Reincarnation takes place according to the progress of the Spirit, in worlds more or less perfect.

That does not clarify whether reincarnation can occur on the Earth.

Answer. – Yes, it can occur; and if the Spirit were to solicit it as a mission, this would be more meritorious for it and would make it advance more, than if it asked to be reborn in more perfect worlds.

We pray to God Almighty to permit the Spirit that took the name of Father Ambrose to communicate with us.

Answer. – Here I am; but do not wish to confound me.

Are you truly Father Ambrose? In the name of God, I enjoin you to tell the truth.

Answer. – No.

What do you think of what you said in his name?

Answer. – I think as those who heard me thought.

Why did you make use of a respectable name to say such follies?

Answer. – In our eyes, names are worth nothing: works are everything; since they could see what I was by what I said, I attached no greater importance to the borrowing of that name.

Why do you not sustain your imposture in our presence?

Answer. – Because my language is a touchstone with which you cannot be deceived.

Observation. – It has been told to us many times that the imposture of certain Spirits is a test of our capacity to judge; it is a kind of temptation permitted by God in order that, as Father Ambrose said, man may accustom himself to distinguish the true from the false.

What do you think of your comrade Clement XIV?

Answer. – He is worth no more than I; we both need indulgence.

In the name of God Almighty, I beg you to come.

Answer. – I have been here ever since the false Father Ambrose arrived among you.

Why did you abuse the credulity of respectable persons, to give a false idea of the Spiritist Doctrine?

Answer. – Why do we incline to error? It is because we are not perfect.

Did you not both think that one day your deceit would be discovered, and that the true Father Ambrose and Clement XIV would not express themselves as you did?

Answer. – The deceits were already known and punished by Him who created us.

Do you belong to the same class of Spirits whom we call rappers?

Answer. – No, because it still requires reasoning to do what we did in New Orleans.

(To the true Father Ambrose). Do these impostor Spirits see you here?

Answer. – Yes, and they suffer under my gaze.

Are these Spirits wandering or reincarnated?

Answer. – Wandering; they would not be perfect enough to detach themselves, were they incarnated.

And you, Father Ambrose, in what situation do you find yourself?

Answer. – Incarnated in a world happy and unknown to you.

We thank you for the clarifications that you had the kindness to give us; would you be so benevolent as to come once more among us, to say to us words of kindness and to dictate to us a message, capable of showing the difference between your style and that of the one who usurped your name? Answer. – I am with those who wish for the good in truth.

[For further information on impostor Spirits, and why God permits them to manifest themselves; see in the Bulletin of April 1860 in the report of the session of the SOCIETY of March 2 the spontaneous communication of St. Louis as well as his answer to a question on impostor Spirits.]