The murder of Mr. Poinsot.

— The mystery that still surrounds this deplorable event has given rise, in many people, to the idea that, by evoking the Spirit of the victim, one might come to know the truth. Numerous letters were sent to us in this regard; as the question rests on a principle of some gravity, we have deemed it useful to make the answer known to all our readers.

Never making Spiritism an object of curiosity, we had not thought of evoking Mr. Poinsot. However, at the repeated request of one of our correspondents, who had received a supposed communication from him, and who through our intermediary wished to know whether it was authentic, we attempted to do so a few days ago. According to our custom, we asked our spiritual guide whether such an evocation was possible and whether it had really been he who had manifested himself to our correspondent. Here are the answers obtained:

“Mr. Poinsot cannot answer your appeal; he has not yet communicated with anyone. God forbids it, for the moment”.

May one know the reason?

Answer. – Yes: because revelations of that kind would influence the conscience of the judges, who must act with total liberty.

Yet, in enlightening the judges, these revelations might perhaps spare them lamentable and even irreparable errors.

Answer. – It is not by this means that they must be enlightened. God wishes to leave them the entire responsibility for their sentences, as He leaves to each man the responsibility for his acts; He does not wish to spare them the labor of the investigations, nor the merit of having made them.

But, for lack of sufficient information, may a guilty person escape justice?

Answer. – Do you believe that he escapes the justice of God? If he must be struck by the justice of men, God will know how to make him fall into their hands.

So we understand, for the guilty one; but if an innocent man were condemned, would that not be a great evil?

Answer. – “God judges in the last instance, and the innocent man unjustly condemned by men will have his rehabilitation. Moreover, this condemnation may be for him a trial useful to his advancement; but, at times, it may also be the just punishment of a crime, which he will have escaped in another existence.

“Remember that the Spirits have as their mission to instruct you in the path of good, and not to facilitate the earthly path, left to the activity of your intelligence. It is by departing from the providential aim of Spiritism that you expose yourselves to being deceived by the throng of lying Spirits that ceaselessly stir about you.”

— After the first answer, those present were discussing the motives for this prohibition and, as if to justify the principle, a Spirit made a medium write: I am going to bring him… here he is; A little later: “How amiable you are to wish to converse with me; this is all the more agreeable to me as I have many things to tell you”. This language seemed suspect on the part of a man like Mr. Poinsot, especially in view of the answer that had just been given. That is why they asked him to affirm his identity in the name of God. Then the Spirit wrote: “My God, I cannot lie. Nevertheless, I greatly desired to converse with such an amiable society, but you do not want me; farewell”. It was then that our spiritual guide added: “I told you that this Spirit cannot answer this evening; God forbids him to manifest himself. If you insist, you will be deceived”. Observation. – It is evident that if the Spirits could spare men the investigation, the latter would not take the trouble to discover the truth, since it would come to them of itself. Thus, the most slothful could know it as well as the most laborious, which would not be just. This is a general principle. Applied to the case of Mr. Poinsot, it is no less evident that if the Spirit declared an individual innocent or guilty, and the judges found no sufficient proofs of one or the other affirmation, their conscience would be troubled; that public opinion might be deceived by unjust prejudices. Man not being perfect, we must conclude that God knows better than he what ought to be revealed to him, or hidden. If a revelation must be made by extra-human means, God knows how to give it a stamp of authenticity capable of dispelling all doubts, as the following fact attests: In the vicinity of the mines, in Mexico, a farm had been set on fire. In a meeting where they were occupied with Spiritist manifestations (there are several in that country, where probably Mr. Deschanel's articles have not yet arrived, which is why they are so backward there), a Spirit communicated by raps; it said that the guilty one was among those present; at first they doubt, believing in a hoax. The Spirit insists and designates one of the individuals present; they are astonished. The latter shows presence of mind, but the Spirit seems to be reluctant, and does it so well that they arrest the man who, pressed by questions, ends by confessing the crime. As one sees, the guilty must not rely too much on the discretion of the Spirits, who are often the instruments of which God makes use to punish them. How would Mr. Figuier explain such a fact? Is it intuition, hypnotism, biology, overexcitation of the brain, concentration of thought, hallucination, which he admits without believing in the independence of the Spirit and of matter? Resolve all this, if you can; his very solution is a problem and he ought to give the solution of his solution. But why would a Spirit not reveal the murderer of Mr. Poinsot, as it did with that arsonist? Ask God, then, to account for His actions; ask Mr. Figuier, who thinks he knows more than He.