Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies.

— Gentlemen and dear colleagues, At the moment when our Society begins its fourth year, I believe we owe special thanks to the good Spirits who have deigned to assist us, and in particular to our spiritual President, whose wise counsels preserved us from various dangers and whose protection allowed us to overcome the difficulties sown along our path, certainly in order to put to the test our devotion and our perspicacity. We must acknowledge that his benevolence never failed us and that, thanks to the good spirit by which the Society is now animated, it triumphed over the ill will of its enemies. Allow me, on this subject, a few retrospective observations.

— Experience had revealed to us regrettable gaps in the constitution of the Society, which opened the door to certain abuses. The Society repaired them and, since then, has had only reason to congratulate itself. Does it realize the ideal of perfection? We would not be Spiritists if we had the pride to believe it. But when the foundation is good and the rest depends only on the will, we must hope that, aided by the good Spirits, we shall not halt along the way.

Among the most useful reforms, the institution of free members must be placed first, which gives candidates easier access, allowing them to be known and appreciated before their definitive admission as titular members. By participating in the works and studies of the Society, they benefit from everything done within it. Since, however, they have no voice in the administrative part, they can in no case compromise the responsibility of the Society. Next comes the measure whose object was to restrict the number of listeners and to surround their admission to the sessions with greater difficulties, by a more rigorous selection; then the one that forbids the reading of any communication obtained outside the Society before it has been previously examined and the reading has been authorized; finally, those that arm the Society against whoever might bring disturbance or attempt to impose their will upon it.

— There are still others that it would be superfluous to recall, whose usefulness is no less and whose happy results we can appreciate daily. But if such a state of things is understood within the bosom of the Society, the same is not true outside it, where — there is no need to conceal it — we do not have only friends. They criticize us on several points, and although we have no need to concern ourselves with this, since the order of the Society interests no one but us, it is perhaps not useless to cast a glance over what is reproached to us, because, in the final analysis, if those reproaches were well-founded, we ought to profit from them.

Certain persons disapprove of the severe restriction on the admission of listeners; they say that if we wish to make proselytes we must enlighten the public and, for that, open to it the doors of our sessions, authorize all questions and all interpellations; that if we admit only believing persons, we shall have little merit in convincing them. This reasoning is specious; if, by opening our doors to anyone at all, the supposed result were attained, we would certainly be wrong not to do so. But since the contrary would happen, we do not do it.

After all, it would be most disagreeable for the propagation of the doctrine to be subordinated to the publicity of our sessions. However numerous the audience might be, it would always be very restricted, imperceptible, compared to the mass of the population. On the other hand, we know by experience that true conviction is acquired only through study, reflection, and continual observation, and not by attending one or two sessions, however interesting they may be. This is so true that the number of those who believe without having seen, but because they have studied and understood, is immense. Without doubt the desire to see is very natural, and we are far from reproaching it, but we want them to see under profitable conditions. This is why we say: Study first and see afterward, for you will understand better.

If the unbelievers reflected upon this condition, they would see in it, to begin with, the best guarantee of our good faith and, then, the strength of the doctrine. What charlatanism fears most is to be understood; it dazzles the eyes and is not so foolish as to address itself to the intelligence, which would easily discover the reverse side of the coin. Spiritism, on the contrary, does not admit blind confidence; it wishes to be clear in everything; it wishes everything to be understood, everything to be accounted for. Consequently, when we prescribe study and meditation, we ask for the cooperation of reason, thus proving that the Spiritist science does not fear examination, since, before believing, we feel the need to understand.

— Our sessions not being of a demonstrative nature, their publicity would not attain the objective and would have grave drawbacks. With an unselected public, bringing more curiosity than a true desire to instruct itself and, still more, the will to criticize and ridicule, it would be impossible to have the recollection indispensable to every serious manifestation; a controversy more or less malevolent, most of the time based on ignorance of the most elementary principles of the Science, would provoke eternal conflicts in which dignity might be compromised. Now, what we want is that, upon leaving our house, the listeners do not carry away conviction, but carry away from the Society the idea of a grave, serious assembly that respects itself and knows how to make itself respected, that discusses with calm and moderation, examines with care, probes everything with the eye of a conscientious observer, that seeks to enlighten itself, and not with the frivolity of a mere curiosity-seeker. And believe it well, gentlemen, this opinion does more for propaganda than if they left with the single thought of having satisfied their curiosity, for the impression resulting from it induces them to reflect, whereas, in the contrary case, they would be more disposed to laugh than to believe. I said that ours are not sessions of demonstration, but if some day we were to hold ones of that kind, for the use of neophytes, whether it were to instruct them or to convince them, everything in them would take place with as much seriousness and recollection as in our ordinary sessions; the controversy would be established in an orderly manner, so as to be instructive and not tumultuous, and whoever permitted himself an improper word would be excluded; then attention would be maintained and the discussion itself would profit everyone. It is probably what we shall do one day. They will ask, no doubt, why we did not do it sooner, in the interest of the popularization of the Science. The reason is simple: it is that we wished to proceed with prudence, and not like scatterbrains, more impatient than reflective. Before instructing others we wished, ourselves, to instruct ourselves. We want to support our teaching upon an imposing mass of facts and observations, and not upon a few incoherent experiments, observed lightly and superficially.

Every science, at its beginning, necessarily encounters facts that, at first, seem contradictory, so that only a minute and complete study can demonstrate their connection. It was the common law of these facts that we wished to seek, in order to present a whole as complete, as satisfactory as possible, without leaving the slightest opportunity for contradiction. With this objective we gathered the facts, examined them, scrutinized them in their most intimate aspects, commented upon them, discussed them coldly, without enthusiasm, and it was thus that we came to discover the admirable chain of connection that exists in all the parts of this vast Science, which touches the gravest interests of Humanity. Such has been until now, gentlemen, the objective of our works, an objective perfectly characterized by the simple title of Society of Spiritist Studies, which we adopted. We assembled with the intention of enlightening ourselves and not of amusing ourselves. Not seeking a diversion, we do not want to amuse others. This is why we want to have none but serious listeners, and not curiosity-seekers who thought they would find here a spectacle. Spiritism is a Science and, like any other science, is not learned by way of amusement. Still more, to take the souls of those who have departed as a subject for amusement would be to fail in the respect they deserve; to speculate upon their presence and their intervention would be impiety and profanation. These reflections answer the criticism that some persons have addressed to us, for returning to known facts and not constantly seeking novelties. At the point we have reached, it is difficult that, as we advance, the facts that occur should not turn more or less in the same circle; but they forget that facts as important as those touching the future of man can only reach the state of absolute truth after a great number of observations. It would be frivolity to formulate a law based on a few examples. The serious and prudent man is more circumspect; he wants not only to see everything, but to see much and often. This is why we do not recoil before the monotony of repetitions, because from them result confirmations and, frequently, instructive nuances, but also because in them we might discover contradictory facts, whose causes we would investigate. We are in no hurry whatsoever to pronounce ourselves upon the first data, necessarily incomplete; before harvesting, we await maturity. If we have advanced less than some would wish in their impatience, we march with more security, without losing ourselves in the labyrinth of systems; perhaps we know fewer things, but we know them better, which is preferable, and we can affirm what we know according to the testimony of experience. Moreover, gentlemen, do not think that the opinion of those who criticize the organization of the Society is that of the true friends of Spiritism; no, it is that of its enemies, who are vexed to see the Society pursue its path with calm and dignity, through the ambushes they have laid and still lay for it. They lament that access to it is difficult, because they would be most delighted to sow disturbance here. For this reason too they reproach it for limiting the circle of its works, on the pretext that it occupies itself only with insignificant things of no scope, since it abstains from treating political and religious questions; they would like to see it enter into dogmatic controversy. Now, that is precisely what denounces them. With great prudence the Society has enclosed itself within a circle inaccessible to malevolence. Wounding its self-love, they wanted to drag it along a dangerous path, but it will not let itself be led. Occupying itself exclusively with the questions that interest the Science, and that can cast a shadow over no one, it has placed itself under shelter from attacks, and so it must remain. By its prudence, moderation, and wisdom, it has won the esteem of true Spiritists, its influence extending even to distant countries, from where they aspire to the honor of forming part of it. Now, this homage rendered to it by persons who know it only by name, by its works and by the consideration it has won, is a hundred times more precious to it than the suffrage of the imprudent who are too hasty, or of the malevolent who wanted to drag it to its ruin and would be very glad to see it compromised. As long as I have the honor of directing it, all my efforts will tend to maintain it on this course. If some day it departed from it, I would leave it at that very instant, because at no price would I wish to assume that responsibility.

— Notwithstanding this, gentlemen, you know the vicissitudes through which the Society has passed. All that happened before and after was announced, and everything was realized as it had been foreseen. Its enemies wanted its ruin; the Spirits, who knew it to be useful, wanted its preservation, so that it was maintained and will be maintained as long as it is indispensable to its objectives. If you had observed, as I was able to do, things in their inmost details, you would not be unaware of the intervention of a superior power, which to me is manifest, and you would have understood that everything was for the best and in the interest of its own preservation. But a time will come when, such as it is at present, it will no longer be indispensable. Then we shall see what we shall have to do, for the course is traced in view of all eventualities.

The most dangerous enemies of the Society are not those outside: we can close to them the doors and the ears. The most fearsome are the invisible enemies, who might introduce themselves here in spite of us. It falls to us to prove to them, as we have already done, that they would waste their time if they tried to impose themselves upon us. Their tactic, we well know, is to seek to sow disunion, to cast the torch of discord, to inspire envy, distrust, and the puerile susceptibilities that engender disaffection. Let us oppose to them the wall of charity, of mutual benevolence, and we shall be invulnerable, both against their malignant hidden influences and against the diatribes of our incarnate adversaries, who occupy themselves more with us than we with them; for we can say, without self-love, that here their name has never been pronounced, whether out of a matter of propriety or because we have to occupy ourselves with more useful things. We force no one to come to us. We welcome with pleasure and solicitude sincere persons of good will, seriously desirous of enlightenment, and of these we find enough not to waste time running after those who turn their backs on us for futile motives of self-love or envy. These cannot be considered as true Spiritists, despite appearances. It is possible that they believe in the facts, but they surely do not believe in their moral consequences, for otherwise they would show more abnegation, indulgence, moderation, and less presumption of infallibility. To seek them out would even be to render them a poor service, because it would be to make them believe in their own importance and that we cannot do without them. As for those who denigrate us, we likewise must not concern ourselves; men who are worth a hundred times more than we have been denigrated and ridiculed; we could not have a privilege on that point. It falls to us to prove by our acts that their diatribes find no resonance, and the weapons they use will turn against them.

— After having, at the outset, thanked the Spirits who assist us, we must not forget their interpreters, some of whom give us their cooperation with a zeal, a complaisance never belied. In return, we can offer them nothing but a sterile testimony of our satisfaction. But the world of the Spirits awaits them, and there all devotions are taken into account in proportion to the disinterestedness, the humility, and the abnegation.

— In short, gentlemen, during the year that has passed our works proceeded with perfect regularity and nothing interrupted them. A multitude of facts of the highest interest were related, explained, and commented upon; very important questions were resolved; all the examples that passed before our eyes through the evocations, all the investigations to which we devoted ourselves came to confirm the principles of the science and to strengthen our beliefs; numerous communications, of incontestable superiority, were obtained through various mediums; the provinces and abroad sent us some truly remarkable ones, proving not only how much Spiritism is spreading, but also under what grave and serious point of view it is now regarded everywhere. Without doubt this is a result by which we ought to feel happy, but there is another no less satisfactory and that is, moreover, a consequence of what had been predicted from the origin: it is the unity that is established in the theory of the doctrine, as it is studied and better understood. In all the communications that reach us from outside we find the confirmation of the principles that are taught to us by the Spirits, and, since the persons who receive them are, for the most part, unknown to us, it cannot be said that they undergo our influence.

— The very principle of reincarnation, which at first had encountered many contradictors because it was not understood, is today accepted by the force of evidence and because every man who thinks about it recognizes in it the only possible solution to the greatest number of problems of moral and religious philosophy. Without reincarnation we are halted at every step, all is chaos and confusion; with reincarnation everything is clarified, everything is explained in the most rational manner. If it still encounters a few adversaries more systematic than logical, their number is very restricted. Now, who invented it? Surely it was neither you nor I; it was taught to us, we accepted it: that is all we did. Of all the phenomena that arose at the beginning, very few survive today, and it may be said that their rare partisans are found chiefly among persons who judge at first sight and, often, according to preconceived ideas and prejudices. But it is now evident that whoever takes the trouble to probe all the questions and to judge coldly, without prejudice, above all without systematic hostility, is led invincibly, both by reasoning and by the facts, to the fundamental theory which, it may be said, today prevails in all the countries of the world.

— Certainly, gentlemen, the Society did not do everything toward this result. But, without vanity, I believe it can claim a small part; its moral influence is greater than is thought, precisely because it never deviated from the line of moderation it traced for itself. It is known that it occupies itself exclusively with its studies, without letting itself be turned aside by the petty passions that stir around it; that it does so seriously, as every scientific assembly ought to do; that it pursues its objective without mingling in any intrigue, without throwing stones at anyone, without even gathering up those thrown at it. Without a shadow of doubt, this is the principal cause of the credit and consideration it enjoys, of which it may feel proud and which gives a certain weight to its opinion. Let us continue, gentlemen, by our efforts, by our prudence, and by the example of the union that ought to exist among true Spiritists, to show that the principles we profess are not for us a dead letter and that we preach as much by example as by theory. If our doctrines find so much resonance, it is that, apparently, they are found more rational than the others. I doubt the same would happen if we had professed the doctrine of the exclusive intervention of the devil and of demons in the Spiritist manifestations, a doctrine today completely ridiculous, which excites curiosity more than it frightens, with the exception of a few timorous persons, who by themselves will soon recognize its futility. Such as it is professed today, the Spiritist Doctrine has a breadth that allows it to embrace all questions of a moral order; it satisfies all aspirations and, it may be said, the most demanding reasoning, for whoever takes the trouble to study it and is not dominated by prejudices. It does not have the petty restrictions of certain philosophies; it enlarges to infinity the circle of ideas, and no one is capable of raising thought higher and of drawing man out of the narrow sphere of egoism in which they have attempted to confine him. Finally, it rests upon the immutable fundamental principles of religion, of which it is the patent demonstration. This, no doubt, is what wins it so numerous partisans among enlightened persons of all countries, and what will make it prevail, in a more or less near time, and this in spite of its adversaries, the majority of whom are more opposed by interest than by conviction. Its progressive march, so rapid, ever since it entered the serious philosophical course, is a sure guarantee to us of the future reserved for it and that, as you know, is announced everywhere. Let us, then, let its enemies say and do as they will; they will be able to do nothing against the will of God, because nothing happens without His permission. And, as an enlightened ecclesiastic once said: “If these things happen, it is that God permits it, in order to revive the faith that is being extinguished in the darkness of materialism.”