Cazotte.

— It is curious to see arise, in the midst of materialism, a gathering of men of good faith to spread Spiritism. Yes, it is in the midst of the deepest darkness that God casts the light, and at the moment when He is most forgotten is when He best shows Himself, like the sublime thief of whom the Gospel speaks, and who will come to judge the world at the moment when it least expects it. But God does not come to you to take you by surprise; on the contrary, He comes to forewarn you that this great surprise, which must seize men upon their death, must be for them either dire or happy. It was into the midst of a corrupt society that God sent me. Thanks to clairvoyance, some of those revelations which in my time seemed so marvelous today prove to be quite natural. To me, all these memories are nothing but dreams and, praise be to God! the awakening was not painful. Spiritism was born, or rather resurrected, in your time; magnetism was of my time. Believe that the great lights precede the great flashes. The author of Le Diable Amoureux — Google Books, reminds you that he already had the honor of conversing with you and will feel happy to continue his friendly relations.

Cazotte. n

— At the following session the questions that follow were addressed to the Spirit Cazotte:

The last time you came here spontaneously, you had the kindness to say that you would willingly return. We take advantage of the offer to address some questions to you, if you so wish.

1st Is the story of the famous dinner at which you predicted the fate that awaited each of the guests entirely true?

Answer. – It is true in the sense that the prediction was not made on a single evening, but at several dinners, at the end of which I amused myself by frightening my amiable guests by means of sinister revelations.

2nd We know the effects of second sight and would understand that, endowed with that faculty, you might have been able to see distant things, but things that were happening at that moment. How could you see future things, which did not yet exist, and see them with precision? Could you tell us, at the same time, how that foresight was given to you? Did you speak simply as one inspired, seeing nothing, or did the picture of the events you announced present itself to you as an image? Have the kindness to describe this as well as you can for our instruction. Answer. – There is in man's reason a moral instinct that impels him to predict certain events. It is true that I was endowed with an extraordinary clairvoyance, but always a human one, regarding the events that were then taking place. But do you believe that good sense, or sound judgment of earthly things, can detail for you, years in advance, this or that circumstance? No. To my natural sagacity was allied a supernatural quality: second sight. When I revealed to the people around me the terrible upheavals that were to occur, I evidently spoke as a man of good sense and logic. But when I saw small details of those circumstances; when I visibly saw this or that victim, then I no longer spoke as a merely gifted man, but as an inspired one. 3rd Independently of that fact, did you have other examples of foresight during your life?

Answer. – Yes. They were all more or less on the same subject. But, as a pastime, I studied the occult sciences and occupied myself much with magnetism.

4th Did that faculty of foresight accompany you into the world of Spirits? That is, after death do you still foresee certain events?

Answer. – Yes; that gift remained with me much purer.

Observation. – One might see here a contradiction with the principle that opposes the revelation of the future. Indeed, the future is hidden from us by a very wise law of Providence, considering that such knowledge would harm our free will, leading us to neglect the present for the future. Moreover, by our opposition, we might hinder certain events necessary to the general order. But when that communication can impel us to facilitate the realization of something, God may permit its revelation, within the limits designated by His wisdom. [1]

[v. Jacques Cazotte.]