Letter from Mr. Jean Reynaud to the Journal des Débats.

— “To the Managing Director, Neuilly, July 2, 1862.

“Sir, “Permit me to respond to two accusations, leveled against me in your journal of today, by Mr. Franck, who attacks me as a fomenter of pantheism and of metempsychosis. Not only do I repel such errors with all my strength;

the very persons who honored me by reading my book Earth and Heaven, [Terre et ciel - Google Books,] were able to see that the accusations are absolutely contrary to all the sentiments expressed in the book.

“As for pantheism, I limit myself to saying that the principle of the personality of God is the point of departure of all my ideas and that, without troubling myself about what the Jews think, I agree with the Christians, according to whom the dogma of the Trinity sums up all theology on the subject. Thus, on page 226 of the book in question, I enunciate that creation proceeds from the entire Trinity; better still, I cite textually Saint Augustine, under whose authority I place myself, and I add: “If, departing from the Middle Ages, with respect to the antiquity of the world, I ran the slightest risk of slipping into the abyss of those who confound God and the Universe in a common character of eternity, I would stop. But can I have the least disquiet on this account?”

“As for the second accusation, also without troubling myself whether or not I think like Mr. Salvador, I will simply say that, if by metempsychosis, in the vulgar sense, is understood the doctrine that claims that man, after death, is subject to passing through the body of animals, I repel such a doctrine, as a daughter of pantheism, as much as pantheism itself. I believe that our future destiny is founded essentially on the permanence of our personality. The sense of this permanence may eclipse itself momentarily, but it is never lost, and its full possession is the first character of the blessed life to which all men, in the more or less prolonged course of their trials, are continually called. The personality of man derives, very naturally, from that of God. On page 258 of the book in question it is said: “How would God not have created in his image what it pleased him to create in the fullness of his love?” And again on this point I refer to Saint Augustine, whose beautiful words I cite textually: “Since, then, we were created in the image of our Creator, let us contemplate in ourselves that image and, like the prodigal son of the Gospel, let us return to Him, after having departed from Him through our sins.” “If the book Earth and Heaven departs from the opinions accepted by the Church, it is not by the substantial theses, as Mr. Franck would have it believed, but only, if I may so speak, by a question of time. There it is taught that the duration of Creation is proportional to its extension, so that immensity reigns equally in both senses; it is also taught that our present life, instead of representing the totality of the trials by which we qualify ourselves to participate in the fullness of the blessed life, is only one of the terms of the more or less long series of analogous existences. There, sir, is what Mr. Franck was able to accomplish, whose criticism seemed to me all the more formidable as the perfect loyalty of his character is known to all.

“Accept, etc.

Jean Reynaud. n

— One sees that we were not the only ones nor the first to proclaim the doctrine of the plurality of existences, also called reincarnation. The work Earth and Heaven, by Jean Reynaud, was published before The Spirits' Book. One may see the same principle, set forth in explicit terms, in the charming pamphlet by Mr. Louis Jourdan, entitled: The Supplications of Ludovico, whose first edition is from 1849, by the New Bookshop, Boulevard des Italiens. It is that the idea of reincarnation is not new; it is as old as the world and is found in many ancient and modern authors. To those who object that it is contrary to the dogmas of the Church, we reply that one of two things: either reincarnation exists, or it does not exist. There is no alternative. If it exists, it is a law of Nature. Now, if a dogma is contrary to a law of Nature, the question is to know who is right: the dogma or the law. When the Church anathematized and excommunicated as guilty of heresy those who believed in the movement of the Earth, it did not prevent the Earth from turning and everyone today from believing in it. The same will happen with reincarnation. It is, then, not a question of opinion, but a question of fact. If the fact exists, all that they may say or do will not prevent its existence and, sooner or later, the most recalcitrant will have to accept it. God does not consult his own convenience to regulate the order of things, and the future will not be slow to prove who is right. [1]

[see Jean Reynaud.]