Sermons against Spiritism.

— A letter from Lyon, dated December 7, 1862, contains the following passage, which an eyewitness and earwitness confirmed to us verbally:

“We had here the bishop of Texas, in America, who preached last Tuesday, December 2, at eight o’clock in the evening, in the church of Saint-Nizier, before an audience of about two thousand persons, among whom were numerous Spiritists. Ah! he does not seem well instructed in our doctrine. We can judge him by this brief account:

“The Spiritists admit neither hell nor prayers in the churches; they shut themselves in their rooms and there they pray, God knows what prayers!… There are only two categories of Spirits: the perfect ones and the thieves; the murderers and the scoundrels… I come from America, where these infamies began. Well then! I can assure you that for two years no one has occupied himself with this any longer in that country. I was told that here, in this city of Lyon, so famous for its piety, there were many Spiritists. This cannot be; I do not believe it. I am certain, dear brothers and dear sisters, that among you there is not a single medium, for, you see, the Spiritists admit neither marriage nor baptism, and all the Spiritists are separated from their wives, etc., etc.”

These few phrases can give an idea of the rest. What would the orator have said had he known that about a quarter of his listeners were composed of Spiritists? As for his eloquence, I can say only one thing: it is that at certain moments it seemed a frenzy; he seemed to lose the thread of his ideas and did not know what he wanted to say; were I not afraid of using an irreverent term, I would say that he floundered. I firmly believe that he was impelled by some Spirits to say such absurdities and in such a manner that, I assure you, no one would have realized that he was in a holy place; everyone was laughing. Some of his partisans went out first, to judge the effect that the sermon had produced, but they must not have been very satisfied, since, once outside, each one laughed and said what he thought. Several of his friends deplored the deviations to which he had given himself over, understanding that the objective had failed completely. Indeed, he could not have acted better to recruit adherents, and that is what happened immediately. A lady, who found herself beside a most excellent Spiritist of my acquaintance, said to her: “But what are this Spiritism and these mediums of whom so much is spoken and against whom these gentlemen are so furious?” When the matter was explained to her she said: “Oh! upon reaching home I am going to acquire books and try to write.” I can assure you that if the Spiritists are so numerous in Lyon it is thanks to a few sermons of that kind. Remember that three years ago, when there were only a few hundred Spiritists to be counted here, I wrote to you on account of a furious preaching against the doctrine that produced an excellent effect: “A few more sermons like this one and in a year the number of adherents will increase tenfold.” Well then! today it has increased a hundredfold, thanks, too, to the ignoble and lying attacks of some organs of the press. Everyone, even the simple workman who, beneath his coarse garments, has more good sense than is believed, says that one does not attack with such fury a thing that is not worth the trouble, which is why they wanted to see for themselves. Upon recognizing the falsity of certain assertions, which denoted ignorance or malevolence, the criticism lost all credit and, instead of drawing people away from Spiritism, won partisans for it. We hope the same will happen with the sermon of the monsignor of Texas, whose greatest clumsiness was to say that “all the Spiritists are separated from their wives,” when we have here, before our eyes, numerous examples of couples once separated and to whom Spiritism restored union and concord. Each one says to himself, naturally, that since the adversaries of Spiritism attribute to it teachings and results whose falsity is demonstrated by the facts and by the reading of books, which show exactly the contrary, nothing proves the veracity of the other criticisms. I believe that if the Lyonese Spiritists were not afraid of failing in respect toward the bishop of Texas, they would have voted him a letter of thanks. But Spiritism makes us charitable, even toward enemies.”

— Another letter, from an eyewitness, contains the following passage:

“The orator of Saint-Nizier started from the principle that Spiritism has already had its day in the United States and that no one had spoken of it for two years. It was, then, in his opinion, a question of fashion. They were phenomena without consistency and not worth being studied; he had sought to see and had seen nothing. Nevertheless, he pointed out the new doctrine as an attack upon the bonds of family, upon property, upon the constitution of society, and denounced it as such to the competent authorities.

“The adversaries expected a more surprising effect, and not a simple denial, enunciated in so ridiculous a manner, for they are not unaware of what is happening in the city, of the march of progress, and of the nature of the manifestations. The subject was aired again on Sunday, the 14th, at Saint-Jean, this time treated a little better.

“The orator of Saint-Nizier had denied the phenomena; the one of Saint-Jean acknowledged them and affirmed: “Knockings are heard on the walls; in the air, mysterious voices; these are indeed Spirits, but what Spirits? They cannot be good ones, for the good ones are docile and submissive to the orders of God, who forbade the evocation of Spirits. Therefore, those who come can only be evil.”

“There were about three thousand persons in the church of Saint-Jean; among these, at least three hundred will want to know more.

“What will certainly contribute to making the honest or intelligent creatures who composed the audience reflect are the singular assertions of the orator — I say singular out of politeness. He said: “Spiritism comes to destroy the family, to debase woman, to preach suicide, adultery, and abortion, to advocate communism, to dissolve society.” Then he invited the parishioners who might happen to have Spiritist books to bring them to certain gentlemen, who would burn them, as Saint Paul had done at Ephesus with heretical works.

“I do not know whether those gentlemen found many persons zealous enough to go, money in hand, to strip our bookshops. Some Spiritists were furious; the majority rejoiced, understanding that it was a great day.

“Thus, from the height of the second pulpit of France, they have just proclaimed that the Spiritist phenomena are true. The whole question, then, reduces itself to knowing whether they are good or evil Spirits and whether God permits only the evil ones to come.”

— The orator of Saint-Jean affirms that they can only be the evil ones. Here is another who modified the solution but little. They write to us from Angoulême that on Thursday, December 5 last, a preacher expressed himself thus in his sermon: “We all knew that the Spirits could be evoked, and this for a long time; but only the Church must do it. It is not permitted to other men to try to correspond with them by physical means; to me it is a heresy.” The effect produced was the contrary of what was expected.

It is, then, evident that the good ones and the evil ones can communicate, because if only the evil ones had such power, it would be improbable that the Church should reserve to itself the privilege of calling them.

— We doubt that two sermons, preached last October in Bordeaux, served the cause of our antagonists any better. Here is their analysis, made by a listener; the Spiritists will be able to see whether, beneath that disguise, they recognize their doctrine and whether the arguments opposed to them are capable of shaking their faith. As for us, we repeat what we have already said elsewhere: As long as they do not attack Spiritism with better weapons, it will have nothing to fear.

“I shall always regret” — says the narrator — “not having heard the first sermon, at the chapel of Margaux, on October 15 last, if I am well informed. According to what trustworthy witnesses told me, the thesis developed was this:

“The Spirits can communicate with men. The good ones communicate only in the Church. All those who manifest themselves outside the Church are evil, because outside the Church there is no salvation. — The mediums are unfortunate, they have made a pact with the devil and obtain from him, at the price of their soul, which they have sold to him, manifestations of every sort, even extraordinary ones, not to say miraculous. I pass over in silence other citations still stranger; as I did not hear them myself, I fear they may have been exaggerated.

— “On the following Sunday, October 19, I had the good fortune to attend the second sermon. I inquired as to the name of the preacher and was told that it was Father Lapeyre, of the Company of Jesus.

“Father Lapeyre makes the criticism of The Spirits’ Book and, assuredly, an enormous dose of goodwill was needed to recognize that admirable work in the theories devoid of good sense that the preacher claimed to have found there. I shall limit myself to pointing out the points that most surprised me, preferring to remain short of the truth rather than attribute to our adversary what he would not have said or what I would have misunderstood.

“According to Father Lapeyre, “The Spirits’ Book preaches communism, the sharing of goods, divorce, equality among all men and, above all, between man and woman, equality between man and his God, because man, carried away by the pride that ruined the angels, aspires to nothing less than to become like Jesus Christ; it drags men into materialism and sensual pleasures, for the work of improvement can be done without the concurrence of God, in spite of Him, by the effect of this force that wills everything to be perfected gradually; it advocates metempsychosis, that folly of the ancients, etc.”

“Passing then to the rapidity with which the new ideas are propagated, he observes with horror how cunning and skillful is the devil who dictated them; how he knew how to adorn them with art, so as to make them vibrate with force in the perverted hearts of the children of this century of incredulity and heresies. “This century,” he exclaims, “loses liberty so much! and they come to offer it free examination, free will, freedom of conscience! This century loves equality so much! and they show it man at the height of God! It loves light so much! and with a stroke of the pen the veil that concealed the holy mysteries is torn away!”

“Then he attacked the question of the eternal penalties and, on the subject, throbbing with emotion, he had magnificent flights of oratory: “Would you believe, my dear brothers, how far the imprudence of these new philosophers has gone, who think to make the holy religion of Christ crumble beneath the weight of sophisms! Ah! the wretches! they say that there is no hell! they say that there is no purgatory! For them, no more of the blessed relations that bind the living to the souls of those they have lost! No more of the sacrifice of the mass! And why would they celebrate it? will not those souls purify themselves by themselves and without any labor, by the efficacy of that irresistible force that incessantly draws them toward perfection?”

“And do you know which are the authorities that come to proclaim these impious doctrines, marked on the forehead by the indestructible sign of that hell which they wished to annihilate? Ah! my brothers, they are the most solid columns of the Church: Saint Paul, Saint Augustine, Saint Louis, Saint Vincent de Paul, Bossuet, Fénelon, Lamennais, and all those men of elite, holy men who, during their lives, struggled for the establishment of the unbreakable truths upon which the Church established its foundations, and who today come to declare that their Spirit, released from matter, more clear-sighted, perceived that their opinions were wrong and that it is exactly the contrary that must be believed.

— “Then the preacher passed to the question that the author of the Letter of a Catholic addresses to a Spirit in order to know whether, in practicing Spiritism, he is a heretic. And he adds:

“Here is the answer, my brothers; it is curious, and what makes it still more singular, what shows us in the most evident manner that the devil, despite his cunning and skill, always lets himself be betrayed, is the name of the Spirit who gave this answer. I shall tell it to you presently.

“There follows the citation of that answer, which ends thus: “Are you in agreement with the Church in all the truths that strengthen you in the good, that increase in your soul the love of God and devotion to your brothers? Yes; well then: you are a Catholic.” Then he adds: “Signed… Zeno!… Zeno! a Greek philosopher, a pagan, an idolater who, from the depths of the hell where he has been burning for twenty centuries, comes to tell us that one can be a Catholic and not believe in this hell that tortures him and that awaits all those who, like him, do not die humble and submissive in the bosom of the holy Church… But, senseless and blind that you are! with all your philosophy, you will have only this proof, this single proof that the doctrine you proclaim emanates from the demon, which will be a thousand times sufficient!”

“After long considerations on this question and on the exclusive privilege that the Church has of expelling the demons, he adds:

“Poor senseless ones, who amuse yourselves in speaking with the Spirits and claim to exercise some influence over them! Do you not fear that, like the one of whom Saint Luke speaks, these rapping and boisterous Spirits — and they are well classified, my dear brothers — may also ask you: And you, who are you? Who are you to come and disturb us? Do you believe that you will submit us with impunity to your sacrilegious caprices? and that, taking the chairs and the tables that you make turn, they will not seize you, as they seized the son of Sceva n and not maltreat you to such a point that you will be forced to flee, naked and wounded, recognizing, but too late, all the abomination that there is in playing with the dead?

“In the face of these facts so manifest and that speak so loudly, what remains for us to do? What have we to say? Ah! my dear brothers! guard yourselves carefully against the contagion. Resist with horror all the attempts that the evil ones will not fail to make to drag you with them into the abyss! But, ah! it is already too late to make such recommendations; the evil has already made rapid progress. Those infamous books, dictated by the prince of darkness, in order to draw into his kingdom a multitude of poor ignorant ones, have spread to such a degree that, as formerly at Ephesus, if one were to compute the price of those that circulate in Bordeaux, I am certain that it would surpass the enormous sum of fifty thousand pieces of silver (170,000 francs in our currency; a reference to a citation made in another part of the sermon). And I would not be surprised if, among the numerous faithful who hear me, there were not some who have already been drawn into reading them. To these we can only say this: Quickly! draw near to the tribunal of penitence; quickly! come open your hearts to your spiritual guides. Full of gentleness and goodness, and following in all points the magnificent example of Saint Paul, we hasten to give you absolution. But, like him, we shall give it to you only on the express condition that you bring us those books of magic that nearly ruined you. And what shall we do with those books, dear brothers? yes, what shall we do with them? Like Saint Paul, we shall make a great pile in the public square and we ourselves shall set fire to it.”

— We shall make only a slight observation upon that sermon: it is that the author is mistaken about the date and, perhaps, a new Epimenides, has slept since the fourteenth century. Another fact that stands out is the confirmation of the rapid development of Spiritism. The adversaries of another school also confirm it, in despair, so great is the love for human reason. One reads in the Moniteur de la Moselle, of November 7, 1862: “Spiritism is making dangerous progress. It is invading high, middle, and low society. Magistrates, physicians, serious persons are also giving themselves over to this error.” We find this assertion repeated in the greater part of the present criticisms; it is that, in the presence of so manifest a fact, one had to come from the confines of Texas to venture, before an audience in which there are more than a thousand Spiritists, that for two years they have ceased to occupy themselves with it. Then why so much anger if Spiritism is dead and buried? At least Father Lapeyre has no illusions. His fear even exaggerates the extent of the supposed evil, for he estimates at a fabulous figure the value of the Spiritist books spread in Bordeaux alone. In any case, it is to acknowledge a very powerful idea. Be that as it may, in the presence of all these affirmations, no one will charge us with exaggeration when we speak of the rapid progress of the doctrine. Whether some attribute it to the power of the devil, struggling advantageously against God; the others, to an access of madness that invades all classes of society, the circle of sensible persons keeps narrowing more and more, in such a way that soon there will be room only for a few individuals; that the one and the other deplore this state of things, each from his point of view, and ask themselves: “Where are we going, great God?”, is a right that belongs to them. From this results all the more the fact that Spiritism overcomes all the barriers opposed to it. Therefore, if it is a madness, soon there will be only madmen on Earth. The proverb is known. If it is the work of the devil, soon there will be only the damned; and if those who speak in the name of God cannot stop it, it is because the devil is stronger than God. The Spiritists are more respectful toward the divinity; they do not admit that there be a being capable of struggling with it power against power and, above all, of vanquishing it. Otherwise the roles would be inverted and the devil would become the true lord of the Universe. The Spiritists say that, God being absolute sovereign, nothing happens in the world without His permission. Thus, if Spiritism spreads with the rapidity of lightning, whatever they may do to stop it, one must see in it an effect of the will of God. Now, God being sovereignly just and good, He cannot will the loss of His creatures, nor let them fall into temptation, certain that, by virtue of His prescience, they will succumb and will be cast into the eternal torments. Today, the dilemma is posed; it is submitted to the conscience of all; the future will take charge of the conclusion. If we make these citations it is to show to what arguments the adversaries of Spiritism are reduced in order to attack it. Indeed, one must be deprived of good reasons to resort to calumny, such as that which represents it as preaching the disunion of families, adultery, abortion, communism, the subversion of the social order. Have we need to refute such assertions? No; it suffices to refer to the study of the doctrine, to the reading of what it teaches, which is what is done everywhere. Who can believe that we preach communism after the instructions we gave in that regard in the discourse published in extenso in the report of our journey in 1862? Who can see in the following words, found in the same brochure, page 58, an incitement to anarchy: “In any case, the Spiritists must be the first to give an example of submission to the laws, should they be called upon to do so.”

To advance such things in a distant region, where Spiritism was unknown, or where there was no means of verification, might produce some effect. But to affirm them from the height of the pulpit of truth, in the midst of a Spiritist population, which there incessantly gives them the lie by its teachings and its example, is a lack of skill, and one cannot help saying that it is necessary to be seized by a singular vertigo to delude oneself to such a point and not to understand that, in speaking thus, one renders a service to the cause of Spiritism.

Nevertheless, it would be an error to believe that this is the opinion of all the members of the clergy. On the contrary, there are many who do not share it, and we know a good number who deplore such deviations, more prejudicial to religion than to the Spiritist Doctrine. They are, then, individual opinions, which cannot make law. And what proves that they are personal appreciations is the contradiction that exists among them. Thus, while one declares that all the Spirits who manifest themselves are necessarily evil, since they disobey God in communicating, another acknowledges that there are good and evil ones, but that only the good ones go to the Church, and the evil ones to the common folk. One accuses Spiritism of debasing woman; another reproaches it for raising her to the level of the rights of man. One claims that it “drags men into materialism and sensual pleasures,” and another, Mr. curate Marouzeau, acknowledges that it destroys materialism.

— In his brochure [Marouzeau (L’abbé) Réfutation complète de la doctrine spirite.] the abbé Marouzeau expresses himself thus:

“In truth, to give ear to the partisans of communications from beyond the tomb, it would be a prejudice of the clergy to combat Spiritism at any price. Why suppose that the priests have so little intelligence and good sense and a stupid mind? Why believe that the Church, which in all times has given so many proofs of prudence, wisdom, and high intelligence in discerning the true from the false, is today incapable of understanding the interest of its children? Why condemn it without hearing it? If it refuses to recognize your banner, it is that this one is not its own; it has colors that are essentially hostile to it; it is that, beside the good you do, in combating the horrible materialism, it sees a real danger for souls and for society.” And further on: “Let us conclude from all this that Spiritism must limit itself to combating materialism and to giving man palpable proofs of his immortality, by means of well-established manifestations from beyond the tomb.”

— From all this results a capital fact: it is that all these gentlemen are in agreement upon the reality of the manifestations; only each one appreciates them in his own way. To deny them, indeed, would be to deny the truth of the Scriptures and the very facts upon which the majority of the dogmas rest. As to the manner of regarding the matter, it is already possible to ascertain in what sense unity is being made and public opinion, which also has its veto, is being pronounced. Yet another fact stands out: it is that the Spiritist Doctrine profoundly stirs the masses; while some see in it a terrible phantom, others perceive the angel of consolation and of deliverance and a new era of moral progress for Humanity.

— Since we have cited the brochure of the abbé Marouzeau, perhaps they will ask why we have not yet answered it, since it was addressed to us personally. The motives can be seen in our report of the journey, in connection with the refutations. When we treat a question, we do so from the general point of view, abstracting from the persons who, in our eyes, are no more than individualities that efface themselves before questions of principle. In due time we shall speak of Mr. Marouzeau, as well as of some others, when we examine the whole of the objections. For this it was useful to wait until each one had manifested himself, with greater or lesser competence — and we saw above some quite competent ones — in order to appreciate the force of the opposition. Special and individual answers would have been premature and incessantly repeated. The brochure of Mr. Marouzeau was a rifle shot. We beg his pardon for placing him in the class of the simple sharpshooters; but his Christian modesty will not be offended. Foreseeing this uprising, it seemed to us fitting to let them discharge all their weapons, even the heavy artillery which, as one sees, has just been brought up, in order to judge of its range. Now, up to the present we have no reason to lament the casualties it has caused in our ranks, since, on the contrary, its shots have ricocheted against it. On the other hand, it was no less useful to let the situation take shape, and they will have to agree that, for two years now, the state of things, far from worsening, daily brings us new forces. We shall answer, then, when we judge it opportune [see First letter to the abbé Marouzeau]. Up to now there has been no time lost; without this we have gained ground incessantly and the adversaries themselves take charge of making our task easier. We need only let them act. [1] [The sons of Sceva were two Jewish exorcists.]