A terrible argument against Spiritism.

In a sermon recently preached against Spiritism, since the watchword has been given to persecute it on all flanks, as well as its adherents, the orator, wishing to deal it a blow, told the following anecdote:

“Three weeks ago a lady lost her husband. A medium presented himself to propose to her a conversation with the deceased and, who knows? even to see him. The vision did not take place, but the departed one explained to the woman, through the hand of the medium, that he had not been judged worthy to enter the dwelling of the blessed and that he had been obliged to reincarnate immediately, to expiate grave sins. Can you guess where? A kilometer from here, at a miller's house, in the figure of a beaten donkey. Judge the sorrow of the poor lady, who runs to the miller, embraces the humble animal, and proposes to buy it. The miller was hard in the negotiation, but yielded, at last, at the sight of a good sack of money; and, for fifteen days now, master Aliboron has occupied a private room in that lady's house, surrounded by attentions never enjoyed since it pleased God to create this estimable breed.” We doubt that the audience allowed itself to be convinced by the story;

but what we gather from ear-witnesses is that the majority of the listeners found that it would be better suited to a burlesque feuilleton than to the pulpit, both in its substance and in the choice of expressions. Certainly the orator was unaware that Spiritism teaches, without ambiguity, that the soul or Spirit cannot animate the body of an animal. (The Spirits' Book, no. 118, 612 and 613.)

What astonishes us even more is the ridicule cast upon sorrow in general, with the aid of an amusing tale and in terms that do not excel in dignity. Moreover, it is to see a priest treat the work of God with such insolence, through these scarcely reverent words: “Since it pleased God to create this estimable breed.” The subject was so poorly chosen for jesting that one could object that everything is respectable in the works of God and that Jesus did not feel dishonored by entering Jerusalem mounted on a specimen of that breed. Let a parallel be drawn between the burlesque picture of the sorrow of that supposed widow and that of the true widow whose account we gave above, and let it be said which of the two is more edifying, more marked by true religious sentiment and respect for the Divinity; in short, which of them would be better placed in the pulpit of truth. Let us admit the fact you told, sir preacher, not the reincarnation in a donkey, but the widow's credulity in that incarnation; as punishment, what would you have offered her in its place? The eternal flames of hell, a prospect even less consoling, because that widow would no doubt have answered: “I prefer to know my husband in the body of a donkey than to see him burned for all eternity.” Suppose, now, that she had to choose between your picture of endless tortures and the one given to us above by the Spirit Viennois. [Previous article.] Do you believe she would have hesitated? Conscientiously you do not think so, because, on your own account, you would not waver.