Burial of a Spiritist in the common grave.

— Mr. Costeau, one of our brothers in Spiritism and a member of the Society of Paris, has just died. He was buried on September 12, 1863, in the cemetery of Montmartre. He was a man of heart whom Spiritism had led to God; his faith in the future was complete, sincere, and profound; he was a simple paver, who practiced charity through thought, words, and works, according to his meager resources, for he always found means to assist those who had less than he.

It would be an error to imagine the Society of Paris as an exclusively aristocratic gathering, since it counts some proletarians in its bosom; it welcomes all devotion to the cause it sustains, whether it come from the high or the low social strata; the great lord and the artisan there join hands fraternally. Some time ago, at the wedding of one of our colleagues, likewise a modest worker, there were present a high foreign dignitary and the princess his wife, both members of the Society, who had not deemed themselves diminished in coming to sit side by side with the other attendants, although the luxury of the ceremony, celebrated in an obscure chapel of an opulent parish, had been reduced to its simplest expression. It is that Spiritism, without dreaming of a chimerical equality, without confounding the classes, without claiming to bring all men to one same impossible social level, makes them appreciate one another from a point of view different from the fascinating prism of the world. It teaches that the small one may have been great on the Earth, that the great one may become small, and that in the celestial kingdom earthly positions are not taken into account. It is thus that, logically destroying the social prejudices of caste and of color, it leads to true fraternity.

— Our brother Costeau was poor; he leaves a widow in poverty and was buried in the common grave, a door as efficacious for leading to heaven as a sumptuous mausoleum. Mr. d'Ambel, vice-president, and Mr. Canu, secretary of the Society, presided over the funeral procession; both pronounced over the tomb words that caused a vivid impression on the assembly and on the very gravediggers, visibly moved, notwithstanding being indifferent to such ceremonies. Here is the address of Mr. Canu:

“Dear brother Costeau, only a few years ago, many among us — and I confess that I was the first — would have seen before this open tomb only the end of human miseries and, afterward, nothingness, terrible nothingness, that is, no soul to merit or expiate and, consequently, no God to reward, chastise, or pardon. Today, thanks to our divine doctrine, here we see the end of the trials, and for you, dear brother, whose mortal remains we restore to the Earth, the triumph of your labors and the beginning of the merited reward for your courage, for your resignation, for your charity; in a word, for your virtues, and, above all, we see the glorification of a God wise, all-powerful, just, and good. Carry, then, dear brother, our thanksgivings to the feet of the Eternal, who deigned to dissipate around us the darkness of error and of incredulity, for, only a little while ago, in this circumstance, we would have said to you, with downcast brow and disheartened heart: ‘Farewell, friend, forever.’ Today we say to you, with brow raised and radiant with hope, the heart full of courage and love: ‘Dear brother, until we meet again; pray for us.’” Address of Mr. d'Ambel:

“Ladies, gentlemen, and you, dear colleagues of the Society of Paris, it is the second time that we lead one of our companions to his last dwelling. The one to whom we come to say farewell was one of those obscure strugglers whom the difficulties of life always found unbreakable; in spite of this, absolute certainty had long been lacking to him. Thus, as soon as Spiritism became known to him, he hastened to embrace a doctrine that brought him the truth, and whose teachings are so apt to console the afflicted of this world in their trials. A modest worker, he always fulfilled his task with the serenity of the just; and the adversity that struck him so cruelly, without our knowing it, in the last days of his life, opened to him — be certain, all you who hear me — opened to him an immediate career of prosperity and happiness. “Ah! how I lament that our venerated master is not in Paris! His authorized voice would have been far more agreeable than mine to the brother we have lost and would have rendered him a homage more considerable than that which my obscurity can render him. I would have wished to give the funeral of our colleague a greater solemnity, but I was notified too late to communicate it to all the members of the Society present in Paris. But, few as we are here, we represent the great Spiritist family, which a common faith in the future unites from one extremity of the world to the other; we are the delegates of several million adepts, in whose number we come to ask, dear and lamented colleague, that you contribute, henceforth, within the limits of your new faculties, to the propagation of our great doctrine which, in the midst of your last and cruel trials, sustained you so energetically. Ah! as our dear president Allan Kardec said so eloquently at the funeral of our brother Sanson, it is that Spiritist faith gives, in those supreme moments, a strength of which only he who possesses it can give an account, and this faith Mr. Costeau possessed in the highest degree. “Dear Mr. Costeau, you know of the lively interest that the Spiritist Society of Paris had in you; it will always lament in you one of its most assiduous members, and it is in its name, in the name of its president, and in the name of your wife and your sister, inconsolable, that I come to say to you, like our friend Mr. Canu, not a farewell, but an until-soon, in a happier world. May you enjoy, in that one where you now find yourself, the happiness you merit and come to extend your hand to us, when our turn comes to enter into it.

“Dear Spirits of Messrs. Jobard and Sanson, I ask that you welcome our colleague Costeau and facilitate for him the access to your serene regions. Dear Spirits, pray for him, pray for us. So be it.”

— After this address, Mr. d'Ambel pronounced textually the prayer for those who have just died and which was said over the tomb of Mr. Sanson.

(Spiritist Review, May 1862.)

Mr. Vézy, one of the mediums of the Society, whose name is known to our readers by the beautiful communications of Saint Augustine, descended into the pit, and Mr. d'Ambel made aloud the evocation of Mr. Costeau, who gave through Mr. Vézy the following communication, the reading of which the attendants, including the gravediggers, heard with uncovered head and with profound emotion. Truly, it was a new and moving spectacle to hear the words of a dead man, gathered within the very tomb.

“Thank you, my friends, thank you. My grave is not yet closed and, nevertheless, one more second and the earth will cover my remains. But, you know it, beneath this dust my soul will not be buried: it will soar in space, to rise to God!

“Thus, how consoling to be able to say still, in spite of the broken envelope: ‘Oh! no, I am not dead! I live the true life, the eternal life!’ “The burial of the poor man is not followed by a great number. Proud manifestations do not occur over his tomb; and yet, friends, believe me, the immense multitude is not lacking here, and good Spirits have followed with you and with these pious women the body of the one who lies here! At least you all believe in and love the good God!

“Oh! certainly not! we do not die because our body is annihilated, beloved wife! Henceforth I shall always be at your side, to console you and to help you bear the trial. Life will be hard for you, but, with the idea of eternity and of the love of God filling your heart, how light your sufferings will be to you!

“Relatives who support my beloved companion, love her, respect her; be for her brothers and sisters. Do not forget that on the Earth you all owe one another assistance, if you wish to enter into the dwelling of the Lord.

“And you, Spiritists! brothers, friends, thank you for having come to say farewell to me as far as this dwelling of dust and of mire; but you know, you know perfectly well that my soul lives for immortality and that it will sometimes come to ask you for prayers, which will not be refused me, to help me march on this magnificent path that you opened to me during life.

“Farewell to all you who are here; we shall be able to see one another again in another place than this tomb. The souls call me to meet them. Farewell! Pray for those who suffer. Until we meet again.”

Costeau.

— After the last funeral formalities were ended, these gentlemen went to make a visit, in the same cemetery, to the tomb of Georges, that eminent Spirit who gave, through Mrs. Costel, the beautiful communications that the readers have often admired. When alive, Mr. Georges was the brother-in-law of Mr. d'Ambel. There, through Mr. Vézy, they gathered the following words:

“Although we do not live here (at the place of inhumation), we like to come here, to thank you for the prayers you come to make for us and the flowers you scatter over our tombs.

“How well they did in creating this place of repose and of prayer! souls can converse more at their ease and better pour out, in these intimate raptures, the feelings that animate them: one beside a tomb, the other soaring above!

“You have just said farewell to one of your friends; I thank you for not having forgotten me. I was with you in that multitude of Spirits that pressed about the tomb that had just opened, and I felt myself happy in reading in your hearts the conviction and the faith. I mingled my prayers with yours, and the blessed Spirits made them rise up to God!

“The Spiritist faith, my good friends, will make the round of the world and will end by making the mad wise; it will penetrate even to the heart of the priests, whom you saw a short while ago smiling and who really caused you a pain… (allusion to the manner in which the religious ceremony was carried out). The scandal they made caused your hearts to bleed, but you overcame the indignation in thinking of the good you were going to spread in the soul of your friend. It is here, near me, and asks that I thank you in its name.

“It has already been said to you: the tomb is life. Come sometimes into the shade of the willow, at the foot of the funeral cross; in the midst of silence, of calm, you will hear a divine harmony; in the midst of the breezes you will hear the concerts of our souls, singing God… eternity… then some of us will detach themselves from the sacred choirs to come instruct you about your destinies. That which, until today, has constituted a mystery for you, will unveil itself little by little to your eyes and you will be able to understand your beginning and your future grandeurs. “Arrange, then, meetings here, you who aspire to wisdom; here you will read the pages of eternity and the book of life will always be open for you. In this calm place of peace the voice of the Spirit seems to make itself better heard by the one who wishes to instruct himself; it takes on magical and sonorous proportions and its accents penetrate more the one upon whom it wishes to act.

“Work with zeal and fervor for the propagation of the new idea; I shall help you without ceasing; and if the tranquillity of the tomb frightens some, let them know that the good Spirits feel themselves happy in instructing everywhere.

“Farewell and thank you! How I would like to be able to communicate to the whole world the faith with which you are filled! but, in truth I say to you, Spiritism is the lever with which Archimedes will raise the world!

“A few words to you, my brother, particularly, since the occasion presents itself. Tell my sister to love always the duties imposed by God, however heavy they may be; tell her to love our mother and to take my place beside her; tell her to watch over my daughter, to smile at the sky, and to find perfumes in all the flowers of the Earth… To you, my brother, I press both hands.”

Georges.

— From all this results a double teaching. It might cause astonishment that a Spirit so near the time of death was able to express himself with such lucidity; but we must remember that Mr. Sanson was evoked in the mortuary chamber, before the body was taken away, and that he gave, on that occasion, the beautiful communication that appeared in the Review. His perturbation had lasted only a few hours and, moreover, we know that the disengagement is rapid in morally advanced Spirits.

On the other hand, why did Mr. Vézy descend into the pit? Was there utility, or was it a matter of mere stage-setting? Let us at once set aside the second motive, for serious Spiritists act seriously and religiously and do not lend themselves to exhibitions; at such a moment it would have been a profanation. Certainly the utility was not absolute; here one must see a more special testimony of sympathy, perhaps by reason of the dead man being in the common grave. Besides, it is known that the access to these graves is easier than the access to private graves, whose entrance is narrow, and Mr. Vézy found himself there more comfortably for writing. This, however, might have its reason for being from another point of view that, probably, did not come to Mr. Vézy's mind. It is known that evocation facilitates the disengagement of the Spirit and can shorten the duration of the perturbation. It is known, likewise, that the ties which unite the Spirit to the body are not always completely broken after death. Here is a notable example:

— A young man had died accidentally in a very unfortunate manner. His life had been that of many rich, idle young men, that is, very material. He communicated spontaneously through a medium of our acquaintance, who had known him in life, asking that they go to evoke him and pray at his tomb, to help break the ties that retained him to the body, from which he could not manage to free himself. Evidently there must be in this case a magnetic action facilitated by the proximity of the body, and there perhaps lies a cause that leads the friends of the deceased, instinctively, to go pray at the place where their bodies repose.