Conspiracies against the faith.

History will have to record the singular logic of the contradictors of Spiritism, of which we are going to give some samples.

From the Department of Haute-Marne they send us the pastoral letter of the Bishop of Langres, in which the following passage is noted:

“…And behold, the men who call themselves friends of Humanity, of liberty, and of progress, but whom, in reality, society must count among its most dangerous enemies, strive by every means to tear (the faith) from the heart of the Christian populations. For, dearly beloved brethren, it is our duty to warn you, we who are charged with watching over the keeping of your souls, so that our warnings may make you prudent and forearmed: Perhaps there has never been seen a conspiracy more odious, more vast, more dangerous, and more skillful, that is to say, organized in a more infernal manner against the Catholic faith than the one that exists today. A conspiracy of the secret societies, which work in the shadows to annihilate Catholicism, as if this were possible; a conspiracy of Protestantism which, by an active propaganda, seeks to insinuate itself everywhere; a conspiracy of the rationalist and anti-Christian philosophers, who reject, without reason and against all reason, the supernatural and revealed religion, and who strive to make their false and fatal doctrine prevail in the lettered world; a conspiracy of the spiritist societies which, through the superstitious practice of the evocation of Spirits, give themselves over and incite others to consecrate themselves to the perfidious malice of the spirit of lying and of error; a conspiracy of an impious or corrupting literature; a conspiracy of the bad newspapers and the bad books, which spread in a frightful manner, under the shadow of a tolerance or a liberty praised as the progress of the century, as the conquest of what is called the modern spirit, and which is nothing but an incitement to the genius of evil, a just cause of sorrow for a Catholic nation, a snare and a very evident danger for all the faithful, whatever the class to which they belong, who are not sufficiently instructed in religion, whose number is unfortunately great; a conspiracy, finally, of that practical materialism which sees not, seeks not, pursues not anything but what concerns the body and physical well-being; which no longer occupies itself with the soul and its destiny, as if there were none, and whose pernicious example easily seduces and drags along the masses. Such are, in summary, dearly beloved brethren, the dangers that the faith runs today… etc.” We are in perfect agreement with the Bishop as regards the fatal consequences of materialism; but it is surprising to see him confound in the same reprobation materialism, which denies the soul, the future, God, and Providence, with Spiritism, which comes to combat it and triumphs over it by the material proofs it gives of the existence of the soul, precisely with the aid of those very evocations supposedly superstitious. Is it because it prevails where the Church is impotent? Would the Bishop share the opinion of a certain ecclesiastic who said from the pulpit: “I prefer to know you outside the Church than to see you enter it through Spiritism!” [Pastoral letter of the Bishop of Algiers against Spiritism.] And of that other who said:

“I prefer an atheist, who believes in nothing, to a Spiritist, who believes in God and in the soul.” It is an opinion like any other, and there is no disputing tastes.

Whatever that of the Bishop may be on this point, we would greatly esteem it if he would answer the two following questions: “How is it that the Church, aided by the powerful means of teaching at its disposal to make the truth shine in the eyes of all, has not been able to halt materialism, whereas Spiritism, born only yesterday, daily converts hardened unbelievers?

— Is the means by which an objective is attained worse than the one with whose aid it is not attained?”

The Bishop enumerates a series of conspiracies that rise up menacingly against religion; he certainly did not reflect that, by this picture, so little reassuring for the faithful, he goes precisely against his own objective and may even provoke deplorable reflections in the latter. To hear him, in a short time the conspirators would be more numerous. Now, what would happen in a State if the whole nation conspired? If religion sees itself attacked by such numerous cohorts, would this not testify against the sympathies it meets with? To say that the orthodox faith is threatened is to confess the weakness of its arguments. If it is founded on absolute truth, it can fear no contrary argument. In such a case, to sound the alarm is a complete lack of skill.