Extract from the Spiritist Review of Antwerp

“Decidedly Spiritism is a horrible thing, because never has Science, nor heretical doctrine, nor atheism itself raised against them so strong a commotion within the Church as Spiritism has done. All conceivable resources, fair or not, were brought into play, at first to stifle it and then, when the impossibility of destroying it had been demonstrated, to denature it and present it under the black aspect of sins. Poor Spiritism! It only asked for a little place in the sun so as to make the world enjoy, free of charge, its benefits; it did not ask those creatures who, in the capacity of supposed disciples of the Christ, of the Man-love, presume to bear the word charity inscribed in brilliant letters upon their ecclesiastical vestments; it asked of them only to lead back to the good path those thousands of sheep that they had been incapable of keeping; it asked of them only the power to second them in their work of devotion, healing through a legitimate hope the poor hearts corroded by the gangrene of doubt, and this request so disinterested, of intention so pure, was answered by a decree of proscription! Truly one sees strange things in this world: the official messengers of charity condemn to eternal punishments more than nine-tenths of men, because they escape their influence, and they condemn still more deeply those who wish to save those wretches! “Thus, without the least doubt, Spiritism is something very culpable, such is the manner in which it is combated; but it is cause for wonder that a doctrine so perverse should have advanced so far in so short a lapse of time. But what seems still more remarkable is that this abominable Spiritism should have established itself so solidly and be so logical; that all the arguments opposed to it, far from destroying it and reducing it to nothing, far even from shaking it, on the contrary, all come to contribute, by their inanity and manifest impotence, to its propagation and consolidation. Indeed, it is to the obstacles that were sought to be raised against it that it owes, in notable part, the rapidity of its extension, the help rendered by the unbridled preachings of certain adversaries toward its generalization having not been negligible. It is thus in the order of things: truth has nothing to fear from its detractors, and it is these very ones who involuntarily contribute to making it triumph. Spiritism is an immense focus of heat and light, and whoever blows upon this brazier, besides burning himself a little, achieves no other result than to revive it still more. “Meanwhile, pastorals and conferences seem insufficient to annihilate Spiritism — and we are far from denying that patent influence. Thus, the Roman Congregation has just placed on the Index all the books of Mr. Allan Kardec [see The Index of the Roman Curia], books that contain the universal teaching of the Spirits, to which all of us Spiritists are attached. May we be permitted to make the two following reflections in this regard: The Spiritist books in question enclose, in all their purity and with the developments that the present state of the human spirit requires, the teachings and precepts of Jesus, in whom the Spirits recognize a Messiah. To condemn these books and place them on the Index, is that not to condemn the words of the Christ and, in a certain way, to place there the Gospels, which are in agreement with us? It seems so to us, but it is true that we are not infallible as you are! Second reflection: Is this measure that they take today not somewhat belated? Why did they wait so long? Besides being more or less inexplicable (unless one believes that Spiritism appears to you so true and that you are so persuaded of its triumph that for a long time you hesitated to attack it openly, and that a personal interest truly powerful, since we will not commit the insult of supposing you ultra-ignorant, decided you to do so), besides being more or less inexplicable, we say, it also reveals much lack of skill. Indeed, The Spirits’ Book, The Mediums’ Book, and the Imitation of the Gospel According to Spiritism are at present in the hands of thousands of people, and we very much doubt that the condemnation of the Congregation of Rome can now make people find bad and abject what each one judged great and noble. “Be that as it may, the Spiritist books have been placed on the Index. So much the better, because many of those who have not yet read them will go and devour them. So much the better! because of ten persons who peruse them at least seven will be convinced or will be strongly shaken and desirous of studying the spiritist phenomena; so much the better! because our own adversaries, seeing their efforts result in outcomes diametrically opposed to those they expected, will attach themselves to us, if they are sincere, disinterested, and possess the enlightenment that their ministry entails. Besides, the law of God wills it so: nothing in the world can remain eternally stationary, for everything progresses and the religious idea must follow the general progress, if it does not wish to disappear.

“Let our adversaries, then, continue their crusade. They have already brought into play the pastorals, the sermons, the public courses, the occult influences, sometimes apparently victorious, because of the dependent state of those upon whom they weigh tyrannically; they have made use of the auto-da-fé, publicly burning our books in Barcelona; having been able to burn only a few copies, and these replacing themselves in impressive number, they finally placed them on the Index. Ah! the Inquisition no longer being tolerated, although, under one form or another, it continues to exist, and aided by the occult influences of which we have just spoken, there remains to them only the excommunication en masse of all Spiritists, that is, of a notable fraction of men and, in particular, of a considerable fraction of Christians (and we speak only of confessed Spiritists, for inestimable is the number of those who are so without knowing it).”

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[Index Librorum prohibitorun et expurgandorum. — Roster of books prohibited by the Church which began to be made from the IV Lateran Council, 1515.]