Mr. Jobard and the Mercenary Mediums.

— A somnambulist medium, who claims to be put to sleep by the Spirit Jobard, said she had received a communication addressed to another medium, whom it advised to charge the rich for consultations and to give them free of charge to the poor and to working people. The Spirit indicated to her the use of her time, sparing no praise for her eminent faculties and her lofty mission. Someone having raised doubts about the authenticity of this communication, and knowing that the Spirit Jobard often manifests himself at the Society, asked us to submit it to a check.

For greater certainty, we immediately addressed to six mediums these simple words: “Ask the Spirit Jobard whether he dictated to Mrs. X…, in magnetic somnambulism, a communication through another medium, encouraging her to exploit her faculty. I would need this answer for tomorrow.” We took care not to warn them of this kind of competition, so that each one believed himself the only one called upon to resolve the question.

We counted on the elevation of the Spirit Jobard to lend himself to the circumstance, and not to take offense or grow impatient at this question, which was to be addressed to him almost simultaneously from six different points.

The next day we received the answers below, which we have accompanied with a few reflections.

(October 20, 1864. – Medium: Mr. Leymarie.)

What then! So, dear friends, my name serves as a shield for all sorts of people! For a long time I have grown accustomed to those dishonest plagiarists who, one after another, make me take on every color, as if I were a chameleon; they take me for a simpleton. And yet, my past life, my works, and the numerous proofs of identity given to the Spiritist Society of Paris, dispel any misunderstanding as to my sentiments. I am the same, whether as an incarnate Spirit or as a free Spirit, and my mission among all of you, my friends, is one of devotion and, above all, of disinterestedness.

Spiritism is a positive science; the facts on which it rests are not yet complete. But have patience, you who know how to wait, and this science, which has invented nothing, since it is a force of Nature, will prove, to the less clear-sighted, that its aim, wholly moral, is the regeneration of Humanity, and that, apart from all the speculative sciences, its teaching is the opposite of materialism, which proceeds by hypothesis. To proceed by analysis, to establish facts in order to ascend to causes, to proclaim the spiritual element after verification, such is its way of acting, clear and without circumlocution; it is the straight line, the one that must be the guide of every convinced Spiritist. I reject, then, the tares from the wheat, all petty interests, half-hearted devotions, immoral compromises, which are the plague of our faith.

Since you call yourselves Spiritists, I have the right to ask you what you are, what you wish to be. Well then! if you have faith, you are, above all, charitable. In your eyes, all the incarnate undergo a trial; as spectators, you witness many faintings, and in this harsh combat of life, in which your brothers seek the light, your duty, as privileged ones who have seen and who know, is to give generously what God has also distributed to you with generosity.

Mediums, you must not be proud, because the hand that bestows can withdraw from you. When, through your intermediary, a Spirit comes to console, to encourage, to teach, you must be happy and give thanks to God, who allows you to be the good spring, where those who are thirsty come to quench their thirst. But this water does not belong to you, for it belongs to all: you cannot sell it, nor surrender it, because this domain is not of this world. Would you have us drive you out, as we did the sellers from the temple?

Rich or poor, hasten and ask: each of you has his secret suffering; the rags of one will become the purple of another in a new existence, and it is for this reason that mediumship is not usurious: before it all the incarnate are equal.

Look around you: are they rich, are they poor, those who make a profession of the providential gift? They sell the science of the Spirits, and the alms they collect are the gangrene of their spiritualism. They did well to say spiritualism, because, as you know, Spiritists reprove all moral selling; venality is not their case. We repel from our midst all those shameful dregs, who make the bystanders brought into their shop laugh.

As for me, dear master, answer those men or women who wish to trade upon my name that, however much of a simpleton I might be, I would never be enough of one to set my signature to falsified writings attributed to your devoted, Jobard.

(Medium: Mrs. Costel.)

I come to complain and to protest against the abuse made of my name. The poor in spirit — and there are many among the Spirits — have the lamentable habit of seizing names to serve them as a passport with proud and credulous mediums.

Certainly I would not be very much at ease in defending the nobility of my poor name, synonymous with naive. Nevertheless, I hope to have set it high enough in the judgment of those who knew me to fear identifying myself with the banalities imputed to my signature. It is, then, only out of love for the truth that I protest having put no somnambulist to sleep, nor exalted any medium. I communicate very rarely, for I have much to learn before serving as guide and instructor to others.

In principle, I reprove the exploitation of mediumship, for a very simple reason: since the medium enjoys his faculty only in an intermittent and uncertain manner, he can never prejudge anything by it or base himself upon it. Thus, poor people are wrong when they abandon their occupation to exercise mediumship in the lucrative sense of the word. Under the pretext of fulfilling a mission, many of them abandon the home, which they desert for proud satisfactions and for the fleeting importance that worldly curiosity grants them. I hope that these mediums deceive themselves in good faith; but, in the end, they are mistaken. Mediumship is a sacred and intimate gift, which cannot have an open consulting room. Mediums too poor to devote themselves to the exercise of their faculty must subordinate it to the work that makes them live. By this Spiritism will lose nothing: on the contrary, it will gain much in dignity. I do not wish to discourage anyone, nor to frustrate any good will, but it is fitting that our dear doctrine be sheltered from all pernicious accusation. Caesar’s wife must not be suspected; nor must the Spiritists.

This is what is said, and I desire that there remain not the least doubt as to the words of your old friend, Jobard.

(Medium: Mr. Rul.)

How could it be believed that he who, in all his communications, recommended charity and disinterestedness, would today come to contradict himself?

It is a trial for the somnambulist, and I advise her not to let herself be seduced by the evil Spirits who, through this petty speculation from beyond the grave, wish to cast discredit upon mediums in general and, in particular, upon the one in question. I believe it is not necessary to make my profession of faith again. It is not to him who, incarnate, so often deceived, always had rectitude and loyalty as his rule of conduct, that such communications can be attributed! He would be happy if, in the manner done with certain merchandise of the Earth, one could affix upon communications from beyond the grave the seal that attests to the identity of the author. You are not yet sufficiently advanced, but, in the absence of the seal, make use of your reason, which cannot deceive you; and I defy all the Spirits, however numerous they may be, to make me pass, in the eyes of my former colleagues, for more foolish than I am. Farewell.

Jobard.

(Medium: Mr. Vézy.)

Why, still, so much foolishness among those who believe in good faith? And to think that if one sets before their eyes the true principles of the matter, they suddenly change and become more incredulous than Saint Thomas!

Go tell that dear lady that I never communicated with her. She will tell you: it is possible, and in your presence she will give the impression of agreeing with you. But, in her heart of hearts, she will say that you are senseless. To forbid a madman from doing mad things is to be madder than he himself, they say. Nevertheless, it would be necessary to find a remedy to cure so many poor in spirit who go astray all alone, convinced as they are of being guided by marvels.

Truly, my dear president, do you judge me capable of writing the frivolities that were read to you? Then it would indeed be the case to apply to me the name I bore, for having dared to write such nonsense. Spiritism is not taught at so much per lesson. Let him who can carry our words to his brothers only at the expense of his own wages stay at home and ask his tool or his needle to continue giving him his daily bread. But to identify oneself with those who give spectacles is to skate in the domain of exploitation or of charlatanism. Let him who is poor and feels the courage to become an apostle of our doctrine shield himself with his faith and his courage, for Providence will come in due time to give him the bread he lacks; but let him not stretch out his hand for the services he renders, because we shall be the first to cry out: Get away from here, beggar, and leave the place to those who can do the work. We always find enough men of good will to perform the task we ask of them. Women or men who leave the spinning wheel or the tools to become a preacher or a medium and ask for wages: pride alone guides you. You want a little glory around your name: metal has only base reflections, which time rusts, whereas true glory has more splendor in self-denial. I prefer Malfilâtre, Gilbert, and Moreau, singing their agony on a hospital bed, to the begging poet who, to preserve luxury around his deathbed, sells his own heart. The disinterested will be better rewarded; a lasting happiness awaits them, and their names will be all the more powerful the more tears they have shed and the more sweat and dust have covered their brows. This is all I can tell you about it, dear president, and I take the occasion presented to me to shake your hand and to reiterate all my wishes and my sincere sentiments. Always keep courage and energy in the task you have imposed upon yourself. Silence the envious and the slanderers who surround you by this firmness and simplicity that suit you so well. Today one must be positive; do not let yourself be drawn into the search for the Moon when the Earth is at your feet and when in it you have wherewith to complete your work. There are materials in abundance around you. Prove your theories by facts, and let your examples rest not on algebraic theorems, which not everyone could understand, but on mathematical axioms. A child knows that two and two are four. Let those with long legs run ahead; they will break their necks and it is useless for you to accompany them in their fall. Let us hasten with prudence; the world is still young and men have time to instruct themselves. The Sun sets at evening because darkness becomes necessary for us to understand its brightness. Sometimes the truth clothes itself in shadows so as not to dazzle those who look at it too directly.

Q. – You said you never communicated with that lady. Yet she affirms that you magnetized her!

Answer. – Poor woman! she attributes to intelligent beings what only foolishness can dictate, or else some very good and very simple words to great oracles. It is a disease one should not contract; it has its seat in the nerves and is cured by prudence and cold showers.

Jobard.

(Medium: Mrs. Delanne.)

Fraternal greetings to all of you, my good friends, who labor with ardor to enlighten Humanity. You must redouble your attention, because, at this moment, an incredible revolution is taking place among the disincarnate. You also have among them adversaries who strive to raise obstacles for you, but God watches over His work. He has placed at your head a vigilant chief, endowed with composure, perspicacity, and an energetic will to make you overcome the obstacles that your visible and invisible enemies raise at every instant in your path. That is why he was not deceived in reading this communication; he well understood that Jobard could not speak thus, nor approve such language. No, my friends, Spiritism must not be exploited by sincere Spiritists of good faith. You preach against abuses of this nature, which discredit religion; therefore, you cannot practice what you condemn, because you drive away those whom your disinterestedness might bring to you. Have you ever seriously reflected on the disastrous consequences of paid meetings? Understand well that if Allan Kardec authorized such ideas, by his silence or his tacit approval, in two years Spiritism would be exposed to a multitude of exploiters, and this holy and sacred thing would be discredited by charlatanism. Such is my opinion. Thus, I repel today, as always, every idea of speculation, under whatever pretext, that would hamper the doctrine instead of helping it.

Strive, at present and above all, to reform men by your teachings and your examples. Let your disinterestedness and your moderation speak so loudly that none of your adversaries can reproach you. Each of you being placed in different positions, you must work according to your strength: God does not ask the impossible. Have confidence in Him, and let each thing come in its time. If He had wished Spiritism to march more rapidly, He would have sent sooner the great Spirits who are incarnate and who will arise almost at the same time at every point of the globe, when the time comes. While you wait, prepare the ways with prudence and wisdom. Courage, dear president, each day the reins become more difficult. But here we are to sustain you, and God watches over you.

Jobard.

(Medium: Mr. d’Ambel.)

Well, well! this astonishes you! But there are so many fools in the world of the Spirits, as among you — and I am not offending you — that one fool was able to give another the somnambulistic communication in question.

As for the medium, is it necessary to worry so much? Let time pass: it is a great reformer. Those who put their mediumship up for sale do as certain people who, dealing out a deck of cards to their consultants, say: “Here is a man of the city, or a man of the country; there is a letter on its way, here is the ace of diamonds.” Who knows whether, in some, it is not a return to the past, a remnant of old habits? Well then! so much the worse for those who fall into this difficult situation. They will not profit and will regret that one day they took the wrong road.

All I can tell you is that, being completely a stranger to that trade, as you well know, I wash my hands of it and lament poor Humanity, because it still resorts to such expedients.

Farewell, Jobard.

OBSERVATIONS.

The necessity of disinterestedness in mediums has so far become a principle that it would have been superfluous to publish the above fact, if it did not offer, besides the main question, a notable example of coincidence and a manifest proof of identity, through the similitude of thoughts and the stamp of originality that, in a general way, characterize all the communications of our former colleague Jobard. It is to such a degree that when he manifests himself spontaneously at the Society, it is rare that, from the first lines, the author is not guessed. Thus, no doubt was raised as to the authenticity of those we have just reported, whereas, in those we had been asked to check, the fraud leaps to the eyes of anyone who knows the language and the character of Mr. Jobard, as well as the principles he had constantly professed, as a man and as a Spirit. It would have been irrational to admit that he had suddenly changed for the benefit of the material interests of an individual. What a clumsy trickery! As for the question of disinterestedness, it would be useless to repeat all that has been said on this point, and which is admirably summarized in Mr. Jobard’s answers. We shall only add one consideration, which is not without importance.

Certain exploiting mediums think to save appearances by being paid only by the rich, or by accepting only a voluntary contribution. In the first place, this is no less a trade, the exploitation of a holy thing, and a profit drawn from what is received free of charge. When Jesus and his apostles taught and healed, they did not traffic in their words, nor in their care, although they had no income to live on. On the other hand, this manner of operating is no guarantee of sincerity nor does it dispel the suspicion of charlatanism. Certain physicians and certain dealers in goods act with ulterior motives in the field of philanthropy, the former giving free consultations, and the latter selling at a loss, or almost for nothing. On some occasions, gratuity is a means of attracting profitable clientele. There exists, however, another consideration, still more powerful. By what sign is one to recognize who can or cannot pay? Appearance is sometimes deceptive and, often, clean clothing conceals greater misery than the smock of a workman. Must one then declare one’s poverty, one’s claims to charity, or exhibit a certificate of indigence? Besides, who says that the medium, even granting on his part the greatest sincerity, will have the same solicitude for the one who does not pay, or pays less, as for the one who pays generously, and that he will not give to each according to his money? That, if a rich man and a poor man addressed themselves to him at the same time, he would not first receive the rich man, who had in view only the satisfaction of a vain curiosity, while the poor man, who perhaps awaited supreme consolation, would be attended to later? Without wishing it, his conscience will be in struggle with the temptation of preference; he will be led to look more favorably upon the one who pays, even though the latter tossed him a coin with disdain, as one does with a mercenary, while he will look with indifference upon the meager pennies that the ashamed poor man timidly presents to him. Are such sentiments compatible with Spiritism? Is it not maintaining between the rich and the poor that humiliating demarcation, which has already done so much harm, and which Spiritism must cause to disappear, by proving the equality of the rich and the poor before God? for God does not measure the rays of His sun by fortune, nor can He subordinate to it more consolations of the heart than those lavished upon men by the good Spirits, His messengers. When all is considered, if there were a choice to be made, we would prefer the medium who always charged, because at least there is no hypocrisy; one knows immediately whom one is dealing with.

Moreover, the ever-growing multiplicity of mediums in all layers of society and within the midst of most families removes from remunerated mediumship all utility and all reason for being. This multiplicity will kill exploitation through the feeling of repulsion that attaches to it.

Our attention is drawn to the closing of the activities of an old and numerous Spiritist group in the provinces, organized with self-interested purposes. The head of this group, as well as his family, had set aside their obligations, under the deceitful pretext of devotion to the cause, to which he wished to consecrate all his time. His purse would be assured by the resources he hoped to draw from Spiritism. Unfortunately, the exploitation of mediumship is so discredited in the provinces that, in most cities, whoever makes a profession of it, even if he had the most transcendent faculties, would inspire not the least confidence; there he would be very ill-regarded and all the serious groups would close their doors to him. The speculation did not meet expectations, and it is reported that the head of this group complained, to his attendees, of the difficulties he was going through, asking them for assistance. They answered him that, if he was in straits, the fault was his own; that he had erred in closing his workshop to live off Spiritism and to charge for the instructions that the Spirits gave him free of charge; the medium refuted this and put the blame on the Spirits. Of the nine mediums present, to whom the question was presented, eight received communications censuring his manner of acting; only one approved it: it was his wife’s. Submitting willingly to the counsel of the Spirits, the head of the group announced that from that moment his group would be closed. It would certainly have been more prudent to listen to the counsels that, for a long time, had been given to him by sincere friends of Spiritism. Another group, in more or less identical conditions, was little by little abandoned by its attendees and, finally, forced to dissolve.

Thus, here are two groups that succumb under the pressure of opinion. They write to us that the paragraph of the Imitation of the Gospel, number 392 and following, is certainly not foreign to this result. Besides, it is impossible that every sincere Spiritist, understanding the essence and the true interests of the doctrine, should become the defender and supporter of an abuse that would inevitably tend to discredit it. We exhort them to beware of the traps that the enemies of Spiritism might try to set for them on this subject. It is known that, for want of good reasons to combat it, one of their tactics is to seek to ruin it by itself. Thus, one sees with what ardor they lie in wait for occasions to surprise it at fault or in contradiction with itself. It is for this reason that the Spirits tell us, without ceasing, to watch and to keep ourselves on guard. As for us, we are not unaware that our persistence in combating the abuse of which we speak has not made our friends of those who saw in Spiritism an exploitable matter, nor of those who sustain them. But what does the opposition of a few individuals matter to us! We defend a true principle, and no personal consideration will make us recoil before the fulfillment of a duty. Our efforts will always tend to preserve Spiritism from usurpation and from venality; the present moment is the most difficult, but, as the doctrine becomes better understood, this usurpation will be less to be feared, for the opinion of the masses will oppose to it an insurmountable barrier. The principle of disinterestedness, which satisfies at once the heart and reason, will always have the most numerous sympathies, and will make it triumph, by the force of things, over the principle of speculation. [1]

Jean-Baptiste-Ambroise-Marcellin Jobard. Author of Le nouvelles inentions — Google Books.