The Spirits in Spain.

— Under the first title we published, in September 1864, an article in which it was proved, by authentic facts, that, for the Spirits, there were no Pyrenees, and that they even laughed at the autos-da-fé. Mr. Delanne's letter, published in our last issue, is a new proof. There the cure of an obsession is summarily mentioned, due to the zeal and perseverance of some sincere and devoted Spiritists of Barcelona. They sent us the detailed account of this cure, which we deem it well to publish, as well as the letter that accompanied it:

Sir and dear master, We had the privilege of having with us our dear brother in belief Mr. Delanne, and we gave him information about our feeble labors, as well as about our efforts to provide relief to some poor patients whom God deigned to place in our hands. Among these was a woman who, for 15 years, was the victim of an obsession of the most cruel, and whom God permitted us to cure. It was certainly not our intention to mention her, because we work in silence, without wishing to attribute any merit to ourselves. But, as Mr. Delanne told us that the account of this cure might perhaps serve as an encouragement to other believers who, like us, would devote themselves to this work of charity, we did not hesitate to send it to you. We bless the hand of the Lord, which allows us to savor the fruit of our labors and already gives us here His reward. During Holy Week several sermons were preached against Spiritism, of which one stood out for its absurdities. The preacher asked the faithful whether they would be pleased to know that the souls of their relatives were reborn in the bodies of an ox, a donkey, a pig, or any other animal. Here, says he, is Spiritism, my dear brothers; it is perfect for the frivolous spirit of the French, but not for you, Spaniards, too serious to admit it and believe in it.

Accept, J. M. F.

Married in 1850, Rose N… was stricken, a few days after the wedding, with spasmodic attacks, which recurred very frequently and with violence, until she became pregnant. During the pregnancy she experienced nothing, but, after the delivery, the same accidents recurred; often the crises lasted three or four hours, during which she committed all manner of extravagances, and three or four people were needed to subdue her. Among the physicians called, some said it was a nervous illness; others, that it was madness. The same symptom recurred with each pregnancy, that is, the accidents ceased during the gestation and began again after the delivery.

This had already lasted several years. The poor couple was weary of consulting one person and another and of making use of remedies that gave not the least result. These simple people were at the limit of their patience and their resources, for, sometimes, the woman would go whole months without being able to devote herself to the domestic tasks. At times she felt a slight improvement, which made them suppose a cure, but, after a few weeks of respite, the malady reappeared with terrible recrudescence.

As some people persuaded them that an illness so rebellious must be the work of the demon, they resorted to exorcisms, and the patient went to a sanctuary twenty leagues distant, from which she returned apparently tranquil; but, at the end of a few days the malady returned with new intensity. She set out for another retreat, where she remained four months, during which she became so tranquil that they judged her cured. She then returned to her family, joyful at seeing herself, at last, free of the cruel illness; however, after a few weeks, her hopes were again dashed, since the attacks returned with more force than ever. Husband and wife were in despair.

— It was last July, 1864, that one of our friends and brother in belief gave us knowledge of the fact, proposing that we attempt to relieve, if not to cure, this poor persecuted woman, for he judged her seized by an obsession of the most cruel. At the time the sick woman was being subjected to magnetic treatment, which had afforded her a certain relief; but the magnetizer, though a Spiritist, had no means of evoking the obsessing Spirit, for lack of mediums, and, despite his will, could not produce the desired effect. We accepted with interest this opportunity to do a good work. We gathered several sincere converts and had the sick woman brought. A few minutes sufficed for us to recognize the cause of Rose's malady. It was, in effect, an obsession of the most terrible. We had much trouble making the obsessor come at our summons. He was very violent, answered a few incoherent words, and at once hurled himself in fury upon his victim, provoking a violent crisis in her, soon calmed by the magnetizer.

In the second session, which took place a few days later, we were able to retain the obsessing Spirit longer, though he still showed himself ever rebellious and very cruel toward his victim. The third evocation was happier; the obsessor conversed familiarly with us; we made him understand all the harm he was doing by persecuting this unfortunate woman, but he would not confess his errors and said that he was making her pay an old debt. In the fourth evocation he prayed with us and complained at having been brought to us against his will; he was willing to come, but of his own accord. This he did at the following session. Little by little, with each new evocation, we exercised greater dominion over him and ended by making him renounce the evil which, since the fourth session, had been diminishing; at the ninth, we had the satisfaction of seeing the crises cease. Each time a magnetization of 12 to 15 minutes completely calmed Rose and left her in a state of perfect tranquility. Since the month of August — nine months ago, therefore — the sick woman has had no more crises, and her occupations have not been interrupted. Only once in a while she suffered slight tremors, in consequence of some vexation she could not master; but these were like flashes of lightning without a storm, practically to demonstrate to her that she must not forget the good habits she had contracted toward God and her fellow creatures. It must also be said that she contributed powerfully to the cure, by her faith, her fervor, and her confidence in the Creator, and by the moderation of a naturally irritable character. All this contributed to the obsessor's being filled with courage, for he did not have enough of it to take resolutely the good path; he feared the trials he would have to suffer in order to merit pardon. But, thanks to God, and with the powerful aid of our good guides, he is now on the good path and does all he can to be pardoned. Today, it is he who gives good counsel to the one whom he persecuted for so long and who is now robust and joyful, as though nothing had been the matter. Nevertheless, every eight days she comes to submit to a magnetization and, from time to time, we evoke her former persecutor, to strengthen him in his good resolutions. Here is his last communication, given on April 19, 1865:

— Here I am. I come to thank you for your good perseverance toward me. Without you, without these good and benevolent Spirits here present, I should never have known the happiness I now feel; I would still be dragging myself in evil, in misery. Oh! yes, misery, for one cannot be more unhappy than I was; always doing evil and always desirous of doing it! How many times, ah! I told you that I did not suffer! Only now do I see how much I suffered. At this very moment I still feel those sufferings, but not as before; today it is repentance and not the ceaseless will to do evil. Oh, no! may the God of goodness preserve me from it and may I be strengthened so as never again to relapse into the penalty. Oh! no more those tortures; no more those searing torments that leave the soul not a single moment of repose. This is indeed the hell, which is with the one who does evil, as I did. I did evil out of resentment, out of vengeance, out of ambition! What did I gain by it? Alas! repelled by the good Spirits, I could not understand them when they drew near to me and I heard their voices, because it was not permitted me to see them. No! today God has permitted it; that is why I feel a well-being I have never experienced; because, despite suffering a good deal, I glimpse the future and I bear my sufferings with patience and resignation, asking pardon of God and assistance of the good Spirits for the one whom I persecuted for so long. May she pardon me; a day will come, and perhaps it will not cost much, when I shall be able to be useful to her. I conclude by thanking you and asking you to continue to favor me with your prayers and with the friendship you have shown me, and by pardoning me for the trouble I gave you. Oh! thank you, thank you! You cannot know how grateful my Spirit is for the good you have done me. Pray to God to pardon me and to the good Spirits that they may be with me, in order to help me and strengthen me. Farewell.

Pedro.

— After this communication we received the following from our spiritual guides:

The cure is coming to an end. Thank God, who deigned to receive your prayers and to make use of you so that an obstinate enemy might have become today a friend; for, be assured, one day this Spirit will do all that is possible for that poor family, which he tormented for so long. But you, dear children, do not abandon the persecutor, nor the persecuted; both still need your assistance; the one to sustain him in the good path he has taken; by evoking him a few times, you will increase his courage; the other, to dissipate completely the unwholesome fluid that enveloped her for so long; from time to time give her an abundant magnetization, without which she would still find herself exposed to the influence of other malevolent Spirits, for you know that these are not lacking and you would regret it. Take courage, then; finish, complete your work, and prepare yourselves for those that are still reserved for you. Be firm; your task is thorny, it is true, but, also, if you do not yield, how great will be your reward! Your Guides.

— It is not enough to relate facts more or less interesting; the essential thing is to draw an instruction from them, without which they are of no profit. It is by facts that Spiritism constituted itself as a science and as a doctrine; but, if we had limited ourselves only to ascertaining and recording them, we would be no further along than on the first day. In Spiritism, as in every science, there is always something to learn. Now, it is by study, by observation, and by the deduction of facts that one learns. That is why, when it is appropriate, we have those we cite followed by the reflections they suggest to us, whether they come to confirm a known principle or serve as an element for a new principle. In our opinion, it is the means of captivating the attention of serious people. A first observation to make about the letter related above is that, like those who understand the doctrine in its purity, its converts make abnegation of all self-love; they do not put themselves on display nor seek to shine; they do good without ostentation and without boasting of the cures they obtain, because they know that they owe them neither to their talent nor to their personal merit, and that God can withdraw that favor from them when it pleases Him; they seek neither clientele nor reputation; they find their reward in the satisfaction of having relieved an afflicted one and not in the vain suffrage of men. It is the means of winning the support of the good Spirits, who leave pride to the proud Spirits. Cases of cure such as this, like those of Marmande and others no less meritorious, are without doubt an encouragement; they are, also, excellent practical lessons, which show what results can be reached by faith, by perseverance, and by a wise and intelligent direction; but what does not cease to be a good teaching is the example of modesty, of humility, and of complete moral and material disinterestedness. It is in the centers animated by such sentiments that these marvelous results are obtained, because there one is truly strong against the evil Spirits. It is no less notable that as soon as pride penetrates there, that good is not done exclusively for good's sake, and that the satisfaction of self-love is sought there, the strength declines. Let us note, equally, that it is in the truly serious centers that the most sincere converts are made, because the attendees are touched by the good impression they receive, whereas in the frivolous and shallow centers one is attracted only by curiosity, which is not always satisfied. It is to understand the true object of the doctrine to employ it in doing good to the disincarnate, as to the incarnate; let us admit that it is little entertaining for certain people, but it is more meritorious for those who devote themselves to it. Thus, we are pleased to see multiplying the centers that give themselves to these useful labors; there the creatures instruct themselves while rendering service, and subjects of study are not lacking there. They are the most solid supports of the doctrine. Is it not a very characteristic fact to see, at the two extremities of Europe, in the north of Russia and the south of Spain, Spiritist meetings animated by the same thought of doing good, acting under the impulse of the same sentiments of charity toward their brothers? Is it not the sign of the irresistible moral force of the doctrine, which overcomes all obstacles and knows no barriers?

— In truth, one must be very devoid of good reasons to combat it, when one is reduced to the sad expedients used by the preacher of Barcelona, cited above; it would be wasting time to refute them; one can only pity those who let themselves go to such aberrations, which prove either the most blind ignorance or the most signal bad faith. From this, however, there results no less an important instruction. Let us suppose that the woman Rose had believed the assertions of the preacher and had repelled Spiritism; what would have happened? She would not have been cured; she would have fallen into misery, for being unable to work; she and her husband might perhaps have cursed God, whereas now they bless Him; and the evil Spirit would not have been converted to good. From the theological point of view, there are three souls redeemed by Spiritism, and which the preacher would have let perish.

— Seeing the first symptoms, one understands that Science could have been mistaken, because they had all the characteristics of a pathological case. Yet, it was nothing of the sort. Only Spiritism could discover its true cause, and the proof is that Science, with its remedies, was impotent for long years, whereas in a few days it triumphed without medicaments, solely by the moralization of the perverse being who was its author. The fact is there, and thousands of similar facts. What do the incredulous say? It is chance, the force of Nature; the sick woman was bound to be cured. And certain priests? we say certain priests intentionally, because not all think the same way. That woman was cured by the demon, and it would have been better for the salvation of her soul that she had remained ill. The woman Rose is not of this opinion; since for it she thanks God and not the demon, prays and does good works, she absolutely does not judge her salvation compromised; in the second place, she prefers to have been cured and to work to feed her children rather than see them die of hunger. In our opinion, God is the source of all good.

— But if the devil is the true actor in all cases of obsession, whence comes the impotence of the exorcisms? It is a positive fact that, not only in such cases has the exorcism always failed, but that ceremonies of this kind have always been followed by a recrudescence of the malady; Morzine offered memorable examples. Is the devil, then, more powerful than God, since he resists His ministers, those who oppose holy things to him? And, nevertheless, whom do the Spiritists invoke? from whom do they solicit support? God. Why do they triumph with the same assistance, when the others fail? Here is the reason:

In the first place, the return of the obsessor to good and, consequently, the cure of the sick one — and this is a material fact — prove that he is not a demon, but an evil Spirit, susceptible of improving himself. In the second place, in the exorcism they oppose to him only material words and signs, in the virtue of which they believe, but which the Spirit takes into no account whatever: they irritate him, they threaten him, they curse him and condemn him to the eternal flames; they want to subdue him by force, but, as he is unreachable, he laughs and escapes you, wanting to prove that he is stronger than you. Through Spiritism they speak to him with gentleness, they seek to make the chord of sentiment vibrate within him and show him the mercy of God; they make him glimpse hope and lead him gently to good. Here is the whole secret.

— The fact presented above offers a particular case, that of the suspension of the crises during the pregnancy. Whence comes this? Let science explain it, if it can. Here is the reason given by Spiritism: The illness was neither madness nor a nervous affection; the cure is the proof of this: it was indeed an obsession. The obsessing Spirit was exercising a vengeance; God permitted it to serve as a trial and an expiation for the mother and, besides, because, later, her cure was to lead to the improvement of the Spirit. But the crises, during the gestation, could harm the child; God indeed willed that the mother be punished for the evil she had done, but He did not will that the innocent being she bore in her womb should suffer for it. It is for such a reason that, during that time, all freedom of action was withdrawn from her persecutors. How Spiritism explains things for whoever is willing to study and observe! How many horizons it will open to science, when the latter takes the spiritual element into account! How far from understanding it are those who see it only in the curious manifestations!