Review of the press concerning Spiritism.

— However much may be said and done, Spiritist ideas are in the air. They show through in a thousand ways, in the form of novels or of philosophical thoughts, and the press welcomes them provided the word Spiritism is not pronounced. It is impossible to cite all the thoughts that it records daily, thus doing Spiritism without knowing it. What does the name matter, if the thing is there? One day these gentlemen will be quite astonished to have done Spiritism, as Mr. Jourdain was astonished to have spoken in prose. Many people were walking alongside Spiritism without suspecting it; they are at the frontier when they believe themselves to be very far away. With the exception of the pure materialists, who certainly are a minority, one may say that the ideas of Spiritist philosophy are circulating through the world. What many still repel are the mediumistic manifestations, some out of system, others because, having observed badly, they suffered disappointments; but since the manifestations are facts, sooner or later they will have to accept them. They refuse to be Spiritists solely because of the false idea they attach to that name. Whether those who do not arrive there by the main door arrive by the secondary one, the result is the same; today the impulse has been given and the movement could not be halted. On the other hand, as has been announced, an immensity of phenomena are produced which seem to depart from the known laws and confound Science, in which they vainly seek their explanation; to pass them over in silence, when they have a certain notoriety, would be difficult. Now, these phenomena, which present themselves under the most varied aspects, thanks to their multiplication end up arousing attention and, little by little, familiarize people with the idea of a spiritual force, outside the material forces. It is always a means of reaching the end; the Spirits knock from all sides and in a thousand different ways, so that the blows always reach some or others.

Among the Spiritist thoughts found in various newspapers, we shall cite the following:

— In the discourse pronounced last November 11 by Mr. d’Eichthal, one of the editors of the Temps, at the tomb of Mr. Charles Duveyrier, the orator expressed himself thus:

“Duveyrier died in profound calm, full of confidence in God, of faith in the eternity of life, proud of his long years consecrated to the elaboration and development of a belief that must redeem all men from misery, disorder, and ignorance, certain of having paid his debt, of having given to the generation that follows him more than he had received from the one that preceded him. He stopped like a valiant workman, his task finished, leaving to others the charge of continuing it.

“If his mortal remains did not pass through the consecrated temples to reach the field of repose, it was not out of an unjust disdain against the immortal beliefs, but because none of the formulas that might have been pronounced over his remains would have given the idea that he formed of the future life. Duveyrier did not desire, did not believe he would go to heaven, to enjoy eternally a personal beatitude, while the majority of men would remain condemned to sufferings without hope. Full of God and living in God, but bound to Humanity, it is in the bosom of Humanity that he hoped to live again in order to contribute eternally to that work of progress which incessantly draws it nearer to the divine ideal.” (Temps newspaper, November 14, 1866).

Mr. Duveyrier had been part of the Saint-Simonian sect. It is the belief referred to above, to the development of which he had consecrated several years of his life; but his ideas on the future of the soul, as one sees, came very close to those taught by the Spiritist Doctrine. However, one must not infer from these words: “It is in the bosom of Humanity that he hoped to live again” that he believed in reincarnation. On this point he had no definitive idea; he understood by this that the soul, instead of losing itself in the infinite, or of being absorbed in a useless beatitude, remained in the sphere of Humanity, to whose progress it contributed by its influence. But this idea is exactly the one that Spiritism also teaches; it is that of the invisible world which surrounds us; souls live in the midst of us, as we live in the midst of them. Mr. Duveyrier was, then, contrary to the majority of his colleagues of the press, not only profoundly spiritualist, but seventy-five percent Spiritist. What was lacking in him to be so completely? Probably to have known what Spiritism is, for he possessed its fundamental bases: the belief in God, in the individuality of the soul, its survival and its immortality; in its presence in the midst of men after death, and its action upon them. What more does Spiritism say? That these same souls reveal their presence by a direct action, and that we are incessantly in communion with them. It comes to prove by facts what in Mr. Duveyrier and in many others was only in the state of theory and hypothesis. It is understandable that those who believe only in tangible matter should repel everything, but what is most surprising is to see spiritualists rejecting the proof of what constitutes the very basis of their belief. He who thus set forth the thoughts of Mr. Duveyrier on the future of the soul, Mr. d’Eichthal, his friend and fellow-believer in Saint-Simonism, who probably shared to a certain extent his opinions, is no less a declared adversary of Spiritism; he very nearly did not suspect that what he was saying in praise of Mr. Duveyrier was quite simply a profession of Spiritist faith.

— The following words, of Mr. Louis Jourdan, of the Siècle, to his son, were reproduced by the Petit Journal of September 3, 1866.

“I feel you alive, with a life superior to mine, my Prosper; and when my last hour shall sound, I shall console myself in leaving those whom we love together, thinking that I am going to find you and that we shall be united. I know that this consolation will not come to me without efforts; I know that it will be necessary to conquer it by working courageously for my own betterment, as well as for that of others; I shall at least do all that is in my power to merit the recompense I covet: to find you again. Your memory is the beacon that guides us and the point of support that sustains us through the darkness that envelops us. We perceive a luminous point, toward which we march resolutely; that point is the one where you live, my son, beside all those whom I loved on Earth and who departed before me for their new life.” What could be more profoundly Spiritist than these sweet and touching words! Mr. Louis Jourdan is even closer to Spiritism than Mr. Duveyrier, because he has long believed in the plurality of terrestrial existences, as could be seen in the citation we made in the Review of December 1862. He accepts Spiritist philosophy, but not the fact of the manifestations, which he does not absolutely repel, but on which he is not sufficiently enlightened. It is, however, a phenomenon grave enough, as to its consequences, for it alone can explain so many incomprehensible things that take place before our eyes, to merit being deepened by an observer such as he. Because if the relations between the visible world and the invisible world exist, it is a whole revolution in ideas, in beliefs, in philosophy; it is light cast upon a host of obscure questions; it is the annihilation of materialism; it is, finally, the sanction of his dearest hopes in regard to his son. What elements would the men who make themselves champions of progressive and emancipating ideas glean in the Doctrine if they knew all that it encloses for the future! It is not doubtful that some will arise who will understand the power of this lever and will know how to draw profit from it.

— The Événement of last November 4 related the following anecdote, concerning the celebrated composer Gluck. At the first performance of Iphigénie, on April 19, 1774, attended by Louis XVI and Queen Marie Antoinette, the latter wished to crown her former music teacher in person. After the performance, summoned to the king’s box, Gluck was so moved that he could not utter a word and had only strength enough to thank the queen with his look. Noticing that Marie Antoinette wore that evening a ruby necklace, Gluck rose up: Great God! he exclaimed, save the queen! save the queen! blood! blood! — Where? they cried from all sides. — Blood! blood! on the neck! shouted the musician. — Marie Antoinette was trembling. Quick, a physician, she said, my poor Gluck is mad. — The musician had fallen into an armchair. Blood! blood! he murmured… Save the archduchess Marie… save the queen! — The unhappy maestro takes your necklace for blood, the king said to Marie Antoinette; he has a fever. — The queen raised her hand to her neck, tore off the necklace, and, seized with dread, threw it far away. Gluck was carried out unconscious. The author of the article ends thus:

Here, dear reader, is the story that the German musician told me at the opera, and which I reread the next day, in a biography of the immortal author of Alceste. Is it true? Is it fantasy? I do not know. But would it not be possible that men of genius, whose elevated spirit soars above Humanity, might have, in certain hours of inspiration, that mysterious faculty called second sight? (Albert Wolff).

Mr. Albert Wolff has loosed more than one arrow at Spiritism and at the Spiritists, and here he himself admits the possibility of second sight and, even more, foresight by second sight. He probably does not realize to what consequences the recognition of such a faculty leads. One more who walks alongside Spiritism without suspecting it, perhaps without daring to confess it, and who nonetheless does not cease to cast his stone at it. If he were told that he is a Spiritist, he would leap with indignation, exclaiming: I! believe in the Davenport brothers! Because for the majority of these gentlemen Spiritism lies entirely in the rapping of the cords. We recall that one of them, whom a correspondent reproached for speaking of Spiritism without knowing it, replied in his newspaper: “You are mistaken; I studied Spiritism in the school of the Davenport brothers, and the proof is that it cost me 15 francs”: We believe we cited the fact somewhere in the Review [in the article: New and infinite burial of Spiritism]. What more can be asked of them? They know no more than this.

— The Siècle of August 27, 1866 cited the following words of Mrs. George Sand, with regard to the death of Mr. Ferdinand Pajot:

“The death of Mr. Ferdinand Pajot is one of the most painful and lamentable facts. This young man, endowed with remarkable beauty and belonging to an excellent family, was, besides, a man of heart and of generous ideas. We ourselves were able to appreciate him each time we invoked his charity for the poor of our circle. He gave largely, with more generosity, perhaps, than his resources authorized, and he gave with spontaneity, with confidence, with joy. He was sincere, independent, good as an angel. Married a short while ago to a charming young woman, he will be mourned as he deserves. I owe to give him, after this cruel death, a tender and maternal blessing: illusion, if one wishes, but I believe that we enter better into the life that follows this one, when we arrive there escorted by the esteem and affection of those we have just left.” Mrs. Sand is even more explicit in her book Mademoiselle de la Quintinie - Google Books. On page 318, one reads: “Sir abbé, when you wish us to take a step toward your church, begin by making us see a council assembled and decreeing falsehood and blasphemy the hell of eternal penalties, and you will have the right to cry out to us:

Come to us, all you who wish to know God.”

Page 320: “To ask God to annihilate our senses, to harden our heart, to make odious our most sacred bonds, is to ask Him to deny and destroy His work, to go back upon His steps and make us ourselves go back, causing us to retrograde toward the inferior existences, below the animal, below the plant, perhaps below the mineral.”

Page 323: “Meanwhile, whatever your lot may be among us, you will see clearly one day beyond the tomb and, as I no longer believe in punishments without end any more than in trials without fruit, I announce to you that we shall meet somewhere, where we shall understand one another better and where we shall love one another, instead of combating one another; but, also like you, I do not believe in the impunity of evil and in the efficacy of error. I believe, then, that you will expiate the hardening of your heart by intense sufferings of the soul in some other existence.”

Alongside these eminently Spiritist thoughts, to which only the name is lacking that people obstinately refuse them, one sometimes finds others, a little less serious, which recall the good old time of the more or less witty mockeries, under which they thought they could stifle Spiritism. One may judge it by the following samples, which are like the lost rockets of the fireworks.

— Mr. Ponson du Terrail, in his Dernier mot de Rocambole, published as a serial in the Figaro, expresses himself thus:

“Meanwhile, the English would show themselves superior to the Americans in the matter of superstition. The turning tables, before making among us the happiness of a hundred thousand imbeciles, spent several seasons in London and there received one of the most courteous hospitalities. Little by little the gravedigger’s account had gone the round of Hampstead, a town celebrated for its donkeys and its donkey-drivers, and the important people of the region had not hesitated for a single instant to decide that the country house, at night, was haunted by Spirits.”

Mr. Ponson du Terrail, who so generously bestows a diploma of imbecility upon a hundred thousand individuals, believes, naturally, that he has more spirit than they, but he does not believe he harbors a Spirit, without which it is probable that he would not send them to the country of the donkeys.

But, he will ask, what relation can there be between the turning tables and the sublime thoughts that you cited a moment ago? There is, we reply, the same relation that exists between your body, when it waltzes, and your spirit, which makes it waltz; between the frog, which danced on Galvani’s plate, and the transatlantic telegraph; between the apple that falls and the law of gravitation, which governs the world. If Galvani and Newton had not meditated upon these phenomena so simple and so vulgar, today we would not have all that industry, the arts, and the sciences have drawn from them. If a hundred thousand imbeciles had not sought the cause that makes the tables turn, we would today still be ignorant of the existence and the nature of the invisible world that surrounds us; we would not know whence we came before being born and whither we go in dying. Among these hundred thousand imbeciles, many perhaps would still believe in horned demons, in eternal flames, in magic, in sorcerers, and in spells. The turning tables are, for the sublime thoughts on the future of the soul, what the germ is to the tree that came out of it: they are the rudiments of the science of man.

— One read in the Écho d’Oran of April 24, 1866:

“A fact has just taken place in El-Afroun which has painfully affected our population. Mr. Pagès, one of the oldest inhabitants of our town, has just died. You know that he was imbued with the ideas — I was going to say the follies — of Mr. Allan Kardec and that he made profession of Spiritism. Apart from that extravagance, he was an honest man, esteemed by all who knew him. For this reason, people were quite astonished when they learned that the parish priest had refused to bury him, under the pretext that Spiritism is contrary to Christianity. Is it not in the Gospel: Return good for evil? Now, if this poor Mr. Pagès is guilty for having believed in Spiritism, was that not one reason the more to pray for him?”

Mr. Pagès, whom we had known by correspondence for a long time, wrote us this:

“Spiritism made of me another man. Before knowing it, I was like many others; I believed in nothing and yet I suffered at the thought that, in dying, all is finished for us. At times I experienced profound discouragement, and I asked myself what use it is to do good. For me Spiritism had the effect of a curtain that rises to show us a magnificent décor. Today I see clearly; the future is no longer doubtful and I am very happy. To tell you of the happiness I experience is impossible; it seems that I am like a man condemned to death, to whom they come to say that he will not die and that he is going to leave his prison to go to a beautiful country, to live in liberty. Dear sir, what effects must this produce? Courage came back to me with the certainty of living always, because I understood that what we acquire in good is not pure loss; I understood the utility of doing good; I understood the fraternity and the solidarity that bind all men. Under the empire of this thought I strove to better myself. Yes, I can tell you without vanity, I corrected myself of many faults, although many still remain to me. Now I feel that I shall die tranquil, for I know that I shall only exchange the bad garment, which incommodes me, for a new one, in which I shall be more at ease.” Here, then, is a man who, in the eyes of certain persons, was reasonable, sensible when he believed in nothing, and who is taxed with madness for the sole fact of having believed in the immortality of his soul through Spiritism. And it is these same persons, who believe neither in the soul nor in prayer, who cast stones at him for his beliefs in life and who pursue him with their sarcasms even after death, who invoke the Gospel against the act of intolerance and the refusal of prayers of which he was the object, he who believed in the Gospel and in prayer only through Spiritism!