Synthesis of the Spiritist Doctrine

This book, which we were only able to announce in our last issue, is a summary of the most essential principles of the Spiritist Doctrine. It is composed, for the most part, of textual quotations taken from the fundamental works, and of examples drawn from Heaven and Hell, suited to give, concerning the consequences of the manner in which one employs life, a more just, more rational, more satisfactory idea, and above all one more in accordance with the justice of God than the doctrine of the eternal flames. The author makes of his book neither a matter of self-love nor of interest. A fervent and devoted Spiritist, he published it above all with a view to propagating the Doctrine in the countryside of his Department; the modesty of his viewpoints does not prevent this little book from being very useful in other places. Here is the account that the Journal d’Amiens, of December 29, 1867, gave of this opuscule. We follow it with the letter addressed by Mr. Loth, in connection with this account, to the author of the article, and which the same newspaper published in its issue of January 17.

Synthesis of the Spiritist Doctrine.

Here is a rather curious little book, written by a villager of Saint-Sauflieu. It is true that the author lived a long time in Paris, and it was in this city that he was able to come into contact with the apostles of Spiritism.

As we take an interest in all the publications of our region, we wished to make the acquaintance of this work. We had been told that the work of Mr. Florent Loth had been put on the index, in the communes neighboring his village; this news excited our curiosity and we resolved to read the Synthesis of the Spiritist Doctrine. People do indeed love forbidden fruit.

As for ourselves, who have not the least interest in censuring or approving the author's work, we will say frankly, in order to put ourselves at ease, that we do not believe in Spiritism, that we give no credit to turning or talking tables, because it is repugnant to our reason to admit that material objects can be endowed with the least intelligence. Nor do we believe in the gift of second sight, or, better said, in the faculty of seeing through thick walls, or of distinguishing at great distances what is happening far away, that is, several hundred leagues off. Finally, to continue our preliminary confessions, we add that we have no faith in Spirits who return, and that man, more or less inspired, has not the power to evoke and, above all, to make the souls of the dead speak. This said, in order to clear the ground of all that does not enter into our viewpoints, we recognize that Mr. Florent Loth's book is not a bad work. Its morality is pure, love of neighbor is recommended in it, tolerance for the beliefs of others is defended in it: this explains the good sale of this work.

But to say that convinced adepts of the Spiritist Doctrine, with all its parts admitted, will be formed as a consequence of reading our compatriot's work, would be to advance a fact that will not come about. In what seems to us reasonable and, let us speak plainly, to have common sense, according to the best acceptation of these terms, there are excellent things. Thus, certain abuses are repelled with evident, clear and precise reasons; and if the author seeks to convince, it is always by gentleness and by persuasion. Therefore, setting aside all that is connected with the material practices of Spiritism, practices in which we do not believe at all, one could draw from the reading of the book in question very good notions of morality, of tolerance and of love for one's neighbor. Under this point of view, we entirely approve of Mr. Florent Loth and do not understand the interdict launched against his opuscule.

Will the Summary of the Spiritist Doctrine one day be prohibited by the Congregation of the Index, whose seat is in Rome? This is a question not yet resolved, because this little book is not destined to cross our Picard frontiers. However, were the thing to happen, Mr. Florent Loth would gather for his work a notoriety of which he should never have thought.

As for the physical experiments of Spiritism, let us here let Mr. Georges Sauton speak, one of our confreres, who in the Liberté of Wednesday, September 11, 1867, expressed himself thus concerning a Spiritist session held in Paris, at the home of a doctor of Medicine:

“Doctor F… amassed a certain fortune. He consumes it holding Spiritist sessions, which cost him very dear in candles and in mediums.

“Last evening he had invited the press to his monthly gathering. These Spirits were to be questioned regarding the zouave Jacob [see The healing zouave of the Camp of Châlons] and to tell their manner of thinking concerning this interesting soldier. Mr. Babinet, of the Institute, — nothing less! — had promised to honor the gathering with his presence; at least the host, through the invitation cards, had given it to be understood.

“Albert Brun, Victor Noir and I went to the doctor's house. Nothing, absolutely nothing of Mr. Babinet.

“Ten persons around a table were making the piece of furniture turn, which turned poorly; thirty others, among whom many decorated men, were looking at them.”

“The Spirits, doubtless indisposed, were reticent in speaking. They only deigned to imitate the noise of the saw, of the hammers of the coopers and of the blacksmiths striking the barrels and the anvil. They were asked to sing The bearded woman and I have good tobacco, but they did not sing. They were enjoined to make a pear leap into the air, but the pear did not leap.”

We shall add nothing to this little and witty account.

Let us end with an extract from the author's preface, in which the moral part of his ideas is set forth:

“Spiritism does not have the pretension of imposing its belief; it is only through persuasion that it hopes to reach its goal, which is the good of Humanity. Liberty of conscience: thus, I firmly believe in the existence of the soul and in its immortality; I believe in future penalties and rewards; I believe in the manifestations of the Spirits, that is, in the souls of those who lived on this Earth or in other worlds; and I believe in this by virtue of the right my neighbor has not to believe; but it is as easy for me to prove my affirmation to him as it is impossible for him to prove his negation to me, because the negation of the incredulous is not a proof. The fact, they say, is contrary to the known laws. Well then! it is that it rests upon an unknown law; one cannot know all the laws of Nature, because God is great and can do all!… “Malevolent persons have spread the rumor that Spiritism was an obstacle to the progress of religion. These persons, more ignorant than truly pious, knowing absolutely nothing of the Doctrine, can neither appreciate it nor judge it.

“We say, we, and we further prove, that the teaching of the Spirits is very Christian, that it is based on the immortality of the soul, on future penalties and rewards, on the justice of God and on the morality of the Christ.”

The quotation of this profession of faith by the author will be sufficient to make known his manner of seeing. It is for the reader to appreciate the work of which we speak.

In making this account, we wished only to establish a fact: it is that in our province of Picardy, Spiritism had found a fervent and convinced defender.

We do not admit all the author's ideas. We hope that, by virtue of his gentleness, he will not be vexed by our frankness. So long as the public peace is not disturbed by impious doctrines, so long as the social order is not shaken by subversive maxims, our fraternal tolerance will make us say what we here say of Mr. Florent Loth's book: Peace to consciences! Respect for the beliefs of one's neighbor!

M. A. Gabriel Rembault.

“Mister Director, “I shall be grateful to you if you would insert in your newspaper my reply to the criticism of Mr. Gabriel Rembault concerning my Summary of the Spiritist Doctrine, an article that appeared last December 29.

“I do not wish to engage in polemic with Mr. Gabriel Rembault; I am not equal to his talent as a writer, an incontestable talent that everyone recognizes in him; but let him permit me to demonstrate to him the reasons that led me to write this book.

Before all else, I must recognize that Mr. Gabriel Rembault's criticism is courteous and polite; it emanates from a man who is convinced, but not irritated. Oh! I cannot say the same of other critics, who cast the anathema upon the Spiritists with insults and coarse words! I understand nothing of this demonstration of hatred and of injuries, of these foul-sounding words of madmen and of scoundrels, which they fling in our face and which inspire only profound disgust in decent persons. And yet, these intolerant men know perfectly well that, according to the principles of our modern society, all consciences are free and have the right to an inviolable respect. “Forgive me this digression, mister Director, as I forgive these insulters; I forgive them with all my heart and ask God to deign to enlighten them concerning charity. They ought to practice better that evangelical virtue toward their neighbor.

“I return to my subject.

“It was through study, through meditation and above all through practice, that I acquired the proof of certain physical facts, hitherto regarded as supernatural. It is by the universal fluid that one can explain the phenomena of magnetism. These phenomena can no longer be contested today; it is thanks to the same fluid that the Spirit crosses space, possesses double sight, is endowed with etheric penetration, to which the opacity of bodies could not oppose itself. These phenomena are nothing but the momentary liberation of the Spirit. It is true that incredulity does not wish to admit these phenomena, but authentic and numerous attestations no longer permit them to be put in doubt. “Thus, the marvels of which they accuse magnetism and Spiritism are, all of them, but effects whose cause lies in the laws of Nature.

“And since Mr. Gabriel Rembault cited an article from the newspaper Liberté, I permit myself, in my turn, to cite a passage from a brand-new book — The Reason of Spiritism — fruit of long studies by an honorable magistrate. He says, on page 216:

“Would God ever have derogated from the laws He instituted to bring His work to a good end? Did He who foresaw all not provide for all? How could you pretend that mediumship, the communication of the Spirits, is not in accordance with the laws of man's nature? And if revelation is the necessary consequence of mediumship, why would you say that it is a derogation of the law of God, when it would enter manifestly into the views of Providence and of human economy [organization]?

“I stop after this quotation. It is an argument in the opposite sense to the ideas of Mr. Gabriel Rembault, and which I submit to the appreciation of your readers.

“In sum, I am in agreement with him when he says:

“Peace to consciences! respect for the beliefs of one's neighbor!

“Receive, mister Director, my respectful compliments.

“Florent Loth.

“Saint-Sauflieu, January 16, 1868.”

It stands out from the above account that the author of the article did not know a single word of the Doctrine; like so many others, he judged it by hearsay, without having taken the trouble to go to the bottom of the question and lift the cloak of ridicule, which malevolent or more or less interested belief delighted in covering it with. He did like the monkey of the fable, which rejected the nut, because it had only bitten the green husk. Had he known its first elements, he would not have supposed the Spiritists so simple as to believe in the intelligence of a table, just as he himself does not believe in the intelligence of the pen which, in his hands, transmits the thoughts of his own spirit. Like him, the Spiritists do not admit that material objects can be endowed with the least intelligence; but, like him, doubtless, they admit that these same objects can be instruments in the service of an intelligence. Mr. Loth's book did not convince him, but it showed him the serious side and the moral tendencies of the doctrine, and this sufficed for him to understand that the thing had something good and merited at least the respect due to the beliefs of one's neighbor. He gave proof of praiseworthy impartiality, immediately inserting the correction that was addressed to him by the author. What touched him were not the facts of manifestation, of which moreover little is treated in the book, but the liberal and anti-retrograde tendencies, the spirit of tolerance and of conciliation of the Doctrine. Such is, indeed, the impression it will produce in all who take the trouble to study it. Without accepting its experimental part which, for the Spiritists, is the material proof of the truth of their principles, they will see in it a powerful auxiliary for the reform of the abuses against which they rise up every day. Instead of fanatics of a new kind, they will see in all the Spiritists, whose number increases ceaselessly, an army that combats for the same goal, although with other arms. But, what do the means matter to them, if the result is the same? Their ignorance of the tendencies of Spiritism is such that they do not even know that it is a liberal doctrine, an emancipator of intelligence, an enemy of blind faith, which comes to proclaim liberty of conscience and free examination as the essential basis of all serious belief. They do not even know that it was the first to inscribe on its banner this immortal maxim: Outside of charity there is no salvation, a principle of union and of universal fraternity, the only one that can put a term to the antagonisms of peoples and of beliefs; while they puerilely believe it absorbed with a table that turns, they do not suspect that the child has left the toys for the armor, that it has grown and that it now embraces all the questions that interest the progress of Humanity. Its disinterested and good-faith adversaries lack nothing but to know it, in order to judge it otherwise than they do. If they reflected on the rapidity of its propagation, which nothing can hinder, they would arrive at the conclusion that it cannot be the effect of a completely hollow idea; and even if it enclosed but a single truth, if that truth is capable of stirring so many consciences, it merits being taken into consideration; if it causes so much dread in a certain world, it is that they do not consider it as a useless smoke. The article referred to above establishes, besides, an important fact: it is that the interdiction launched against this little book by the clergy of the interior served to propagate it, which could not fail to occur, so powerful is the seduction of forbidden fruit. The author of the article thinks, and with reason, that if it were condemned by the congregation of the Index, seated in Rome, it would acquire a notoriety not aspired to by Mr. Loth. He is unaware that the fundamental works of the doctrine had this privilege, and that it was thanks to the bolts launched against the Doctrine in the name of this Index that these books were sought out in the circles where they were unknown. They made this very natural reflection: the more loudly they thunder, the more important the thing must be; they read them first out of curiosity; then, as they found good things there, they accepted them. This belongs to History. [1] Small in-8º brochure, of 150 pages; price: 1 fr. 25 c. – By post: 1 fr. 50 c. – Amiens, principal bookshops. Also at the offices of the Spiritist Review. [Abrégé de la doctrine spirite, contenant un aperçu rapide des différents ouvrages qui ont paru jusqu'à ce jour, par Florent Loth… - Google Books.]

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