The thoughts of the zouave Jacob

in-12 volume, of 220 pages. Price: 2 fr. 50 c.; by post, 2 fr. 75 c. At the publisher's, 70, rue Bonaparte, Paris.

This issue being at press when Mr. Jacob's book reached us, we postpone its commentary to the next issue.

[Review of March.]

THE THOUGHTS OF THE ZOUAVE JACOB.

Preceded by his prayer and by the manner of healing those who suffer.

Quotations are the best way to make known the spirit of a book. To begin, we take from the announcement and from the publisher's preface the following passages of what Mr. Jacob has just published. The facts to which he owes his notoriety are too well known for it to be necessary to recall them. Besides, we set them forth sufficiently in the Review of October and November 1866, after the camp of Châlons, and in the issues of October and November 1867. “Henri Jacob, today a musician in the regiment of the zouaves of the imperial guard, was born on March 6, 1828, at Saint-Martin-des-Champs (Saône-et-Loire). All his studies consist of one year of class in the communal school; thus, he received no other education than that which his father was able to give him; it does not go beyond that of simple reading and writing and, nevertheless, it was he who, without anyone's help, wrote this writing, which we deliver to publicity. “Jacob is not a professional writer; he is a man of religious aspirations, who only decided to deliver this volume to publicity by virtue of insistent solicitations. For him this work is his profession of faith in the God creator; a prayer, one might say a hymn, that he addresses to the Almighty. It is written in a good spirit, without passion, and in it he makes no allusion to any cult nor to any spirit of political party. “Jacob is a being endowed with some imagination, nothing more. The reader would be much mistaken if he saw in his sentiments anything other than God and Humanity. All his ambition is to bring some balm to the latter.

“In these pages we see a kind of heroism and of grandeur, reflecting itself in the acts of philanthropy, so marvelously carried out by Jacob, a firm believer, who knows that he can do much, because God comes to his aid in his labors so difficult, and that God alone brings them to a good end.”

First of all, Mr. Jacob gives an account, in simple terms and without emphasis, of a dream or vision, which contributed to the elevation of his thoughts toward God, and to the fixing of his ideas about the future.

There comes, next, a profession of faith, in the form of an epistle, entitled: “To my brothers in Spiritism”; and from which we extract the following passages:

“Before my initiation into the spiritist science, I lived in darkness; my heart had never felt the sweetnesses of peace! my soul had never known joy; I lived bound to the Earth, with the torments that it stirs up for material men, without thinking that there are better worlds, which God, our father of all, created so that those who practice the good in this world might enjoy an ineffable happiness. “Through my initiation into the Spiritist Doctrine, I acquired the conviction that God, in His mercy, sends us good Spirits to counsel us and encourage us in the practice of the good, and gave us the power to communicate with them and with those who have left this Earth and are dear to our hearts. This conviction illuminated my soul! I saw the light! Little by little, I strengthened myself in my conviction and, by this means, I attained the faculty of writing medium. “My conversations with the Spirits and their good counsels filled me with a living faith, confirming for me the truths of the spiritist science, which fortified my faith, and through faith the faculty of healing was given to me.

“Thus, then, my dear friends, may a living faith be ever in you, through the practice of the spiritist maxims, which are: the love of God, fraternity and charity. Let us love one another, and we shall all possess the faculty of relieving one another mutually and many will be able to come to heal, of which I am fully convinced. “Let us, then, be always charitable and generous and we shall always be assisted by the good Spirits. You all, who are initiated into the Spiritist Doctrine, teach it to those who are still in the darkness of matter; open their souls to the light and they will enjoy, by anticipation, the happiness that awaits, in the superior worlds, those who practice the good among us. “Be firm in your good resolutions; live always in a great purity of soul, and God will give you the power to heal your fellow men. Here is my prayer:

“My God, have the goodness to permit the good and benevolent Spirits to come to assist me, in intention and in fact, in the work of charity that I desire to accomplish, relieving the unfortunate who suffer. It is in your name and in your praise, my God, that these benefits spread over us.”

“Believe, have faith! and when you wish to relieve a sick person, after your prayer, place your hand upon his heart, and ask God warmly for the succor of which you have need; and, I am convinced, the divine effluvium will infiltrate into you to relieve or heal your brother who suffers. My first conscious cure was to make a cholera patient rise from his bed of pain, operating in this manner. Why would you wish that I should be more privileged than you, by God, who is wisdom and justice? “By your letters, you ask me to correspond with you and to help you with my counsels. I am going to communicate to you those that the Spirits inspired in me, and to respond to your appeal, full of good will to be useful to your happiness. Mine would be great if I could cooperate for the triumph of the degree of perfection to which I desire to see you arrive.” There follows a series of 217 letters which, one might say, constitute the body of the volume. They are communications obtained by Mr. Jacob, as a writing medium, in different groups or Spiritist gatherings. They are excellent counsels of morality, in a more or less correct style; encouragements to the practice of charity, of fraternity, of humility, of gentleness, of benevolence, of devotion to the Spiritist Doctrine, of moral and material disinterestedness; exhortations to the reform of oneself. The most severe moralist will find no defect there, and it would be desirable that all mediums, healers and others, and all Spiritists in general, should put into practice these wise counsels. One can but congratulate Mr. Jacob on the sentiments that he expresses; and reading this book, it will come to no one's thought that it is the work of a charlatan; it is, then, a denial given to the accusations that interested malevolence delighted in launching against him; and to those who, by derision, presented him as a thaumaturge or maker of miracles. Although these numerous communications are all conceived in an excellent spirit, it is to be regretted that the uniformity of the subjects treated casts a little monotony over this reading. They contain no explanations, nor special instructions on healing mediumship, which is only the accessory part of the book. The account of some authentic facts of cures and of the circumstances that accompanied them, would have added interest and practical utility to this work. Moreover, here is how Mr. Jacob describes what happens in the sessions where the sick gather:

“At the moment of the session, after having addressed to God my short but fervent prayer, I feel my fingers contract and, upon touching the sick person, I recognize the force of the fluid by the moisture of the hands; sometimes they are flooded with perspiration; and the warmth that gains the lower parts is also a complement of indication of the almost instantaneous relief that he experiences. “Meanwhile, it is not by my own inspiration that the sick must see disappear the ills that overwhelm them, but rather by the will of God; I also see, wandering around me, in the midst of a brilliant light, a great number of benevolent Spirits, who appear to associate themselves with my painful mission. There is above all one who lets me perceive very distinctly the halo that must encircle his venerable head. At his side are two very radiant persons, surrounded by innumerable Spirits. The first seems to guide me and inspire me in my operations, if I may so express myself; in short, the room where I give the consultations is always full of a vivid light, which I continually see reflected upon the sick. “After the session there remains to me no remembrance of what happened; it is for this reason that I recommend with much insistence to the persons present that they pay the greatest attention to the words that I address to the sick who offer themselves to me to be healed, if, however, this is possible.”

The work ends with some counsels on the hygienic regimen that the sick of whom he takes care must follow.

[1] One in-12 vol., of 220 pages. Price: 2 fr. 50 c. At the publisher's, rue Bonaparte, 70. [Les pensées du Zouave Jacob: précédées de sa prière et de la manière de guérir soi-même ceux qui souffrent - Google Books.]