A case of madness caused by the fear of the devil.

In a small town of old Burgundy, which we abstain from naming, but which we could do, should it be necessary, there lives a poor old man whom the Spiritist faith sustains in his poverty, living painfully from the itinerant sale of trinkets through the neighboring localities. He is a good man, compassionate, rendering services whenever the occasion offers itself, and certainly above his station by the elevation of his thoughts. Spiritism gave him faith in God and in immortality, courage, and resignation. One day, on one of his rounds, he met a young widow, mother of several children, who, after the death of her husband, whom she adored, lost in despair and finding herself without resources, completely lost her reason. Drawn by sympathy to that great grief, he sought to see this unfortunate woman, in order to judge whether her state was irremediable. The poverty in which he found her redoubled his compassion; but, as he was also poor, all he could give her was consolation.

“I saw her several times,” he said to one of our colleagues of the Society of Paris, who knew him and had gone to see him; “one day I told her, in a tone of persuasion, that the one she mourned was not lost forever; that he was near her, although she did not see him, and that I could, if she wished, make her converse with him. At these words, her face seemed to brighten; a ray of hope shone in her dimmed eyes.” – “You will not deceive me?” she asked; “Ah! if this could be true!” “Being a good writing medium, I obtained in the session a short communication from her husband, which gave her sweet satisfaction. I came to see her several times, and each time her husband conversed with her through me; she questioned him and he answered in such a way as to leave her no doubt about his presence, because he spoke to her of things that I myself was unaware of; he encouraged her, exhorted her to resignation, and assured her that one day they would meet again. “Little by little, under the dominion of that sweet emotion and those consoling thoughts, calm returned to her soul, her reason was visibly coming back, and at the end of a few months, she was completely cured and was able to give herself over to the work that was to feed her and her children.

“This cure made a great sensation among the peasants of the village. Thus, everything was going well; I thanked God for having allowed me to wrest this unfortunate woman from the oppression of despair; I also thanked the good Spirits for their assistance, for everyone knew that this cure had been produced by Spiritism, in which I rejoiced. But I took care to tell them that there was nothing supernatural in it, explaining to them as best I could the principles of the sublime Doctrine, which gives so much consolation and has already made so great a number of people happy. “This unexpected cure keenly disturbed the priest of the place; he visited the widow, whom he had completely abandoned since her illness. From her he learned how and by whom she and her children had been cured; that she now had the certainty of not being separated from her husband; that the joy she felt, the confidence this gave her in the goodness of God, the faith with which she was animated had been the principal cause of her recovery.

“Alas! all the good that I had put so much perseverance into producing was going to be destroyed; the curate had the unfortunate widow come to the parish; he began by casting doubt into her soul; then he made her believe that I was a demon, that I operated only in his name, that she was now in his power; and he acted so well that the poor woman, who still needed the greatest care, weakened by so many emotions, relapsed into a state worse than the first time. Today everywhere she sees only devils, demons, and hell. Her madness is complete and they must take her to an asylum for the insane.” What had caused that woman's first madness? Despair. What had restored her reason to her? The consolations of Spiritism. What made her relapse into an incurable madness? Fanaticism, the fear of the devil and of hell. This fact dispenses with any commentary. As one can see, the clergy did wrong to claim, as it has done in many writings and sermons, that Spiritism leads to madness, when, with justice, the argument can be turned back upon it. Besides, the official statistics are there to prove that the exaltation of religious ideas enters in a notable part into the cases of madness [See: Statistics of madness]. Before casting the stone at someone, it would be prudent to see whether it might not fall back upon oneself. What impression must this fact produce on the population of that village? Certainly it will not be in favor of the cause upheld by Monsieur the curate, because the material result is before everyone's eyes. If he thinks of recruiting partisans through belief in the devil, he is roundly mistaken, and it is sad to see the Church make of that belief a cornerstone of faith. (See Genesis According to Spiritism, chapter XVII, 27.)