Chapter 1.

[On the underhanded maneuvers of the adversaries of Spiritism.]

There is a point upon which I believe I ought to call your full attention. I wish to speak of the underhanded maneuvers of the adversaries of Spiritism who, after having attacked it openly and in vain, seek to strike it from behind. It is a tactic against which you must be forewarned.

As you know, they have combated Spiritism by every possible means; they attacked it in the name of reason, of Science, of religion. Nothing succeeded. They tried to pour ridicule upon it by the handful, but the ridicule slid over it as water over marble. They were no more fortunate with threat and persecution; if they encountered a few reeds, they also confronted oaks they could not bend, nor did they manage to shake any conviction. Do you believe that its enemies have already surrendered? No! There still remain to them two means, the last ones which, we hope, will serve them no better, thanks to the good sense and the vigilance of all true Spiritists, who will know how to preserve themselves from the internal enemies as they were able to repel those from without.

Not having been able to cast ridicule upon Spiritism, invulnerable under the aegis of its sublime morality, they now try to ridicule the Spiritists, that is, to provoke ridiculous acts on the part of certain Spiritists or of those who present themselves as such, holding all responsible for the acts of a few. What they would desire, above all, would be to be able to link the names of Spiritist, Spiritism, and medium with those of charlatans, conjurers, necromancers, and fortune-tellers, and it will not be difficult for them to find obliging accomplices to help them, employing mystical or cabalistic signs to justify what they have dared to assert in certain newspapers: that the Spiritists give themselves over to the practices of magic and sorcery, and that their meetings are repeated scenes of the sabbath. At the sight of a mountebank's poster announcing performances of American mediums or others, as it announces the Hercules of the North, they rejoice and shout from the rooftops that respectable Spiritism is reduced to exhibiting itself in the theaters of fairs. Certainly the true Spiritists will never give them that satisfaction, and reasonable persons will always know how to establish differences between the serious and the burlesque, which does not mean that they should not guard against any incitement that might give occasion for criticism. In such a case, one must avoid even appearances. A capital point that gives a formal denial to these allegations of slander is disinterestedness. What is to be said of persons who do everything for nothing and out of devotion? How can they be called charlatans, if they demand nothing? How will they be able to say that they live off Spiritism, as others live off their profession? that, consequently, they have no interest in fraud, since their belief, on the contrary, is an opportunity for sacrifices and self-denial? that they seek neither honors nor profits? I repeat it: moral and material disinterestedness will always be the most peremptory answer to give to the detractors of the Doctrine. This is why they would be very pleased if they could find pretexts to deprive them of that prestige, even if they had to pay certain people to play out a comedy. To act otherwise will, therefore, be to furnish them with weapons. Do you want the proof? Here is what is read in an article of the Courrier de l'Est, a newspaper of Bar-le-Duc, and which they took care to transcribe in the Courrier du Lot, a newspaper of Cahors, and in several other sheets that only await the occasion to be able to criticize us: "…Spiritism has as its partisans three quite distinct classes of individuals: those who live off it, those who amuse themselves with it, and those who believe in it. Magistrates, physicians, serious people, thus have their little imperfections, innocent for them, but much less so for the class of individuals who live off Spiritism. The mediums today form a category of unregistered industrialists who, nevertheless, carry on a trade, a veritable commerce, as I shall proceed to explain to you…"

There follows a long article seasoned with little-witted jokes, describing a session that the author attended and in which is found the following passage, referring to a mother who was asking for a communication from her daughter: "And the table moved toward the unhappy mother, who was writhing in nervous spasms. When she had recovered from her emotion, she was given a copy of the message; the price: twenty francs, which is not excessive, since it is a matter of the words of an adored daughter!"

If the author of the article is to be believed, the session did not unfold in a manner requiring much respect and recollection, for he adds:

"The gentleman who was questioning the Spirits did not seem to me as dignified as the situation of the interlocutors warranted; he gave no more importance to his functions than if he had been boning a leg of mutton on the table of an inn at Batignolles."

The most deplorable thing is that he was able to say he saw prices being established for the manifestations; but we can only pity him for judging a work by its parody. Besides, that is what the majority of critics do; afterward they say: I have seen it.

These abuses, as I have said, are exceptions, and rare exceptions; if I speak of this with insistence, it is because they are facts that give occasion to slander, when they do not arise from calculated malevolence. Moreover, they could not propagate themselves in the midst of an immense majority constituted of serious persons, who understand the true mission of Spiritism and the obligations it imposes; its essence comports dignity and gravity; it is, therefore, for them a duty to decline any solidarity with the abuses that might compromise it, and to make it clear that they would not make themselves champions of such facts, neither before justice nor before public opinion.

But this is not the only reef. I said that the adversaries have another tactic for reaching their ends: to sow disunion among the adepts, fanning the fire of petty passions, of jealousies, and of rancors; bringing schisms to birth; raising up causes of antagonism and of rivalry among the groups, in order to fragment them. And do not believe that it is the avowed enemies who will act thus; these will keep themselves under cover! It is the supposed friends of the Doctrine and, often, the apparently most fervent; often even, with skill, they will make true but weak friends pull the chestnuts from the fire with their own hands, friends whom they have deceived and who will act in good faith and without suspicion. Remember that the struggle is not over and that the enemy is still at your door; remain on the alert, so that he does not catch you off guard. In case of uncertainty, you have a beacon that cannot deceive you: charity, which is never equivocal. Consider, therefore, as being of suspect origin every counsel, every insinuation that tends to sow among you the germs of discord, and to turn you aside from the upright path that charity teaches you in all things and toward all.