GENESIS THE MIRACLES AND THE PREDICTIONS ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM

1. The facts reported in the Gospels, and which have been considered until recently miraculous, belong for the most part to the order of psychic phenomena, — those which arise from the faculties and attributes of the soul. By comparing them with those which have been described and explained in the preceding chapter, one recognizes between them an identity of cause and effect. History shows analogous instances in all times and among all nations, for the reason that, ever since souls have been incarnated and discarnated, the same effects must have been produced. One can, it is true, contest the veracity of history upon this point; but now they are produced under our eyes, as it were, by will-power, and by individuals who have nothing exceptional about them. The fact alone of the reproduction of a phenomenon in identical conditions suffices to prove that it is possible, and governed by a law of nature, and that it therefore is not miraculous.

The principle of the psychic phenomena reposes, as has been seen, upon the properties of the perispiritual fluid, which constitutes the magnetic agent upon the manifestations of the spiritual life during life and after death, — in short, upon the constitutive state of the spirits and their role as the active force of nature. These elements known, and their effects ascertained, the result is, that certain facts must be admitted as such which were formerly rejected when attributed to a supernatural origin.

2. Without prejudging anything of the nature of Christ, which is not in the compass of this book, let us consider him as nothing other than a superior spirit, — one of those of the highest order; and let him be placed only by his virtues above the rest of terrestrial humanity. By the great results which he produced, his incarnation into this world could have been only one of those missions which are confided alone to direct messengers from the Most High for the accomplishment of his designs. By supposing that he was not God himself, but an ambassador of him for the transmission of his word, he would be more than a prophet: he would be a divine Messiah.

As man, he had the organization of organized beings; but as a pure spirit, detached from matter, he must have lived in the spiritual life more than in the carnal, of which he had not the weaknesses. His superiority over men was only of his spiritual nature, which absolutely controlled matter, and his perispirit, which was formed of the most refined of earthly fluids (chap. XIV, n° 9). His soul must have been attached to the body only by the most indispensable links; constantly separated from one another, it must have endowed him with a double sight, not only permanent, but of an exceptional penetration, very superior to that of ordinary men. It must have been the same with all the phenomena which depend upon the perispiritual or psychic fluids. The quality of these fluids gave to him an immense magnetic power, seconded by a constant desire to do good.
In the cures which he performed, did he act as a medium? Can he be considered as a

powerful healing medium? No; for the medium is an intermediary, an instrument which discarnate spirits use. Now, Christ had no need of assistance, he who assisted others; he acted, then, by himself, by virtue of his personal power. Thus can incarnated beings, in certain cases, do according to their strength. What other spirit would have dared to inspire him with his own thoughts, and charge him to transmit them? If he received a strange influx, it could only be from God. According to a definition given of him by a spirit, he was a medium from God.

3. Joseph, the Gospel narrative states, was warned by an angel who appeared to him in a dream, and who said to him, “Get up, take the child and his mother and go to the land of Israel, for those who were trying to take the child’s life are dead.” (Matthew, 2: 19 to 23).

Warnings by dreams play an important part in the sacred works of all religions. Without guaranteeing the exactitude of all facts reported, and without discussing them, the phenomenon has nothing in itself anomalous when one knows that in sleep, the spirit frees itself from its imprisonment in matter, and enters again momentarily into the spiritual life, where it finds itself with those whom it has known. It often happens that this moment is chosen by guardian angels to manifest themselves to their protégés, in order to give them more direct counsel. Authentic examples of warnings by dreams are numerous; but it is not necessary to infer that all dreams are warning, and still less that all have a signification. It is well to reckon the art of interpreting dreams among superstitious and absurd beliefs (chap. XIV, n° 27 and 28).

4. It is written that a star appeared to the wise men who came to worship Jesus; that it went before them to indicate the route to them, and stood still when they had arrived at their destination (Matthew, 2: 1 to 12).

The question is asked, not to ascertain if the statement given by St. Matthew is true, or if it is only a figure of speech to indicate that the wise men were mysteriously guided to the young child, because no means exist whereby it can be examined, but simply to ask if such a thing were possible.

One thing is certain, that the light referred to could not have been a star. They could believe it at that epoch where the stars were thought to be luminous points attached to the firmament, which could fall upon the Earth; but not now, when their nature is known.

The right cause may now be attributed to it: the fact of a light in appearance like a star is possible. A spirit can appear under a luminous form, or transfer a part of his perispiritual fluid to a luminous point. Many facts of this kind, recent and perfectly authentic, have no other cause; and this cause has nothing supernatural about it. (Chap. XIV, from item n° 3 on)

5. As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives, Jesus sent two disciples, saying to them, “Go to the village ahead of you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie them and bring them to me. If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the Lord needs them, and he will send them right away.” This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet: “Say to the Daughter of Zion, ’See, your king comes to you, gentle and riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.’

The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. They brought the donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. (Matthew, 21: 1 to 7 and Zechariah, 9: 9 and 10).

6. “Rise, let us go! Here comes my betrayer!” While he was still speaking, Judas, one of the Twelve, arrived. With him was a large crowd armed with swords and clubs, sent from the chief priests and the elders of the people. Now the betrayer had arranged a signal with them: “The one I kiss is the man; arrest him.” Going at once to Jesus, Judas said, “Greetings, Rabbi!” and kissed him. Jesus replied, “Friend, do what you came for. (Matthew, 26: 46 to 50).

7. One day as Jesus was standing by the Lake of Gennesaret, with the people crowding around him and listening to the word of God, he saw at the water’s edge two boats, left there by the fishermen, who were washing their nets. He got into one of the boats, the one belonging to Simon, and asked him to put out a little from shore. Then he sat down and taught the people from the boat. When he had finished speaking, he said to Simon, “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.” Simon answered, “Master, we’ve worked hard all night and haven’t caught anything. But because you say so, I will let down the nets. When they had done so, they caught such a large number of fish that their nets began to break. So they signaled their partners in the other boat to come and help them, and they came and filled both boats so full that they began to sink. (Luke, 5: 1 to 7).

8. As Jesus was walking beside the Sea of Galilee, he saw two brothers, Simon called Peter and his brother Andrew. They were casting a net into the lake, for they were fishermen. “Come, follow me,” Jesus said, “and I will make you fishers of men.” At once they left their nets and followed him. Going on from there, he saw two other brothers, James son of Zebedee and his brother John. They were in a boat with their father Zebedee, preparing their nets. Jesus called them, and immediately they left the boat and their father and followed him. (Matthew, 4: 18 to 22).

As Jesus went on from there, he saw a man named Matthew sitting at the tax collector’s booth. “Follow me,” he told him, and Matthew got up and followed him. (Matthew, 9: 8 to 10)

9. These facts are not surprising when one knows the power of second sight, and the natural cause of this faculty. Jesus possessed it in a supreme degree; and he can also have been at the time in his normal state, as a great number of his acts testify, and which is explained today by the magnetic phenomena and Spiritism.

The miraculous draught of fishes is equally well explained by second sight. Jesus did not produce fishes spontaneously there where they did not exist. He has seen, as a lucid would have been able to do, by the eyes of the soul, the place where they were found; and he has been able to say with assurance to the fishers: “Put out into deep water, and let down the nets for a catch.”

The power to fathom thought, by which foresight can be obtained, is the result of second sight. When Jesus called Peter to him, as well as Andrew, James, John, and Matthew, he must have known their dispositions intimately in order to know that they would follow him, and that they were capable of fulfilling the mission with which he must charge them. It was also necessary that they themselves should have an intuition of this mission in order to give themselves up to him. Again, it is the same at the Lord’s Supper, when he announces that one of the twelve will betray him, and when he designates him by saying it is he who is placing his hand in the dish with him, and also when he says that Peter will deny him.

In many places in the Gospels we read: “But Jesus, knowing their thoughts, said unto them.” Now, how could he know their thoughts if it was not at the time in the fluidic-radiance which carried their thoughts to him, and also the spiritual sight, which gave him power to read the mind of individuals?

Then, often when one believes an idea profoundly shrouded in the depth of the soul, one doubts not that there is a mirror within which reflects it, — a revelator in its own fluidic- radiance which is impregnated with it. If we could see the mechanism of the invisible world which surrounds us, the ramifications of these conducting threads of thought which bind all intelligent beings, incarnated and otherwise, the fluidic-effluvia charged with imprints of the moral world, and which like aerial currents traverse space, one would be less surprised at certain effects that ignorance attributes to chance (chap, XIV, from item n° 22 on).

10. A large crowd followed and pressed around him. And a woman was there who had been subject to bleeding for twelve years. She had suffered a great deal under the care of many doctors and had spent all she had, yet instead of getting better she grew worse. When she heard about Jesus, she came up behind him in the crowd and touched his cloak, because she thought, “If I just touch his clothes, I will be healed.” Immediately her bleeding stopped and she felt in her body that she was freed from her suffering. At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him. He turned around in the crowd and asked, “Who touched my clothes?” “You see the people crowding against you,” his disciples answered, “and yet you can ask, ‘Who touched me?’ “But Jesus kept looking around to see who had done it. Then the woman, knowing what had happened to her, came and fell at his feet and, trembling with fear, told him the whole truth. He said to her, “Daughter, your faith has healed you. Go in peace and be freed from your suffering.” (Mark, 5: 25 to 34).

11. These words, “At once Jesus realized that power had gone out from him,” are significant. They express the movement of the fluid which Jesus transferred to the sick woman. Both have felt the action which has just been produced. It is remarkable that the effect has not been provoked by any will-power of Jesus. Neither magnetism nor laying-on of hands were employed. The normal fluidic-radiance was sufficient to effect the cure.

But why was this radiance directed to the woman rather than to others, since Jesus did not think of her, and he was surrounded by a multitude of people?
The reason is very simple. The fluid, being given as therapeutic matter, must reach

organic disorder in order to repair it. It can be directed upon the evil by the will of the healing medium, or attracted by the ardent desire, the confidence, or, in one word, the faith of the sick one. In regard to the fluidic-current the first is the effect of forcing it, and the second of suction. Sometimes the simultaneousness of the effects is necessary; at others one alone suffices. The second has taken place in this circumstance.

Jesus was then right in saying, “Your faith has healed you.” The faith expressed here is not the mystical virtue which some believe it to be, but a veritable attractive force; while he who has it not, opposes to the fluidic-current a repelling force, or at least an inert one, which paralyzes action. Knowing this, one can comprehend how two sick persons attacked by the same illness, in the presence of a healing medium, one can be cured, and the other not. This is one of the most important principles of healing mediumship, and which explains, by a very natural cause, certain apparent anomalies (chap. XIV, n° 31 to 33).

12. They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man’s eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, “Do you see anything?” He looked up and said, “I see people; they look like trees walking around.” Once more Jesus put his hands on the man’s eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly. Jesus sent him home, saying, “Don’t go into the village.” (Mark, 8: 22 to 26).

13. Here the effect of magnetism is evident. The cure has not been instantaneous but gradual, and in consequence of sustained and reiterated action, although more rapid than in ordinary magnetization. The first sensation of this man is that which blind men experience in recovering sight. By an optical illusion, objects appear to them of an inordinate size.

14. Jesus stepped into a boat, crossed over and came to his own town. Some men brought to him a paralytic, lying on a mat. When Jesus saw their faith, he said to the paralytic, “Take heart, son; your sins are forgiven.” At this, some of the teachers of the law said to themselves, “This fellow is blaspheming!” Knowing their thoughts, Jesus said, “Why do you entertain evil thoughts in your hearts? Which is easier: to say, ‘Your sins are forgiven,’ or to say, ‘Get up and walk’? But so that you may know that the Son of Man has authority on Earth to forgive sins....” Then he said to the paralytic, “Get up, take your mat and go home.” And the man got up and went home. When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to men. (Matthew, 9: 1 to 8).

15. What could these words signify, “Yours sins are forgiven?” And how could they help the cure? Spiritism gives the key to them, as well as to an infinite number of other sayings misunderstood till now. It teaches us, by the law of the plurality of existences, that the evils and afflictions of life are often expiations of the past, and that we submit in the present life to the consequence of faults that we have committed in an anterior existence; the different existences being connected with one another, until we pay off the debt of our imperfections.


If, then, the malady of this man was a punishment for evil which he had committed, by saying to him: “your sins are forgiven,” was equal to saying: “You have paid your debt. The cause of your malady is effaced by your faith; consequently you merit to be delivered from your malady.” He therefore said to the scribes: “It is as easy to say, Your sins are forgiven, as to say: arise, and walk;” the cause ceasing, the effect must cease also. The case is the same with a prisoner to whom they would go and say: “Your crime is expiated and pardoned;” which is equivalent to saying: “You can leave prison.”

16. Now on his way to Jerusalem, Jesus traveled along the border between Samaria and Galilee. As he was going into a village, ten men who had leprosy met him. They stood at a distance and called out in a loud voice, “Jesus, Master, have pity on us!” When he saw them, he said, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And as they went, they were cleansed. One of them, when he saw he was healed, came back, praising God in a loud voice. He threw himself at Jesus’ feet and thanked him - and he was a Samaritan. Jesus asked, “Were not all ten cleansed? Where are the other nine? Was no one found to return and give praise to God except this foreigner?” Then he said to him, “Rise and go; your faith has made you well.” (Luke, 17: 11 to 19).

17. The Samaritans were schismatic, as Protestants stand in regard to Catholics, and despised by the Jews as heretics. Jesus, by curing indiscriminately the Samaritans and the Jews, gave at the same time a lesson and an example of tolerance; and, by showing that the Samaritan alone returned to give glory to God, it proved that there was in him more true faith and gratitude than with those who were called orthodox. By saying: “Your faith has made you well,” he shows that God regards the feeling of the heart, and not the exterior form of adoration. However, the others have been cured; it was necessary for the lesson which he wished to give, and to prove their ingratitude. But who knows the result of it, and if they have profited by the favor which was accorded them? By saying to the Samaritan: “Your faith has made you well,” Jesus gives us to understand that it will not be the same with the others.

18. Another time he went into the synagogue and a man with a shriveled hand was there. Some of them were looking for a reason to accuse Jesus, so they watched him closely to see if he would heal him on the Sabbath. Jesus said to the man with the shriveled hand, “Stand up in front of everyone.” Then Jesus asked them, “Which is lawful on the Sabbath: to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they remained silent. He looked around at them in anger and, deeply distressed at their stubborn hearts, said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” He stretched it out, and his hand was completely restored. Then the Pharisees went out and began to plot with the Herodians how they might kill Jesus. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the lake, and a large crowd from Galilee followed. When they heard all he was doing, many people came to him from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, and the regions across the Jordan and around Tyre and Sidon. (Mark, 3: 1 to 8).

19. On a Sabbath Jesus was teaching in one of the synagogues, and a woman was there who had been crippled by a spirit for eighteen years. She was bent over and could not straighten up at all. When Jesus saw her, he called her forward and said to her, “Woman, you are set free from your infirmity.” Then he put his hands on her, and immediately she straightened up and praised God. Indignant because Jesus had healed on the Sabbath, the synagogue ruler said to the people, “There are six days for work. So come and be healed on those days, not on the Sabbath.” The Lord answered him, “You hypocrites! Doesn’t each of you on the Sabbath untie his ox or donkey from the stall and lead it out to give it water? Then should not this woman, a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan has kept bound for eighteen long years, be set free on the Sabbath day from what bound her?” When he said this, all his opponents were humiliated, but the people were delighted with all the wonderful things he was doing. (Luke, 13: 10 to 17).

20. This fact proves that at this epoch the greater number of maladies were attributed to demons, and that they confounded victims of obsession with people ill from other causes, but in an inverse sense; that is to say, now, those who do not believe in bad spirits think obsession is a pathological malady.

21. Some time later, Jesus went up to Jerusalem for a feast of the Jews. Now there is in Jerusalem near the Sheep Gate a pool, which in Aramaic is called Bethesda and which is surrounded by five covered colonnades. Here a great number of disabled people used to lie, the blind, the lame, the paralyzed. One who was there had been an invalid for thirty-eight years. When Jesus saw him lying there and learned that he had been in this condition for a long time, he asked him, “Do you want to get well?” “Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.” Then Jesus said to him, “Get up! Pick up your mat and walk.” At once the man was cured; he picked up his mat and walked. The day on which this took place was a Sabbath, and so the Jews said to the man who had been healed, “It is the Sabbath; the law forbids you to carry your mat.” But he replied, “The man who made me well said to me, ‘Pick up your mat and walk.’ “So they asked him, “Who is this fellow who told you to pick it up and walk?” The man who was healed had no idea who it was, for Jesus had slipped away into the crowd that was there. Later Jesus found him at the temple and said to him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” The man went away and told the Jews that it was Jesus who had made him well. So, because Jesus was doing these things on the Sabbath, the Jews persecuted him. Jesus said to them, “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working.” (John, 5: 1 to 17).

22. Pool (from the Latin pisces, fish) was with the Romans a reservoir or nurse-pond for fish. Later, it was understood to be a public bathing-place.

The Pool of Bethesda, at Jerusalem, was a cistern near the Temple, fed by a natural spring, the water of which possessed healing properties. It was doubtless a circulating fountain, which, at certain times, burst forth with strength, and moved the water. According to common belief, this moment was the most favorable for cures. Perhaps, in reality, at the moment it gushed out, it had more active properties, or that the agitation produced by the gushing water stirred the mud at the bottom, which was beneficial for certain diseases. These effects are natural and perfectly well known now. But then there was but little advance in science, and they saw a supernatural cause for all or the most part of unknown phenomena. The Jews attributed the agitation of this water to the presence of an angel; and this belief seemed to them so much the more reasonable, as at this moment the water was more salutary.

After having cured this man, Jesus said to him: “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.” By these words he makes him to understand that his disease was a punishment, and that, if he did not cease sinning, he would be again punished more severely than ever. This doctrine conforms entirely to that which Spiritism teaches.

23. Jesus appears to have taken pains to perform cures on the Sabbath, in order to have occasion to protest against the rigorous observance of the Pharisees of this day. He wished to show them that true piety consisted, not in the observance of forms and of outside things, but in the true worship of the heart. He justifies himself by saying: “My Father is always at his work to this very day, and I, too, am working,” that is to say, that God does not suspend the workings of nature on the Sabbath. He continues to produce that which is necessary to your nourishment and health; and I am here to do his will.

24. As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” “Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the work of God might be displayed in his life. As long as it is day, we must do the work of him who sent me. Night is coming, when no one can work. While I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” Having said this, he spit on the ground, made some mud with the saliva, and put it on the man’s eyes. “Go,” he told him, “wash in the Pool of Siloam” (this word means Sent). So the man went and washed, and came home seeing. His neighbors and those who had formerly seen him begging asked, “Isn’t this the same man who used to sit and beg?” Some claimed that he was. Others said, “No, he only looks like him.” But he himself insisted, “I am the man.” “How then were your eyes opened?” they demanded. He replied, “The man they call Jesus made some mud and put it on my eyes. He told me to go to Siloam and wash. So I went and washed, and then I could see.” “Where is this man?” they asked him. “I don’t know,” he said. They brought to the Pharisees the man who had been blind. Now the day on which Jesus had made the mud and opened the man’s eyes was a Sabbath. Therefore the Pharisees also asked him how he had received his sight. “He put mud on my eyes,” the man replied, “and I washed, and now I see.” Some of the Pharisees said, “This man is not from God, for he does not keep the Sabbath.” But others asked, “How can a sinner do such miraculous signs?” So they were divided. Finally they turned again to the blind man, “What have you to say about him? It was your eyes he opened.” The man replied, “He is a prophet.” The Jews still did not believe that he had been blind and had received his sight until they sent for the man’s parents. “Is this your son?” they asked. “Is this the one you say was born blind? How is it that now he can see?” “We know he is our son,” the parents answered, “and we know he was born blind. But how he can see now, or who opened his eyes, we don’t know. Ask him. He is of age; he will speak for himself.” His parents said this because they were afraid of the Jews, for already the Jews had decided that anyone who acknowledged that Jesus was the Christ would be put out of the synagogue. That was why his parents said, “He is of age; ask him.” A second time they summoned the man who had been blind. “Give glory to God,” they said.” We know this man is a sinner.” He replied, “Whether he is a sinner or not, I don’t know. One thing I do know. I was blind but now I see!” Then they asked him, “What did he do to you? How did he open your eyes?” He answered, “I have told you already and you did not listen.

Why do you want to hear it again? Do you want to become his disciples, too?” Then they hurled insults at him and said, “You are this fellow’s disciple! We are disciples of Moses! We know that God spoke to Moses, but as for this fellow, we don’t even know where he comes from.” The man answered, “Now that is remarkable! You don’t know where he comes from, yet he opened my eyes. We know that God does not listen to sinners. He listens to the godly man who does his will. Nobody has ever heard of opening the eyes of a man born blind. 33. If this man were not from God, he could do nothing.” To this they replied, “You were steeped in sin at birth; how dare you lecture us!” And they threw him out. (John, 9: 1 to 34).

25. This recital, so simple and artless, carries in itself an evident character of truth. There is nothing marvelous or fantastic about it; it is a scene from real life. The language of this blind man is that of one in which good, natural common sense supplies the place of knowledge, and who combats the arguments of his adversaries with simplicity, yet with an ability which is not wanting in justice. Is not the speech of the Pharisee like that of proud men who think there is no knowledge outside of their own, and that a man of the people is unworthy of a single thought or remonstrance? Barring the name, we have the same kind of people in our day.

To be expelled from the synagogue was equivalent to being excommunicated from the Church. The Spiritists, whose doctrines are those of Christ, interpreted according to the progress of the present light, are treated as the Jews who recognized Jesus as the Messiah. By excommunicating them, they place them outside of the Church, as the scribes and the Pharisees did in regard to the followers of Jesus. In this narrative the man is expelled because he can believe only in him who has cured him, whether he be a sinner or one possessed by a demon, and because he glorifies God for his cure! Is not the same thing done to Spiritists? Because they obtain wise counsel from spirits, have returned to goodness and God, and perform cures, it is said to be the work of the Devil, and anathema is cast at them. Have we not heard priests from the high altar say, “It is better to remain an incredulous than to return to the faith by Spiritism?” Have we not heard them tell the sick ones that they must not be cured by Spiritists who possess this gift, because it is a gift from Satan? Have we not heard them telling the sick to reject the bread given by Spiritists, for it is the bread of the devil? What did and said the Jewish priests and Pharisees more than that? Moreover, it is written that the same unbelief must be felt by some at this epoch of the world’s history, as in the time of Christ.

This question of the disciples — viz., “Is this man blind because of sin?” — indicates the knowledge of an anterior existence; otherwise no sense could be made of it; for the sin which would be the cause of an infirmity, which is born with a person, must have been committed before this birth, and consequently in an anterior existence. If Jesus had recognized a false idea in the question, he would have said to them, “How could this man have sinned before birth?” Instead of that, he replies, that, if this man is blind, it is not because he has sinned, but that the glory of God may be shown in him; i.e., that he must be the instrument of a manifestation of the power of God. If it were not an expiation of the past, it was an experience which must have advanced him towards perfection; for God’s laws are just, we have no suffering without compensation.

As to the means employed to cure him, it is evident that the clay formed of soil and saliva obtained its healing properties from the healing fluid with which it was impregnated. Thus the most simple agents — water, for example — can acquire powerful and effective qualities under the action of the spiritual or magnetic fluid, to which they serve as vehicle, or reservoir.

26. Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, preaching the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed, and he healed them. Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him (Matthew, 4: 23 to 25).

27. Of all the acts which testify to the power of Jesus, without doubt the cures he performed are the most numerous. He wished to prove by that that true power is that which does good; that his object was to render himself useful, and not to satisfy indifferent curiosity by the performance of extraordinary things.

By alleviating suffering, he touched the hearts of men, and made more proselytes than if he had alone gratified their curiosity. By this means he made himself beloved. Whilst, if he had limited himself to producing surprising material effects, as the Pharisees demanded of him, the greater part of the people would have seen in him only a sorcerer or skillful juggler with whom idlers had been amused.

Thus, when John the Baptist sends to him his disciples to ascertain if he is the Christ, he does not say, “I am he;” for every impostor could have been able to say as much. He does not tell them of the marvelous things he has accomplished, but simply replies, “Go say to John, the blind see, the lame walk, the deaf hear, and the Gospel is preached to the poor.” It was equivalent to saying: “recognize me in my works; judge the tree by its fruit:” for there is found the veritable character of the divine mission.

28. It is also by the good it does that Spiritism proves its divine mission. It cures physical evils, but, above all, moral maladies, which are the most important works by which it affirms itself. Its most sincere adepts are not only those who have been astonished by the sight of its extraordinary phenomena, but those who have been touched to the heart by the consolation it gives; those who have been delivered from the tortures of doubt; those whose courage has been sustained by it in affliction, who have drawn strength from the certitude of the future which it has brought to them, with a knowledge of their spiritual being and destiny; those whose faith is unchangeable because they feel it and comprehend.

Those who see in Spiritism only material effects cannot comprehend its moral power; as incredulous, who know it only by its phenomena of which they do not admit its first cause (God), see in Spiritists only jugglers and charlatans. It is then, not by the performance of wonderful works that Spiritism will triumph over incredulity; it is by multiplying its moral benefits. For, if they will not believe in the mighty works it accomplishes, they experience, like all the world, sufferings and afflictions, and no one refuses alleviation and consolation.

29. They went to Capernaum, and when the Sabbath came, Jesus went into the synagogue and began to teach. The people were amazed at his teaching, because he taught them as one who had authority, not as the teachers of the law. Just then a man in their synagogue who was possessed by an evil spirit cried out, “What do you want with us, Jesus of Nazareth? Have you come to destroy us? I know who you are—the Holy One of God!” “Be quiet!” said Jesus sternly. “Come out of him!” The evil spirit shook the man violently and came out of him with a shriek. The people were all so amazed that they asked each other, “What is this? A new teaching—and with authority! He even gives orders to evil spirits and they obey him.” News about him spread quickly over the whole region of Galilee. (Marc, 1: 21 to 28).

30. While they were going out, a man who was demon-possessed and could not talk was brought to Jesus. And when the demon was driven out, the man who had been mute spoke. The crowd was amazed and said, “Nothing like this has ever been seen in Israel.” But the Pharisees said, “It is by the prince of demons that he drives out demons.” (Matthew, 9: 32 to 34).

31. When they came to the other disciples, they saw a large crowd around them and the teachers of the law arguing with them. As soon as all the people saw Jesus, they were overwhelmed with wonder and ran to greet him. “What are you arguing with them about?” he asked. A man in the crowd answered, “Teacher, I brought you my son, who is possessed by a spirit that has robbed him of speech. Whenever it seizes him, it throws him to the ground. He foams at the mouth, gnashes his teeth and becomes rigid. I asked your disciples to drive out the spirit, but they could not.” “O unbelieving generation,” Jesus replied, “how long shall I stay with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring the boy to me.” So they brought him. When the spirit saw Jesus, it immediately threw the boy into a convulsion. He fell to the ground and rolled around, foaming at the mouth. Jesus asked the boy’s father, “How long has he been like this?” “From childhood,” he answered. “It has often thrown him into fire or water to kill him. But if you can do anything, take pity on us and help us.” “ ‘If you can’?” said Jesus. “Everything is possible for him who believes.” Immediately the boy’s father exclaimed, “I do believe; help me overcome my unbelief!” When Jesus saw that a crowd was running to the scene, he rebuked the evil spirit. “You deaf and mute spirit,” he said, “I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” The spirit shrieked, convulsed him violently and came out. The boy looked so much like a corpse that many said, “He’s dead.” But Jesus took him by the hand and lifted him to his feet, and he stood up. After Jesus had gone indoors, his disciples asked him privately, “Why couldn’t we drive it out?” He replied, “This kind can come out only by prayer.” (Marc, 9: 14 to 29).

32. Then they brought him a demon-possessed man who was blind and mute, and Jesus healed him, so that he could both talk and see. All the people were astonished and said, “Could this be the Son of David?” But when the Pharisees heard this, they said, “It is only by Beelzebub, the prince of demons, that this fellow drives out demons.” Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand. If Satan drives out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then can his kingdom stand? And if I drive out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your people drive them out? So then, they will be your judges. But if I drive out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you. (Matthew, 12: 22 to 28).

33. The deliverance of those possessed by evil spirits figure, with the cures, among the most numerous acts of Jesus. Among the facts of this nature there is one that is reported above in n° 30, where the proof of his obsession is not evident. It is probable that then, as now, they attributed to the influence of demons all maladies, of which the cause was unknown, mainly to dumbness, epilepsy, and catalepsy. But there are some cases of it where the action of undeveloped spirits is very evident. They have with those to which we have been witness such a striking analogy, that one recognizes with them all the symptoms of this kind of affection. The proof of the participation of an occult intelligence in similar cases is from the fact that a number of radical cures have been made in some spiritist centers, solely by the evocation and enlightenment of the spirit obsessors, without magnetism or medicine, and often in the absence and at a distance from the patient. The immense superiority of Christ gave to him such authority over imperfect spirits, then called demons, that it was sufficient for him command them to retire; for they could not resist his will (Chap. XIV, n° 46).

34. The narrative of the evil spirits having been sent into the herd of swine is contrary to all probability. Incidentally, it would hardly be explainable the presence of such a numerous amount of pigs in a country wherein that animal was seen as horrendous and useless for nutritional purposes. An evil spirit is no less a human spirit still, though imperfect enough to do evil after death as he did it before; and it is contrary to the laws of nature that he can animate the body of an animal. One sees there the amplification of a real common fact of the ignorance and superstition, or perhaps an allegory to characterize the impure inclinations of certain spirits.

35. Obsession and possession by evil spirits seem to have been very common in Judea in the time of Jesus, which gave him the opportunity of curing many. The undeveloped spirits had no doubt invaded this country, causing an epidemic of the disease (chap. XIV, n° 49).

Without being epidemic, the obsession of individuals is extremely frequent, and presents itself under various aspects which a profound knowledge of Spiritism makes easily recognizable. The health of the individual is often sadly affected by it, either by aggravating organic affections or causing them. Obsessions will some day be inevitably ranged among pathological causes requiring by their special nature special curative means. Spiritism, by making known the cause of the evil, opens a new way for the art of curing, and furnishes to science the means of success where it fails only by a lack of knowledge of the original cause of the evil (“The Mediums Book,” chap. 23).

36. Jesus was accused by the Pharisees of exorcising demons by demons. Even the good he did was, according to them, the work of Satan. They did not reflect that it would make no sense for the Devil to expel his own self. It is well known that the Pharisees of that time already considered all transcendental faculties as supernatural and consequently, as the work of the devil. According to them, Jesus himself received from the Devil such powers. This same doctrine is that which the Church upholds today against spiritual manifestations. *


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* All theologians are far from professing absolute opinions upon the subject of demons. Here is that of an ecclesiastic, the value of which the clergy would not know how to call into question. The following passage is found in Conferences upon Religion, by Monseigneur Freyssinous, Bishop of Hermopolis, vol. II. p. 341. Paris, 1825: “If Jesus had employed evil spirits to cast out demons, the latter would then have been working to destroy their own empire, and Satan would have been employing power against himself. It is certain that a demon who would seek to destroy the reign of vice in order to establish that of virtue must be a strange demon. That is why Jesus replied to the absurd accusation of the Jews, ‘If I perform mighty works in the name of the demons, his kingdom must then be divided against itself!’ — an answer which admits of no reply.” This is precisely the argument which the Spiritists oppose to those who attribute to the evil spirits the good counsels which they receive. The demon would act like a professional thief who would return all that which he had stolen, and engage other thieves to become honest men.

37. When Jesus had again crossed over by boat to the other side of the lake, a large crowd gathered around him while he was by the lake. Then one of the synagogue rulers, named Jairus, came there. Seeing Jesus, he fell at his feet and pleaded earnestly with him, “My little daughter is dying. Please come and put your hands on her so that she will be healed and live.” So Jesus went with him.

While Jesus was still speaking, some men came from the house of Jairus, the synagogue ruler. “Your daughter is dead,” they said. “Why bother the teacher any more?” Ignoring what they said, Jesus told the synagogue ruler, “Don’t be afraid; just believe.” He did not let anyone follow him except Peter, James and John the brother of James. When they came to the home of the synagogue ruler, Jesus saw a commotion, with people crying and wailing loudly. He went in and said to them, “Why all this commotion and wailing? The child is not dead but asleep.” But they laughed at him. After he put them all out, he took the child’s father and mother and the disciples who were with him, and went in where the child was. He took her by the hand and said to her, “Talitha koum!” (which means, “Little girl, I say to you, get up!” ). Immediately the girl stood up and walked around (she was twelve years old). At this they were completely astonished. He gave strict orders not to let anyone know about this, and told them to give her something to eat. (Marc, 5: 1 to 24 and 35 to 43).

38. Soon afterward, Jesus went to a town called Nain, and his disciples and a large crowd went along with him. As he approached the town gate, a dead person was being carried out—the only son of his mother, and she was a widow. And a large crowd from the town was with her. When the Lord saw her, his heart went out to her and he said, “Don’t cry.” Then he went up and touched the coffin, and those carrying it stood still. He said, “Young man, I say to you, get up!” The dead man sat up and began to talk, and Jesus gave him back to his mother. They were all filled with awe and praised God. “A great prophet has appeared among us,” they said. “God has come to help his people.” This news about Jesus spread throughout Judea and the surrounding country. (Luke, 7: 11 to 17).

39. The fact of the return to corporeal life of an individual really dead would be contrary to the laws of nature, and consequently miraculous. Now it is not necessary to go over this order of facts in order to explain the resurrections performed by Jesus.

If among us the appearance of death sometimes deceives our most celebrated physicians, accidents of this nature must have been much more frequent in a country where no precaution in regard to it was taken, and where burials were immediate. * In all probability, in the two cases cited above, the disease was syncope or lethargy. Jesus himself tells it positively of the daughter. “The child,” said he “is not dead but asleep.”

With the fluid power which Jesus possessed, there is nothing surprising in the fact that the vivifying fluid, directed by a strong will, should have reanimated the benumbed senses; that he should have been able to recall the spirit to the body which it was ready to leave, as the perispiritual connection was not broken. For men of that time, who believed a person dead when he ceased to breathe, there were resurrections, and they have been able to affirm it in good faith; but they were in reality cures, and not resurrections in the true acceptation of the word.


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* A proof of this custom is found in Acts, 5: 5 to 10. When Ananias heard this, he fell down and died. And great fear seized all who heard what had happened. 6. Then the young men came forward, wrapped up his body, and carried him out and buried him.7About three hours later his wife came in, not knowing what had happened. 8Peter asked her, "Tell me, is this the price you and Ananias got for the land? “Yes," she said, "that is the price." 9Peter said to her, "How could you agree to test the Spirit of the Lord? Look! The feet of the men who buried your husband are at the door, and they will carry you out also." 10At that moment she fell down at his feet and died. Then the young men came in and, finding her dead, carried her out and buried her beside her husband.

40. The resurrection of Lazarus, whatever they may say, disaffirms nothing in regard to this principle. He was, they say, for four days in the sepulcher. But it is well known that some attacks of lethargy last eight days or more. They add that he smelt badly, which is a sign of decomposition. This allegation proves nothing more, as with some persons there is partial decomposition of the body before death, which is attended by a disagreeable odor. Death arrives only when the organs essential to life are attacked.

And who could be able to know if a disagreeable odor attended him? It was his sister Martha who said it; but how did she know? Lazarus having been buried four days, she could suppose it, but have no certitude of it. *


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* The following fact proves that decomposition sometimes precedes death: In the convent of bon-Pasteur, founded at Toulon by the Abbot Marin, chaplain of the convict-prison for repentant females, was found a young woman who had endured the most terrible suffering with the calmness and impassibility of an expiatory victim. In the midst of the pain she seemed to smile, as if in a celestial vision. Like St. Theresa, she asked to suffer more. Her flesh was in shreds; the gangrene gained upon her limbs. By a wise foresight the doctors recommended the burial of the body immediately after decease. Strange enough! Hardly had she rendered the last sigh than all work of decomposition arrested itself, the death-like exhalations ceased, and during thirty-six hours she remained exposed to the prayers and veneration of the community.

41. Immediately Jesus made the disciples get into the boat and go on ahead of him to the other side, while he dismissed the crowd. After he had dismissed them, he went up on a mountainside by himself to pray. When evening came, he was there alone, but the boat was already a considerable distance from land, buffeted by the waves because the wind was against it. During the fourth watch of the night Jesus went out to them, walking on the lake. * When the disciples saw him walking on the lake, they were terrified. “It’s a ghost,” they said, and cried out in fear. But Jesus immediately said to them: “Take courage! It is I don’t be afraid.” “Lord, if it’s you,” Peter replied, “tell me to come to you on the water.” “Come,” he said. Then Peter got down out of the boat, walked on the water and came toward Jesus. But when he saw the wind, he was afraid and beginning to sink, cried out, “Lord, save me!” Immediately Jesus reached out his hand and caught him. “You of little faith,” he said, “why did you doubt?” And when they climbed into the boat, the wind died down. Then those who were in the boat worshiped him, saying, “Truly you are the Son of God.” (Matthew, 14: 22 to 33).


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* The lake of Gennesaret.

42. This phenomenon finds its natural explanation in the principles previously explained in chap. XIV, n°43.

Analogous examples prove that it is neither impossible nor miraculous, since it is in the laws of nature. It can be produced in two ways.

Jesus, although living, appeared upon the water under a tangible form, whilst his body was elsewhere. This is the most probable hypothesis. One can even recognize in the recital certain characteristic signs of tangible apparitions (chap. XIV, n° 35 to 37).

On the other hand, his body could have been sustained and weight neutralized by the fluidic-force which maintains a table in space without support. The same effect has many times been produced over human bodies.

43. After six days Jesus took Peter, James and John with him and led them up a high mountain, where they were all alone. * There he was transfigured before them. His clothes became dazzling white, whiter than anyone in the world could bleach them. And there appeared before them Elijah and Moses, who were talking with Jesus. Peter said to Jesus, “Rabbi, it is good for us to be here. Let us put up three shelters—one for you, one for Moses and one for Elijah.” (He did not know what to say, they were so frightened.) Then a cloud appeared and enveloped them, and a voice came from the cloud: “This is my Son, whom I love. Listen to him!” Suddenly, when they looked around, they no longer saw anyone with them except Jesus. As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus gave them orders not to tell anyone what they had seen until the Son of Man had risen from the dead. They kept the matter to themselves, discussing what “rising from the dead” meant. (Mark, 9: 2 to 10).


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* The Mount Tabor is located at Southwest of the Lake Tabarich, and 11 km Southeast of Nazareth; it is approximately 1000 meters high.

44. The reason for this phenomenon can be found in the properties of this same perispiritual fluid. The transfiguration (explained in chap. XIV, n° 39) is an ordinary circumstance enough, which, in consequence of fluidic-radiation, can change the appearance of an individual; but the purity of the perispirit of Jesus has given to his spirit an exceptional brilliancy. As to the apparitions of Moses and Elijah, they can be accounted for in the same way as similar ones (chap. XIV, from item n° 35 on).

Of all the faculties which have been revealed to us in Jesus, there is not one which is outside or beyond the conditions of humanity, because they are gifts of nature; but, by the superiority of his moral essence and of his fluidic qualities, they attained with him proportions above that of the common. He represented to us, aside from his carnal envelope, the state of pure spirits.

45. One day Jesus said to his disciples, “Let’s go over to the other side of the lake.” So they got into a boat and set out. As they sailed, he fell asleep. A squall came down on the lake, so that the boat was being swamped, and they were in great danger. The disciples went and woke him, saying, “Master, Master, we’re going to drown!” He got up and rebuked the wind and the raging waters; the storm subsided, and all was calm. “Where is your faith?” he asked his disciples. In fear and amazement they asked one another, “Who is this? He commands even the winds and the water, and they obey him.” (Luke, 8: 22 to 25).

46. We do not yet know enough of the secrets of nature to affirm if there are or not occult intelligences which preside at the action of the elements. In this hypothesis the phenomena in question would be the result of an act of authority over these same intelligences, and would prove a power which has not been given to any man to exercise.

At all events, Jesus, sleeping quietly during the tempest, attests a security which can be explained by this fact, that his spirit saw there was no danger, and that the storm was going to be allayed.

47. This miracle, mentioned only in the Gospel of St. John, is indicated as being the first that Jesus had performed; and under this title it ought to have been so much to more remarked upon; but it seems to have produced very little sensation, as no other evangelist mentions it. Such an extraordinary fact ought to have astonished the guests to the highest degree, and, above all, the host himself, who, it seems, had not even perceived it.

Considered by itself, this fact has little importance comparatively with those which truly testify of the spiritual qualities of Jesus. By admitting that things have taken place as they are reported to have done, it is remarkable that it is the sole phenomenon of this kind which he has produced. He was of a nature too elevated to attach himself to purely material effects, calculated solely to attract the curiosity of the crowd, who would have confounded him with a magician. He knew that useful things would obtain him more sympathy, and obtain for his cause more converts than those which could pass for a juggler’s tricks, and touch not the heart (n° 27).

However, the act may be clearly explained up to a certain point, to which fluidic-action as well as magnetism offers some examples of having the power of changing the properties of water by giving it the taste of wine; but this hypothesis is not very probable, as in a case of this kind the water has not been of the color of wine, which could not have failed in being remarked. It is more rational to see in it one of those parables so frequent in the teachings of Jesus, like that of the “prodigal son,” “the marriage feast,” “the dry fig-tree,” “the parable of the bad rich man,” and many others. He made during the repast an allusion to the wine and water, whence he would have evoked a moral. That which justifies this opinion are the words which have been spoken in regard to it by the ruler of the feast, — “Everyone brings out the choice wine first and then the cheaper wine after the guests have had too much to drink; but you have saved the best till now.”

Between these two hypothesis, one should prefer the most rational; Spiritists are not so credulous as to see manifestations everywhere, neither are they so conclusive in their opinions as to wish to explain everything by means of fluids.

48. This miracle of the bread is one of those which have puzzled commentators, and diverted the imagination of the incredulous. Without giving themselves the trouble to look for the allegorical sense of it, the latter have seen in it only a puerile history; but the greater number of serious men have seen in this recital, although under a form different from the ordinary one, a parable comparing the spiritual nourishment of the soul with the nourishment of the body.

One can see in it, however, more than one metaphor, and admit at a certain point of view the reality of a material effect, without resorting to belief in the miracle of it. One knows that in great preoccupation of mind, caused by giving undivided attention to a certain thing, hunger is forgotten. Now, those who followed Jesus were people greedy to hear him. There is nothing astonishing in the fact, that, having been fascinated by his words, and perhaps also by the powerful magnetic action which he exercised over them, they had not felt the need of eating.

Jesus, who foresaw this result, has been able to tranquilize his disciples by saying, in the figurative language which was habitual to him, that they had really brought some bread with them, and that this would satisfy the needs of the multitude. At the same time he gave to the latter a lesson: “You give them something to eat,” said he. He taught them by that, that they also must nourish them by the word.
Thus, beside the moral allegorical sense, he has been able to produce a well-known, natural, psychological effect. The wonderful part in this case is the great power of his words, which have captivated the attention of an immense crowd to such a point as to make them forget the necessities of the body. This moral power testifies the superiority of Jesus much more than the purely material fact of the multiplication of bread, which must have been considered as an allegory.

This explanation is found confirmed by Jesus himself in the following passages:

49. When they went across the lake, the disciples forgot to take bread. “Be careful,” Jesus said to them. “Be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” They discussed this among themselves and said, “It is because we didn’t bring any bread.” Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked, “You of little faith, why are you talking among yourselves about having no bread? Do you still not understand? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” Then they understood that he was not telling them to guard against the yeast used in bread, but against the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. (Matthew, 16: 5 to 12).

50. The next day the crowd that had stayed on the opposite shore of the lake realized that only one boat had been there, and that Jesus had not entered it with his disciples, but that they had gone away alone. Then some boats from Tiberias landed near the place where the people had eaten the bread after the Lord had given thanks. Once the crowd realized that neither Jesus nor his disciples were there, they got into the boats and went to Capernaum in search of Jesus. When they found him on the other side of the lake, they asked him, “Rabbi, when did you get here?” Jesus answered, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill. Do not work for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you. On him God the Father has placed his seal of approval.” Then they asked him, “What must we do to do the works God requires?” Jesus answered, “The work of God is this: to believe in the one he has sent.” So they asked him, “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do? Our forefathers ate the manna in the desert; as it is written: ‘He gave them bread from heaven to eat.” Jesus said to them, “I tell you the truth, it is not Moses who has given you the bread from heaven, but it is my Father who gives you the true bread from heaven. For the bread of God is he who comes down from heaven and gives life to the world.” “Sir,” they said, “from now on give us this bread.” Then Jesus declared, “I am the bread of life. He who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty. But as I told you, you have seen me and still you do not believe. I tell you the truth, he who believes has everlasting life. I am the bread of life. Your forefathers ate the manna in the desert, yet they died. 50. But here is the bread that comes down from heaven, which a man may eat and not die. (John, 6: 22 to 36 and 47 to 50).

51. In the first passage, Jesus, by recalling the effect previously produced, gives us clearly to understand that he was not acting with material bread; otherwise the comparison which he established with the yeast of the Pharisees had been without object. “Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? How is it you don’t understand that I was not talking to you about bread? But be on your guard against the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” This reproach was given them for having had a material idea of the multiplication. The act had been extraordinary enough in itself to have struck the imagination of his disciples, who however appeared not to have remembered it.

This idea is set forth no less clearly from the speech of Jesus upon the bread from heaven, or manna, in which he tries to make them comprehend in the true sense the value of spiritual nourishment. “Work,” said he, “not for food that spoils, but for food that endures to eternal life, which the Son of Man will give you.” This nourishment is his word, which is the bread descended from heaven, and which gives life to the world. “I am the bread of life,” said he: “he who comes to me will never go hungry, and he who believes in me will never be thirsty.”

But these distinctions were too subtle for these rough natures, who could comprehend only tangible things. The manna which had fed their ancestors was the true bread from heaven to them: there was the miracle. If, then, the act of producing bread had taken place materially, why should these same men, for whose profit it was produced a few days before, say to Jesus: “What miraculous sign then will you give that we may see it and believe you? What will you do?” It is evident they understood miracles to be the mighty works which the Pharisees demanded; i.e., signs from heaven as commanded with the wand of an enchanter. Those which Jesus did were too simple, and did not depart enough from the laws of nature. The cures even were not sufficiently extraordinary. The spiritual miracles were not material enough for them.

52. Jesus transported by the Devil to the pinnacle of the temple, from thence to the summit of a mountain, and tempted by him, is one of these parables so common with him, which public credulity has transformed into material fact.

53. The following explanation is taken from a teaching given by a spirit on this subject:

“Jesus was not carried by an evil spirit, as above affirmed; but he wished to make men comprehend that humanity is subject to failure, and that it must always be on guard against the bad inspirations to which its weak nature is subjected. The temptation of Jesus is, then, a figure of speech, and one must be blind to take it literally. Why would you desire that the Messiah, the ‘Word’ of God incarnate, should be submitted for a time, however short, to the suggestions of the Devil; and that, as the evangelist Luke writes, the Devil had quitted him for a time, which would make one imagine that he would yet be submitted to his power? No; comprehend better the teachings which have been given you. The Spirit of Evil had no power over the Spirit of Goodness. No one has been said to have seen Jesus upon the temple or upon the mountain. Certainly, if it had been a fact, it would have been noticed by the people. The temptation was then not a material or physical act. As to the moral side of it, could you admit that the spirit of darkness could tempt him who knew his origin and power with the words: ‘Adore me, and I will give you all the kingdoms of the Earth?’ The devil in that case must have been ignorant of who he was, to whom he made such offers, which is not probable. If he knew him, his proposition was nonsensical; for he must have well known that he would repel one who came to ruin his empire over men.

“Comprehend the sense of this parable; for it is one, as well as the ‘Prodigal Son’ and the ‘Good Samaritan.’ One shows us the dangers men run if they resist not this inmost voice, which constantly cries, ‘you can be more than you are; you can possess more than you now possess; you can grow great, increase, acquire. Listen to the voice of ambition, and all your wishes will be fulfilled.’ It shows to you the danger and the means of evading it, by saying to the evil inspirations, ‘Away from me, Satan!’ or, in other words: ‘go away from me, temptation.’

The other two parables show what hope there is for him who, too feeble to cope with temptation, has succumbed to it. It shows you the father blessing the repentant child, and according to him with love the pardon implored. They show you that the guilty, the schismatic, the man who is repelled by his brother, as being worth more in the eyes of the Supreme Judge than those who despise him because that he practices the virtues taught by the law of love.

“Weigh well the teachings given in the Gospels; learn to distinguish the proper sense from the figurative; and the errors which have blinded you so many centuries will, little by little, be effaced, in order to make place for the brilliant light of truth.” — Bordeaux, 1862, by St. John the Evangelist.

54. From the sixth hour until the ninth hour darkness came over all the land. About the ninth hour Jesus cried out in a loud voice, “Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?”- which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” At that moment the curtain of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The Earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life. They came out of the tombs, and after Jesus’ resurrection they went into the holy city and appeared to many people. (Matthew, 27: 45 and 51 to 53).

55. It is strange that such mighty works, being accomplished at the moment even when the attention of the city was fixed upon the anguish of Jesus, which was the event of the day, should not have been remarked upon. As no historian mentions it, it seems impossible that an earthquake and darkness for three hours covered the face of the Earth, in a country where the heavens are in a constant state of limpidness, should have passed unnoticed.

The duration of this obscurity is about that of the eclipse of the sun; but this kind of an eclipse is produced only with the new moon, and the death of Jesus took place during the full moon, the 14th of the month of Nissan, the Passover of the Jews.

The obscuration of the sun may have been produced also by the spots which are observed upon its surfaces. In similar cases the brilliancy of the light is sensibly affected, but never to the point of producing obscurity and darkness. To suppose an obscuration of this kind took place at this epoch would be to assign to it a perfectly natural cause. *

As to the dead having been raised from their graves, perhaps some persons have seen visions or apparitions, which is not exceptional; but, as then they knew not the cause of these phenomena, they imagined the individuals who appeared came out of their sepulchers.
The disciples of Jesus, excited by the death of their master, have, without doubt, attached some particular facts to it, attention to which would not have been drawn at any other time. To men predisposed to the marvelous, a fragment of rock being detached at this time would have given them ample cause to say the rocks were mysteriously rent.

Jesus is great by his works, but not in the fantastical pictures with only an unenlightened enthusiasm must have surrounded him.


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* There are constantly on the surface of the sun fixed spots, which follow its rotational movement, and have served to determine the duration of it. But these spots sometimes increase in number, extent, and intensity, at which times a diminution in light and heat is produced. This augmentation in the number of spots appears to coincide with certain astronomical phenomena and the relative position of some planets, which occasions its periodical return. The duration of this obscuration is very variable. Sometimes it is only for two or three hours, but in 535 A.D. there was one which lasted fourteen months.

56. “They have taken my Lord away,” she said, “and I don’t know where they have put him.” At this, she turned around and saw Jesus standing there, but she did not realize that it was Jesus. “Woman,” he said, “why are you crying? Who is it you are looking for?” Thinking he was the gardener, she said: “Sir, if you have carried him away, tell me where you have put him, and I will get him.” Jesus said to her: “Mary.” She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic: “Rabboni!” (which means Teacher). Jesus said: “Do not hold on to me, for I have not yet returned to the Father. Go instead to my brothers and tell them, I am returning to my Father and your Father, to my God and your God.” Mary Magdalene went to the disciples with the news: “I have seen the Lord!” And she told them that he had said these things to her. (John, 20: 14 to 18).

57. Now that same day two of them were going to a village called Emmaus, about seven miles from Jerusalem. They were talking with each other about everything that had happened. As they talked and discussed these things with each other, Jesus himself came up and walked along with them: but they were kept from recognizing him. 17. He asked them, “What are you discussing together as you walk along?” They stood still, their faces downcast. One of them, named Cleopas, asked him: “Are you only a visitor to Jerusalem and do not know the things that have happened there in these days?” “What things?” he asked. “About Jesus of Nazareth,” they replied. “He was a prophet, powerful in word and deed before God and all the people. The chief priests and our rulers handed him over to be sentenced to death, and they crucified him; but we had hoped that he was the one who was going to redeem Israel. And what is more, it is the third day since all this took place. In addition, some of our women amazed us. They went to the tomb early this morning but didn’t find his body. They came and told us that they had seen a vision of angels, who said he was alive. Then some of our companions went to the tomb and found it just as the women had said, but him they did not see.” He said to them: “How foolish you are, and how slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken! Did not the Christ have to suffer these things and then enter his glory?” And beginning with Moses and all the Prophets, he explained to them what was said in all the Scriptures concerning himself. As they approached the village to which they were going, Jesus acted as if he were going farther. But they urged him strongly: “Stay with us, for it is nearly evening; the day is almost over.” So he went in to stay with them. When he was at the table with them, he took bread, gave thanks, broke it and began to give it to them. Then their eyes were opened and they recognized him, and he disappeared from their sight. They asked each other: “Were not our hearts burning within us while he talked with us on the road and opened the Scriptures to us?” They got up and returned at once to Jerusalem. There they found the Eleven and those with them, assembled together and saying: “It is true! The Lord has risen and has appeared to Simon.” Then the two told what had happened on the way, and how Jesus was recognized by them when he broke the bread. While they were still talking about this, Jesus himself stood among them and said to them: “Peace be with you.” They were startled and frightened, thinking they saw a ghost. He said to them: “Why are you troubled, and why do doubts rise in your minds? Look at my hands and my feet. It is I myself! Touch me and see; a ghost does not have flesh and bones, as you see I have.” When he had said this, he showed them his hands and feet. And while they still did not believe it because of joy and amazement, he asked them: “Do you have anything here to eat?” They gave him a piece of broiled fish, and he took it and ate it in their presence. He said to them: “This is what I told you while I was still with you: Everything must be fulfilled that is written about me in the Law of Moses, the Prophets and the Psalms.” Then he opened their minds so they could understand the Scriptures. He told them: “This is what is written: The Christ will suffer and rise from the dead on the third day, and repentance and forgiveness of sins will be preached in his name to all nations, beginning at Jerusalem. You are witnesses of these things. I am going to send you what my Father has promised; but stay in the city until you have been clothed with power from on high.” (Luke, 24: 13 to 49).

58. Now Thomas (called Didymus), one of the Twelve, was not with the disciples when Jesus came. So the other disciples told him, “We have seen the Lord! “But he said to them, “Unless I see the nail marks in his hands and put my finger where the nails were, and put my hand into his side, I will not believe it.” A week later his disciples were in the house again, and Thomas was with them. Though the doors were locked, Jesus came and stood among them and said, “Peace be with you!” Then he said to Thomas, “Put your finger here; see my hands. Reach out your hand and put it into my side. Stop doubting and believe.” Thomas said to him, “My Lord and my God!” Then Jesus told him, “Because you have seen me, you have believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed.” (John, 20: 24 to 29).

59. Afterward Jesus appeared again to his disciples, by the Sea of Tiberias. It happened this way: Simon Peter, Thomas (called Didymus), Nathanael from Cana in Galilee, the sons of Zebedee, and two other disciples were together. “I’m going out to fish,” Simon Peter told them, and they said, “We’ll go with you.” So they went out and got into the boat, but that night they caught nothing. Early in the morning, Jesus stood on the shore, but the disciples did not realize that it was Jesus. He called out to them, “Friends, haven’t you any fish?” “No,” they answered. He said, “Throw your net on the right side of the boat and you will find some.” When they did, they were unable to haul the net in because of the large number of fish. Then the disciple whom Jesus loved said to Peter, “It is the Lord!” As soon as Simon Peter heard him say, “It is the Lord,” he wrapped his outer garment around him (for he had taken it off) and jumped into the water. The other disciples followed in the boat, towing the net full of fish, for they were not far from shore, about a hundred yards. (John, 21: 1 to 8).

60. When he had led them out to the vicinity of Bethany, he lifted up his hands and blessed them. While he was blessing them, he left them and was taken up into heaven. Then they worshiped him and returned to Jerusalem with great joy. And they stayed continually at the temple, praising God. (Luke, 24: 50 to 53).

61. The appearance of Jesus after death is reported by all the evangelists with circumstantial details, which will not allow us to doubt the reality of the fact. They are, besides, perfectly explained by the fluidic laws and properties of the perispirit, and present nothing anomalous to the phenomena of the same kind of which ancient and contemporaneous history offers numerous examples, without excepting the tangibility of the form presented. If one observes the circumstances which have attended his diverse appearances, one recognizes in him at these moments all the characters of a fluidic being. He appeared and disappeared unexpectedly; he was seen by some, and not by others, under a guise not recognized even by his disciples; he appeared to them in closed rooms, where a carnal body could not have penetrated; his language even has not the animation of a corporeal being; he has the tone which is brief and sententious, peculiar to spirits who manifest in this manner. His whole manner, in short, is not that of a denizen of the terrestrial sphere. The sight of him causes at the same time surprise and fear. His disciples, in seeing him, speak no more to him with the old freedom; they feel that he is a man no more.

Jesus then showed his perispiritual body to them, which explains why he was seen only by those to whom he desired to make himself known. If he had worn his carnal body, he would have been seen by the first comer as in life. His disciples, being ignorant of the first cause of the phenomenon of apparitions, took no account of these peculiarities, which were not probably remarked. They saw Jesus, and touched him; for them it was the resurrected body (chap. XIV, n° 14 and 35 to 38).

62. Whilst incredulity rejects all facts accomplished by Jesus having a supernatural aspect, and considers them without exception as legends, Spiritism gives the greater part of them a natural explanation. It proves their possibility, not alone by the theory of the fluidic laws, but by their identity with analogous facts produced by a multitude of persons in the most common conditions. Since these facts are in some respects public property, they prove nothing, in principle, touching the exceptional nature of Jesus. *


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* The numerous contemporaneous facts of cures, apparitions, possessions, second sight, etc., which are related in the “Revue Spirite,” and recalled in the above notes, offer, even to circumstances of detail, such a striking analogy to those which the evangelist reports, that their similarity in cause and effect are evident. One naturally asks why the natural cause of today should be a supernatural one in another epoch of the world’s history, — diabolical with some, and divine with others. If it had been possible to have compared the two together here at greater length, the comparison would have been easier; but their number, and the elaborate explanations which the greater part necessitate, have not permitted of it.

63. The greatest miracle Jesus has performed — that which truly attests his superiority — is the revolution his teachings have made in the world, notwithstanding his limited field of action.

Jesus was indeed poor, obscure, born in a most humble condition among a despised people, very ignorant, and without political, artistic, or literary influence. He preached only three years. During this time, so short in duration, he was despised and persecuted by his fellow-citizens, calumniated and treated as an impostor; he was often obliged to flee, in order to escape stoning; he was betrayed by one of his own apostles, denied by another, and forsaken by all at the moment when he fell into the hands of his enemies. He did only good; but that did not shelter him from malevolence, which turned against him even the blessings which he bestowed. Condemned to the death reserved for criminals, he died ignored by the world; for contemporary history is silent in regard to him. * He has written nothing himself; however, aided by some obscure men like himself, his words have been sufficient to regenerate the world. His doctrine has killed all-powerful paganism, and has become the torch of civilization. He had against him all that can possibly foil men in an earthly career. This is the reason why we say that the triumph of his doctrine is the greatest of his miracles; at the same time, it proves his divine mission. If, in place of social and regenerative principles, founded upon the spiritual future of man, he had offered to posterity only a few marvelous facts, scarcely would his name be mentioned today.


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* The Jewish historian, Josephus, is the only one who speaks of him, and he writes very little in respect to him.

64. The disappearance of the body of Jesus after his death has been the subject of many controversies. It has been attested by the four evangelists, upon the evidence of the women who presented themselves at the sepulcher the third day, and did not find him there. Some have seen in this disappearance a miraculous occurrence; while others have supposed a clandestine removal to have taken place.

According to another opinion, Jesus could not ever have been invested with a common carnal body, but only with a fluidic one; that he could have been during his whole life only partly tangible, — in a word, a sort of agénère. His birth, judged from his stand-point, his death, and all the acts of his life must have been only appearances. Thus they say his body returned to the fluidic state, and was able to disappear from the sepulcher; and with this same body he appeared to friends after death.

Without doubt, a similar fact is not radically impossible, after that which one knows today of the properties of fluids; but it would be at least entirely exceptional, and in formidable opposition to the usual character of the agénères (chap. XIV, n° 36). The question then is, if such a hypothesis is admissible, if it is confirmed or contradicted by facts.

65. There are two periods in the sojourn of Jesus upon the Earth, — that which preceded, and that which followed his death. In the first, from the moment of conception until birth, all things occur, with respect to his mother, as in ordinary conditions of life.* From his birth until death, in all his acts, languages, and the diverse circumstances of his life, there are presented unmistakable evidences of corporeity. The phenomena of the psychic order which were produced through him were only occasional, and were not anomalous, since they are explained by the properties of the perispirit, and are developed in different degrees of power in other individuals. After his death, to the contrary, he is revealed to us as a fluidic being. The difference between the two states is so distinctly defined, that it is not possible to assimilate them.

Properly speaking, the carnal body has the inherent properties of matter, which differ essentially from those of the ethereal fluids. Disintegration is brought about by rupture of molecular cohesion. A sharp instrument by cutting into the material body divides its tissues. If the essential organs of life are attacked, the exercise of the functions is arrested, and death ensues; that is to say, the death of the body. This cohesion, existing not in the fluidic body, life reposes not on the play of special organs, and cannot be affected by analogous disorders. A sharp instrument, or any other, penetrates it, as it would vapor, without occasioning any harm. This is the reason why this kind of body can never die, and why fluidic beings, designated by the name of agénères, can never be killed.

After the crucifixion of Jesus, his body remained inert and without life. It was buried like an ordinary corpse; and all could see him and touch him. After his resurrection, when he desires to quit the Earth, he does not die. He is raised, he vanished, disappeared, without leaving any trace behind, — an evident proof that this body was of another nature than that which perished upon the cross; whence it is necessary to conclude, that, if Jesus died, he had a carnal body.

In consequence of its material properties, the carnal body is the seat of the sensations and physical pains which are echoed in the sensitive center, or spirit. It is not the body which suffers: it is the spirit which receives the rebound of the injury or wounds to the organic tissues. A body deprived of spirit sensation feels absolutely no sensation; while the spirit, which has no material body, cannot experience sufferings which are the result of injury to matter; whence it is necessary to conclude, that if Jesus suffered materially, as one cannot doubt, it was because he had a material body in nature similar to our own.


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* We do not speak here of the mystery of the incarnation, which will subsequently be examined.

66. To the material facts many powerful moral considerations must be added.

If Jesus had been, during his life, in the condition of fluidic being, he would have experienced neither pain nor any of the necessities of the material body. To suppose him to have been thus is to take away from him all the merit of a life of suffering and privation, which he chose as an example of resignation. If all this in him was only appearance, all the acts of his life — the reiterated announcement of his death, the sad scene in the garden of Gethsemane, his prayer to God to let, if possible, the cup pass from his lips, his passion, his agony, all, even to his last sigh at the moment of rendering up the spirit — would only be a vain show, a mockery of nature, making an illusory sacrifice of his life appear real. Such would be a comedy unworthy of a simple, honest man, and one much more unworthy of so superior a being; in short, it would have been the abuse of the good faith of his contemporaries and of posterity. Such are the logical sequences of this system of belief, sequences which are not admissible; for it lowers it morally instead of elevating it.

Jesus must then have had, like everybody else, a carnal and a spiritual body, which the material and physic phenomena of his life attest.

67. This idea upon the nature of the body of Jesus is not new. In the fourth century Apollinarius of Laodicea, chief of the sect of the Apollinarists, assumed that Jesus had not taken a body like ours, but one incapable of harm or pain, which had descended from heaven on the breast of the Virgin Saint, and was not born of her, that thus Jesus had been born, had suffered, and was dead only in appearance. The Apollinarists were anathematized at the Council of Alexandria in 360, in that of Rome in 374, and in that of Constantinople in 381.

The Docetists, (from the Greek dokein, to appear), a numerous sect among the Gnostics, had the same belief; this cult subsisted during the first three centuries A.D.