The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1864

Speech given by Mr. Allan Kardec to the

Spiritists of Brussels and Antwerp in 1864



We published this speech by request of several persons that have mentioned to us their desire to preserve it and because it tends to have Spiritism seen from an aspect that is new in a certain way. The Spiritist Review of Antwerp reproduced it in its totality.



Ladies and gentlemen, dear Spiritist brothers and sisters,

I am pleased to give you this title although I do not have the advantage of knowing all the persons attending this meeting, but I want to believe that we are in family and all of us in communion of thoughts and feelings. Even admitting that not everyone is sympathetic to our ideas I would not take them less in the fraternal feeling that must animate the true Spiritists to all mankind, without distinction of opinion. However, it is to our brothers in faith that I address more specially to express to them my satisfaction to be among them and offer them the fraternal Spiritist salutation in the name of the Parisian Society.



I had already been given the proof that Spiritism counts on a large number of serious, devout and enlightened followers in this city, perfectly in sync with the moral and philosophical objective of the Doctrine; I knew I would find sympathetic hearts here and that was the determinant factor for me to correspond to the insistent and kind invitation addressed to me by several of you for a short visit this year. The warm and cordial welcome that I received allow me to take with me the most pleasant memory from the time I spent here.



I would certainly have the right to be proud of the reception that I have in the several centers that I visit if I did not know that such testimonies are much less to the man than to the Doctrine of which I am just a humble representative and must be considered like a profession of faith, an adherence to our principles. That is how I see them as far as I am concerned. As a matter of fact if the trips that I do from time to time only had the objective of personal satisfaction I would consider them useless and would abstain from traveling. However, added to the fact that they contribute to the strengthening of links of fraternity among followers they also have the advantage of providing me with material of observation and study that are never a waste to the Doctrine. Irrespective of the facts that may serve the progress of the science I collect material for the future history of Spiritism; authentic documents about the movement of the Spiritist idea; the more or less favorable elements that the Doctrine finds, according to the places; the strength or weakness and the maneuvers of the adversaries; the means of fighting the latter; the zeal and devotion of its true defenders. Among the latter one must place in the first line all of those that work for the cause with courage, perseverance, abnegation and selflessness, without any personal intention, that seek the triumph of the Doctrine by the Doctrine and not for the satisfaction of their personal self-love, and finally those that prove that the Spiritism moral is not vain by their example, struggling to justify this remarkable statement of a non-believer: “With such a Doctrine one cannot be Spiritist and not be a good person.”



There isn’t a Spiritist center in which I did not find a more or less large number of such pioneers of the cause, of those trail blazers of the terrain, those tireless fighters that sustained by a sincere and enlightened faith, by the conscience of a duty to carry out, do not get discouraged before any difficulty, looking at their devotion as a debt of recognition for the moral benefits received form Spiritism. Is it fair that those that honor the Doctrine have their names lost for our descendants and that they would not be one day inscribed in the Spiritist pantheon?



Unfortunately by their side sometimes there are the naughty boys of the cause, the impatient ones, those that can compromise it by not weighing the reach of their words and actions; those that by a thoughtless zeal, by inopportune and premature ideas unwillingly give ammunition to our adversaries. Then come the others that only consider Spiritism superficially, not being touched in their hearts, giving by their own example a false idea of its results and moral tendencies.



That is, without doubt, the biggest reef found by the sincere propagators of the Doctrine, for they many times see the work that they did being undone by those that should second them. It is a demonstrated fact that Spiritism is more harmed by those that have a limited knowledge of the Doctrine than by those that totally ignore it and even by the declared enemies. And it is noticeable that those that have limited knowledge generally have the pretension of understanding it more than those that acquired experience through serious studies. Such pretension, that reveals pride, is an evident proof of ignorance of the true principles of the Doctrine.



May the Spiritists not be discouraged since this results from a time of transition in which we live! The new ideas cannot be established suddenly and without hindrance. Since it is necessary to brush away the old ideas they forcibly find adversaries that fight against and repeal them and there are those that take those ideas upside down, that see them or want to accommodate them to their personal tastes. But there comes the time when the true principles are known an understood by the majority and the contradictory ideas fall by themselves. You saw what happened to the isolated systems that appeared at the origin of Spiritism. They all fell before a more rigorous observation of the facts, or only find a few followers that cling to their initial ideas not moving a single step forward. The unity was established in the Spiritist belief with much more speed than it was expected. The fact is that the Spirits came to confirm the true principles from all sides, so much so that today there is a predominant idea in the whole world and that if still does not count on an absolute unanimity it incontestably counts on the immense majority from which it follows that the one that wishes to march at the margin of that opinion, finding little or no support, is condemned to isolation. Experience is here to demonstrate that.



To remediate the inconvenient that I have just described, that is, to prevent the consequences of ignorance and false interpretations it is necessary to take care of the propagation of the correct ideas, of forming educated followers whose growing number will neutralize the influence of the wrong ideas.



My visit to the Spiritist center, naturally, have the main objective of helping the brothers in faith in their tasks. I therefore take the opportunity to give them the instructions that they may need as a theoretical development or practical explanation of the Doctrine as much as I can. The objective of such visits is serious and exclusively in the interest of the Doctrine hence I do not seek ovations that I do not particularly like and that are not in my character. My greatest satisfaction is to meet sincere and devout friends with whom we can understand one another without embarrassments and mutually enlighten one another through friendly discussions to which each one of us take their own observations.



In these journeys I do not preach to the nonbelievers and never summon the public to catechize them. In a word, I do not make propaganda. I only attend followers’ meetings in which my advices are sought and may be useful. I give those advices in good will to those that believe to need them and abstain from giving them to those that believe to be enlightened enough to neglect them.



If in such gatherings persons that are only attracted by curiosity exceptionally sneak in they would be disappointed for they would find nothing there that could satisfy them and if animated by a hostile and defamatory feeling the eminently moral, serious and sincere of the assembly and the subject matters discussed there would eliminate any plausible pretext to their malevolence. These are the thoughts that I bring to the many meetings that I am invited to attend so that there is no mistake about my intentions.



I said initially that I was only the representative of the Doctrine. Some explanations about its true character will certainly draw your attention to an essential point that up until now was not sufficiently discussed. Certainly by seeing the speed of progress of this Doctrine there would be more splendor if I said that I was its creator and my self-love would be rewarded there but I must not consider my contribution greater than it really is. Far from being sorry I congratulate myself for that because in such a case the Doctrine would only be an individual conception that could be more or less correct, more or less ingenious, but that for the same reason would lose its authority. It could have followers, perhaps make a school, like many others, but it would not certainly acquired the universal character that distinguishes it.



That is a point of paramount importance, ladies and gentlemen, and that must be proclaimed out loud. No, Spiritism is not an individual conception, the product of imagination; it is not a theory, a system invented for the need of a cause. Spiritism has its source in the facts of nature itself, in positive events that are produced before our eyes all the time but whose origin was not suspected. It is therefore the result of observation, in a word it is a science, the science of the relationships between the visible and the invisible worlds, a still imperfect science but that daily complements itself with new studies and that, I am sure, will take a position side by side with the other positive sciences. I say positive because every science that founds on facts is positive and not purely hypothetical. Spiritism did not invent anything because one cannot invent what is part of nature. Newton did not invent the law of gravitation since that law existed before him; everybody felt its effect and applied it but the law was unknown.



Spiritism in turn comes to demonstrate a new law, a force of nature: the one that resides in the action of the Spirit upon matter, a law that is as universal as the law of gravitation and electricity but still unknown and denied by certain persons, like the other laws were also at the time of their discovery. The reason being that people generally have difficulty in renouncing to their preconceived ideas and because of their self-love it is hard to them to agree that they were wrong or that others were able to find what they did not.



But since this law definitely is based on facts and against facts there isn’t any denial that may prevail, they will have to surrender to the evidence, like the most adamant had to do with respect to the movement of Earth, to the formation of the globe and the effects of steam. However much they call the phenomena ridiculous they cannot bar the existence of what does exist.



Spiritism therefore sought the explanation to a certain order of phenomena that were spontaneously produced at all times. But what in particular favored Spiritism in that research was the capability of producing them and up to a certain extent to provoke them. It found adequate instruments for such effect in the mediums as the physicist found in the battery or in the electric machine the means of reproducing the effects of lightning. Please understand that this is a comparison and I do not intend to establish analogy.



There is here, however, a highly important consideration. It is the fact that Spiritism did not follow the paths of hypothesis as it is accused. It did not suppose the existence of the spiritual world in order to explain the phenomena at hand. It followed the path of analysis and observation. From the facts it was led to the cause and the spiritual element was presented as an active force; Spiritism only proclaimed that principle after having attested it. As a force and as a law of nature the spiritual element opens up, therefore, new horizons to the science, providing the key to a number of misunderstood problems.



But if the discovery of purely material laws has produced material revolutions, the discovery of the spiritual element prepares a moral revolution in the world because it completely change the course of the most rooted ideas and beliefs; it shows life under another aspect; it kills superstition and fanaticism; it elevates thoughts and man instead of dragging oneself in matter, of circumscribing life between birth and death, elevates to infinity; he knows where he is coming from and where he is going to; he sees an objective to his work, to his endeavors, a reason to do good; he knows that anything that is acquired here in knowledge and morality is lost and that his progress continues indefinitely beyond the grave; he knows that there is always a future irrespective of the insufficiency and brevity of the present life, whereas the materialistic idea that restricts life to the current existence gives the void by perspective, that not even the duration of life may be given as compensation and that it is up to nobody to control that since we can fall tomorrow, in one hour and then the fruit of our work, our care, the acquired knowledge, everything will be lost forever, many times even without the proper time to have enjoyed that.



Spiritism, I repeat, changes completely the course of the ideas by demonstrating not by hypothesis but by facts the existence of the invisible world that waits for us; it gives man the moral strength, courage and resignation because one does not work for the present only but for the future; he knows that if he does not enjoy today he will enjoy tomorrow.



Demonstrating the action of the spiritual element upon the material world Spiritism broadens the domain of science and opens, for that very reason, a new path to the material progress. Man will then have a solid foundation for the establishment of a moral order on Earth. He will better understand the solidarity that there exists between the creatures of this world, because that solidarity perpetuates indefinitely; fraternity is no longer an empty word; it kills egotism instead of being killed by that and very naturally driven by these ideas man will accommodate to them his laws and social institutions.



Spiritism inevitably leads to that reform. Hence, by the force of things, there will be a moral revolution that must transform humanity and change the face of the globe, and that simply by the knowledge of a new law of nature the gives another direction to the ideas, a meaning to this life, an objective to future aspirations and allows things to be seen from another point of view.



If the detractors of Spiritism – I here speak of those that work towards social progress, of the writers that preach the emancipation of the peoples, freedom, fraternity and the reform of abuses – knew the true tendencies of Spiritism, its reach and its inevitable results, instead of attacking it, as they do, and instead of incessantly throwing obstacles on its path, they would see in Spiritism the most powerful lever to lead to the destruction of abuses that they fight; instead of being hostile they would welcome it as a providential help. Unfortunately the majority believes more in themselves than in the Providence. But the lever acts without them and despite them and the irresistible power of Spiritism will be the more verified the more there is to combat. One day they will say – and that will not be for their glory – what they say about those that have fought against the movement of Earth and about those that denied the power of steam. Every denial, every persecution did not preclude those natural laws for follow their courses, like all the sarcasm of disbelief will not preclude the action of the spiritual element that is also a law of nature.



Considered in this way Spiritism loses the character of mysticism that is censored by its detractors, at least by those that do not know it. It is no longer the science of the wonderful and supernatural resurrected but the dominion of nature, enriched by a new and fertile law, another proof of the power and wisdom of our Creator. These are, finally, the boundaries of human knowledge pushed further.



That is in summary, ladies and gentlemen, the point of view under which Spiritism must be seen. In that case what was my role? It is not that of an inventor or a creator. I saw, observed, studied the facts with care and perseverance; I coordinated them and deduced their consequences: that is all that I have done. What I did could have been done by someone else in my place. I was only an instrument of the Providence in all that and I thank God and the good Spirits for having wanted to use my service. It is a mission that I accepted with joy and that I endeavor to be trustworthy, asking God to give me the necessary strength to accomplish it according to his will. Such a task is, nonetheless, heavier than people may suppose and if I have any merit in that it is the fact that I am conscious of not having stepped back before any obstacle and any sacrifice; it will be the work of my life up to the last day since before such an important objective all of the material and personal interests fade away like points in infinity.



I end this short discourse, ladies and gentlemen, by giving my sincere congratulations to our brothers of Belgium, present and absent, whose zeal, devotion and perseverance contributed to the implantation of Spiritism in that country. The seeds that were planted in the large population centers like Brussels, Antwerp and others, I am certain, were not thrown onto sterile soil.

In a bibliographic article about Méry published in the Journal Littéraire from September 25^th, 1864 there is the following passage:



“There are singular theories that for him are convictions. He then believes that he has lived many times; he remembers the minimal details of his preceding lives and describe them with a tone of certainty that is imposed with certain authority. That is how he was friends with Virgilio, Horace and knew Augustus Germanicus and fought the wars of Gallia and Germania.^[1] He was a general and commanded the Roman lines when they crossed the Rheine. He recognized placed where he had camped on the mountains and in the vales the battle fields where he fought. He remembers conversations at the house of Mecenas, great object of sorrow. He was called Minius.



One day in his present life he was in Rome visiting the library of Vatican. He was received by young people, novices dressing long black cloaks speaking in the purest Latin. Méry was a good Latinist with respect to the theory and written language but had not yet tried to speak the language of Juvenal. Hearing these modern Romans, admiring that magnificent language much in harmony with the monuments and customs of the time it was used, it seemed that a veil fell out from his eyes; he had the impression that he had spoke that language on other times with friends that also spoke that divine language. Full and impeccable sentences left his mouth; he immediately found the elegance and correction; finally he spoke Latin as he speaks French; His Latin soul was like his French soul. None of that could have happened without learning, and if he had not been a vassal of Augustus, if he had not lived that century of splendors, if he had not improvised a science, impossible of acquiring in a couple of hours.



Another of his passages on Earth took place in India and that is why he knows it very well. That is why none of his readers doubted that he had lived in Asia when he published Guerre du Nizan. His descriptions are lively, his pictures original, and he touches with his finger the minimal details and it is impossible that he had not seen what he tells because it contains the truth. He states that he entered that country with a Muslim expedition in 1035. He lived there for fifty beautiful years and established himself there definitely. He was also a poet there but less educated than in Rome and in Paris. First a fighter then a dreamer he kept the fascinating images of the sacred river and the Hindu rites in his soul. He had several dwellings, in the city and in the country side; he prayed in the temples of the elephants; he knew the advanced civilization of Java and saw standing the splendid ruins that he mentions and that are still much unknown. One needs to hear him saying that poetry for those memories are true poems at the style of Swedenborg. He is very serious, make no mistake about it. This is not a prepared mystification to deceive the listeners, it is a convincing reality.



How about his remarkable doctrines of history! His humor is fine, casting a new light onto everything that he touches. His reports are romances that almost lead us to tears after being almost unable to refrain the laughter. All of that turns Méry into one of the most wonderful men of his time and even of those in which his wandering soul waited its turn to take a body and again have people talking about them in future generations.”

Pierre Dangeau.



The author of the article does not add any thought to that. After having exhalted the great merit of Méry and his great intelligence it would have been inconsequent to define it as madness. If then Méry is a sensible man, of an elevated intellectual value, if the belief of having already lived before is a conviction, if such a conviction is not the product of his own system but the result of a past memory and a material fact, isn’t that something that should draw the attention of any serious person? Let us see the innumerable consequences led by such a simple fact.



Mr. Méry has already lived and that must not be an exception because the laws of nature are the same to all and hence every person must also have lived; if he lived it is not certainly the body that is reborn but the intelligent principle, the soul, the Spirit, we therefore have a soul. Considering that Méry kept the memory of several existences since the places bring him back the memory of what he saw in the past, with the death of the body the soul is not lost in the universal whole. It therefore keeps its individuality, the conscience of its self.



Mr. Méry remembering what he had been two thousand years ago what became of his soul in the interval? Was is lost in the depth of infinity or space? No because it would not have found her past individuality. Then it must have stayed in the earthly atmosphere, living a spiritual life in our environment or in the space that surrounds us until taking a new body. Considering that Méry is not alone in the world there must be a whole invisible and intelligent population around us.



Born again for the corporeal life, after a more or less lengthy interval, does the soul is reborn in its primitive state, in the state of a new soul or does it take advantage of the ideas acquired in its previous existences? The past memory resolves a question from this point of view: if Mr. Méry had lost the acquired knowledge he would not be able to speak that language that he formerly spoke; when looking at places they would not bring back any memory.



But if we have already lived why wouldn’t we live again? Why would this existence be the last one? If we are born with the an already realized intellectual development we are helped by the intuition of the ideas that we bring, like an arsenal that helps us in the acquisition of new ideas, that makes learning easier. If a person is a partial mathematician in one life that person will require less work to become a full mathematician in a next life. It is a logical consequence. If the person became partially good, if corrected some defects, she will need less effort to become even better and so forth. Nothing that we acquire in intelligence, knowledge and morality is lost. Irrespective of dying young or old; irrespective of having had time to enjoy the current life we will harvest the fruits in a next life. The souls that today animate the civilized French could have well been the souls that animated the barbarian Franconians, the Ostrogoths and Visigoths, the savage Galatians, the Roman conquerors, the fanatics of the Middle Ages, but that moved one step ahead in every existence and that will advance even further.



There we have solved the great problem of progress of humanity, a problem that sees the clash of many philosophers. It is resolved by the simple fact of the plurality of the existences. But how many other problems will be resolved by the solution to this problem? How many new horizons are not opened by this? It is a whole revolution in beliefs and ideas.



That is how a serious and thoughtful person will reason. An event is just a starting point from where she finds the consequences. Now, what are the thoughts that Mr. Méry’s case awakens in the writer of the article? He summarizes that in these words: “There are singular theories that for him are convictions.”



But if that author only sees something bizarre in all this, not much worthy of his attention, the same would not apply to everybody else. One person finds a brute diamond on her path but gives no attention because ignores its value; another way will appreciate it and take advantage of that.



The Spiritist ideas are produced in all forms these days; they are at the top of the agenda and the press, not confessing, register them in profusion believing that they are only feeding their columns of mockery. Isn’t that remarkable that every adversary of the idea, without exception, works diligently to its propagation? They would like to mute what they are forced to say by the force of things. That is what the Providence wishes – for those that believe in the Providence.



Some will say that our argumentation is based on an isolated fact that is not a law and that if the plurality of the existences is an inherent condition to humanity why is it that not everybody remembers, like Méry? Here is how we respond: take the burden of studying Spiritism and you will understand. Therefore we will not repeat what has been said a hundred of times about the uselessness of the memory of the past to take advantage of the experience acquired in previous lives and the danger of that memory for the social relationships.



There is, however, another cause of forgetfulness, kind of physiological, due at the same time to the materiality of our body and the identification of our little advanced Spirit with matter. With the depuration of the Spirit the material links are less tenacious and the veil that covers the past is less dense. The faculty of the retrospective memory is then consequence of the development of the Spirit. The fact is rare in our planet because humanity is still too materialistic but it would be a mistake the supposition that Mr. Méry is a unique example. God allows, from time to time, that this happens so as to lead mankind to the knowledge of the great law of the plurality of the existences, the only one that explains the origin of good or bad qualities, shows justice in the miseries that are endured here and traces the path to the future.



The uselessness of the memory to take advantage of the past is what poses more difficulty to those that have studied Spiritism. To the Spiritists it is an elemental question. Avoiding repetition of what has been said about it the following comparison might facilitate understanding.



The schoolboy goes through the series of classes from the eighth to philosophy.^[2] What he has learned in the eighth is used to learn what is taught in the seventh. Suppose now that at the end of the eighth he has lost all memory of the time spent in this class, his mind will be no less developed, and furnished with acquired knowledge; only he will not remember where or how he has acquired them, but, because of the progress he has made, he will be able to enjoy the lessons of the seventh. Suppose further that in the eighth he was lazy, angry, and indocile, but that having been chastised and moralized, his character was broken, and that he became laborious, gentle, and obedient, he will bring these qualities into his new class which, for him, will appear to be the first. What good would it do to him if knowing that he was punished for his laziness, if now he is no longer lazy? The bottom line is that he is at the seventh grade better and more capable than he was in the eighth grade. So it will happen from class to class.

So, what does not happen to the schoolboy or the mankind in several periods of present life does happen to him like in a memory of a previous life: that is the whole difference but the result is exactly the same although in much larger scale.

(See another example of memory of the past reported in the Spiritist Review, July 1860)

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[1] Roman terms employed to describe Gaullic and Germanic regions in Europe (TN)


[2] Notice that the succession of classes in France goes from highest to lowest number so that 8^th comes before 7^th and so forth. For example even in modern days the 6h Grade School year in France (or 6ème, age 11) comes before the 5th Grade School year (or 5ème, age 12) (TN)

Passy, October 4^th, 1864 – medium Mr. Rul.



Note: The medium wanted to evoke Latour since the time of the execution. He asked his spiritual guide about it who then answered that he should wait for the appropriate time that would be indicated to him. The authorization was only given on October 3^rd after he led the article of the Spiritist Review about the case.

Q. – Have you heard my prayers? A. – Yes, despite my confusion I heard them and thank you for that. I was evoked soon after my death and could not communicate promptly but many frivolous Spirits took my name. I took the opportunity of the presence of the President of the Parisian Society in Brussels and with the permission of superior Spirits I was able to communicate. I will communicate at the Society and will make revelations that will be the beginning of the reparation of my faults and that will serve as teachings to all criminals that read me or think about the report of my sufferings. The discourses about the penalties of hell produce little effect upon the Spirit of the guilty that do not believe in all of those images that are scaring to children to the weak. Well, a big criminal is not a pusillanimous soul and the fear of police has a greater impact on them than the punishments of hell. That is why all of those that read me will be touched by my words, my sufferings that are not suppositions. There isn’t a single priest that can say: “I saw it and I tell you; I saw the sufferings of the condemned.” But when I come to say: This is what happened after the death of my body; that was the size of my disappointment when I saw that I was not dead as I expected, and what I had considered to be the end of my sufferings was just the beginning of tortures that are impossible to describe, then more than one will stop at the edge of the cliff in which they are about to fall. Each miserable one that I can stop like that will serve in the preparation of one of my faults. That is how good comes out of bad and how God’s benevolence manifests everywhere, on Earth as in space. I was freed from the vision of my victims that became my executioners, so that I could communicate with you. When I leave you I will see them again and that simple thought makes me suffer more than I can tell you. I am happy when you evoke me because I then leave my hell behind for a few moments. Always pray for me; ask God to have me freed from the vision of my victims. Yes, let us pray together. Prayer helps so much… I am more relieved; I no longer feel the weight of the burden that crushes me. I see a flash of light sparking in my eyes and full of regret I say: Blessed be the hand of God. His will be done!

J. Latour



The spiritual guide of the medium writes the following:

“Do not take the first screams of a regretful Spirit as an infallible sign of his resolutions. He may have his promises in good faith since the first impression that he had on returning to the spiritual world is so much fulminating that before the first testimony of charity that he receives from an incarnate Spirit he throws himself to the effusions of recognition and regret. But the reaction, sometimes, is like the action and frequently this guilty Spirit that dictated so good words to a medium may return to his perverse nature, to his criminal tendencies. Like a child that tries to walk, he needs help to avoid falling again.”



The Spirit of Latour was evoked on the very next day.

Medium: Instead of asking God to free you from the vision of your victims I invite you to pray with me to ask him to give you strength to withstand such a torturous atonement.

Latour: I would rather be freed from the vision of my victims. If you only knew what I suffer! The most insensitive man would be touched if he could see the sufferings of my soul printed on my face like fire. I will do what you advise me to. I understand that it is a kind of faster way of atonement for my faults. It is like a painful surgery that must bring health back to my very sick body. Ah! If the sinners of Earth could see me how scared they would be with the consequences of their crimes, hidden to the eyes of men, seen by the Spirits! Oh ignorance is so fatal to so many miserable people! What a responsibility of those that deny education to the poor. They believe to be able to prevent crimes with police and guards. Oh How wrong! If they doubled, quadrupled the number of law enforcement the same crimes would be committed because it is necessary that the bad incarnate Spirits commit crimes. I recommend myself to your charity.



Observation: It is no doubt for a rest of earthly prejudice that Latour says: “it is necessary that the bad incarnate Spirits commit crimes”. That would be fatality in the actions of people, a doctrine that would excuse everybody. In fact it is very natural that a Spirit leaving similar existence does not understand moral freedom yet without which mankind would be at the level of the animals. We should be surprised by the fact that he does not say worse things.

The following communication by the same Spirit was obtained spontaneously in Brussels by Mrs. C…, the same medium that served as instrument to the scene report in our October issue.

“Fear nothing from me. I am more appeased but I still suffer. God have mercy on me for he saw my repentance. Now I suffer this regret that shows me the enormity of my faults. Had I been well driven in life I would not have done the harm that I did however my instincts were not repressed and I obeyed them since there was not brake to me! If all mankind gave enough thought to God or at least believed in God similar atrocities would no longer take place. But the justice of men is poorly understood. Sometimes for a slight mistake a person is thrown in jail that is always a place of perversion. She then comes out completely lost by the bad advices and examples collected there. Even if good natured and strong enough to resist to the bad examples when the person leaves prison all doors are closed, all hands retrieved and all honest hearts remain away. What is left? Misery and abandonment. The good resolutions are met by disdain and despair; misery leads to everything. Rejected the person then also despises the neighbor, hates and loses any consciousness of good and bad, despite the previous resolution of becoming honest. To find the necessary the person steals and sometimes kills. Then comes the guillotine!

My God, when my hallucinations are supposed to come back I feel your hand on me; I feel your goodness that surrounds and protect me. Thank you my God! In my next life I will employ my intelligence and all of my efforts to help those miserable ones that have succumbed and to preserve them from the fall.

Thank you all that are not disgusted by communicating with me. Have no fear for you can see I am not bad. When you think of me do not form the image that you have of me but of a poor devastated soul thankful to your indulgence. Good-bye. Evoke me again and pray to God on my behalf.”

Latour

Observation: The Spirit refers to the fear that he inspired on the medium. In addition he says: “I suffer this regret that shows me the enormity of my faults”. There is a lot behind this thought. The Spirit does not really understand the seriousness of the mistakes but when there is true regret. Regret brings sorrow and remorse, this painful feeling that is the transition from bad to good, from moral disease to moral health. It is to escape that the perverse Spirits resist to the voice of their consciences, like those patients that repeal the medicine that can cure them. They try to delude themselves and get intoxicated, persisting on the error. Latour entered the phase in which the hardening ends up yielding and remorse reaches the heart. Then came regret. He understand the reach of what he did, sees his abjection and suffers. That is why he says: “I suffer this regret.” In his preceding life he must have been worse than this because if he had regretted as he did now his life would have been better. His current resolutions will influence his future earthly life. The one that he has just left, however criminal it may have been, marked a stage of his progress. It is more than likely that before initiating that life, in erraticity, he was one of those rebellious bad Spirits obstinate by evil, like many others that we see.

Many people asked what would be the benefit that could be taken from past lives taking into account the fact that we don’t remember what we did or what we were. This question is completely resolved by the fact that if our bad actions are totally erased; if there is no trace in our hearts their memory would be useless since we no longer have to worry about them. As for what we have not completely cured we know that from our current tendencies; there is what we have to put all of our attention. It is enough to know what we are without the need to know what we were.

When we consider in this life the difficulty of rehabilitation of the most regretful criminal, the reproach that he suffers one must thank God for having cast a veil upon the past. If Latour had been condemned in time and even if he had been recovered his antecedents would have him repealed by society. Despite his regret who would have given him a chance in their intimacy? The feelings that as a Spirit he manifests today give us hope that in the next earthly life he will be an honest, esteemed and considered man. But now suppose that he knows that he had been Latour! The reproach will still follow him. The veil thrown onto the past opens up the rehabilitation door to him. He will be able to share the same space with the most decent persons without any embarrassment. How many persons would not like to erase from people’s memories, at any price, certain years of their life?

Where is a doctrine that better harmonizes with the justice and benevolence of God? As a matter of fact this Doctrine is not a theory but the result of observation. It was not the Spiritists that imagined it; they saw and observed the multiple situations presented by the Spirits; they sought the explanations and from that the Doctrine was born. If the Doctrine was accepted it is because it results from the facts and because it seemed more rational to them than all others produced up until now about the future of the soul.



Latour was evoked many times and that was very natural but as it happens in similar cases there was many apocryphal communications and frivolous Spirits did not let this opportunity go. Latour’s situation itself precluded him from manifesting in so many places almost simultaneously since ubiquity is only given to superior Spirits.

Are the communications that we reported more authentic? We believe so and wish the best to that Spirit. In the absence of material proofs that attest the identity in a more absolute way, like many times they do, we at least have the moral proofs that result both from the circumstances in which the manifestations took place and their agreement. From the communications that we know coming from different sources at least three quarter parts are coherent with respect to the bottom line; there are others that do not resist examination such is the amount of errors and in flagrant contradiction with what experience teaches us about the Spirits and the spiritual world.

At any rate one cannot deny an elevated moral teaching in those that we mentioned. The Spirit may have been helped in his thoughts and in particular in the choice of expressions by more advanced Spirits. But in similar cases the latter only help in the form and not in the content and never put the inferior Spirit in contradiction with himself. They were able to give Latour’s regret a poetic form but they would not have led him to express regret against his own will because the Spirit has free-will. They saw in him the embryo of good feelings and for that reason helped him to express them and by that they contributed to have them developed and at the same time attracted people’s commiseration to him.

Is there anything more exciting, more moralizing and more impressive than the image of that regretful criminal, manifesting his desperation and remorse that amidst tortures and persecuted by the permanent eyes of his victims elevates his thoughts to God imploring for mercy? Isn’t that a healthy example to the sinners? Everything in his words is sensible; everything is natural in the situation whereas what is attributed to him in certain communications is ridiculous. We can understand the nature of his anguishes; they are rational, terrible although simple and without any phantasmagoric apparatus. Why wouldn’t he have regretted? Why wouldn’t there be a vibrating cord in him? That is precisely the moral side of his communications; it is his understanding of the situation; his sorrow, his resolution, his projects of reparation that are eminently instructive. What would have been seen as extraordinary if he had sincerely regretted before his death, if he had said before what he said afterwards?

A return to the good path before his death would have felt like an act of weakness to the eyes of his peers. His voice from beyond the grave is the revelation of the future that waits form them. He is absolutely right when he says that his example is more adequate to lead the guilty ones that the flames of hell and even the guillotine. Why then it is not given in prisons? That would lead more than one to think according to many examples that we have. How to believe in the efficacy of words of a dead person when one believes that it is all over after death? One day will come, however, when the truth will be acknowledged: the dead can come to educate the living ones.

Pierre Legay was a bit greedy and rich farmer that died two years ago, a relative of Mrs. Delanne. He was known in the region by the nickname of Great Pierrot. The communication below shows us one of the most interesting aspects of the invisible world and that is of the Spirits that believe to be still alive. It was obtained by Mrs. Delanne that transmitted it to the Parisian Society. The Spirit expresses himself exactly as he did when alive; the very triviality of the language is a proof of identity. We had to suppress some rude expressions that were familiar to him.

Several other questions were addressed to the Spirit but remained without answer. The Spirit of his guardian angel was evoked and one of the medium’s guide responded the following:

“My friends, it is me that come to answer because the guardian angel of the poor Spirit is not with him for he will come when he is called and the help of the Lord is requested to give him light. He was still under the domination of matter and did not want to hear the voice of his guardian angel that had moved away since he was adamant in remaining stationary. In reality it was not him that was making you write. He spoke as usual persuaded that you would understand but it was his familiar Spirit that led your hand. From his point of view you wrote while he spoke with your husband and that seemed natural to him. But you last questions and your thoughts led him to Tréveray; he got disturbed; pray for him and evoke him later. He will return right away. Pray for him. We will pray together with you.”

We have seen more than one example of Spirits that believe to be alive. Pierre Legay shows us that phase of the life of the Spirits in a very characteristic way. It seems that those in similar situation are in a much larger number than suspected; instead of being an exception, of presenting us with a variety of punishment, this seems to be almost a rule to Spirits of a certain category. We therefore have around us not only the Spirits that are aware of the spiritual life but also a number of others that in a way live a semi-material life, still believing to be in this world, continuing to wander around or involved with their earthly occupations.

Nonetheless it would be a mistake to compare them to the incarnate in everything because one can notice in their attitudes and ideas something vague and fuzzy that is not proper of a corporeal life. It is an intermediary state that gives us the explanation of certain effects of spontaneous manifestations and certain old and modern beliefs.

A phenomenon that seems to be more original and that brings a smile to the lips of the nonbelievers is the supposed ownership of material objects by these Spirits. We can understand the fact that Pierre Legay is taking the train since this is something real that exists, but his belief in having money and having paid for the tickets is less understandable. This phenomenon finds explanation in the properties of the spiritual fluid and in the theory of the fluidic creations, an important principle that provides the key to many mysteries of the invisible world. Through their will or thoughts the Spirit acts upon the perispiritual fluid that is nothing more than a concentration of the cosmic fluid or the universal element; that leads to a partial transformation that produces the desired object. Such object is to us just an appearance but to the Spirit it is a reality. That is how a recently deceased person showed up in a Spiritist meeting to a clairvoyant medium with a pipe in his mouth, smoking. Responding to the observation made to him that it was not proper, he said: “What do you want? I am so much attached to the habit of smoking that I cannot go without the pipe.” Something even more singular was the fact that the pipe produced smoke to the eyes of the clairvoyant and not to the attendees. Everything in the spiritual world must be in harmony with the material world. To the physical persons material objects are necessary. The Spirit whose body is fluidic requires fluidic objects. Material objects would not serve them more than the fluidic objects would serve incarnate people. Feeling the need to smoke the smoking Spirit created a pipe that to him was as real as an earthly pipe. Legay needed money to pay for the tickets and through his thoughts he created the necessary amount. To him it was really money but incarnate people could not accept money from the Spirits. That is what explain the clothes that they wear at will, the several appearances that they may take, etc.

The healing properties given to the fluid by their will is also explained by that transformation. The modified fluid acts upon the perispirit that is its similar and that perispirits, intermediary between the material and spiritual principle, reacts upon the organization in which it represents an important role, although still unknown to science. There are, consequently, the corporeal and visible world with the material objects and the fluidic, invisible world to us, with the fluidic objects. We must point out that the Spirits of an inferior order and not much enlightened, operate such creations unnoticeably, not aware of how such effects are produced. They cannot understand it like an ignorant person on Earth cannot understand the mechanism of eye sight or a peasant cannot understand the growth of corn. The fluidic formations are linked by a general principle that will later on be an object of a complete development when it is sufficiently elaborated. The state of the Spirits in the situation of Pierre Legay raises several questions. To which category the Spirits that still believe to be alive belong? What is the cause of that? Is it due to a lack of moral and intellectual development? We see much inferior Spirits that are very aware of their state and the majority of those that we see in such situation are not the most delayed ones. Is it a punishment? To some it certainly is like Simon Louvet from The Hague, the suicide from the Tower of Francis I, that for five years lived the expectation of his fall (Spiritist Review, March 1863); but many others are not unhappy and do not suffer as witnessed by Pierre Legay (see the next dissertation as an answer).

Parisian Society, July 21^st, 1864 – medium Mr. Vézy



We have several times mentioned the multiple types of trials and atonements but don’t you discover new ones every day? They are infinite like the humanity’s vices. How can we establish a nomenclature? Nonetheless you mentioned a fact and I will try to instruct you.

Not everything is trial in life. The life of the Spirit continues, as you have been told, from birth to infinity. To some, death is just a simple accident that has no influence upon the destiny of the dead. A falling roof tile, a stroke or a violent death, many times the only thing they do is to separate the Spirit from its material envelope; but the perispiritual envelope maintains, at least partially, the properties of the body that has just fallen. If I could open the eyes that you have but that you cannot use in a day of battle you would see many battles still taking place, many soldiers struggling against one another, defending and attacking trenches; you would even hear them screaming and shouting their slogans of battle amidst the silence and the dismal veil that covers the battlefields. Once the combat is over they go back home to the old mothers and fathers that wait for them. Such a state may last a long time to some; it is a continuity of life on Earth, a dual state between corporeal life and spiritual life. If they were simple and judicious, why would they feel the cold of the tomb? Why would they suddenly pass from life to death, from clarity to darkness? God is not unfair and allows such a pleasure to the poor of spirit, giving them the opportunity to realize their state through their own faculties, and therefore passing calmly from the material life to the life of the Spirit.

Rest assured all of you whose fathers, mothers, brothers and children died without a struggle. They may perhaps be allowed to still believe that their lips approach your foreheads. Dry your tears: your crying is painful to them and they are astonished when they see that; they embrace you and request your smile. Show that smile to the invisible ones and pray for having them replacing their condition of companions to that of guides; for having them unfolding their spiritual wings that will allow them to glide onto infinity and bring you their comforting emanations. Notice that I am not telling you that every dead person suddenly falls into such a state. No, but there isn’t a single one to whom matter does not have to fight the Spirit that is met again. There was a duel, the flesh was broken, the Spirit was obscured at the time of separation, and in erraticity the Spirit acknowledge true life.

I will now tell you a few words about those to whom that state is a trial. Ah how painful that is! They believe to be alive and well alive, believing to have a body capable of feeling and enjoying the pleasures of life, and when their hands want to touch those things they melt; when approaching their lips to a glass or a fruit those lips disappear; they see, they want to touch, but they cannot feel or touch. Paganism offers a beautiful image of that ordeal by showing the hungry and thirsty Tantulus that could never touch the pool of water that whispered in his ears and the fruits that always eluded him. The screams of those unfortunate Spirits are of curse and anathema! What have they done to deserve such suffering? Ask God. It is the law written by God. The one that kills with the sword will die by the sword; the one that dishonored a fellow human being will be dishonored as well. The eye for an eye was in the book of Moses and it is still written in the great book of atonement. Pray therefore incessantly for those in their final hour. Their eyes will be shut and they will sleep in space as they did on Earth and when they wake up they will no longer find a severe judge but a compassionate father assigning them with new tasks and new destinies.

St. Augustine

According to the Sémaphore from Marseille dated September 29^th several journals were fast to reproduce the following fact:

“The day before yesterday, at night, a house located at Rue Paradis was the stage of a very painful event. An industrialist that has lamp store there killed himself, employing a strong dose of one of the most lethal poisons. Here is how the suicide took place:

The businessman was giving signs of a certain mental disarray for some time already, produced perhaps by the abuse of alcohol but more particularly to the practice of Spiritism, this modern scourge that has already claimed so many victims in the large cities and that now threatens to bring its devastations even to the country side. Despite his clientele that assure him a lucrative work, Mr. X… businesses were not in good shape and sometimes he had difficulties to pay for all his bills. His humor consequently was generally somber and his attitude unpleasant.”

The article attests that he used to abuse strong liquors and that his business was in poor condition, circumstances that many times lead to mental issues and even suicide. The author, however, only admits these causes as possible or accessories in that case whereas he strongly attributes the fact to the practice of Spiritism. The letter below was sent to us from Marseille, solving the issue and pointing out to the good-faith of the editor.

Dear Master,

The Gazette du Midi and the Sémaphore of Marseille from September 29^th published an article about the voluntary poisoning of a businessman attributed to the practice of Spiritism. Since I personally knew that miserable man that was from the same Mason Store that I am, I can positively attest that he has never been involved with Spiritism and that he had never read any publication about the subject. You have my authorization to use my name since I am ready to prove the truth about what I am telling you; if needed all my brothers and the best friends of the deceased consider to be their duty to attest the same. Had him had God’s blessing to have known and understood Spiritism and he would have found the necessary strength to resist the dismal inclinations that led him to such an insensible act.

Yours truly,

Chavaux

Doctor in Medicine, Rue du Petit-Saint-Jean, 24

We got this from Lyon, sent on October 3^rd, 1864:

“You know the reputation of Captain B… It is a man of strong faith, of a demonstrated belief. You have already talked about him in your Spiritist Review. Sometime ago he was by the riverbanks of Saône in company of a Spiritist lawyer, like himself. The extended their walk and finally entered into a restaurant to have lunch and soon saw another pedestrian that entered the same building. The recent guest spoke out loud, ordering in a rude manner, apparently trying to draw the attention of those in the restaurant. Observing the lighthearted person the Captain then addressed a few kind of reproachable words to that person that had just arrived. He was then taken by a sudden sadness. Mr. B… is a hearing medium and distinctly hears the voice of his own son from whom he receives frequent communications whispering in his ear: - the rude man that you see will commit suicide. He came here for his last meal.

The Captain promptly stood up and approached the disturber asking for his forgiveness when said those words out loud. He then took him to the outside of the establishment and said: Sir, you are going to commit suicide. The little old man counting seventy seven years of age was astonished, and then said: Who could have told you similar thing? God, Mr. B… responded. He then started to talk about the immortality of the soul and leading him back to Lyon talked to him about Spiritism and everything that God may inspire in such cases to give encouragement and consolation.

The old man then told him his story. Former Orthopedist he was ruined by an unfaithful partner. He fell sick and spent a long time in hospital but once he was cured he found unemployment, without any resources. He was given shelter by a poor worker, a sublime creature that fed him for months only obliged by her own good heart. The fear of turning into a burden to her he made him seek suicide.

The Captain sought the honorable lady and offered her help and encouragement. But when one has to live money goes fast and yesterday the poor furniture of the lady worker would have been sold if some good Spiritists had not rescued the pieces she had in the only room because after a year feeding the poor old man she had pawned linen, blankets, etc. It was all recovered thanks to the good hearts that were touched by the generous devotion. But that is not all. It is necessary to continue until the old man finds refuge in the Sisters of the Poor. By the way, Carita made me write a communication that I send to you with the expression of all of our recognition, dear Sir that made us Spiritists. As for myself I do not forget that I was invited to return with you when you come back.”





Here is the communication:

Spiritism, this star of the East, does not come only to open up the doors of science to you. It does more than that: it is a friend that makes you get closer to one another, that teaches you the love to the neighbor and above all charity, but not the degrading alms that seeks the least valued coin in the pocket to give to the poor, but the sweet meekness of Jesus Christ that knew the path of the hidden suffering.

My good friends, I found in my path one of these miseries that is not reported in history but that is kept in the heart when remember the time of such tough trials. It is a poor woman; she is a mother; she has a soon, unemployed for several months; besides, she supports a misery worker like herself. On top of that an old man comes to her place every day at mealtime and when there is enough to eat. But when they lack the necessary the two poor women, remarkable creatures in their charity, give their food to the men, old and young, with the pretext that they had eaten before, despite their hunger. I saw that happening many times. I saw the old man in a moment of desperation selling his last piece of clothing and saw him wishing out of pure madness to say good-bye to life before returning to the invisible world, where God judges everyone.

I saw hunger printing its marks on these disinherited of the social well-being, but the women prayed with eagerness and God listened. He has already brought Spiritist brothers onto their path and when charity calls devoted hearts answer. The tears of desperation are gone. There is only the anguish, the threatening ghost of winter with its entourage of hailstones, ice and snow. I reach out to you on behalf of that misery. The poor, our friends, are God’s envoys. They come to tell us: We suffer; it is God’s wishes; it is our punishment and at the same time an example to our betterment. When you see us so unhappy your hearts are touched, your feelings broaden and you learn to love and be sorry for the unfortunate ones. Help us so that we shall not perish and also to see God’s smile from the heights of his beautiful paradise. That is what the poor says in his hags; that is what your guardian angel tells you and I repeat, a simple messenger of charity, intermediary between heavens and you.

Smile to those in suffering, oh you so gifted by all qualities of the heart. Help me in my mission. Do not allow that sanctuary of your soul to close down, a sanctuary that receives the eyes of God and that one day, when you return to your motherland, with unsure eyes and feeble steps seeking your path through infinity I will wide open the door of the temple to you where everything is love and charity and I will say: Come in, my beloved ones. I know you!”

Carita

Who would they want to convince that this is the language of the devil? Was it the voice of the devil that was heard by the Captain, in the name of his son, warning him that the old man was about to commit suicide and, at the same time, bringing up regret for the strong words that he had used and that could have hurt the man? According to a group that wants to convey the message that it is only the devil that communicates that Captain should have repealed that voice as if coming from the devil; the result of that would have been the suicide of the poor old man and the furniture of the poor workers would have been sold and that they would be starving.



Among the donations that we received for them there is one that we must mention without naming the author. It was followed by this letter:

Dear Sir,

“I heard from a relative that learned from you the report of a beautiful and truly Christian action that was carried out by a poor worker of Lyon on behalf of a poor old man. My relative showed me a very eloquent appeal in favor of that man made by a Spirit that gives herself the kind name Cárita. Responding to your question if we recognize the words of the devil in that I say that our best saints do not speak in a better way. It is my opinion. That is why I took the liberty of requesting a copy from you. Sir, I am a vicar but I send you the widow’s alms in the name of Jesus Christ to that brave and honorable woman. Attached you find the little amount of five francs, apologizing for not being able to give more. Please do not mention my name.

Father X…

Its relationship with other special journals



We have frequently heard the desire that people have to see the Spiritist Review published bi-weekly or weekly even to the price of an increase in the subscription. We are very much touched by such testimony of sympathy however for us it is impossible to change the frequency of publication at least for the time being. The first reason is the multiplicity of work that is the consequence of our position whose extension is difficult to imagine. We tell the most absolute truth when say that we do not have a single day of absolute rest and that despite our whole activity it is physically impossible to take care of everything. By doubling or quadrupling our monthly publication we understand that the majority of the subscribers would have time to read but for us this would harm more important work that we still have to do.

The second reason is in the very nature of our Spiritist Review that is less of a journal than the complement and development of our own doctrinaire work. The periodical style allows us to introduce more variety than in a book and to register current affairs. It receives the most interesting facts and refutations according to the opportunities and circumstances; the instructions of the Spirits; it registers the different phases of the progress of the Spiritist science; finally, it brings new arguable theories that can only be accepted after receiving the sanction of the universal control.

In a word, the Spiritist Review is not a personal work whose responsibility we assume entirely and that we cannot and must not see precluded by a strange will. It is conceived according to a determined plan to concur with the objective that we must reach. It would lose its essential character if turned into a bi-weekly brochure. The very nature of our works oppose to our involvement in the details and difficulties of journalism. That is why the Spiritist Review must continue to be what it s. We shall continue as is while its existence is necessary in the present format. As a matter of fact by changing the periodicity it would seem that we want to compete with new journals that are published about the subject, something out of question.

Those journals fulfil the blank space with their more frequent periodicity. Given the diversity of the subject matter that they can handle and that are part of their editorial program; by the number of enlightened and skillful Spiritists that can give contribution to them; finally by the diffusion of the idea in several formats they can do great services to the cause. They are many other champions that work for the Doctrine whose institutions we have the pleasure to see multiplying. We will always support those that frankly march on a useful path; that do not become instruments of little groups or personal ambitions; and those that finally are guided by the great principles of the Spiritist moral. We shall be happy to encourage and help them with our advices if needed. But our cooperation stops there.



We declare not to have any material commitment with any of them, without exception. Therefore none of them is published by us or with our effective sponsorship. We leave each one with the responsibility of their publications. When requests for subscription to those journals come to the Spiritist Review we make sure that they get to their true recipients in the name of good comradery without seeing any interest in that, not even the normal commission attributed to intermediaries, something that we will not accept even if offered.

We believe that we must explain the real situation of things for the enlightenment of those that believe that certain Spiritist journals have links of economic interest with our Spiritist Review. There is no doubt that all have common interest because they tend to the same objective as we do. From that point of view all owe mutual benevolence to each other for otherwise they would belie their qualification of Spiritist journals, but each one within their circle of activity, means and own responsibility. The Doctrine can only gain in credit and with their intendance. At the same time the agreement of views and principles that exist between them and the Spiritist Review would have nothing of extraordinary from the part of those that come from the same source. If another periodical were produced out of our initiative and with our effective support we would have that openly declared.