VI

To suppose that spiritism derives its strength from the physical manifestations, and that it might therefore be put an end to by hindering those manifestations, is to form to one's self a very false idea of it. Its strength is in its philosophy, in the appeal it makes to reason, to common sense. In ancient times it was the object of mysterious studies, carefully hidden from the vulgar; at the present day it has no secrets, but speaks clearly, without ambiguity, mysticism, or allegories susceptible of false interpretations. The time having come for making known the truth, its language is such as all may comprehend. So far from being opposed to the diffusion of the light, the new revelation is intended for all mankind; it does not claim a blind acceptance, but urges every one to examine the grounds of his belief, and as its teachings are based upon reason, it will always be stronger than those who base their arguments upon annihilation. Would it be possible to put a stop to spirit-manifestations, by placing obstacles in the way of their production? No; for such an attempt would have the effect of all persecutions, viz., that of exciting curiosity, and the desire of making acquaintance with a forbidden subject. Were spirit-manifestations the privilege of a single individual, it would undoubtedly be possible, by preventing his action, to put an end to them; but unfortunately for our adversaries, those manifestations are within everybody's reach, and are being obtained by all, from the highest to the lowest, from the palace to the cottage. It might be possible to prevent their production in public, but, as is well known, it is not in public, but in private, that they are most successfully produced; and as any one may be a medium, how would it be possible to prevent each family in the privacy of its home, each individual in the silence of his chamber, each prisoner, even, in his cell, from holding communication with the invisible beings around them, in the very presence of those who should endeavour to prevent them from doing so? If mediums were forbidden to exercise their faculty in one country, how would it be possible to hinder them from doing so elsewhere throughout the rest of the world, since there is not a single country, in either continent, in which mediums are not to be found? In order to shut up all the mediums, it would be necessary to incarcerate half the human race; and even if it were possible, which would scarcely be easier, to burn all the spiritist books in existence, they would at once be reproduced, because the source from which they emanate is beyond the reach of attack, and it is impossible to imprison or to burn the spirits who are their real authors.

Spiritism is not the work of any man; no one can claim to have created it, for it is as old as creation itself. It is to be found everywhere, in all religions, and in the Catholic religion even more than in the others, and with more authoritative inculcation, for the Catholic dogma contains all that constitutes spiritism; – admission of the existence of spirits of every degree; their relations, occult and patent, with mankind; guardian-angels, reincarnation, the emancipation of the soul during the present life, second-sight, visions, and manifestations of every kind, including even tangible apparitions; As for demons, they are nothing else than bad spirits; and with the exception of the belief that the former are doomed to evil for ever, while the path of progress is not closed against the others, there is, between them, only a difference of name.

What is the special and peculiar work of modern spiritism? To make a coherent whole of what has hitherto been scattered; to explain, in clear and precise terms, what has hitherto been wrapped up in the language of allegory; to eliminate the products of superstition and ignorance from human belief, leaving only what is real and actual: this is its mission, but that of a founder does not belong to it. It renders evident that which already exists; it co-ordinates, but it creates nothing, for its elements are of all countries and of every age. Who, then, could flatter himself with the hope of being able to stifle it, either by ridicule or by persecution? If it were possible to proscribe it in one place, it would reappear in another, or on the very spot from which it had been banished, because it exists in the constitution of things, and because no man can annihilate that which is one of the powers of nature, or veto that which exists in virtue of the Divine decrees.

But what interest could any Government have in opposing the propagation of spiritist ideas? Those ideas, it is true, are a protest against the abuses that spring from pride and selfishness; but although such abuses are profitable to the few, they are injurious to the many, and spiritism would therefore have the masses on its side, while its only adversaries would be those who profit by the abuses against which it protests. So far from Governments having anything to dread from the spread of spiritist ideas, the tendency of those ideas being to render men more benevolent towards one another, less greedy of material things, and more resigned to the orderings of Providence, they constitute, for the State, a guarantee of order and of tranquillity.