This work is a refutation of Spiritism from a religious point of view; it is, without a doubt, one of the most complete and best done that we know. It is written with moderation and decorum and is not soiled by the coarse epithets to which most of the controversialists of the same party have accustomed us; there, no furious declarations, no outrageous personalisms; it is the very principle that is being discussed. We may not agree with the author, find that the conclusions he draws from his premises are of questionable logic; say that after having demonstrated, for example, with the proofs in hand, that the sun shines at noon, he is wrong to conclude that it must be night, but we will not reproach him for the lack of civility in the form.
The first part of the work is devoted to the history of Spiritism, in antiquity and in the Middle Ages; this part is rich in documents drawn from sacred and secular authors, attesting to laborious research and serious study. It is a job that we intended to do one day, and we are happy that Father Poussin spared us this trouble.
In the second part, entitled:
Doctrinal Part, the author, discussing the facts he has just cited, including current facts, concludes, from the infallibility of the Church and his own arguments, that all magnetic and Spiritist phenomena are the work of the devil. It is an opinion like any other, and respectable when it is sincere. Now, we believe in the sincerity of Mr. Poussin's convictions, although we do not have the honor of knowing him. What we can reproach him for is invoking only the opinion of known opponents of Spiritism, in favor of his thesis, as well as the doctrines and allegations that he disavows. One would seek in vain in this book any mention to the fundamental works, nor a direct refutation to the answers that were given to the contradictory allegations. In short, he does not discuss the doctrine properly called; he does not take their hand-to-hand arguments to crush them under the weight of a more rigorous logic.
We can, moreover, find it strange that, in order to combat Spiritism, Father Poussin leans on the opinion of men known by their materialistic ideas, such as Messrs. Littré and Figuier; he especially quoted the latter, who stood out more by his contradictions than by his logic. These gentlemen, by fighting the principle of Spiritism, by denying the cause of the psychic phenomena, consequently, denying the principle of spirituality; they therefore undermine the basis of religion for which they do not have great sympathy, as we know. By invoking their opinion, the choice is not a fortunate one; one could even say that it is clumsy, because it excites the faithful to read writings that are nothing orthodox. Seeing him draw from such sources, one might think that he did not judge the others sufficiently preponderant.
Father Poussin does not dispute any of the Spiritist phenomena; he virtually proves their existence by the authentic facts that he cites, and that he draws indifferently from sacred as well as from pagan history. By bringing them together, one cannot help it by recognize their analogy; Now, in good logic, from the similarity of effects one must conclude that the causes are similar. However, Mr. Poussin concludes that the same facts are miraculous and of divine source in some cases, and diabolic in others.
Men who profess the same beliefs as Mr. Figuier also have two opinions on these same facts: they deny them outright and attribute them to juggling; as for those that are proven, they endeavor to relate them only to the laws of matter. Ask them what they think of the miracles of Christ: they will tell you that they are legendary facts, tales made up for the sake of the cause, or the products of excited and delirious imaginations.
Spiritism, it is true, does not recognize a supernatural character in psychic phenomena; it explains them by the faculties and attributes of the soul, and since the soul is in nature, it considers them as natural effects, produced by virtue of special laws, hitherto unknown, and that Spiritism reveals. These phenomena, being accomplished before our eyes, under identical conditions, accompanied by the same circumstances, and through the intervention of individuals who have nothing exceptional, it concludes that there is the possibility of those that have happened in earlier times, and this by the same natural cause.
Spiritism is not addressed to people who are convinced of the existence of these phenomena, and who are perfectly free to see miracles in them, if that is their opinion, but to those who deny them, precisely because of the miraculous nature that they want to give them. By proving that these facts are supernatural only in appearance, it makes them accepted by those who rejected them. The Spiritists were overwhelmingly recruited from among the unbelievers, and yet today there is not a single one that denies the facts accomplished by Christ; now, which is better to believe in the existence of these facts, without the supernatural, or not to believe in them at all? Aren’t those who admit them, in any capacity, closer to you than those who reject them completely? As soon as the fact is admitted, it only remains to prove its miraculous source, that should be easier, if this source is real, than when the fact itself is contested.
Mr. Poussin, to fight Spiritism, relying on the authority of those that reject even the spiritual principle, would he be one of those who claim that absolute disbelief is preferable to the faith acquired by Spiritism?
We quote in full the preface to Mr. Poussin's book, that we will follow with some thoughts:
“Spiritism, it must be admitted, involves the whole of society as in an immense network, and through its prophets, its oracles, its books and its journalism, strives to undermine the Catholic Church. If he has done us the service of overturning the materialist theories of the eighteenth century, it gives us, in exchange, a new revelation, that undermines from the base the whole edifice of the Christian revelation. And yet, by a strange phenomenon, or better, because of ignorance and the fascination aroused by curiosity, how many Catholics play with Spiritism every day, without worrying about its dangers! It is quite true that the spirits are still divided on the essence and even on the reality of Spiritism, and it is probably because of these uncertainties, that the majority believes in being able to form their own conscience and to use Spiritism as a curious amusement. Nevertheless, deep in timorous and delicate souls, there is great anxiety. How many times have we not heard these never-ending questions: "tell us the truth: what is Spiritism? What is its origin? Do you believe in this genealogy that would like to link the phenomena of Spiritism to ancient magic? Do you admit the weird facts of magnetism and turntables? Do you believe in the intervention of Spirits and in the evocation of souls, in the role of angels or demons? Is it allowed to question the turntables, to consult the Spiritists? What do theologians and bishops think about all these questions? ... Has the Roman Church made any decisions, etc., etc.? These questions, that still ring in our ears, inspired the thought of this book, that aims to answer them all, within the limits of our forces. Also, to be more sure and more convincing, we never affirm anything, without a serious authority, and do not decide anything that the bishops and Rome have not decided. Among those who have specially studied these subjects, some reject outright all the extraordinary facts that Spiritism attributes to itself. Others, while devoting a large part to hallucinations and charlatanism, recognize that it is impossible not to admit certain inexplicable and unexplained phenomena, as irreconcilable with the general teachings of the natural sciences, as disconcerting to human reason; however, they seek to interpret them, either by certain mysterious laws of physiology, or by the intervention of the great soul of nature, of which ours is only an emanation, etc. Several Catholic writers, forced to admit the facts, finding the natural solution sometimes impossible and the absurd pantheist explanation, do not hesitate to recognize, in certain facts of Spiritism, the direct intervention of the devil. For these, Spiritism is only the continuation of this pagan magic that appears in all history, since the magicians of the Pharaoh, the pythoness of Endor, the oracles of Delphi, the prophecies of sibyls and diviners, to the diabolic possessions of the Gospel and to the extraordinary and observed phenomena of contemporary magnetism.The Church has not pronounced on speculative discussions; it abandons the historical question of the origins of Spiritism and the psychological question of its mysterious agents, to the futile dispute of men. Serious theologians, bishops and private doctors have supported these latter opinions; officially, Rome neither approves nor criticizes them. But if the Church has kept cautiously silent on the theories, she has raised her voice in practical matters, and in the presence of uncertainties of reason, she signals dangers to conscience. A curious science and even innocent in itself can, because of frequent abuses, become a source of perils; Rome also condemned, as dangerous for morals, certain practices and certain abuses of magnetism, of which the Spiritists themselves do not conceal the serious inconveniences. What is more, some bishops have thought it their duty to prohibit their diocesans, and in any event, as superstitious and dangerous for morals and for the faith, not only the abuses of magnetism, but the use of interrogating the turning tables. For us, in the speculative question, put in the presence of those who see the demon everywhere and those who see him nowhere, we wanted, by keeping our distance from the two pitfalls, to study the historical origins of Spiritism, to examine the certainty of the facts and to impartially discuss the psychological and pantheistic systems by which they want to interpret everything. Obviously, when we refute several of these systems, we do not pretend to impose our own thoughts on anyone, although the authorities on which we rely seem to us to be of the highest seriousness. Separating from free opinions all that is of faith, such as the existence of angels and demons, demonic possessions and obsessions of the Gospel, the legitimacy and power of exorcisms in the Church, etc., we leave to everyone the right, not to deny the voluntary trade between men and the devil, that would be rash, says Father Perronne, and would lead to historical pyrrhonism; but we recognize that every Catholic has the right to not see in Spiritism the intervention of the devil, if our arguments seem more specious than solid, and if reason and a more careful study of the facts prove the opposite. As to the practical question, we do not recognize our right to absolve what Rome condemns; and if a few souls still hesitated, we would simply refer them to Roman decisions, to the episcopal prohibitions, and even to the theological decisions that we reproduce in their entirety. The plan of this book is quite simple: the first part, or historical part, after providing the teaching of the Holy Scriptures and the tradition of all peoples, on the existence and the role of the Spirits, it initiates us in the most important facts of Spiritism or magic, from the origin of the world to the present day. The second, or doctrinal part, exposes and discusses the various imagined systems to discover the true agent of Spiritism; after having specified, as best we can, the teaching of the Catholic theology, on the general intervention of the Spirits, and given free rein to free opinions on the mysterious agent of modern magic, we point out to the faithful the dangers of Spiritism to the faith, to manners and even to health or life. May these pages, by showing the peril, complete the good that others have started! … Needless to add that, docile children of the Church, we condemn in advance everything that Rome could disapprove.” Father Poussin recognizes two things: (1) that Spiritism involves, as in an immense network, the whole of society; (2) that it has rendered the Church the service of overturning the materialist theories of the eighteenth century. Let us see what consequences emerge from these two facts.
As we have said, the majority of followers of Spiritism are recruited among the unbelievers; indeed, ask the supporters what they believed in before being Spiritists; nine-tenth of them will answer that they believed in nothing, or at least that they doubted everything; to them, the existence of the soul was a hypothesis, desirable no doubt, but uncertain; the future life was a chimera; Christ was a myth or at most a philosopher; God, if he existed, had to be unjust, cruel and partial, reason why they liked so much to believe that he did not exist.
Today they believe, and their faith is unshakeable, because it is based on evidence and demonstration, and satisfies their reason; the future is no longer a hope, but a certainty, because they see the spiritual life manifesting itself before their eyes; they do not doubt it any more than they doubt the sunrise. It is true that they do not believe in demons, nor in the eternal flames of hell, but on the other hand they firmly believe in a supremely just, good and merciful God; they do not believe that evil comes from him, who is the source of all good, nor from demons, but from man's own imperfections; that if man reforms himself, evil will no longer exist; and that to conquer oneself is to conquer the demon; such is the faith of the Spiritists, and the proof of its power is that they strive to become better, to tame their evil inclinations, and to put into practice the maxims of Christ, seeing all men as brothers, without regard to races, castes, or sects, forgiving their enemies, paying back evil with good, following the example of the divine model.
Who should Spiritism have the easiest access to? It is not on those who had faith and for whom this faith was sufficient, who asked for nothing and needed nothing; but on those who lacked faith. Like Christ, it went to the sick and not to the healthy; to those who are hungry and not to those who are full; now, the sick are the ones who are tortured by the anguish of doubt and disbelief.
And what has Spiritism done to entice them? Has it used a lot of advertising? Has it gone preaching the doctrine in public places? Was it by violating the consciences? Not at all, for these means are those of weakness, and if it had used them, it would have shown that it doubted its moral power. Its invariable rule, according to the law of charity taught by Christ, is not to constrain anyone, to respect all convictions; it contented himself with stating its principles, developing in its writings the bases on which its beliefs are based, allowing to come those that wished so; if many have come, it is because it has suited many, and many have found in it what they had not found elsewhere. As it mainly recruited among the unbelievers, if it embraced the world in a few years, this proves that the unbelievers, and those who are not satisfied with what they are given, are numerous, because one is only attracted to something that is better than what one has. We have said it a hundred times: Do they want to fight Spiritism? May they give something better than it does.
You recognize, Mr. Abbot, that Spiritism has rendered the Church the service of overturning the materialist theories; it is a great result, no doubt, and of which it prides itself; but how did it get it? Precisely with the help of those means that you call diabolical, with the material proofs that it gives of the soul and of the future life; it is with the manifestations of the Spirits that it confused skepticism, and that it will triumph definitively. And you say that this service is the work of Satan? But then you shouldn't blame him so much, since he himself destroys the barrier that held back those he had dominated. Remember Christ's response to the Pharisees, who spoke the same language to him, accusing him of healing the sick and casting out demons through demons. Remember also the words of Mgr. Frayssinous, bishop of Hermopolis, on this subject, in his lectures on religion: “
Certainly, a demon who would seek to destroy the reign of vice, in order to establish that of virtue, would be a strange demon, for he would destroy himself."
If this result obtained by Spiritism is the work of Satan, how is it that the Church gave him the credit for it and that she did not obtain it herself; that she let disbelief pervade society? It was not, however, the means of action that she lacked; doesn’t she have immense staff and material resources? The sermons, from the capitals to the smallest villages? The pressure it exerts on the consciences, by confession? The horror of the eternal punishments? The religious instruction that follows the child during the whole course of their education? The prestige of the worshiping ceremonies and their seniority? How is it that a doctrine that has barely emerged, that has no priests, no temples, no worship, no preaching; that has been fought to the limit by the Church, calumniated, persecuted as were the first Christians, has brought, in such a short time, to the faith and to the belief in immortality, such a great number of unbelievers? It was not very difficult, however, since most people only needed to read a few books to see their doubts vanish.
Draw from there all the consequences you like; but agree that if this is the work of the devil, he did what you yourselves could not do, and that he did your work.
What testifies against Spiritism, you will undoubtedly say, is that it does not use the same arguments to convince as you do, and that if it triumphs over incredulity, it does not completely lead to you.
But Spiritism does not pretend to side with you or with anyone else; it does its business, and as it sees fit. In good faith, do you believe that if incredulity were resistant to your arguments, Spiritism would have succeeded by using them? If one doctor does not cure a sick person with a remedy, will another doctor cure him with the same remedy?
Spiritism does not seek to bring unbelievers back into the absolute fold of Catholicism any more than into that of any other cult. By making them accept the bases common to all religions, it destroys the main obstacle, and makes them go halfway; it is up to each one to do the rest, as far as it is concerned; those that fail give clear evidence of helplessness.
From the moment when the Church recognizes the existence of all the facts of manifestation on which Spiritism is based; when she claim them for herself, as divine miracles; that there is between the facts that take place in the two camps a complete analogy regarding the effects, an analogy that Mr. Abbot Poussin demonstrates, with the latest evidence and supporting documents, by bringing them up, so that everything boils down to knowing whether it is God who acts on one side and the devil on the other; it is a question of person; now, when two people do exactly the same thing, we conclude that they are both equally powerful; Mr. Poussin's whole argument thus ends in demonstrating that the devil is as powerful as God.
It is one of two things, or the effects are identical, or they are not; if they are identical, it is because they come from the same cause, or from two equivalent causes; if they are not, show how they are different. Is it in the results? But then the comparison would be to the advantage of Spiritism since it brings back to God those who did not believe in him.
Be it, therefore, understood, by the formal decision of the competent authorities, that the Spirits who manifest themselves can only be demons. Admit, however, Mr. Abbot, that if these same Spirits, instead of contradicting the Church on a few points, would have been of her opinion in everything, if they had come to support all her temporal and spiritual pretensions, to approve, without restriction, everything what she says and everything she does, she wouldn't call them demons, but angelic Spirits.
Father Poussin wrote his book with a view, he said, to protect the faithful against the dangers that their faith can run through the study of Spiritism. It is showing little confidence in the solidity of the foundations on which this faith is seated, since it can be shaken so easily. Spiritism does not have the same fear. Everything that has been said and done against it has not made it lose an inch of ground, since it is gained every day, and yet talent has not been lacking in more than one of its opponents. The struggles that have been waged against it, far from weakening, have strengthened Spiritism; they have powerfully contributed to spreading it more quickly than it would otherwise have done; so that this network, that covered the whole society in a few years, is largely the work of its antagonists. Without any of the material means of action that leads to success in this world, it has only spread through the power of the idea. Since the arguments with which it was fought against did not take it down, it is for the fact that they apparently believed that the arguments of Spiritism were less convincing than theirs. Do you want to have the secret of their faith? Here it is: that before believing, they understand.
Spiritism does not fear the light; it calls it onto its doctrines, because it wants to be accepted freely and by reason. Far from fearing for the faith of the Spiritist, through the reading of works that combat it, Spiritism said to them: read everything; pros and cons and make an informed choice. That is why we draw their attention to the work of Father Poussin.
[1] Below we give some fragments taken from the first part, without comments.
1. - Certain Catholics, even pious ones, have singular ideas in matters of faith, inevitable result of the ambient skepticism that, unsuspectingly, dominates them and of which they are subject to the deleterious influence. Talk about God, about Jesus Christ, and they accept everything right away; but if you try to tell them about the devil, and especially about the diabolic intervention in human life, they won't hear you anymore. Like our contemporary rationalists, they would readily take the demon for a myth or a fantastic personification of the genius of evil, the ecstasies of the saints for phenomena of catalepsy, and the diabolical possessions, even those of the Gospel, if not for epilepsy, at least for parables. Saint Thomas, in his precise language, responds in two words to this dangerous skepticism: "If the ease of seeing the demon speak," he says, "stems from the ignorance of the laws of nature and of credulity, the general tendency to not see his action anywhere, proceeds from irreligion and skepticism.” To deny the devil is to deny Christianity and deny God. 2. - The belief in the existence of Spirits and their intervention in the domain of our life, even more, in Spiritism itself or the practice of evoking Spirits, souls, angels or demons, go back to the highest antiquity, and are as old as the world. Let us first question the existence and the role of the Spirits, in our holy books, in the oldest and most undisputed history books, at the same time that they are the divine code of our faith. The demon seducing in a sensible form Adam and Eve in Paradise; the cherubim guarding its entrance; the angels that visit Abraham and discuss with him the question of Sodom's salvation; the angels insulted in the filthy city, snatching Lot from the fire; the angel of Isaac, Jacob, Moses and Tobit; the demon who kills the seven husbands of Sarah; the one who tortures the soul and the body of Job; the angel exterminating the Egyptians under Moses, and the Israelites under David; the invisible hand that writes Balthazar's sentence; the angel who wounds Heliodors; Gabriel, the angel of Incarnation, that announces Saint John and Jesus Christ; what else is needed to show both the existence of the Spirits, and the belief in the intervention of these Spirits, good or bad, in the acts of human life? God made the Spirits his ambassadors, says the Psammite; they are the ministers of God, says Saint Paul; Saint Peter teaches us that demons are always prowling around us like roaring lions; Saint Paul, tempted by them, tells us that the air is full of them. 3. - Note here that pagan traditions are in perfect harmony with Jewish and Christian traditions. The world, according to Thales and Pythagoras, is filled with spiritual substances. All these authors divide them into good and bad spirits; Empedocles says that demons are punished for the faults they have committed; Plato speaks of a prince, of an evil nature, in charge of these Spirits driven out by the gods and fallen from the sky, says Plutarch. All souls, adds Porphyry, whose principle is the soul of the universe, govern the great countries located under the moon: they are the good demons (Spirits); and, let us be quite convinced, they act only in the interest of their citizens, either in the care that they take of the animals, or that they watch over the fruits of the earth, or that they preside over the rains, moderate winds, and the good weather. We must also classify in the category of good demons those who, according to Plato, are responsible for bringing the prayers of men to the gods, and who bring to men the warnings, exhortations, and the oracles of the gods. 4. - The Arabs call the leader of the demons Iba; the Chaldeans fill the air with it; finally Confucius teaches absolutely the same doctrine: "How sublime are the virtues of the Spirits!" he said; “we look at them and we do not see them; we listen to them and we do not hear them; united to the substance of things, they cannot separate themselves from them; they are the cause that all men in the whole universe purify themselves and put on festive clothes to offer sacrifices; they are spread like the waves of the ocean above us, to our left and to our right." The cult of the Manitous, widespread among the savages of America, is only the cult of the Spirits. 5. - The Fathers of the Church, for their part, admirably interpreted the doctrine of the Scriptures on the existence and intervention of the Spirits: “There is nothing in the visible world that is not governed and arranged by invisible creature,” says Saint Gregory. “Each living being has an angel in this world who rules it,” adds Saint Augustine. “The angels,” says Saint Gregory of Nazianz, are the ministers of the will of God; they have naturally and by communication an extraordinary force; they roam all places and are found everywhere, as much by the promptness with which they exercise their ministry as by the lightness of their nature. Some are responsible for watching over some part of the universe that is marked by God, on whom they depend in all things; others have the custody of towns and churches; they help us in all that we do good.” 6. - With respect to the fundamental reason, God immediately governs the universe; but relative to execution, there are things that he governs through other intermediaries. 7. - As for the evocation of the Spirits, souls, angels or demons, and all the practices of magic, of which Spiritism is only one form, more or less covered of charlatanism, it is a practice as old as the belief in the Spirits themselves. 8. - Saint Cyprian thus explains the mysteries of pagan Spiritism: “Demons,” he said, “enter the statues and the simulacra that man adores; it is they who animate the fibers of the victims, who inspire the hearts of diviners with their breath and who give a voice to oracles.” But how can they heal? “Lœdunt primo,” says Tertullian, “postque loedere desinunt, and curasse creduntur.” They hurt first, and stopping to hurt, they go by healers. In India, it is the Lamas and the Brahmas who, from the earliest times, have the monopoly of these same evocations that are still going on. “They communicated heaven with earth, man with divinity, just like our current mediums. The origin of this privilege seems to go back to the very Genesis of the Hindus and to belong to the priestly caste of these peoples. Leaving the brain of Brahma, the priestly caste must remain closer to the nature of this creator god and enter more easily into communication with him, than the warrior caste, born from his arms, and even more so, than the caste of Outcast, formed from the dust of his feet." 9. - But the most interesting and authentic fact in history is without a doubt the evocation of Samuel,[2] through the medium of the Pythoness of Endor, that Saul questions: “Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his own town of Ramah. Saul had expelled the mediums and enchanters from the land. The Philistines assembled and came and set up camp at Shunem, while Saul gathered all Israel and set up camp at Gilboa. When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was afraid; terror filled his heart. He inquired of the Lord, but the Lord did not answer him by dreams or Urim or prophets. 7 Saul then said to his attendants, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go and inquire of her.” “There is one in Endor,” they said.So, Saul disguised himself, putting on other clothes, and at night he and two men went to the woman. “Consult a spirit for me,” he said, “and bring up for me the one I name.” But the woman said to him, “Surely you know what Saul has done. He has cut off the mediums and enchanters from the land. Why have you set a trap for my life to bring about my death?” Saul swore to her by the Lord, “As surely as the Lord lives, you will not be punished for this.” Then the woman asked, “Whom shall I bring up for you?” “Bring up Samuel,” he said. When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out at the top of her voice and said to Saul, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. What do you see?” The woman said, “I see a ghostly figure[a] coming up out of the earth.” “What does he look like?” he asked. “An old man wearing a robe is coming up,” she said. Then Saul knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?” “I am in great distress,” Saul said. “The Philistines are fighting against me, and God has departed from me. He no longer answers me, either by prophets or by dreams. So, I have called on you to tell me what to do.” Samuel said, “Why do you consult me now that the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done what he predicted through me. The Lord has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to one of your neighbors to David. Because you did not obey the Lord or carry out his fierce wrath against the Amalekites, the Lord has done this to you today. The Lord will deliver both Israel and you into the hands of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The Lord will also give the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.” Immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, filled with fear because of Samuel’s words. His strength was gone, for he had eaten nothing all that day and all that night. When the woman came to Saul and saw that he was greatly shaken, she said, “Look, your servant has obeyed you. I took my life in my hands and did what you told me to do” “For forty years I have made a profession of evoking the dead in the service of foreigners," said Philo after this story; but I have never seen such an apparition. The Ecclesiasticus undertook to prove to us that it is a question of a true apparition and not of a hallucination of Saul: “Samuel, after his death, spoke to the king, said the Holy Spirit, predicted the end of his life, and coming out of the earth, he raised his voice to prophesy the ruin of his nation, because of his ungodliness. "
[1] One volume, in-12; price 3 francs. At Sarlit, bookseller, 25, rue Saint-Sulpice, Paris.
[2] I Samuel,
28 (T.N.)
