The Revue Spirite of 1863

Part 13

We continue in this issue the study of the Revue Spirite corresponding to the year of 1863. The condensed text of the mentioned volume will hereby be presented in sixteen parts, based on the translation of Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL.

Issues for discussion 

A. What did Kardec say about the book in which Daniel Dunglas Home reported the phenomena he produced?

B. What do these words mean: "God’s finger"?

C. Can a Spirit communicate even before the burial of his body?

Text for reading

122. The "Echo de Setif" newspaper of 07/23/1863 transcribed an article by Mr. C *** in which he replied to the brochure published by Mr. Leblanc de Prebois against Spiritism. The Revue discloses part of the article. (Pages 279 and 280)

123. In the book section, Kardec comments on the work Revelations on My Supernatural Life, written by Daniel Dunglas Home, in which he makes a pure and simple report, without any explanation, of the mediumistic phenomena he produces. Recalling that such phenomena are interesting to those who know Spiritism, but unconvincing to unbelievers, the Encoder censors in the book:  I) the absence of any conclusion, any philosophical or moral deduction about the phenomena; II) the inaccuracies of style, especially in the French version; III) the qualification of supernatural given by Mr. Home to his life. Moreover, concerning the trip of the remarkable medium to France, Kardec insists on the thesis that he (Home) hastened in French lands the outbreak of Spiritism by the brilliance of its phenomena, even among unbelievers, proving that they are not surrounded by mysteries and that you can be a medium without being a sorcerer. (Pages 280 to 284)

124. Another work mentioned by the Revue, recommended by Kardec with all confidence and without restrictions, is Sermons on Spiritism, in which a Spiritist from Metz refutes the sermons preached at the Cathedral of Metz in May 1863 by the Reverend Father Letierce, of the Society of Jesus. (Page 284)

125. The Revue transcribes two spontaneous messages obtained at the Spiritist Society of Paris. The first, unsigned, is of a young woman who died prematurely after a long illness. "I was not aware of any disturbance”, said the young woman, “and I entered serenely and concentrated in the radiant day which involves those who, after much suffering, waited for a little". The second, authored by the Spirit of Lamennais, talks about purgatory. (Pages 285 and 286)

126. The September issue of the Revue is closed with three messages obtained outside Paris: I) Chastity is the theme of the first, in which the author states that of all the virtues exemplified by Christ, none was more unworthily forgotten than chastity. At the end of the communication, the author emphasizes the importance of the education of the child, whose intelligence organs are, in childhood, like soft wax, able to receive the molding of the weakest object that touches it, leaving an impression that, after the wax hardens, it will become unappealing. II) God’s finger is the subject of the second message, in which a familiar Spirit says that the finger of God can be the punishment on the head of the guilty one, the remorse that grieves the hearts, but also the peace reserved for the just or the grave and austere justice tempered by mercy. III) In the third communication, a Spirit explains why truth has been gradually taught in the world. The communicant Spirit says that Humanity should progress with wise slowness, so that the march would be safe. (Pages 286 to 291)

127. Opening the October issue of 1863, Kardec says that society had been worked out, a century earlier, by materialistic ideas, reproduced in all forms, translating into most literary and artistic works. Spiritualism, however, reacted and it was in these circumstances, eminently favorable, that Spiritism arrived. If it had arrived earlier, says the Encoder, it would have shocked with the all-powerful materialism; if it had arrived in a more distant time, it would have been struck down by blind fanaticism. (Pages 293 to 295)

128. In the sequence, Kardec states that one of the most important Spiritist principles is that of the plurality of existences, which skeptics generally confuse with the dogma of metempsychosis. Charles Fourier, Jean Reynaud, and many other contemporary writers and thinkers were reincarnationists, such as the writer George Sand. (Pages 295 and 296)

129. The Revue reported the death of Mr. Costeau, a member of the Spiritist Society of Paris, who was buried in the Montmartre cemetery in a mass grave, a fact which shows that the Paris Society was not an exclusively aristocratic group, since it had among its members a proletarian. (Pages 297 and 298)

130. Moments before the burial, Mr. Vezy - a medium of the Society - went down to the grave and sent a message given there by Mr. Costeau, who, referring to the simplicity of his burial, reported that there was a huge crowd of friends of the spiritual plane who came to receive him in his return to the true life. (Pages 299 and 300)

131. After the formalities of the burial, the Spiritist group went to the tomb where Georges' body had been buried. Again, Mr. Vezy conveyed a beautiful message from Georges, who had been in his lifetime the brother-in-law of Mr. d'Ambel, vice-president of the Spiritist Society of Paris, also present at the ceremony. (Pages 300 to 302) (Continues on next issue)

Answers to the proposed issues

A. What did Kardec say about the book in which Daniel Dunglas Home reported the phenomena he produced?

Kardec criticized in the book three things: I) the absence of any conclusion, any philosophical or moral deduction about the phenomena; II) the inaccuracies of style, especially in the French version; III) the qualification of supernatural given by Mr. Home to his life. Even so, he acknowledged that the trip of Home to France rushed into French lands the outbreak of Spiritism by the brilliance of its phenomena, even among unbelievers, proving that they are not surrounded by mysteries and that one can be a medium without being like a sorcerer. (Revue Spirite of 1863, pages 280 to 284.)

B. What do these words mean: "God’s finger"?

According to a message published in the Revue, the finger of God or God’s finger can be the punishment on the head of the guilty one, the remorse that hurts the hearts, but also the peace reserved for the just or serious and austere justice tempered by divine mercy. (Ibid, page 286 to 290.)

C. Can a Spirit communicate even before the burial of his body?

Yes. That's what happened to Mr. Costeau. According to the Revue, moments before the burial, Mr. Vezy, a medium of the Spiritist Society of Paris, went down to the grave and transmitted a message given there by Mr. Costeau, who, referring to the simplicity of his funeral, reported that there was an immense multitude of friends of the spiritual plane that came to receive him in his return to the true life. (Ibid, pages 299 and 300.)

Translation:

Eleni Frangatos - eleni.moreira@uol.com.br