Experimental investigation of the spirit manifestations, [electronic ...

OF THE EXISTKNCE OF SI'lIUTS. 275knowledge. In fact, agreeably to these teachings, demons are driven oifby the sacred names of God and Jesus, by prayer, the sign of the cross,by holy water, and exorcisms; and these means being known, I ai)i goingto report the cflfect of these means on clairvoyant subjects, tables, andmediums.1403. " Having witnessed some extraordinary phenomena, and desiringto assure myself as to the presence of a diabolical agency in these manifestations,as I had been persuaded to believe —profiting by the opportunityoffered by some mediums magnetized by others, and not by myself—I wasinduced to pray to invoke the sacred names of God and Jesus, to makethe sign of the cross on the subjects, and went so far as to sprinkle themwith holy water, with the design of driving out the devil, should he havetaken possession of them. However, as not one of these mediums lost, inmy presence, the smallest part of their powers, I was led to infer that thedevil had nothing to do with the phenomena.1404. *^The following fact should attract the attention of all observersholding the orthodox faith : A youth of thirteen, put to sleep by hismother, at my house, gave proof of the greatest clairvoyance, even soas to be in communion with supermundane beings. Alarmed, as I acknowledgeI was, at what passed under my eyes, and suspecting, asfarI did,that the devil might be the agent of those phenomena, I took my crucifix,and presenting it to the clairvoyant, conjured him in the holy name ofJesus. But in place of repelling it, as T expected, he seized the cross inthe most affectionate manner, and, smiling, pressed it to his lips ; as muchto the edification of his mother as of myself. Should M. de Mirvilledesire the address of the parties, he can have it.1405. " The means thus employed by me to discover if the evil spiritactuated mesmeric subjects, have been employed also by other personswith the same view, and with similar results. Should M. de Mirvilledesire to know some of these persons, I will be happy to facilitate theacquaintance. As to exorcism, it is known by the biography of the celebratedclairvoyantPrudence, that although exorcised on several occasions,the exorcisms failed to deprive him, in the smallest degree, of his greatclairvoyance. To the facts which I have just reported in support of thenon-intervention of the devil, some new facts of another kind will beadjoined, which in some measure confirm the first.1406. "One of the models of sacred eloquence, the R. P. Lacordaire,speaking of mesmerism in 1846, far from qualifying it as satanicalj as M.de Mirville has done, proclaimed from the pulpit of truth, in the churchof Kotre Dame of Paris, that this phenomenon belonged to the order ofprophecy, and that it was a provision of the divinity to humble the prideof materialism.This language, descended from the summit of the sacredtribune, is known to have received the public approbation of Mgr. Affre,the centre of Catholicism of the diocese of Paris, who, addressing the