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It is not our intention to treat of the question, in this place, under the special aspect suggested by the foregoing objection; it is sufficient for our present purpose to have shown the eminently moral and rational character of the doctrine we are considering. But it may be confidently asserted, that a doctrine which is both moral and rational cannot be antagonistic to a religion which proclaims the Divine Being to be the most perfect goodness and the highest reason. What, we may ask in our turn, would have become of the Church if, in opposition to the convictions of mankind and the testimony of science, it had persisted in rejecting overwhelming evidence, and had cast out from its bosom all who did not believe in the movement of the sun or in the six days of creation ? What would be the credit or authority possessed among enlightened nations by a religious system that should inculcate manifest errors as articles of belief ? Whenever any matter of evidence has been established, the Church has wisely sided with the evidence. If it be proved that the facts of human life are irreconcilable, on ally other supposition, with a belief in the justice of God-if various points of the Christian dogma can only be explained with the aid of this doctrine, the Church will be compelled to admit its truth and to acknowledge that the apparent antagonism between them is only apparent. We shall show, elsewhere, that religion has no more to fear from the acceptance of this doctrine than from the discovery of the motion of the earth and of the periods of geologic formation, which, at first sight, appear to contradict the statements of the Bible. Moreover, the principle of reincarnation is implied in many passages of Holy Writ, and is explicitly formulated in the Gospels:-

"When they came down from the mountain (after the transfiguration), Jesus gave this commandment, and said to them-'Speak to no one of what you have just seen, until the Son of Man shall have been resuscitated from among the dead.' His disciples thereupon began to question Him, and inquired, 'Why, then, do the Scribes say that Elias must first come?' But Jesus replied to them, 'It is true that Elias must come, and that he will reestablish all things. But I declare to you that Elias has already come, and they did not know him, but have made him suffer as they listed. It is thus that they will put to death the Son of Man.' Then His disciples understood that He spoke to them of John the Baptist. (St Matthew, chap. xvii.)

Since John the Baptist is declared by Christ to have been Elias, it follows that the spirit or soul of Elias must have been reincarnated in the body of John the Baptist.

But whatever may be our opinion in regard to reincarnation whether we accept it or whether we reject it, it is certain that we shall have to undergo it, if it really exists, notwithstanding any belief of ours to the contrary. The point which we here desire to establish is this, viz., that the teaching of the spirits who proclaim it is eminently Christian, that it is founded on the doctrines of the immortality of the soul, of future rewards and punishments, of the justice of God, of human free-will, and the moral code of Christ; and that, therefore, it cannot be anti-religious.

We have argued the matter, as we remarked above, without reference to statements made by spirits; such statements being, for many minds, without authority. If we, and so many others, have adopted the hypothesis of the plurality of existences, we have done so not merely because it has been proclaimed by spirits, but because it has appeared to us to be eminently rational, and because it solves problems that are insoluble by the opposite hypothesis. Had it been suggested to us by a mere mortal, we should, therefore, have adopted it with equal confidence, renouncing, with equal promptitude, our preconceived opinions on the subject; for when an opinion has been shown to be erroneous, even self-love has more to lose than to gain by persisting in holding it. In like manner, we should have rejected the doctrine of reincarnation, even though proclaimed by spirits, if it had appeared to us to be contrary to reason, as, indeed, we have rejected many other ideas which spirits have sought to inculcate, for we know, by experience, that we can no more give a blind acceptance to ideas put forth by spirits than we can to those put forth by men.

The principal merit of the doctrine of reincarnation is, then, to our minds, that it is supremely rational. But it has also in its favour the confirmation of facts-facts positive and, so to say, material, which are apparent to all who study the question with patience and perseverance, and in presence of which all doubt as to the reality of the law in question is impossible. When the appreciation of these facts shall have become popularised, like those which have revealed to us the formation and rotation of the earth, they who now oppose this doctrine will be compelled to renounce their opposition.

To sum up: - We assert the doctrine of the plurality of existences is the only one which explains what, without this doctrine, is inexplicable; that it is at once eminently consolatory and strictly conformable with the most rigorous justice; and that it is the anchor of safety which God in His mercy has provided for mankind.

The words of Jesus Himself are explicit as to the truth of this last assertion; for we read in the 3d chapter of the Gospel according to St John that Jesus, replying to Nicodemus, thus expressed Himself:-

"Verily, verily, I tell thee that, if a man be not born again, he cannot see the kingdom of God." And when Nicodemus inquires, "How can a man be born when he is old ? Can he enter again into his mother's womb and be born a second time?" Jesus replies, "Except a man be born of water and of the spirit, he cannot enter the kingdom of God. What is born of the flesh is flesh, and what is born of the spirit is spirit. Be not amazed at what I have told thee; you must be born again." (Vide Resurrection of the Body, No. 1010.)

(Webmaster's opinion. Reincarnation knocks down religious paradoxes.)

 
Next: Chapter VII. Return to corporeal life. Preludes to return
  
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