LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF.

The greatest commandment. To do unto others as we would have others do unto us. Parable of the creditors and the debtors.

— Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

— INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS: The law of love.

— Selfishness.

— Faith and charity.

— Charity toward criminals.

— Should one risk one's life for an evildoer?

The greatest commandment.

The Pharisees, having learned that he had silenced the Sadducees, gathered together; — and one of them, who was a doctor of the law, in order to test him, posed him this question: — Master, which is the greatest commandment of the law? — Jesus answered:

You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul and with all your spirit; this is the greatest and the first commandment. And here you have the second, like unto it: You shall love your neighbor, as yourself. — The whole law and the prophets are contained in these two commandments. (Saint Matthew, chapter XXII, vv. 34 to 40.)

Do unto men everything that you would have them do unto you, for it is in this that the law and the prophets consist. (Idem, chapter VII, v.12.)

Treat all men as you would have them treat you.

(Saint Luke, chapter VI, v. 31.)

The kingdom of Heaven is comparable to a king who wished to settle accounts with his servants; — having begun to do so, one was brought before him who owed him ten thousand talents. — But, as he had no means of paying them, his master ordered that he be sold, along with his wife, his children, and all that belonged to him, in payment of the debt. — The servant, throwing himself at his feet, implored him, saying: Lord, have a little patience and I will pay you everything. — Then the master, moved with compassion, let him go and forgave him the debt. — That servant, however, upon going out, meeting one of his companions who owed him a hundred denarii, seized him by the throat and, almost strangling him, said: Pay what you owe me. — The companion, throwing himself at his feet, implored him, saying: Have a little patience and I will pay you everything. — But the other would not listen to him: he went off and had him imprisoned, to keep him in prison until he should pay what he owed him. The other servants, his companions, seeing what was happening, went, extremely distressed, and informed the master of all that had occurred. — Then the master, having summoned that servant into his presence, said to him: My servant, I had forgiven you all that you owed me, because you asked it of me; — were you not then bound also to have pity on your companion, as I had had on you? And the master, seized with anger, delivered him to the executioners, to hold him until he should pay all that he owed.

Thus will my Father, who is in Heaven, treat you, if you do not forgive, from the bottom of your heart, the faults that your brothers have committed against each one of you. (Saint Matthew, chapter XVIII, vv. 23 to 35.)

“To love your neighbor as yourself: to do for others what we would have others do for us”, is the most complete expression of charity, because it sums up all the duties of man toward his neighbor.

We can find no surer guide, in this respect, than to take as a standard, of what we ought to do unto others, that which we desire for ourselves.

By what right would we demand of our fellow men better conduct, more indulgence, more benevolence and devotion toward us, than we have toward them?

The practice of these maxims tends to the destruction of selfishness. When men adopt them as a rule of conduct and as a basis for their institutions, they will understand true fraternity and will cause peace and justice to reign among them. There will no longer be hatreds, nor dissensions, but only union, concord and mutual benevolence. Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's.

The Pharisees, having withdrawn, conferred among themselves to entangle him with his own words. — They then sent their disciples, in the company of the Herodians, to say to him: Master, we know that you are truthful and that you teach the way of God in truth, without regard for anyone whoever it may be, because, in men, you do not consider persons; — tell us, then, what is your opinion on this: Is it permitted us to pay or to refrain from paying tribute to Caesar?

Jesus, however, who knew their malice, answered: Hypocrites, why do you test me? Show me one of the coins that are given in payment of the tribute. And, when they had shown him a denarius, Jesus asked: Whose are this image and this inscription? — Caesar's, they answered. Then Jesus observed to them: Render, therefore, unto Caesar that which is Caesar's and unto God that which is God's.

Hearing him speak in this manner, they marveled at his answer and, leaving him, withdrew. (Saint Matthew, chapter XXII, vv. 15 to 22. — Saint Mark, chapter XII, vv. 13 to 17.)

The question put to Jesus was occasioned by the circumstance that the Jews, abhorring the tribute that the Romans imposed upon them, had made of the payment of that tribute a religious question. A numerous party had arisen against the tax. The payment of it constituted, therefore, among them, an irritating question of the day, without which the question put to Jesus would have had no sense: “Is it lawful for us to pay or to refrain from paying tribute to Caesar?” There was in that question a trap. Those who formulated it counted on being able, according to the answer, to stir up against him the Roman authority, or the dissident Jews. But “Jesus, who knew their malice”, skirted the difficulty, giving them a lesson in justice, by saying that to each be given what is due to him. (See, in the Introduction, the article: Publicans.)

This sentence: “Render unto Caesar that which is Caesar's”, must not, however, be understood in a restrictive and absolute manner. As in all the teachings of Jesus, there is in it a general principle, summed up in a practical and usual form and deduced from a particular circumstance.

That principle is a consequence of the one according to which we must act toward others as we would have others act toward us; 3 it condemns all material and moral harm that may be caused to another, all disregard of their interests; 4 it prescribes respect for the rights of each one, as each one desires that his own be respected; 5 it extends even to the duties contracted toward the family, society, authority, as well as toward individuals in general. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS.

The law of love.

Love sums up the doctrine of Jesus in its entirety, since it is the sentiment par excellence, 2 and the sentiments are the instincts elevated to the height of the progress made.

In his origin, man has only instincts; when more advanced and corrupt, he has only sensations; when instructed and purified, he has sentiments; 4 and the delicate point of sentiment is love, not love in the vulgar sense of the term, but that inner sun which condenses and gathers in its ardent focus all the aspirations and all the superhuman revelations.

The law of love replaces personality with the fusion of beings; it extinguishes social miseries.

Blessed is he who, surpassing his humanity, loves with a broad love his brothers in suffering! blessed is he who loves, for he knows neither the misery of the soul, nor that of the body. His feet are light and he lives as though transported, outside of himself.

When Jesus pronounced the divine word love, the peoples were stirred and the martyrs, drunk with hope, descended into the arena.

Spiritism in its turn comes to pronounce a second word of the divine alphabet. Be attentive, for that word raises the slab of the empty tombs, and reincarnation, triumphing over death, reveals to the dazzled creatures their intellectual patrimony. It is no longer to torment that it leads man: it leads him to the conquest of his being, elevated and transfigured.

Blood redeemed the Spirit and the Spirit must today redeem man from matter.

I said that in his beginnings man possessed only instincts. Closer, therefore, still is he to the point of departure than to the goal, the one in whom instincts predominate. In order to advance toward the goal, the creature must overcome the instincts, in favor of the sentiments, that is, must perfect these latter, smothering the latent germs of matter.

The instincts are the germination and the embryos of sentiment; they carry within them progress, as the acorn encloses within itself the oak, and the less advanced beings are those which, emerging little by little from their chrysalises, remain enslaved to the instincts.

The Spirit needs to be cultivated, like a field. All future wealth depends on present toil, which will earn you, far more than earthly goods: glorious elevation. It is then that, understanding the law of love that binds all beings, you will seek in it the sweetest joys of the soul, preludes of the celestial gladness. — (LAZARUS. Paris, 1862.)

Love is of divine essence and all of you, from the first to the last, have, at the bottom of your heart, the spark of that sacred fire.

It is a fact, which you have already been able to verify many times, this: man, however abject, vile and criminal he may be, devotes to some being or to some object a lively and ardent affection, proof against all that might tend to diminish it and which attains, not rarely, sublime proportions.

To some being or some object, I said, because there are among you individuals who, with their heart overflowing with love, lavish treasures of that sentiment on animals, plants and, even, on material things: kinds of misanthropes who, complaining of Humanity in general and resisting the natural inclination of their souls, which seek around them affection and sympathy, lower the law of love to the condition of instinct. Nevertheless, however much they do, they do not succeed in smothering the lively germ that God deposited in their hearts upon creating them; 4 that germ develops and grows with morality and intelligence and, though often compressed by selfishness, becomes the source of the holy and sweet virtues that engender sincere and lasting affections and help the creature to traverse the steep and arid path of human existence.

There are persons to whom reincarnation is repugnant, with the idea that others may come to share the affectionate sympathies of which they are jealous. Poor brothers! your affection makes you selfish; your love is restricted to an intimate circle of relatives and friends, the rest being indifferent to you.

Well then! in order to practice the law of love, as God understands it, it is necessary that you come, step by step, to love all your brothers without distinction.

The task is long and difficult, but it shall be accomplished: God wills it 8 and the law of love constitutes the first and most important precept of your new doctrine, 9 because it is this that will one day kill selfishness, whatever the form under which it presents itself, 10 given that, besides personal selfishness, there is also the selfishness of family, of caste, of nationality.

Jesus said: “Love your neighbor as yourself.” Now, what is the limit with respect to the neighbor? Is it the family, the sect, the nation? No; it is the whole of Humanity.

In the superior worlds, it is reciprocal love that harmonizes and directs the advanced Spirits who inhabit them, and your planet, destined soon to realize appreciable progress, will see its inhabitants, by virtue of the social transformation it will undergo, practice that sublime law, reflection of the Divinity.

The effects of the law of love are the moral improvement of the human race and happiness during earthly life.

The most rebellious and the most vicious will reform, when they observe the benefits resulting from the practice of this precept: Do not do unto others what you would not have done unto you: do unto them, on the contrary, all the good that is within your reach to do them.

Do not believe in the sterility and the hardening of the human heart; to true love, it yields, in spite of itself. It is a magnet; one it is not possible to resist. The contact of that love vivifies and fecundates the germs of it that exist, in a latent state, in your hearts.

The Earth, orb of trial and of exile, will then be purified by that sacred fire and will see practiced on its surface charity, humility, patience, devotion, abnegation, resignation and sacrifice, all virtues daughters of love.

Do not tire, then, of listening to the words of John, the Evangelist. As you know, when infirmity and old age obliged him to suspend the course of his preachings, he limited himself to repeating these sweetest words: “My little children, love one another.”

Beloved brothers, profit from these lessons; it is difficult to practice them, yet the soul reaps from them immense good. Believe me, make the sublime effort that I ask of you: “Love one another” and you will see the Earth soon transformed into a Paradise where the souls of the just will come to rest. — (FÉNELON. Bordeaux, 1861)

My dear fellow disciples, the Spirits here present say to you, through my intermediary: Love much, in order to be loved. So just is this thought, that in it you will find all that consoles and softens the sorrows of each day; or rather: by putting into practice this wise counsel, you will elevate yourselves so far above matter that you will spiritualize yourselves before leaving the earthly envelope.

Spiritist studies having developed in you the understanding of the future, you have a certainty: that of walking toward God, seeing realized all the promises that correspond to the aspirations of your soul. For this reason, you must elevate yourselves very high in order to judge without the constraints of matter, and not condemn your neighbor without having directed your thought to God.

To love, in the deep sense of the term, is for man to be loyal, upright, conscientious, so as to do unto others what he would have them do unto him; 4 it is to seek around himself the intimate sense of all the pains that overwhelm his brothers, in order to soothe them; 5 it is to consider as his own the great human family, because that family you will all find, within a certain period, in more advanced worlds; and the Spirits who compose it are, like you, children of God, destined to rise to the infinite.

Thus, you cannot refuse your brothers what God has liberally granted you, inasmuch as, on your side, it would greatly gladden you that your brothers should give you that which you need.

For all sufferings, have, then, always a word of hope and of comfort, so that you may be entirely love and justice.

Believe that this wise exhortation: “Love enough, in order to be loved”, will open a path; revolutionary, it follows its route, which is determined, invariable.

But you have already gained much, you who hear me, for you are already infinitely better than you were a hundred years ago. You have changed so much, to your benefit, that you accept readily, on liberty and fraternity, an immensity of new ideas that formerly you would have rejected. Now, a hundred years from now, you will doubtless accept with the same ease those that could not yet enter your brain.

Today, when the Spiritist movement has taken so great a step, see with what rapidity the ideas of justice and of renewal, constant in the Spirit dictations, are accepted by the middle portion of the intelligent world. It is because those ideas correspond to all that is divine in you. It is because you are prepared by a fecund sowing: that of the past century, which implanted in the bosom of earthly society the great ideas of progress. And, as everything is linked under the direction of the Most High, all the lessons received and accepted will come to be enclosed in the universal exchange of love of neighbor. Thereby the incarnate Spirits, better appreciating and feeling, will extend their hands to one another, from all the confines of your planet. The ones and the others will unite, to understand and love one another, to destroy all injustices, all causes of misunderstanding among the peoples.

Great conception of renewal through Spiritism, so well set forth in The Spirits' Book; you will produce the prodigious miracle of the coming century, that of the harmonization of all the material and spiritual interests of men, through the application of this precept well understood: Love enough, in order to be loved. — (SANSON, former member of the Spiritist Society of Paris. 1863.)

Selfishness.

Selfishness, the plague of Humanity, must disappear from the Earth, whose moral progress it obstructs; 2 to Spiritism is reserved the task of making it ascend in the hierarchy of worlds.

Selfishness is, therefore, the target at which all true believers must point their weapons, direct their forces, their courage. I say: courage, because of it each one needs far more to conquer himself than to conquer others.

Let each one, therefore, employ all efforts to combat it within himself, certain that this devouring monster of all intelligences, this child of pride is the cause of all the miseries of the earthly world. It is the negation of charity and, consequently, the greatest obstacle to the happiness of men.

Jesus gave you the example of charity and Pontius Pilate that of selfishness, for, when the first, the Just One, goes to traverse the holy stations of his martyrdom, the other washes his hands, saying: what does it matter to me! He ventured to say to the Jews: This man is just, why do you wish to crucify him? And yet, he lets them lead him to the torment.

It is to that antagonism between charity and selfishness, to the invasion of the human heart by that leprosy, that one must attribute the fact that Christianity has not yet fully performed its mission.

It falls to you, new apostles of the faith, whom the superior Spirits enlighten, the charge and the duty to root out that evil, in order to give Christianity all its strength and to clear its path of the stones that hamper its march.

Expel selfishness from the Earth so that it may rise in the scale of worlds, for it is now time for Humanity to don its virile garb, for which it is fitting that you first expel it from your hearts. — (EMMANUEL. Paris, 1861.)

If men loved one another with mutual love, charity would be better practiced; but, for this, it would be necessary that you strive to cast off that breastplate which covers your hearts, so that they may become more sensitive to the sufferings of others.

Rigidity kills good sentiments; 3 the Christ never excused himself; 4 he did not repel the one who sought him, whoever it might be: thus he succored the adulterous woman, as well as the criminal; he never feared that his reputation might suffer for it.

When will you take him as the model for all your actions?

If on Earth charity reigned, the wicked one would not rule in it; he would flee ashamed; he would hide himself, since everywhere he would find himself out of place. Evil would then disappear, be quite certain of it.

Begin you yourselves by setting the example; be charitable toward all without distinction; 8 strive not to mind those who look upon you with disdain and leave to God the charge of rendering all justice, to God who every day separates, in his kingdom, the chaff from the wheat.

Selfishness is the negation of charity; 10 now, without charity there will be no rest for human society. I say more: there will be no security; 11 with selfishness and pride, which go hand in hand, life will always be a race in which the most cunning will prevail, a struggle of interests, in which the holiest affections will be trampled underfoot, in which not even the sacred bonds of family will merit respect. — (PASCAL. Sens, 1862.)

Faith and charity.

I told you, not long ago, my dear children, that charity, without faith, does not suffice to maintain among men a social order capable of making them happy.

I might have said that charity is impossible without faith.

In truth, generous impulses will be found in you, even among those who have no religion; but that austere charity, which is practiced only with abnegation, with a constant sacrifice of all selfish interest, only faith can inspire it, for only it gives the power to bear with courage and perseverance the cross of earthly life.

Yes, my children, it is useless for the man avid for pleasures to seek to delude himself about his destiny in this world, claiming that it is lawful for him to occupy himself solely with his own happiness. Without doubt, God created us to be happy in eternity; meanwhile, earthly life must serve exclusively for moral perfecting, which is more easily acquired with the aid of the physical organs and of the material world.

Without taking into account the ordinary vicissitudes of life, the diversity of tastes, of inclinations and of needs, this too is a means of perfecting yourselves, by exercising yourselves in charity. Indeed, only by dint of mutual concessions and sacrifices can you preserve harmony among elements so diverse.

You would be right, however, if you affirmed that happiness is destined for man in this world, provided that he seek it, not in material pleasures, but in good.

The history of Christendom speaks of martyrs who proceeded joyfully to torment. Today, in your society, in order to be Christians, neither the holocaust of martyrdom nor the sacrifice of life is required of you, but solely and exclusively the sacrifice of your selfishness, of your pride and of your vanity.

You will triumph, if charity inspires you and faith sustains you. — (PROTECTING SPIRIT. Krakow, 1861.) Charity toward criminals.

True charity constitutes one of the most sublime teachings that God has given to the world. Complete fraternity must exist among the true followers of his doctrine.

You must love the unfortunate, the criminals, as creatures that they are of God, to whom forgiveness and mercy will be granted, if they repent, as also to you, for the faults that you commit against his Law.

Consider that you are more reprehensible, more culpable than those to whom you would deny forgiveness and commiseration, for, most often, they do not know God as you know him, and far less will be asked of them than of you.

Do not judge, oh! do not judge at all, my dear friends, for the judgment that you pronounce will be applied to you still more severely and you have need of indulgence for the sins into which you ceaselessly fall.

Are you unaware that there are many actions that are crimes in the eyes of the God of purity and that the world does not even consider as slight faults?

True charity does not consist solely in the alms that you give, nor, even, in the words of consolation that you add to it. No, that is not all that God requires of you. The sublime charity that Jesus taught also consists in the benevolence that you use always and in all things toward your neighbor.

You can still exercise that sublime virtue with respect to beings for whom your alms will be of no use, but whom a few words of consolation, of encouragement, of love, will lead to the supreme Lord.

The times are near, I repeat it, when on this planet the great fraternity will reign, when men will obey the law of the Christ, a law that will be both curb and hope and will lead souls to the blissful abodes.

Love one another, then, as children of the same Father; establish no differences among the other unfortunate ones, for God wills that all be equal; despise no one;

God permits that among you there be great criminals, that they may serve you as teachings.

Soon, when men find themselves subject to the true laws of God, there will no longer be need of these teachings: all the impure and rebellious Spirits will be relegated to inferior worlds, in accordance with their inclinations.

You owe, to those of whom I speak, the succor of your prayers: this is true charity.

It does not befall you to say of a criminal: “He is a wretch; the Earth must be purged of his presence; too mild, for a being of such a kind, is the death inflicted upon him.” No, it is not thus that it is fitting for you to speak.

Observe your model: Jesus. What would he say, if he saw beside him one of these wretches? He would lament him; he would consider him a sick man well worthy of pity; he would extend his hand to him.

In reality, you cannot do the same; but, at least, you can pray for him, assist his Spirit during the time that he still has to spend on Earth. He may be touched by repentance, if you pray with faith.

He is as much your neighbor as the best of men; his soul, gone astray and rebellious, was created, like yours, to perfect itself; help him, then, to come out of the mire and pray for him. — (ELIZABETH OF FRANCE. Le Havre, 1862.)

A man finds himself in danger of death; to save him another must risk his life. It is known, however, that the former is an evildoer and that, if he escapes, he may commit new crimes. Should the second, nevertheless, risk himself to save him?

This is a very grave question and one that may naturally present itself to the mind.

I will answer, in conformity with my moral advancement, for what is in question is to know whether one should risk one's life, even for an evildoer.

Devotion is blind; 4 one succors an enemy; one must, therefore, succor the enemy of society, an evildoer, in short.

Do you judge that it will be only from death that, in such a case, one hastens to snatch the unfortunate one? It is, perhaps, from his whole past life.

Imagine, indeed, that, in the rapid instants that snatch away from him the last breaths of life, the lost man turns back to his past, or rather, that this rises up before him. Death, perhaps, comes to him too soon; reincarnation may come to be terrible for him; 7 cast yourselves, then, O men; cast yourselves, all of you whom the Spiritist science has enlightened; cast yourselves, snatch him from his condemnation and, perhaps, this man, who would have died blaspheming, will throw himself into your arms. Nevertheless, you have not to inquire whether he will do so or not; succor him, for, in saving him, you obey that voice of the heart, which says to you: “You can save him, save him!” — (LAMENNAIS. Paris, 1862.)