OUTSIDE CHARITY THERE IS NO SALVATION.

What the spirit needs in order to be saved. Parable of the good Samaritan.

(What the spirit needs in order to be saved" href="#It1a3">1-3.) — The greatest commandment.

— The necessity of charity, according to Saint Paul.

— Outside the Church there is no salvation. Outside the truth there is no salvation.

— INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SPIRITS: Outside charity there is no salvation.

What the spirit needs in order to be saved. Parable of the good Samaritan.

Now when the Son of Man comes in His majesty, accompanied by all the angels, He will sit upon the throne of His glory; — all the nations gathered before Him, He will separate one from another, as the shepherd separates the sheep from the goats, — and He will set the sheep at His right hand and the goats at His left.

Then the King will say to those who are at His right hand: come, you who are blessed by My Father, take possession of the kingdom that has been prepared for you since the beginning of the world; — for I was hungry and you gave Me to eat; I was thirsty and you gave Me to drink, I lacked a roof and you took Me in; — I was naked and you clothed Me, I found Myself sick and you visited Me; I was imprisoned and you came to see Me.

Then the just will answer Him: Lord, when was it that we saw You hungry and gave You to eat, or thirsty and gave You to drink? — When was it that we saw You without a roof and took You in; or unclothed and clothed You? — And when was it that we knew You to be sick or imprisoned and went to visit You? — The King will answer them: In truth I say to you, every time you did this to one of these least of My brothers, it was to Me Myself that you did it.

He will then say to those who are at His left hand: Depart from Me, you who are cursed: go into the eternal fire, which was prepared for the devil and his angels; — for I was hungry and you did not give Me to eat, I was thirsty and you did not give Me to drink; — I needed a roof and you did not shelter Me: I was without clothing and you did not clothe Me: I was sick and in prison and you did not visit Me.

They also will reply: Lord, when was it that we saw You hungry and did not give You to eat, thirsty and did not give You to drink, without a roof or without clothing, sick or imprisoned, and did not assist You? — He will then answer them: In truth I say to you: every time you failed to give assistance to one of these least, you failed to give it to Me Myself.

And these will go into eternal torment, and the just into eternal life. (Saint Matthew, chapter XXV, vv. 31 to 46.)

Then, rising up, a doctor of the law said to Him, to tempt Him: Master, what must I do to possess eternal life? — Jesus answered him: what is it that is written in the law? What is it that you read in it? — He answered: You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your strength, and with all your spirit, and your neighbor as yourself. — Jesus said to him: You have answered very well; do this and you shall live.

But the man, wishing to appear that he was a just one, says to Jesus: Who is my neighbor? — Jesus, taking up the word, says to him:

A man, who was going down from Jerusalem to Jericho, fell into the power of robbers, who stripped him, covered him with wounds, and departed, leaving him half dead. — It then happened that a priest, coming down by the same road, saw him and passed on. — A Levite, who also came to that place, having observed him, likewise passed on. — But a Samaritan who was traveling, arriving at the place where that man lay and having seen him, was touched with compassion. — He approached him, poured oil and wine on his wounds and bound them; then, placing him on his horse, took him to an inn and cared for him. — On the following day he drew out two denarii and gave them to the innkeeper, saying: Take very good care of this man and whatever you spend beyond this, I will repay you when I return. Which of these three seems to you to have been the neighbor of the one who had fallen into the power of the robbers? — The doctor answered: The one who showed mercy toward him. — Then, go, says Jesus, and do likewise.

(Saint Luke, chapter X, vv. 25 to 37.)

The whole morality of Jesus is summed up in charity and humility, that is, in the two virtues contrary to selfishness and pride.

In all his teachings, he points to these two virtues as being those that lead to eternal happiness: Blessed, he said, are the poor in spirit, that is, the humble, for theirs is the kingdom of Heaven; blessed are those who are pure of heart; blessed are those who are gentle and peaceful; blessed are those who are merciful; love your neighbor as yourselves, do to others what you would have them do to you; love your enemies; forgive offenses, if you wish to be forgiven; do good without ostentation; judge yourselves, before judging others.

Humility and charity, this is what he never ceases to recommend and of which he himself gives the example. Pride and selfishness, this is what he never tires of combating; 4 but he does not limit himself to recommending charity; he sets it down clearly and in explicit terms as the absolute condition of future happiness.

In the picture that Jesus drew of the last judgment, one must, as in many other things, separate what is merely figure, allegory. To men such as those to whom he spoke, still incapable of understanding purely spiritual matters, he had to present material images, striking and apt to make an impression. So that they might better grasp what he said, he even had to not depart too much from current ideas, as to form, always reserving for the future the true interpretation of his words and of the points upon which he could not explain himself clearly.

But, alongside the accessory or figured part of the picture, there is a dominant idea: that of the happiness reserved for the just and of the unhappiness that awaits the wicked.

In that supreme judgment, what are the grounds of the sentence? On what is the charge based? Does the judge perchance ask whether the one examined fulfilled this or that formality, whether he observed more or less this or that outward practice? No; he inquires only into one thing: whether charity was practiced, 8 and he pronounces thus: Pass to the right, you who assisted your brothers; pass to the left, you who were hard toward them.

Does he by chance inform himself of the orthodoxy of the faith? Does he make any distinction between the one who believes in one way and the one who believes in another? No, for Jesus places the Samaritan, considered a heretic, but who practices love of neighbor, above the orthodox one who fails in charity.

Jesus therefore does not consider charity merely as one of the conditions for salvation, but as the only condition; 11 if there were others to be fulfilled, he would have stated them.

Since he places charity in the first place, it is that it implicitly encompasses all the others: humility, gentleness, benevolence, indulgence, justice, etc., and because it is the absolute negation of pride and selfishness. The greatest commandment.

But the Pharisees, having learned that he had shut the mouth of the Sadducees, gathered together; — and one of them, who was a doctor of the law, went to put this question to him, to tempt him: — Master, which is the great commandment of the law? — Jesus answered him: You shall love the Lord your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your spirit. — This is the greatest and the first commandment.

— And here is the second, which is like the first: You shall love your neighbor, as yourself. — All the law and the prophets are contained in these two commandments. (Saint Matthew, chapter XXII, vv. 34 to 40.)

Charity and humility, such is the only path of salvation. Selfishness and pride, such is that of perdition.

This principle is found formulated in the following precise terms: “You shall love God with all your soul and your neighbor as yourself; all the law and the prophets are contained in these two commandments.”

And, so that there may be no misunderstanding about the interpretation of the love of God and of neighbor, he adds: “And here is the second commandment, which is like the first”, that is, that one cannot truly love God without loving one's neighbor, nor love one's neighbor without loving God. Therefore, whatever one does against one's neighbor is the same as doing it against God.

Since one cannot love God without practicing charity toward one's neighbor, all the duties of man are summed up in this maxim: OUTSIDE CHARITY THERE IS NO SALVATION. The necessity of charity, according to Saint Paul.

Even were I to speak all the tongues of men and the very tongue of the angels, if I have not charity, I shall be as the bronze that sounds and a cymbal that clangs; — even though I had the gift of prophecy, that I penetrated all mysteries, and had perfect knowledge of all things; even though I had all possible faith, to the point of moving mountains, if I have not charity, I am nothing. — And though I had distributed my goods to feed the poor and had given up my body to be burned, if I had not charity, all this would be of no use to me. Charity is patient, is gentle and beneficent; charity is not envious; it is not rash, nor hasty; it is not filled with pride; — it is not disdainful; it does not look after its own interests; it does not become vexed, nor embittered by anything; it does not suspect evil; it does not rejoice in injustice, but rejoices in the truth; it bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, suffers all things.

Now, these three virtues: faith, hope, and charity remain; but, among them, the most excellent is charity.

(Saint Paul, 1st Epistle to the Corinthians, chapter XIII, vv. 1 to 7 and 13.)

So well did Saint Paul understand this great truth, that he said: “Even though I had the language of the angels; even though I had the gift of prophecy, that I penetrated all mysteries; even though I had all possible faith, to the point of moving mountains, if I have not charity, I am nothing. Among these three virtues: faith, hope, and charity, the most excellent is charity.”

He thus places, without ambiguity, charity even above faith; 3 it is that charity is within the reach of everyone: of the ignorant, as of the learned, of the rich, as of the poor, and is independent of any particular belief.

He does more: he defines true charity, shows it not only in beneficence, but also in the totality of all the qualities of the heart, in goodness and in benevolence toward one's neighbor. Outside the Church there is no salvation. Outside the truth there is no salvation.

Whereas the maxim: Outside charity there is no salvation, rests upon a universal principle and opens to all the children of God access to supreme happiness, the dogma: Outside the Church there is no salvation, is grounded, not on the fundamental faith in God and in the immortality of the soul, a faith common to all religions, but on a special faith, on particular dogmas; it is exclusive and absolute; 2 far from uniting the children of God, it separates them; instead of urging them to love their brothers, it nourishes and sanctions the irritation among sectarians of the different cults who reciprocally consider one another cursed in eternity, even though these sectarians are relatives and friends. Scorning the great law of equality before the grave, it sets them apart from one another, even in the field of rest.

The maxim: Outside charity there is no salvation, consecrates the principle of equality before God and of freedom of conscience. Taking it as the norm, all men are brothers and, in whatever manner they may adore the Creator, they extend their hands to one another and pray for one another.

With the dogma: Outside the Church there is no salvation, they anathematize and persecute one another reciprocally, they live as enemies; the father does not pray for the son, nor the son for the father, nor the friend for the friend, since they mutually consider one another condemned without remission. It is, therefore, a dogma essentially contrary to the teachings of Christ and to the evangelical law.

Outside the truth there is no salvation would be equivalent to: Outside the Church there is no salvation, and would be equally exclusive, since no sect exists that does not claim to have the privilege of the truth.

What man can boast of possessing it in full, when the scope of knowledge ceaselessly broadens and every day ideas are corrected?

Absolute truth is the patrimony solely of Spirits of the most elevated category, and earthly Humanity could not claim to possess it, because it is not given to it to know everything. It can only aspire to a truth relative and proportionate to its advancement.

If God had made the possession of absolute truth the express condition of future happiness, He would have pronounced a sentence of general proscription, whereas charity, even in its broadest sense, all can practice.

Spiritism, in accordance with the Gospel, admitting salvation for all, independent of any belief, provided that the law of God be observed, does not say: Outside Spiritism there is no salvation; and, since it does not claim to teach all the truth yet, neither does it say: Outside the truth there is no salvation, for this maxim would separate instead of uniting and would perpetuate antagonisms. INSTRUCTIONS OF THE SPIRITS.

Outside charity there is no salvation.

My children, in the maxim: Outside charity there is no salvation, are enclosed the destinies of men, on Earth and in Heaven; 2 on Earth, because under the shadow of that standard they will live in peace; 3 in Heaven, because those who have practiced it will find grace before the Lord.

This device is the celestial torch, the luminous column that guides man in the desert of life, leading him toward the Land of Promise; 5 it shines in Heaven, like a holy halo, upon the brow of the elect, 6 and, on Earth, is found engraved in the heart of those to whom Jesus will say: Pass to the right, you who are blessed by My Father.

You will recognize them by the perfume of charity that they spread around themselves.

Nothing expresses with more exactness the thought of Jesus, nothing sums up so well the duties of man, as this maxim of divine order; Spiritism could not better prove its origin than by presenting it as a rule, since it is a reflection of the purest Christianity. Taking it as a guide, man will never go astray.

Devote yourselves, then, my friends, to scrutinizing its profound meaning and its consequences, to discovering for yourselves all its applications.

Submit all your actions to the government of charity and your conscience will answer you. Not only will it prevent you from practicing evil, but it will also cause you to practice good, for a negative virtue is not enough: an active virtue is necessary; 11 to do good, the action of the will is always required; to refrain from practicing evil, inertia and unconcern most often suffice.

My friends, give thanks to God for having permitted that you might enjoy the light of Spiritism; it is not that only those who possess it are to be saved; it is that, by helping you to understand the teachings of Christ, it makes you better Christians; 13 strive, then, so that your brothers, observing you, may be led to recognize that a true Spiritist and a true Christian are one and the same thing, given that all those who practice charity are disciples of Jesus, regardless of the sect to which they belong. — (PAUL, the apostle. Paris, 1860.)