MANY ARE CALLED, FEW ARE CHOSEN.

Parable of the wedding feast. — The narrow gate.

— Not all those who say: Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven.

— Much will be asked of him who has received much.

— INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS: To him who has it shall be given.

— By his works is the Christian recognized.

Parable of the wedding feast.

Still speaking in parables, Jesus said to them:

The kingdom of Heaven is like a king who, wishing to celebrate the wedding of his Son, — sent his servants to call those who had been invited to the wedding; but these refused to come. — The king sent other servants with orders to say on his behalf to those invited: I have prepared my dinner; I have had my oxen and all my fatted cattle slaughtered; everything is ready; come to the wedding. — But they, paying no heed to this, went off, one to his country house, another to his business. — The others seized the servants and killed them, after having heaped many outrages upon them. — Learning of this, the king was seized with wrath and, sending his armies against them, exterminated those murderers and burned their city. Then he said to his servants: The wedding feast is entirely prepared; but those who were called to it were not worthy of it. Go, then, to the crossroads and call to the wedding as many as you find. — The servants then went out into the streets and brought all those they met, good and bad; the wedding hall was filled with people who took their places at the table.

The king then entered to see those who were at the table, and, coming upon a man who was not wearing the wedding garment, — said to him: My friend, how did you enter here without the wedding garment? The man kept silent. — Then the king said to his people: Bind his hands and feet and cast him into the outer darkness: there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth; — for many are called, but few are chosen. (Saint Matthew, chapter XXII, vv. 1 to 14)

The unbeliever smiles at this parable, which seems to him of puerile naivety, for he does not understand how so much difficulty could be raised over attending a feast and, still less, how the invited could carry their resistance to the point of massacring the messengers of the master of the house. “Parables,” says he, the unbeliever, “are, no doubt, images; but, even so, it is needful that they not exceed the limits of the plausible.”

The same may be said of all allegories, of the most ingenious fables, if their respective wrappings are not removed in order to find the hidden meaning.

Jesus composed his with the most ordinary habits of life and adapted them to the customs and character of the people to whom he spoke. The majority of them had for their object to make the idea of the spiritual life penetrate the popular masses, many appearing unintelligible as to their meaning, merely because those who interpret them do not place themselves at this point of view.

In the one we are dealing with, Jesus compares the kingdom of Heaven, where all is joy and bliss, to a feast.

In speaking of the first guests invited, he alludes to the Hebrews, who were the first called by God to the knowledge of his Law.

The king's messengers are the prophets who came to exhort them to follow the path of true happiness; their words, however, were scarcely heeded; their warnings were disdained; many were even massacred, like the servants of the parable.

The guests who excuse themselves, on the pretext of having to go and tend to their fields and their business, symbolize worldly persons who, absorbed by earthly things, remain indifferent to celestial things.

It was a belief common to the Jews of that time that their nation was to attain supremacy over all the others. Had not God, indeed, promised Abraham that his posterity would cover all the Earth? But, as always, holding to the form, without heeding the substance, they believed it to be a matter of an effective and material domination.

Before the coming of the Christ, with the exception of the Hebrews, all peoples were idolaters and polytheists. If a few men superior to the common conceived the idea of the unity of God, that idea remained in the state of a personal system, nowhere accepted as a fundamental truth, save by a few initiates who concealed their knowledge beneath a veil of mystery, impenetrable to the popular masses.

The Hebrews were the first to practice monotheism publicly; it is to them that God transmits his law, first by way of Moses, then through Jesus. It was from that tiny focal point that there went forth the light destined to spread throughout the whole world, to triumph over paganism, and to give Abraham a spiritual posterity “as numerous as the stars of the firmament.”

Nevertheless, while abandoning idolatry entirely, the Jews disdained the moral law, in order to cling to what was easier: the practice of outward worship. The evil had reached its height; the nation, besides being enslaved, was torn apart by factions and divided by sects; incredulity had reached even the sanctuary. It was then that Jesus appeared, sent to call them back to the observance of the Law and to open before them the new horizons of the future life; 12 among the first to be invited to the great banquet of the universal faith, they repelled the word of the celestial Messiah and immolated him; thus they lost the fruit they would have reaped from the initiative that had fallen to them.

It would, however, be unjust to accuse the whole people of such a state of affairs. The responsibility fell chiefly upon the Pharisees and Sadducees, who sacrificed the nation through the effect of the pride and fanaticism of the former and the incredulity of the latter. It is, therefore, they above all whom Jesus identifies in the guests who refuse to appear at the wedding feast.

Then he adds: “Seeing this, the Lord ordered that all who were found at the crossroads be invited, good and bad.” He meant in this way that the word was going to be preached to all the other peoples, pagans and idolaters, and these, receiving it, would be admitted to the feast, in place of the first guests invited.

But it is not enough for anyone to be invited; it is not enough to call oneself a Christian, nor to sit at the table to take part in the celestial banquet; it is necessary, above all and as an express condition, to be clothed in the wedding garment, that is, to have a pure heart and to fulfill the law according to the spirit. Now, the whole law is contained in these words: Outside charity there is no salvation.

Among all, however, who hear the divine word, how few are those who keep it and apply it profitably! How few become worthy to enter the kingdom of Heaven! This is why Jesus said: Many will be called; few, however, will be chosen. The narrow gate.

Enter by the narrow gate, for wide is the gate of perdition and spacious the road that leads to it, and many are those who enter by it. — How small is the gate of life! how narrow the road that leads to it!

and how few find it! (Saint Matthew, chapter VII, vv. 13 and 14.)

Someone having put this question to him: Lord, will those who are saved be few? he answered them: — Strive to enter by the narrow gate, for I assure you that many will seek to pass through it and will not be able to. — And when the father of the household has entered and shut the door, and you, from outside, begin to knock, saying: Lord, open to us; he will answer you: I do not know whence you are. — You will set about saying: We ate and drank in your presence and you instructed us in our public squares. — He will answer you: I do not know whence you are; depart from me, all you who practice iniquity. Then there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, when you see that Abraham, Isaac, Jacob and all the prophets are in the kingdom of God and that you others are cast out of it. — Many will come from the East and the West, from the North and the South, who will share in the feast in the kingdom of God. — Then, those who are last will be the first and those who are first will be the last. (Saint Luke, chapter XIII, vv. 23 to 30.)

Wide is the gate of perdition, because the evil passions are numerous and because the greater number set out along the path of evil.

Narrow is that of salvation, because the man who would pass through it is obliged to make great efforts upon himself, in order to overcome his evil tendencies, a thing to which few resign themselves; 3 it is the complement of the maxim: Many are called and few are chosen.

Such is the state of earthly Humanity, because, the Earth being a world of expiation, evil predominates upon it. When it shall have been transformed, the road of good will be the more frequented.

Those words must, therefore, be understood in a relative sense and not in an absolute sense. If this were to be the normal state of Humanity, God would have condemned to perdition the immense majority of his creatures, an inadmissible supposition, once it is recognized that God is all justice and goodness.

But of what crimes would this Humanity have made itself guilty to deserve so sad a fate, in the present and in the future, if all of it were exiled upon the Earth and if the soul had not had other existences? Why so many obstacles set before its steps? Why that gate so narrow that only very few are granted to pass through it, if the fate of the soul is determined forever, immediately after death? Thus it is that, with the single existence, man is always in contradiction with himself and with the justice of God. With the anteriority of the soul and the plurality of worlds, the horizon widens; light is shed upon the most obscure points of faith; the present and the future become bound up with the past, and only then can one understand all the depth, all the truth, and all the wisdom of the maxims of the Christ. Those who say: Lord! Lord!

Not all those who say to me: Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven;

only he shall enter who does the will of my Father, who is in Heaven.

— Many, on that day, will say to me: Lord! Lord! did we not prophesy in your name? Did we not cast out the demon in your name? Did we not do many miracles in your name? — I will then say to them in a loud voice: Depart from me, you who work iniquity. (Saint Matthew, chapter VII, vv. 21 to 23.)

He, then, who hears these my words and practices them, will be compared to a prudent man who built his house upon the rock; — when the rain fell, the rivers overflowed, the winds blew upon the house;

it did not collapse, because it was built upon the rock. — But he who hears these my words and does not practice them is like a senseless man who built his house upon the sand. When the rain fell, the rivers overflowed, the winds blew and came to lash it, it was thrown down; great was its ruin. (Saint Matthew, chapter VII, vv. 24 to 27; Saint Luke, chapter VI, vv. 46 to 49.)

He who violates one of these least commandments and who teaches men to violate them, will be considered as last in the kingdom of Heaven; but he will be great in the kingdom of Heaven who fulfills them and teaches them. (Saint Matthew, chapter V, v. 19.)

All those who recognize the mission of Jesus say: Lord! Lord! But of what use is it to call him Master or Lord, if they do not follow his precepts?

Will those be Christians who honor him with outward acts of devotion and, at the same time, sacrifice to pride, to egoism, to cupidity, and to all their passions?

Will those be his disciples who spend their days in prayer and show themselves neither better, nor more charitable, nor more indulgent toward their fellow men? No, for, in the same way as the Pharisees, they have prayer on their lips and not in their heart.

By the form they may impose upon men; not, however, upon God. In vain will they say to Jesus: “Lord! did we not prophesy, that is, did we not teach in your name; did we not cast out the demons in your name; did we not eat and drink with you?”

He will answer them: “I do not know who you are; depart from me, you who commit iniquities, you who belie by your acts what you say with your lips, who slander your neighbor, who plunder widows and commit adultery. Depart from me, you whose heart distills hatred and gall, who shed the blood of your brothers in my name, who make tears flow, instead of drying them.

For you there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth, for the kingdom of God is for those who are gentle, humble, and charitable. Do not hope to bend the justice of the Lord by the multitude of your words and your genuflections. The only road that is open to you, to find grace before him, is that of the sincere practice of the law of love and charity.”

The words of Jesus are eternal, because they are the truth.

They constitute not only the safeguard of the celestial life, but also the pledge of peace, of tranquility, and of stability in the things of earthly life; this is why all human institutions, political, social, and religious, which rest upon these words, will be stable like the house built upon the rock; men will preserve them, because they will feel happy in them; but those which are a violation of those words will be like the house built upon the sand: the wind of renewals and the river of progress will sweep them away. Much will be asked of him who has received much.

The servant who knows the will of his master and who, nevertheless, is not ready and does not do what his master wants of him, will be harshly punished;

— but he who has not known his will and does things deserving of punishment will be less punished. Much will be asked of him to whom much has been given and greater accounts will be required of him to whom more things have been entrusted. (Saint Luke, chapter XII, vv. 47 and 48.)

I came into this world to exercise a judgment, so that those who do not see may see and those who see may become blind. — Some Pharisees who were with him, hearing these words, asked him: Are we, then, also blind? — Jesus answered them: If you were blind you would have no sins;

but, now, you say that you see and it is for this reason that your sin remains in you. (Saint John, chapter IX, vv. 39 to 41.)

It is chiefly to the teaching of the Spirits that these maxims apply.

Whoever knows the precepts of the Christ and does not practice them is certainly guilty; nevertheless, besides the Gospel, which contains them, being spread only within the bosom of the Christian sects, even within these how many are there who do not read it, and, among those who read it, how many are those who do not understand it! It results from this that the very words of Jesus are lost to the majority of men.

The teaching of the Spirits, reproducing these maxims under different forms, developing them and commenting upon them, in order to place them within the reach of all, has this particular feature: it is not circumscribed, all, lettered or unlettered, believers or unbelievers, Christians or not, can receive it, since the Spirits communicate everywhere; none of those who receive it, directly or through the intermediary of another, can plead ignorance; one cannot excuse oneself either with the lack of instruction or with the obscurity of the allegorical meaning.

He, therefore, who does not take advantage of these maxims to improve himself, who admires them as interesting and curious things, without their touching his heart, who becomes neither less vain, nor less proud, nor less egoistic, nor less attached to material goods, nor better toward his neighbor, is the more guilty, because he has more means of knowing the truth.

The mediums who obtain good communications are still more reprehensible, if they persist in evil, because they often write their own condemnation and because, if pride did not blind them, they would recognize that it is to them that the Spirits address themselves.

But, instead of taking for themselves the lessons they write, or that they read written by others, they have for their sole preoccupation to apply them to others, thus confirming these words of Jesus: “You see a mote in the eye of your neighbor and you do not see the beam that is in your own.” (Chap. X, no. 9)

By this sentence: “If you were blind, you would have no sins,” Jesus meant to signify that culpability is in proportion to the enlightenment that the creature possesses. Now, the Pharisees, who had the pretension of being, and were, in effect, the most enlightened of their nation, showed themselves more culpable in the eyes of God than the ignorant people. The same holds true today.

Of the Spiritists, then, much will be asked, because they have received much; but, also, to those who have made good use of it, much will be given.

The first care of every sincere Spiritist must be to seek to know whether, in the counsels that the Spirits give, there is not something that concerns him.

Spiritism comes to multiply the number of those called. By the faith that it affords, it will also multiply the number of those chosen.

INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS.

To him who has it shall be given.

Approaching him, his disciples said to him: Why do you speak to them in parables? — Answering, he said to them: It is because, to you others, it has been given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of Heaven, whereas to them this has not been given. — For, to him who already has, more will be given and he will be in abundance; to him, however, who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. — This is why I speak to them in parables: because, seeing, they see nothing and, hearing, they understand nothing, nor comprehend. — In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, when he says: You will hear with your ears and understand nothing; you will look with your eyes and see nothing. (Saint Matthew, chapter XIII, vv. 10 to 14.)

Take great care with what you hear, for they will use toward you the same measure that you have used to measure others, and still it will be added to you; — for, to him who already has, it will be given, and, to him who does not have, even what he has will be taken from him. (Saint Mark, chapter IV, vv. 24 and 25.)

“It is given to him who already has and taken from him who does not have.” Meditate upon these great teachings which have at times appeared paradoxical to you.

He who has received is the one who possesses the sense of the divine word; he received only because he tried to make himself worthy of it and because the Lord, in his merciful love, encourages the efforts that tend toward good. Sustained, persevering, these efforts attract the graces of the Lord; they are a magnet that draws to itself what is progressively better, the copious graces that make you strong to climb the holy mountain, on whose summit is repose after labor.

“It is taken from him who does not have, or has little.” Take this as a figured antithesis.

God does not withdraw from his creatures the good that he has deigned to do for them. Blind and deaf men! open your intelligences and your hearts; see by your spirit; hear by your soul and do not interpret in so grossly unjust a manner the words of him who made the justice of the Lord shine forth before your eyes.

It is not God who withdraws from him who had received little: it is the Spirit himself who, being prodigal and careless, does not know how to preserve what he has and to increase, by making it fruitful, the mite that fell into his heart.

He who does not cultivate the field that his father's labor secured for him, and that fell to him as an inheritance, sees it become covered with parasitic weeds. Is it his father who takes from him the harvests that he himself was unwilling to prepare? If, through lack of care, he let wither the seeds destined to produce in that field, is it his father whom it falls to him to accuse for their producing nothing? No and no. Instead of accusing him who had prepared everything for him, of criticizing the gifts he had received, let him complain of the true author of his miseries and, repentant and industrious, let him courageously set his hands to the work; let him break up the ungrateful soil with the effort of his will; let him plow it deep with the aid of repentance and hope; let him cast into it, confident, the seed that he has separated, as good, from among the bad; let him water it with his love and his charity, and God, the God of love and of charity, will give to him who had already received. He will see, then, his efforts crowned with success and one grain produce a hundred and another a thousand.

Take heart, workers! Take up your plows and your plowshares; plow your hearts; tear out from them the tares; sow the good seed that the Lord entrusts to you and the dew of love will make it produce fruits of charity. — (A FRIENDLY SPIRIT. Bordeaux, 1862.) By his works is the Christian recognized.

“Not all those who say to me: Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven, but only those who do the will of my Father who is in Heaven.”

Listen to this word of the Master, all you who repel the Spiritist Doctrine as a work of the demon. Open your ears, for the moment has come to hear.

Will it be enough to wear the livery of the Lord, to be his faithful servant? Will it suffice to say: “I am a Christian,” for someone to be a follower of the Christ?

Seek the true Christians and you will recognize them by their works. “A good tree cannot give bad fruits, nor can a bad tree give good fruits.” — “Every tree that does not give good fruits is cut down and cast into the fire.” These words are the Master's. Disciples of the Christ, understand them well!

What fruits should the tree of Christianity give, a powerful tree, whose leafy branches cover with their shade a part of the world, but which do not yet shelter all those who are to be gathered around it? Those of the tree of life are fruits of life, of hope, and of faith.

Christianity, such as it was made many centuries ago, continues to preach these divine virtues, strives to spread its fruits, but how few gather them!

The tree is good always, but the gardeners are bad. They have undertaken to mold it according to their ideas; to prune it in accordance with their needs; they have cut it, diminished it, mutilated it; rendered sterile, its branches do not give bad fruits, because they no longer produce any.

The thirsty traveler, who stops beneath its boughs in search of the fruit of hope, capable of restoring his strength and his courage, sees only an arid branchwork, foretelling a tempest. In vain does he ask the fruit of life from the tree of life; its leaves fall dry upon him; so much has the hand of man stirred them that it has scorched them.

Open, then, your ears and your hearts, my well-beloved! Cultivate that tree of life, whose fruits give eternal life. He who planted it urges you to tend it with love, for you will yet see it give its divine fruits in abundance.

Preserve it such as the Christ delivered it to you: do not mutilate it; it wishes to stretch its immense shade over the Universe: do not cut its boughs. Its beneficent fruits fall in abundance to feed the famished traveler who desires to reach the end of the journey; do not heap up those fruits, to store them and let them rot, so that they serve no one.

“Many are called and few are chosen.” It is that there are hoarders of the bread of life, as there are hoarders of material bread. Do not be of their number; the tree that gives good fruits must give them for all. Go, then, and seek those who are famished; bring them beneath the foliage of the tree and share with them the shelter that it offers. — 12 “Grapes are not gathered from thornbushes.” My brothers, keep away from those who call you to present you the brambles of the wayside, follow those who lead you to the shade of the tree of life.

The divine Savior, the just one par excellence, said, and his words will not pass away: “Not all those who say: Lord! Lord! shall enter the kingdom of Heaven; only those will enter who do the will of my Father who is in Heaven.”

May the Lord of blessings bless you; may the God of light enlighten you; may the tree of life offer you its fruits abundantly! Believe and pray. — (SIMEON. Bordeaux, 1863.)