Prolegomena.

Phenomena foreign to the laws of human science occur everywhere, revealing in the cause that produces them the action of a free and intelligent will.

Reason says that an intelligent effect must have as its cause an intelligent force, and the facts have proved that this force is capable of entering into communication with men by means of material signs.

Interrogated as to its nature, this force declared that it belongs to the world of spiritual beings who have stripped off the corporeal envelope of man. Thus it was that the Doctrine of the Spirits was revealed.

Communications between the spiritual world and the corporeal world are in the natural order of things and do not constitute a supernatural fact, so much so that traces of such communications are found among all peoples and in all epochs. Today they have become generalized and made manifest to all.

The Spirits announce that the times marked by Providence for a universal manifestation have arrived, and that, being the ministers of God and the agents of his will, they have as their mission to instruct and enlighten men, opening a new era for the regeneration of Humanity.

This book is the repository of their teachings; 7 it was written by order and through the dictation of superior Spirits, in order to establish the foundations of a rational philosophy, free from the prejudices of the spirit of system; 8 it contains nothing that is not the expression of their thought and that has not been examined by them.

Only the order and methodical distribution of the matters, as well as the notes and the form of certain parts of the writing, constitute the work of him who received the mission to publish them.

Among the number of the Spirits who contributed to the execution of this work, many are counted who lived, in various epochs, on Earth, where they preached and practiced virtue and wisdom; 11 others, by their names, belong to no personage whose memory History preserves, but whose elevation is attested by the purity of their teachings and by the union in which they find themselves with those who bear venerated names.

Here are the terms in which they gave us, in writing and through many mediums, the mission to write this book:

“Occupy thyself, full of zeal and perseverance, with the work thou hast undertaken with our concurrence, for this work is ours.

In it we have laid the bases of a new edifice which is rising and which one day shall unite all men in a single sentiment of love and charity; 15 but, before thou divulgest it, we shall review it together, in order to verify all its details.

“We shall be with thee whenever thou askest, to help thee in thy labors, for this is only one part of the mission entrusted to thee and which one of us has already revealed to thee.

“Among the teachings that are given thee, there are some that thou must keep to thyself alone, until new order. When the moment to publish them arrives, we shall tell thee. While thou waitest, meditate upon them, so that thou mayest be ready when we tell thee.

“Thou shalt place at the head of the book the vine that we have drawn for thee, n because it is the emblem of the work of the Creator; 19 therein are gathered all the material principles that can best represent the body and the spirit.

The body is the vine; the Spirit is the liquor; the soul or Spirit bound to matter is the grape.

Man quintessences the spirit through work, and thou knowest that only by means of the work of the body does the spirit acquire knowledge.

“Do not let thyself be discouraged by criticism.

Thou shalt encounter fierce contradictors, above all among those who have an interest in the abuses.

Thou shalt encounter them even among the Spirits, for those who are not yet completely dematerialized frequently seek to sow doubt through malice or ignorance; 25 go always forward; believe in God and walk with confidence: here we shall be to support thee, and the time draws near when the truth shall shine forth on every side.

“The vanity of certain men, who think they know everything and want to explain everything in their own way, will give rise to dissident opinions; 27 but all those who have in view the great principle of Jesus shall be merged into a single sentiment: that of the love of good, and shall unite by a fraternal bond that shall bind the whole world; 28 these shall set aside the wretched questions of words, to occupy themselves only with what is essential, 29 and the doctrine shall always be the same, as to its substance, for all those who receive communications from superior Spirits.

“It is through perseverance that thou shalt come to gather the fruits of thy labors.

The pleasure thou shalt experience in seeing the doctrine spread and well understood will be a recompense, whose full value thou shalt come to know, perhaps more in the future than in the present.

Be not troubled, then, by the thorns and the stones that the unbelievers or the wicked will heap upon thy path.

Keep thy confidence: with it thou shalt reach the end and shalt merit being always helped.

“Remember that the Good Spirits dispense their assistance only to those who serve God with humility and disinterestedness, and that they repudiate everyone who seeks in the path of Heaven a step toward conquering the things of Earth; 35 that they withdraw from the proud and the ambitious. Pride and ambition shall always be a barrier raised between man and God; 36 they are a veil cast over the celestial brightnesses, and God cannot make use of the blind to make the light perceptible.” Saint John the Evangelist, Saint Augustine, Saint Vincent de Paul, Saint Louis, The Spirit of Truth, Socrates, Plato, Fénelon, Franklin, Swedenborg, Etc., Etc.

NOTE. — 1 The principles contained in this book result from the answers given by the Spirits to the direct questions that were put to them on various occasions, by means of a great number of mediums, as well as from the instructions they gave spontaneously, to us or to other persons, on the matters it encompasses.

The material was organized in such a way as to present a regular and methodical whole, and it was not delivered to publicity until after it had been carefully revised, several times in succession, and corrected by the Spirits themselves.

This second edition also merited, on their part, a new and meticulous examination.

What comes within quotation marks, following the questions, is the textual answer given by the Spirits.

What is marked in smaller letters, or designated in a special way for this purpose, comprises the notes and explanations added by the author, and which also underwent the control of the Spirits.

[1] The vine seen at the head is the facsimile of the one the Spirits drew.