IMITATION OF THE GOSPEL.

NOTE. — I had given no one knowledge of the subject of the book on which I was working. I had kept its title so completely secret that the publisher, Mr. Didier, learned it only at the time of printing. That title was, at first: Imitation of the Gospel. Later, owing to repeated observations from this same Mr. Didier and from a few other persons, I changed it to The Gospel According to Spiritism. Thus, the reflections contained in the following communications cannot be regarded as the fruit of preconceived ideas of the medium.

Question. — What do you think of the new work on which I am working at this moment?

Answer. — This book of doctrine will have considerable influence, for you explain capital questions, and not only will the religious world find in it the maxims it needs, but the practical life of nations will also draw from it excellent instructions. You did well to confront the questions of high practical morality, from the point of view of general interests, of social interests, and of religious interests. Doubt must be destroyed; the earth and its civilized populations are ready; your friends from beyond the tomb have long since broken up the ground for them; sow, then, the seed we have entrusted to you, for it is time that the Earth gravitate in the radiant order of the spheres and emerge at last from the dimness and the intellectual fogs. Finish your work and count on the protection of your guide, the guide of us all, and on the devoted aid of the Spirits who are most faithful to you, among whose number deign always to include me. Q. — What will the clergy say?

A. — The clergy will cry — heresy, for they will see that you decisively attack eternal punishments and other points on which they base their influence and their credit. They will cry all the more loudly inasmuch as they will feel far more wounded than by the publication of The Spirits' Book, whose principal data, strictly speaking, they could accept. Now, however, you have entered upon a new path, on which they will not be able to follow you. The secret anathema will become official, and the Spiritists will be repelled, as the Jews and the pagans were, by the Roman Church. In compensation, the Spiritists will see their number increase, by virtue of this kind of persecution, above all when the priests brand as demonic a doctrine whose morality will shine like a ray of sunlight through the very publication of your new book and of those that will follow it. The hour approaches when it will be necessary for you to present Spiritism as it is, showing everyone where the true doctrine taught by the Christ is to be found. The hour approaches when, in the face of heaven and Earth, you will have to proclaim that Spiritism is the only truly Christian tradition and the only truly divine and human institution. In choosing you, the Spirits knew the solidity of your convictions and knew that your faith, like a wall of steel, would resist all attacks.

Meanwhile, my friend, if your courage has not yet faltered beneath the so heavy task you accepted, know that you have been fortunate up to the present, but that the hour of difficulties has come. Yes, dear Master, the great battle is being prepared; fanaticism and intolerance, exacerbated by the success of your propaganda, are going to attack you and yours with poisoned weapons. Prepare yourself for the struggle. I have, however, faith in you, as you have faith in us, and I know that your faith is of those that move mountains and make one walk upon the waters. Courage, then, and may your work be completed. Count on us and count above all on the great soul of the Master of us all, who protects you in a most particular way. Paris, September 14, 1863.

NOTE. — I had requested for myself a communication on any subject whatever, and had asked that it be sent to me at my retreat in Sainte-Adresse.

[See Appendix.]

“I wish to speak to you of Paris, although that does not seem to me of manifest usefulness, since my intimate voices make themselves heard around you and your brain perceives our inspirations with an ease that you yourself do not even suspect. Our action, principally that of the Spirit of Truth, is constant around you and such that you cannot deny it. This being so, I shall not enter into idle details concerning the plan of your work, a plan that, following my hidden counsels, you modified so amply and completely. You now understand why we needed to have you under our hands, free of every preoccupation other than that of the Doctrine. A work such as the one we are elaborating by common agreement requires withdrawal and sacred seclusion. I take a keen interest in your labor, which is a considerable step forward and at last opens to Spiritism the broad road of profitable applications, for the good of society. With this work, the edifice begins to free itself from the scaffolding, and one can already see its dome taking shape on the horizon. Continue, then, without impatience and without weariness; the monument will be ready at the appointed hour. “We have already dealt with you concerning the incidental questions of the moment, that is, the religious questions. The Spirit of Truth spoke to you of the rebellions that are already rising at the present hour. These hostilities are necessary in order to keep awake the attention of men, who so easily allow themselves to be diverted from a serious subject. To the soldiers who fight for the cause, new combatants will incessantly be joined, whose words and writings will cause a sensation and will carry disturbance and confusion into the ranks of the adversaries.

“Farewell, dear companion of yore, faithful disciple of the truth, who continues throughout life the work to which, formerly, before the Spirit who loves you and whom I venerate, we swore to consecrate our forces and our existences, until it should be brought to completion. I salute you.”

OBSERVATION. — The plan of the work had, in fact, been completely modified, which the medium doubtless could not have known, for he was in Paris and I in Sainte-Adresse. Nor could he have known that the Spirit of Truth had spoken to me of the attitude of revolt of the Bishop of Algeria and others. All these circumstances were well woven to prove to me that the Spirits took part in my labors. (See the APPENDIX at the end of the work. Publisher's Note — FEB.)

APPENDIX TO THE BRAZILIAN EDITION.

How Allan Kardec prepared The Gospel According to Spiritism. n Charles Kempf.

In this article, we shall examine the context in which Allan Kardec composed the Imitation of the gospel according to spiritism.

Upon the disincarnation of Allan Kardec, countless documents were found in his house which, gathered together by Pierre-Gaëtan Leymarie, were published in 1890 under the title Posthumous Works.

In the second part of that book there is a chapter entitled Imitation of the Gospel, containing a mediumistic communication received in Ségur (Paris), on August 9, 1863, by Mr. d’Ambel, while Allan Kardec was preparing for a retreat in Sainte-Adresse, near Le Havre. The communication mentioned the title of a work in preparation, kept secret by the Codifier, a title which the medium himself was unaware of. Further on, the communication warned Kardec of the strong opposition he would encounter on the part of the clergy, but it also contained a message of encouragement. Next, Kardec speaks of his withdrawal in Sainte-Adresse, where he had received a second communication, explaining to him the reason for this “sacred isolation”; “free of any other preoccupation”; assisted by the Spirit of Truth and by countless other elevated Spirits, during which the initial text of the book had been considerably modified. Such elements were likewise unknown to the medium.

We refer the reader to the work mentioned, containing the entirety of the text. For now we shall examine some hitherto unpublished elements, originating from three letters to which we had access, sent by Allan Kardec, during his retreat in Sainte-Adresse, to his wife Amélie Boudet, who had remained in Paris. Below, we transcribe a part of those letters:

Sainte-Adresse, Sunday, September 6, 1863.

My dear Amélie, I am glad of the promptness with which you wrote to me, despite the occupations to which you were certainly devoting yourself on that day. I was not anxious because I know that the good Spirits protect us, and I was pleased to learn of your arrival without mishap. On the same day I went to convey your regards to Mesdames Foulon and Mambarel, who thank you for them. I had lunch and, at the moment of departing, a downpour fell that obliged me to take a conveyance. It was the harbinger of a horrible storm that still lasts. One cannot imagine the deafening noise that followed the whole day and the night, a noise to wake the dead and, with all the more reason, the living. I am beginning to grow accustomed to the shakings of my cabin. Truly, it is a fine spectacle to see all this from the window and to be sheltered at the same time. After lunch, while still at Madame Foulon's house, Madame Mambarel obliged me with a communication concerning a pastoral letter of the bishop of Algiers, the analysis of which was made by Madame d’Ambel. It gives one something to think about. The most interesting thing, however, is that, having expressed the opinion that the archbishop of Lyon would probably follow his example, my presence at this moment in that city would have been inopportune and would have placed me in a difficult situation; that this was probably the reason for having advised me not to go there. In sum, here is the answer: “For many adepts, your presence would have been an opportunity to manifest themselves, since they would feel obliged by a matter of devotion. It would have been a pretext for exercising upon them persecutions that it is important to avoid at this moment, since it is necessary to reserve the forces for later. The adversaries were awaiting your arrival for this, and the false brethren would take advantage of the situation. Your absence frustrated their project. This is the reason why you should not go there, all the more so because, in any case, we would have prevented you.” You will make this answer known to Mr. d’Ambel and will tell him that I would be very glad if Erasto, Truth, or any other good Spirit would be so good as to give me a communication at my retreat.

[…] With the exception of the good and the bad weather, the news is very limited as far as I am concerned, which is why I close my letter telling you that I am in good health and working always.

The storm seems to be calming a little; the Sun appears, but the horizon is still laden with clouds of ill omen. Farewell, dear Amélie, I embrace you with all my heart, begging you to write to me very often and recommending that you take care of yourself.

(signed) H.L.D. Rivail.

[…] I am glad that Marie went to wait for you at the railway station; it is a great attention on her part, for which I thank her. […] Do not forget to put, in your letters, the address that I had forgotten: Beach Street.

The content of this first letter thus confirms, on all points, what appears in Posthumous Works, principally that Allan Kardec had requested a communication, and adds countless details, for example, that Amélie had accompanied her husband and returned to Paris, that Kardec was residing in a cabin at the edge of the beach, as well as the persons whom they came to know in that region, including Madame Foulon, whose mention we find in the book Heaven and Hell.

Let us now pass to the second letter:

Sainte-Adresse, September 11, 1863.

My dear Amélie, I received yesterday your letter, which gave me all the greater pleasure because I was awaiting it with impatience, surprised at not having received it sooner. I see with satisfaction that all is well. As for me, as I said, the uniformity of my life gives no occasion for any incident worth recounting. I limit myself, then, to telling you that I am in good health, better even than at the beginning of my stay here. It is only with the passing of time that the influence of the change of air makes itself felt; in the beginning one suffers a little. It is only for two days that the weather has been fine, because we had great storms. I lunched once at Madame Foulon's house, and Wednesday afternoon, returning there again, those ladies insisted on keeping me for dinner. Madame Lombard prepared me a delicious plum tart. I have not seen them again since your letter and could not announce to them the incident that befell the two little cooks. When you write to me, tell me whether you know the name of that lady from Bourg who came here. I am delighted to see, at last, a germ of the Doctrine in this region.

Tell Mr. d’Ambel that I was seized by the very natural grief that he experienced; nevertheless, I think that, as the true Spiritist that he is, he will know how to bear all this with resignation. Last Sunday I made an excursion to the lighthouses, where there was a squall followed by fine weather. I had lunch at the restaurant. It has a marvelous view, but little different from that of the signal stations.

[…] Farewell, dear Amélie; the time of my retreat is coming to an end and I shall soon be able to embrace you.

All yours.

[signed] A.K.

Do not forget me to anyone.

In this letter, Kardec mentions the beneficial effect of the “change of air”; which leads one to think that his retreat was also motivated by a health problem, besides the isolation for the writing of the Gospel. Mr. d’Ambel, medium of the Paris Society, who at the time was his secretary, had apparently lost a loved one. It is also to be noted, the brief mention of a “lady from Bourg”; from which it is deduced that Kardec was attached to that region, in which he had spent his childhood (Bourg-en-Bresse, near Lyon, where he had been born).

Next and in full, the third letter:

Tuesday, September 15, 1863.

My good Amélie, I received your letter this morning and, although I have nothing in particular to tell you, I hasten to thank Messrs. d’Ambel and Canu for what they did for Mr. Costeau, for they acted as true Spiritists. Their address is admirable; they showed that they act with heart, which does not surprise me, since their faith is sincere. Mr. Vezy must also receive his quota of congratulations.

As for the widow, you know that Mr. Prévert handed me 200 francs for good deeds; you may, then, make use of a part of them to help her. This money cannot have a better employment. I am amazed at the good tidings you give me; the Spirits were right when they told me that, on returning, I would find a satisfactory progress. The communication that Erasto gave me, through Mr. d’Ambel, is very encouraging for me, and I thank him; it agrees with the message of Truth, transmitted to me through Madame Judith. You do not speak to me of your health, which makes me presume that it is good; nevertheless, I would be more pleased if I had of it a more positive certainty. As for me, I am very well; the last baths that I took fortified me in a remarkable manner. I no longer have that weakness in the legs that I felt for a long time, and I was able to verify it on Sunday. The weather was magnificent and I was seized by laziness, that is, I worked very little. After the bath I took a long sea outing in a small sailboat; although the sea was calm, I thought that you would not have accompanied me in that little nutshell rocking on the waves. In the afternoon I made an excursion to the seaside, over the collapsed rocks that form a promontory situated below the signal stations and the lighthouses; then I climbed from the level of the sea up to the little valley that precedes the signal stations, scaling the rocks and the cliffs. And, an extraordinary thing! in no way did I feel breathless or suffocated, as generally happens when I climb a simple staircase. I returned by way of the chapel of Our Lady of the Waves and went down again to the seaside to dine at the oyster park. I arrived home at 7:30, I was a little fatigued and lay down; I slept until 8 o'clock in the morning. For some days the weather has been admirable, without clouds in the sky, a resplendent Sun, a sea tranquil as a lake, dotted with ships and vessels of all sizes; it is an enchanting spectacle. The endless sea is for me a great diversion; every day I observe its beauty. There is not a single point on the horizon that I do not explore, whence arise interesting and instructive observations that lead me to meditate, for everything is instruction for whoever wishes to reflect. Next Sunday will be my last Sunday here. I shall have a small Spiritist meeting at the house of Mr. Bodier, who is very glad to receive me; afterward, I shall make my preparations for the departure. The day is not yet certain, but I think it will be Tuesday or, at the latest, Wednesday; I shall let you know. I shall leave by the 10:30 morning train, which means that I shall arrive at 6:30 in the evening, a convenient hour for everyone. Farewell, dear Amélie, your most devoted [signed] A. K.

P.S. — When you write to me, see that your letter reaches my hands Sunday morning, adding to it, if possible, the communication of Costeau.

This letter, more complete and extremely touching, allows us to plunge fluidically into the context of the time in which the Imitation of the gospel according to spiritism was composed, in the beautiful seaside landscapes of Normandy. There we also find a mention of the disincarnation of Mr. Costeau, n who was very poor, as well as the aid rendered to his widow, besides a reference to the message of Erasto, already cited, as well as numerous details about the second motive of this retreat, which was also bound up with reasons of health, much improved by all indications, thanks, certainly, to the combined action of the Spirits who assisted him in the writing of the work. Finally, Kardec mentions his return to Paris. We hope that this hitherto unpublished information will allow readers to be inspired, not only by the extraordinary elements contained in The Gospel According to Spiritism, but also by the examples of devotion of the life of Allan Kardec.

(Reformador magazine of FEB | July 2014 | p. 20.)

[1]

[v. personal residence of Mr. Allan Kardec.]

[2] The text of this article, originally written in French by Charles Kempf, was translated by Evandro Noleto Bezerra.

[3] See Heaven and Hell, second part, Happy Spirits.