Envy.

At one of the Society's sessions, Saint Louis had promised us a dissertation on envy. Mr. D…, who was beginning to develop mediumship and still doubted a little — not the Doctrine, of which he is one of the most fervent adherents and which he understands in its essence, that is, from the moral point of view — but the faculty that was revealing itself in him, invoked Saint Louis in his own personal name, addressing to him the following question:

— Could you dispel my doubts and anxieties regarding my mediumistic power, by writing, through my intermediary, the dissertation that you had promised the Society for Tuesday, June 1st?

Answer. — Yes; to reassure you I will do so.

It was then that the following passage was dictated. We shall point out that Mr. D… addressed Saint Louis with a pure and sincere heart, without ulterior motives, an indispensable condition for every good communication. It was not a test that he was making: he merely doubted himself, and God permitted that he be answered, in order to give him the means of becoming useful. Today, Mr. D… is one of the most complete mediums, not only because of his great facility of execution, but also because of his aptitude to serve as interpreter to all Spirits, even to those of the most elevated order, who express themselves easily and willingly through his intermediary. These are, above all, the qualities that we must seek in a medium and that can always be acquired with patience, will, and exercise. Mr. D… did not need much patience; there was in him the will and the fervor, united to a natural aptitude. A few days sufficed to bring his faculty to the highest degree. Here is the dictation that was given to him on envy: “Behold this man: his spirit is troubled, his earthly unhappiness is at its height: he envies the gold, the luxury, and the happiness, apparent or fictitious, of his fellow men; his heart is devastated, his soul secretly consumed by that incessant struggle of unsatisfied pride and vanity; he carries with him, in every instant of his miserable existence, a serpent that he cherishes in his bosom and that ceaselessly suggests to him the most fatal thoughts: “Shall I have that voluptuousness, that happiness? Nevertheless, it is owed to me as to others; I am a man like them; why should I be disinherited?” And he struggles in his impotence, tormented by the horrible torture of envy. Happy still if those baleful ideas do not lead him to the edge of the abyss. Entering upon that path, he asks himself whether he should not obtain, by violence, what he judges to be owed to him; whether he will not expose, before the eyes of all, the hideous evil that devours him. If this unfortunate man had only looked below his position, he would have seen the number of those who suffer without lamenting and even blessing the Creator, for unhappiness is a benefit of which God makes use to make the poor creature advance toward His eternal throne. “Make your happiness and your true treasure on Earth in works of charity and of submission, the only ones that will allow you to be admitted into the bosom of God; those works of good will make your joy and your eternal happiness; envy is one of the ugliest and saddest miseries of your globe; charity and the constant emission of faith will make all evils disappear, which will depart one by one, as the men of good will who will follow you multiply. Amen.”

Saint Louis. n [1]

[see Saint Louis.]