Address by Mr. Allan Kardec

Ladies and Gentlemen, all of you, my dear and good brothers in Spiritism:

If there are circumstances in which one may lament the inadequacy of our poor human language, it is undoubtedly when it is a matter of expressing certain sentiments; such is my position at this moment. What I feel is, at one and the same time, a very agreeable surprise when I behold the immense ground that the Spiritist Doctrine has won among you in the past year, which makes me admire Providence; an unspeakable joy at the sight of the good it produces here, of the consolations it spreads over so many sorrows, whether outward or hidden, allowing me to infer the future that awaits it; it is an inexpressible happiness to find myself in the midst of this family, which in so short a time has become so numerous and grows each day; it is, finally and above all, a deep and sincere gratitude for the moving tokens of sympathy that I receive from all of you.

This gathering has a particular character. Thanks be to God, here we are all far too good as Spiritists, I believe, to see in it anything but the pleasure of finding ourselves together, and not that of finding ourselves at table. And, be it said in passing, I even believe that a banquet of Spiritists would be a contradiction. I presume, too, that in inviting me so graciously and with such insistence to come among you, you did not imagine that the question of the banquet was for me a motive of attraction. That is what I hastened to write to my good friends Rey and Dijoud, when they apologized for the simplicity of the reception. Rest assured: what most honors me in this circumstance, that of which I can rightly be proud, is the cordiality and the sincerity of the welcome, which is rarely found in showy receptions, for here the faces are not masked.

If one thing could diminish the happiness I have in being among you, it would be being able to stay here only for a short time. It would have been very agreeable to me to prolong my stay in one of the most numerous and most zealous centers of Spiritism; since, however, you wished to receive some instructions, you will permit me to make use of every instant, to depart somewhat from the platitudes so common on such occasions, and to let my address assume a certain gravity, the same gravity, moreover, as the motive that brings us together. Certainly, if we were at a wedding or christening dinner, it would be inopportune to speak of souls, of death and of the future life; but, I repeat, we are here to instruct ourselves, and not to eat; in any case, never to amuse ourselves.

Do not imagine, gentlemen, that this spontaneity that led you to gather here is a purely personal fact. Do not doubt that this gathering has a special and providential character; a will superior to it provoked it; invisible hands impelled you, in spite of yourselves, and perhaps one day it will be recorded in the annals of Spiritism. May our brothers of the future remember this memorable day, on which the Spiritists of Lyon, giving an example of union and concord, planted at these agapes the first landmark of the alliance that must reign among the Spiritists of all the countries of the world; for Spiritism, restoring to the Spirit its true role in Creation, establishing the superiority of intelligence over matter, naturally causes all the distinctions established among men to disappear; distinctions based upon corporeal and worldly advantages, upon which pride alone has founded castes and the stupid prejudices of color. Enlarging the circle of the family through the plurality of existences, Spiritism establishes among men a fraternity more rational than that which has for its basis only the fragile bonds of matter, inasmuch as those bonds are perishable, whereas those of the Spirit are eternal. Once well understood, these bonds will influence, by the very force of things, social relations and, later, social legislation, which will take as its basis the immutable laws of love and charity. One will then see disappear those anomalies that shock men of good sense, just as the laws of the Middle Ages shock the men of today. But this is the work of time. Let us leave to God the care of making each thing come in its own time; let us expect everything from His wisdom and thank Him only for having allowed us to witness the dawn that is rising for Humanity and for having chosen us as the pioneers of the great work that is being prepared. May He deign to spread His blessing over this assembly, the first in which the adepts of Spiritism are gathered in such great number, with the sentiment of true fraternity. I say of true fraternity because I have the intimate conviction that all of you, here present, bring no other. But do not doubt that numerous cohorts of Spirits are among us; that they hear us at this moment, watch all our actions and probe our thoughts, scrutinizing their strength or their moral weakness. The sentiments that animate them are very diverse; if some are happy in this union, believe that others suffer from terrible envy. On leaving here, they will try to sow discord and disunion; it is for you, good and sincere Spiritists, to prove to them that they waste their time and are mistaken, in thinking they will find here hearts accessible to their perfidious suggestions. Invoke, then, with fervor the assistance of your guardian angels, so that they may turn away from you every thought that is not for good. Now, since evil cannot have its source in good, simple good sense tells us that every evil thought cannot come from a good Spirit; and a thought is necessarily evil when it contradicts the law of love and of charity; when it has for its motive envy or jealousy, wounded pride, or even a puerile susceptibility of an outraged self-love, twin brother of pride, which would lead one to look upon one's brothers with disdain. Love and charity toward all, says Spiritism; You shall love your neighbor as yourself, said the Christ; are they not synonymous? My friends, I congratulated you on the progress that Spiritism has made among you, and I could not feel happier in observing it. Congratulate yourselves, for your part, because this progress is the same everywhere. Yes, this past year has seen Spiritism grow in all countries, in a proportion that has surpassed all expectations; it is in the air, in the aspirations of all, and everywhere it finds echoes, mouths that repeat: This is what I was waiting for, what a secret voice made me foresee. But progress manifests itself under yet another phase: it is the courage of opinion, which but a short while ago did not yet exist. One spoke of Spiritism only in secret, in a disguised manner; today one confesses oneself a Spiritist with as much pride as one confesses oneself Catholic, Jew, or Protestant. One braves mockery, and such boldness imposes itself upon the jesters, who behave like those little lapdogs of a lady: they run after those who flee, but turn coward when pursued. Mockery gives courage to the timid and in many localities reveals numerous Spiritists who were unknown to one another. Can such a movement come to a halt? Could they stop it? I say with all clarity: No! For this, they have resorted to every means: sarcasms, mockeries, science, anathemas; it has surmounted everything, without slowing its march by a single second. Blind, then, is he who would not see in this the finger of God. They will be able to hinder it; to stop it, never, for, if it does not escape on the right, it will flee on the left. Seeing the moral benefits it provides, the consolations it lavishes, and the very crimes it has already prevented, we are naturally led to ask: who could have an interest in combating it? In the first place it has against it the incredulous, who ridicule it: these are not to be feared, for they have seen their sharpened arrows break against the very breastplate; In the second place the ignorant, who combat it without knowing it: they constitute the majority; but, combated by ignorance, truth has never had anything to fear, since the ignorant refute themselves of their own accord and without wishing to, according to the testimony of Mr. Louis Figuier, in his History of the Marvelous. n The third category of adversaries is more dangerous, because tenacious and perfidious; it is composed of all those whose material interests may be thwarted; they combat in the shadows, and the poisoned darts of calumny do not fail them. These are the true enemies of Spiritism, as in all times they have been of all ideas of progress; they are found in every rank, in every class of society. Will they prevail? No, since it is not given to man to oppose himself to the march of Nature, and Spiritism is in the order of natural things. Sooner or later they will have to take its part and accept what is accepted by all. No! They will not conquer it: it is they who will be conquered. A new element comes to join the legion of Spiritists: that of the laboring classes. Note in this the wisdom of Providence. Spiritism first propagated itself in the enlightened classes, in the social summits. This was necessary: at first, to give it more credit; then, so that it might be elaborated and purged of the superstitious ideas that lack of instruction might have introduced into it, and with which it might have been confounded. Scarcely constituted, if one may so speak of a science so new, it touched the working classes and among them it propagates itself with rapidity. Ah! it is because in it there are so many consolations to give, so much moral courage to raise up, so many tears to wipe away, so much resignation to inspire that it was welcomed as an anchor of salvation, as a shield against the terrible temptations of necessity. Everywhere I have seen it penetrate into the houses of labor, I have perceived that it had produced its beneficent and moralizing effects. Rejoice, then, workers of Lyon who hear me, for you have in other cities, such as Sens, Lille, Bordeaux, Spiritist brothers who, like you, have abjured the blameworthy hopes of disorder and the criminal desires of vengeance. Continue, by example, to prove the beneficial results of this doctrine. To those who ask what it can serve for, answer: In my despair I wished to kill myself; Spiritism stopped me, because now I know what it costs to voluntarily shorten the trials that God has seen fit to send to men. To stupefy myself, I got drunk; I understood how contemptible I was in voluntarily depriving myself of reason, thus depriving myself of earning my own bread and that of my children. I had divorced myself from all religious sentiments: today I pray to God and place my hopes in His mercy. I believed only in nothingness, as the supreme remedy for my miseries; my father communicated with me and said to me: My son, courage! God sees you; one more effort and you will be saved! I knelt before God and asked Him for forgiveness. Seeing the rich and the poor, people who have everything and others who have nothing, I accused Providence; today I know that God weighs everything in the balance of justice and I await His judgment; if it be in His decrees that I must succumb in suffering, then I shall succumb, but with a pure conscience and without carrying the remorse of having robbed a mite from one who could have saved my life. Say to them: This is what Spiritism serves for, this madness, this chimera, as you call it. Yes, my friends, continue to preach by example; make them understand Spiritism with its salutary consequences, for when it is understood they will no longer be terrified of it; much more: it will be welcomed as a guarantee of the social order, and the incredulous themselves will be forced to speak of it with more respect. I have spoken of the progress of Spiritism. It is, in fact, that there is no example of a doctrine, of whatever kind, that has advanced with such rapidity, not excepting Christianity itself. Does this mean that it is superior to it, that it must supplant it? No; but this is the place to fix its true character, in order to destroy a prejudice all too widespread among those who do not know it.

At its origin, Christianity had to struggle against a dangerous power: paganism, then universally disseminated. Between them no alliance was possible, as there is none between light and darkness; in a word, it could not propagate itself except by destroying what existed. Thus, the struggle was long and terrible, of which the persecutions are the proof. Spiritism, on the contrary, comes to destroy nothing, because it sets its foundations upon Christianity itself; upon the Gospel, of which it is no more than the application. You conceive the advantage, not of its superiority, but of its position. It is not, then, as some claim, almost always because they do not know it, a new religion, a sect that forms at the expense of the older ones; it is a purely moral doctrine, which absolutely does not occupy itself with dogmas and leaves to each one entire liberty of his beliefs, for it imposes none. And the proof of this is that it has adherents among all, among the most fervent Catholics, as among Protestants, Jews, and Muslims. Spiritism rests upon the possibility of communication with the invisible world, that is, with souls. Now, since the Jews, the Protestants, and the Muslims have souls as we do, this means that they can communicate as much with them as with us, and that, consequently, they can be Spiritists as well as we. It is not a political sect, just as it is not a religious sect; it is the verification of a fact that belongs no more to one party than do electricity and the railroads; it is, I insist, a moral doctrine, and morality is in all religions, in all parties.

Is the morality it teaches good or bad? Is it subversive? This is the whole question. Let them study it and they will know on what it is based. Now, since it is the morality of the Gospel developed and applied, to condemn it would be to condemn the Gospel.

Has Spiritism done good or evil? Study it still, and you will see. What has it done? It has prevented innumerable suicides; it has restored peace and concord in a great number of families; it has rendered gentle and patient men who were violent and choleric; it has given resignation to those who had it not, and consolations to the afflicted; it has led back to God those who knew Him not, destroying in them the materialist ideas, that true social plague that annihilates the moral responsibility of man. This is what it has done and does every day, what it will do more and more, in proportion as it spreads. Could this be the result of a bad doctrine? I know of no one who has attacked the morality of Spiritism; they only say that religion can produce all this. I agree perfectly; but, then, why does it not always produce it? It is because not all understand it. Now, by making clear and intelligible to all that which is not, and evident that which is doubtful, Spiritism leads to application, whereas one never feels the need of that which one does not understand. Spiritism, therefore, far from being the antagonist of religion, is its auxiliary; and the proof is that it leads to religious ideas those who had repelled them. In sum, Spiritism has never advised the change of religion, nor the sacrifice of one's beliefs; it belongs particularly to no religion, or, better said, it is in all of them. If you please, gentlemen, a few words still, on a very practical question. The growing number of Spiritists in Lyon shows the usefulness of the counsel I gave you last year, concerning the formation of groups. To gather all the adepts into a single society, today, would already be a thing materially impossible, and will be even more so within some time. Besides the number, the distances to be traveled in view of the extent of the city, and the differences of habits, according to social positions, increase this impossibility. For these motives and for many others, which it would be long to develop here, a single society is an impracticable chimera. Multiply the groups as much as possible; let there be ten, let there be a hundred, if need be, and rest assured that you will arrive more quickly and with more safety.

There would be here very important things to say, on the question of the unity of principles and on the divergence that might exist among them as to certain points. But I restrain myself, so as not to abuse your patience in hearing me, a patience that I have already put to a very long test. If you wish, I will make of this the object of a special instruction, which I will send you shortly.

I conclude this address, gentlemen, into which I have let myself be drawn by the very rarity of the occasions on which I have the happiness of being in your midst. Rest assured that I shall carry away from your benevolent welcome a memory that will never be effaced.

Once again, my friends, thank you from the bottom of my heart for the demonstrations of sympathy with which you distinguish me; thank you for the kindly words you addressed to me through your interpreters, of which I accept only the duty that they impose upon me as to what remains for me to do, and not the praises. May this solemnity be the pledge of the union that must exist among all true Spiritists!

I raise a toast to the Spiritists of Lyon and to all those who distinguish themselves by their zeal, their devotion, their abnegation and whom you yourselves name, without my needing to do so.

To the Spiritists of Lyon, without distinction of opinion, whether present or not!

Gentlemen, the Spirits also wish to take part in this family feast and to say a few words. Erasto, whom you know through the notable dissertations published in the Review, dictated spontaneously, before my departure and on your behalf, the following epistle, which he charged me to read in his name. It is with pleasure that I discharge myself of this task. You will thus have the proof that the communicating Spirits are not the only ones to occupy themselves with you and with that which concerns you. This certainty can only reinforce your faith and your confidence, seeing that the vigilant gaze of the superior Spirits extends over all and that, surely, you too are the object of their solicitude.

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[Histoire du merveilleux dans les temps modernes — Google Books, par Louis Figuier.]