Controversy.

O God! my Lord, my Father and my Creator, deign to give yet to your servant a little of that human eloquence which carried conviction to the hearts of the Brothers who came, around the sacred pulpit, to instruct themselves in the truths that you had taught them.

In sending his Spirits to teach you your true duties toward him and toward your brothers, God wishes, above all, that charity be the motive of all your actions and of your brothers', who wish to make those days of mourning be reborn and are on the path of pride. That time is far from you and may God be eternally blessed, for having permitted men to cease forever those religious disputes, which never produced the least good and caused so much harm. Why wish to discuss the evangelical texts, which you have already commented on in so many ways? Those various commentaries were made when you did not possess Spiritism to enlighten you, and it is Spiritism that tells you: The evangelical morality is the best; follow it. But if, in the depth of your conscience, a voice cries out to you: For me there is such or such an obscure point and I cannot allow myself to think differently from my other brothers! Eloim! my brother, set aside what disturbs you; love God and charity, and you will be on the good path. Of what use was the fruit of my long vigils, when I lived in your world? of none. Many did not cast their eyes upon my writings, which were not dictated by charity and which drew persecutions upon my brothers. Controversy is always animated by a sentiment of intolerance, which can degenerate even into offense, and the obstinacy with which each one upholds his pretensions makes more distant the epoch in which the great human family, recognizing the past errors, will respect all beliefs and will not sharpen the dagger that had cut those fraternal bonds. And to give you an example of what I tell you, open the Gospel and there you will find these words: “I am the truth and the life; he who believes in me, shall live.” And many of you condemn those who do not follow the religion that possesses the teachings of the Incarnate Word. Nevertheless, many are seated at the right hand of the Lord, because, in the rectitude of their hearts, they adored and loved him; because they respected the beliefs of their brothers and cried out to the Lord when they saw peoples tearing one another apart in the struggles of religion and because they were not able to find the true sense of the words of Christ, being no more than blind instruments of their priests or of their ministers. My God, I who lived in those times, in which the tempestuous hearts turned against the brothers of an opposing belief, if I had been more tolerant; if I had not condemned, in my writings, their manner of interpreting the Gospel, they would today be less irritated against their Catholic brothers, and all would have taken a greater step toward universal fraternity. But the Protestants, the Jews, all the more or less important religions, have their learned men and their doctors; and, when, more widespread, Spiritism is studied in good faith by instructed men, these will come, as the Catholics did, to bring light to their brothers and to calm their religious scruples. Let God, then, pursue his work of moral reform, a work that must elevate you toward Him, all in the same degree, and do not be refractory to the teachings of the Spirits whom He sends you.

Bossuet. n [1]

[v. Jacques-Bénigne Bossuet.]