Spiritism and the evil Spirit

Of all the labors to which Humanity devotes itself, the preferable ones are those that most bring the creature closer to its Creator, that place it daily and at every moment in conditions to admire the divine work, which came forth and ceaselessly comes forth from His omnipotent hands. It is man’s duty to prostrate himself and continually adore Him who gave him the means to improve himself as a Spirit and thus to attain supreme happiness, which is the final goal toward which he must tend.

If there are professions which, almost exclusively intellectual, give man the means to raise his level of intelligence, a danger, a great danger lies beside that advantage. The history of all times proves in what this danger consists and how many evils it can engender. You are endowed with a superior intelligence: in this respect you are nearer to the Divinity than your brothers, and you come to deny the Divinity itself, or to make of it another one, entirely contrary to what it is in reality! It could never be repeated too much, nor could one ever tire of saying it: pride is the most obstinate enemy of the human race. Had you a thousand mouths, all of them should repeat the same thing ceaselessly. God created you all simple and ignorant; ⁿ endeavor to advance with as sure a step as possible. This depends on you: God never refuses grace to whoever asks it of Him in good faith. All states can equally lead you to the desired goal, if you conduct yourselves according to the path of justice and if you do not bend your conscience to the will of your caprices. However, there are states in which it is more difficult to progress than in others; thus, God will take into account those who, having accepted as a trial an ambiguous position, shall have traversed that perilous path without reacting or, at least, shall have made every humanly possible effort to raise themselves up again. It is there that a sincere faith becomes necessary, an uncommon strength to resist being dragged off the path of justice. But it is there, also, that one can do an immense good to one’s unfortunate brothers. Ah! how much merit has he who slips into the mire, without either his garments or himself being stained! It is needful that a very pure flame shine within him. But, also, what a recompense is reserved for him on leaving the earthly life! ⁿ Let those who find themselves in such a position meditate well on these words; let them become well imbued with the spirit that these words enclose, and a salutary revolution will work itself within them, which will replace the oppressions of egoism with the gentle expansions of the heart.

Who will transform these men, as the Gospel says, into new men?

What is needed to bring about this great miracle? It is needful that they wish to refer their thought to that for which they are destined after death. They are all convinced that tomorrow may not exist for them; but, frightened by the somber and desolating picture of eternal punishments, in which, by intuition, they refuse to believe, they abandon themselves to the torrent of the present life; they let themselves be dragged along by that feverish cupidity, which leads them to keep amassing always, by every means permitted or not; they ruin without pity a poor father of a family and lavish upon vice sums that would suffice for an entire city to live for several days. They turn their eyes away from the fatal moment. Ah! if they could look at it firmly and with cold blood, how quickly they would change their conduct! how we would see them hastening to return to the legitimate owner the piece of black bread, ⁿ which they had the cruelty to steal in order, at the price of an injustice, to increase a fortune made of accumulated injustices! What is needed for this? That the Spiritist light shine. It must be possible to say, as a general said of a great nation: Spiritism is like the Sun, it blinds whoever does not see it! The men who call themselves and believe themselves Christians, but who reject Spiritism, are indeed blind! What is the mission of the doctrine which the omnipotent hand of the Creator now sows in the world? It is to lead the unbelievers to faith, the despairing to hope, the egoists to charity. They call themselves Christians and cast anathema upon the doctrine of Jesus Christ! It is true that they claim it is the evil Spirit who, the better to disguise himself, comes to preach such a doctrine in this world. Unfortunate blind ones! poor sick ones! May God, in His inexhaustible goodness, deign to make your blindness cease and to put an end to the evils that obsess you! Who told you that it was the Spirit of evil? Who? You know nothing of this. Did you ask God to enlighten you in this regard? No; or if you did, you had a preconceived idea. The Spirit of evil! Do you know who told you it was the Spirit of evil? It was pride, it was the Spirit of evil himself who leads you to condemn – a revolting thing! – the Spirit of God, represented by the good Spirits whom He sends into the world to regenerate it!

At least examine the matter and, according to the established rules, condemn or absolve. Ah! if you would at least cast a glance upon the inevitable results that the triumph of Spiritism must produce! If you would see men finally regarding themselves as brothers, all convinced that, from one moment to the next, God will ask them to account for the manner in which they discharged the mission that had been entrusted to them! If you would see everywhere charity taking the place of egoism and labor taking the place of idleness! For, as you well know, man was born for labor: God made of it an obligation, from which he cannot withdraw himself without transgressing the divine laws. If you would see on one side those unfortunates who say: Damned in this world, damned in the other, let us be criminals and enjoy ourselves; and on the other, those hardened men, those monopolizers of everyone’s fortune, who say: The soul is a word; God does not exist; if nothing remains of us after death, let us enjoy life; the world is composed of exploiters and the exploited; I prefer to be among the first rather than be with the second; after me, the flood! If you would cast a glance upon those two men who personify pillage, the well-bred pillage and that which leads to the galleys; if you would see them transformed by the belief in immortality, which Spiritism gives them, would you dare to say that it is by the Spirit of evil? I see the disdain on your lips and I hear you say: It is we who preach immortality, and we have credit for it. They will always have more confidence in us than in those vain dreamers who, if they are not swindlers, dreamed that the dead came out of the tomb to communicate with them. To this always the same answer: Examine and, if convinced in good faith, which will not be lacking if you are sincere, instead of cursing, you will bless that which ought to be much more within your attributions, according to the law of God.

The law of God! in your opinion you are its sole depositaries, and you are surprised that others take an initiative which, as you think, belongs to you exclusively. Well then! listen to what the Spirits sent by God are charged to tell you:

“You who take your ministry seriously, you shall be blessed, for you shall have accomplished all the works, not only prescribed, but counseled by the divine Master. And you who regarded the priesthood as a means to rise materially shall not be cursed, although you have cursed others; God, however, reserves for you a more just punishment.

“A day will come when you will be obliged to explain yourselves publicly about the Spiritist phenomena, and that day is not far off. Then you will find yourselves under the necessity of judging, because you constituted yourselves into a tribunal. To judge whom? God Himself, for nothing happens without His permission.

“You see where the Spirit of evil, that is, pride, has led you! Instead of bowing down and praying, you obstinate yourselves against the will of the only one who has the right to say: I will. And you say that it is the demon who says it.

“And now, if you persist in believing only in the manifestations of evil Spirits, recall the words of the Master, accused of casting out demons in the name of Beelzebub: Every kingdom divided against itself shall perish.” ⁿ Hippolyte Fortoul. ⁿ [1] This proposition, regarding the primitive state of souls, formulated for the first time in The Spirits’ Book, is today repeated everywhere in the communications; it thus finds its consecration simultaneously in this concordance and in logic, for no other principle would better answer to the justice of God. Giving to all men one same point of departure, it gave to all the same task to perform in order to attain the end. No one is privileged by Nature; since, however, one has free will, some advance more quickly and others more slowly. Such a principle of justice is irreconcilable with the doctrine that admits the creation of the soul at the same time as the body, admitting in itself the plurality of existences, because, if the soul is anterior to the body, it is that it has already lived. [2] People are astonished that Spirits can choose an incarnation in one of those environments where they find themselves in incessant contact with corruption. Among those who are found in those lowliest positions of society, some chose them out of liking and to give satisfaction to their ignoble inclinations; others, by mission and duty, in order to try to draw their brothers out of the mire and to have more merit in struggling against the pernicious draggings. Their recompense will be proportional to the difficulties overcome. Such is, among us, the workman who is paid in proportion to the danger to which he exposes himself in the exercise of his profession. [3] [A type of dark-colored bread, much appreciated by Europeans.]

[4] Tr. note: Matthew, 12:25.

[5] [v.

Hippolyte Fortoul.]