Persecution.

Very well, my children! Bravo! I feel happy to see you gathered, struggling with zeal and persistence. Courage! work arduously in the field of the Lord, for the moment will come when it will not be only behind closed doors that the holy doctrine of Spiritism will be preached.

They scourged the flesh; they will have to scourge the Spirit. Now, in truth I say to you: when this happens, you will be about to intone, together, the canticle of thanksgiving, and we shall all be ready to hear one and the same cry of joy over the Earth. But — I say it to you — before the golden age and the reign of the Spirit, there must be great suffering, weeping, and gnashing of teeth.

The persecutions have already begun. Spiritists! be firm and remain standing: you are marked by the unction of the Lord. You will be called fools, madmen, and visionaries. They will no longer boil oil, nor raise scaffolds and bonfires; the fire of which they will make use to make you renounce your beliefs will be more burning and even more keen. Spiritists! Strip off the old man, for it is this one that they will make suffer. May your new tunics be white; gird your brows with crowns and prepare to enter the lists. You will be cursed; let your brothers say raca to you; pray for them and turn away from their heads the punishment that the Christ said was reserved for those who say raca to their brothers. Prepare yourselves for the persecutions through study, through prayer, through charity. The servants will be expelled from the houses of their masters and treated as madmen. But they will find the Samaritan at the door of the house and, though poor and naked, they will still share among themselves their garments and the last morsel of bread. Before such a spectacle, the masters will ask: But who are these men whom we have expelled from our houses? They have nothing but a piece of bread for this night, and they give it!; they possess but a single cloak to cover themselves, and they share it with a stranger! Then their doors will open again, for it is you who are the servants of the Master. But this time they will welcome you and embrace you; they will insistently beg you to bless them and to teach them to love. They will no longer call you servants or slaves, but they will say to you: My brother, come sit at my table. There is one and the same family on Earth, as there is one and the same father in Heaven. Go, go, my brothers! Preach and, above all, be united: heaven is prepared for you.

Saint Augustine.

(Medium: Mr. E. Vézy.)

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[v. Saint Augustine.]