Spiritist Society of Constantine.

Note. – We spoke of the Society that was formed in Constantine, under the title of African Society of Spiritist Studies, under the auspices of the Society of Paris. We transcribe below the communication it obtained at its installation:

“Although the works done by your society to this day are not immune to criticism, we do not wish to dwell on these considerations. We take more account of the intention than of the facts.

“Above all, understand the greatness of the task you have undertaken and do your utmost to bring it to a good end. Only thus can you hope to be assisted by the higher Spirits.

“Let us now enter into the matter and see whether you have not committed some faults. To begin with, you are in great error in using all your mediums for the particular communications. What is the general evocation but the appeal to the good Spirits to communicate with you? Well then! what do you do? Instead of waiting, after the general evocation, and giving the good Spirits time to communicate through this or that medium, according to the sympathies that may exist, you pass immediately to the particular evocations. Know that this is not a good means of obtaining spontaneous communications, as these are received in the other societies. Therefore, wait a moment and gather the general communications, which will always teach you some truths. Then you may pass to the particular evocations; but, in that case, for each one, use only a single medium. Do you not know, then, that only Spirits who are truly higher are in a condition to manifest themselves through several mediums at the same time? See to it that only one medium serves each particular evocation and, if you have doubts as to the truthfulness of the answers obtained, proceed to a new evocation, on another day, employing another medium. “You are only at the beginning of the Spiritist science, and you cannot yet gather all the fruits it grants to its experienced adepts. But do not be discouraged, for your efforts to improve yourselves and to propagate the immutable truth of God will be taken into account. Forward, then, my friends; and may the ridicule you will encounter more than once on your path not make you stray from the line of your Spiritist beliefs.”

Jacques.

— The Spiritists of Constantine having asked us to request that Saint Augustine deign to accept the spiritual patronage of their society, the latter gave us the following communication in this regard:

(Society of Paris, June 27, 1862. – Medium: Mr. E. Vézy.)

Addressing himself first to the members of the Society of Paris, he says:

“Our children of New France did well in joining themselves to you. They did well not to separate from the trunk. Remain always united and the good Spirits will be with you.” Then he addresses himself to the Spiritists of Constantine:

“Friends, I feel happy that you have chosen me for your spiritual guide. Bound to the Earth by the great mission that must regenerate it, I am pleased to be able to encourage more especially a group of thinkers who occupy themselves with the great idea and to preside over their works. Place, then, my name at the head of yours, and the Spirits of my order will come to drive away the evil Spirits who always prowl at the door of the assemblies where the laws of morality and progress are discussed. May fraternity and concord always reign among you. Remember that all men are brothers and that the great aim of Spiritism is to unite them one day in the same home and to make them sit at the table of the common Father: God. “How beautiful is this mission! Thus, with what joy we came to you to make you understand the divine decrees; to reveal to you the marvels of the beyond! But you, who are already initiated into these sublime truths, scatter the seed around you: beautiful will be your reward and you will enjoy its first fruits on Earth. What joy! March always on the path of teaching, of love, and of charity!

“Pronounce my name with confidence in the hours of fear and doubt and soon your hearts will be relieved of the bitterness and the gall they may contain. Do not forget that I shall be at every point of the Earth where you hear the evangelical apostolate spoken of. I will lodge you all within my soul, to deposit you one day in a vaster and stronger soul. I shall always be with you, as I am here; my voice will have the gentleness you recognize, because I do not like blaring intonations nor shrill sounds. You will hear me repeat incessantly: Love one another, love one another! Spare me from arming myself with the scourge with which the wicked must be chastised; at times this is necessary, but never seek to include yourselves in that number! A time will come when Humanity will march docile to the voice of the good shepherd. It is you, children, who must help us in this regeneration and who must hear the first hour strike; for behold the flock that gathers and the shepherd who arrives. Observation. – The Spirit alludes to a revelation of great importance, made for the first time in a Spiritist group of a small town of Africa, on the confines of the desert, by a completely illiterate medium. This revelation, which was transmitted to us at once, arrived almost simultaneously from various points of France and abroad.

Since then numerous very characteristic and more detailed documents have come to give it a sort of consecration. At the opportune time we shall treat of this subject. [see The messiahs of Spiritism.]

“Work, then, and have courage. In your assemblies discuss coldly, without exaltation; ask our opinion, our counsels, in order not to fall into error, into heresy. Above all, do not formulate articles of faith, nor dogmas. Remember that the religion of God is the religion of the heart; that it has no other basis than a single principle: charity; for its development, love of Humanity.

“Never cut the branch from the trunk. The tree is much greener with all its branches, and these die when separated from the stem that gave them birth. Remember that the Christ judged it necessary that his Church be set upon the rock itself, in order to be solid, just as he ordains that Spiritism have but a single root, so as to penetrate with more force into the whole surface of the soil, however arid and parched it may be.

“An incarnate Spirit has been chosen to direct you, to lead you. Submit yourselves with respect, not to his laws, for he does not command, but to his wishes. By this submission you will prove to your enemies that you have within you the necessary spirit of discipline to form part of the new crusade against error and superstition, the necessary spirit of love and obedience to march against barbarism. Wrap yourselves, then, in the banner of modern civilization: Spiritism under a single leader, and you will overthrow those frightful ideas of horned brows and great tails, which must be destroyed. “I will not say the name of this leader; you know it. He is at the front; he marches without fear of the venomous bites of the serpents and reptiles of envy and jealousy that surround him; he will remain standing, for we have anointed his body, that it may always be solid and robust. Follow him, then. But, in your march, the tempests will burst over your heads and some of you will not find refuge to shelter from the storm! Let these resign themselves with courage, like the Christian martyrs, and think that the great work for which they have suffered is life, is the awakening of the slumbering nations, and that for this they will one day be largely rewarded in the kingdom of the Father.” Saint Augustine. n

— We extract the following passage from a letter recently sent to us by the president of the Society of Constantine:

“We are causing concern among the European inhabitants and even the natives. Several groups have formed around us and everywhere they occupy themselves with Spiritism. The creation of our Society will have had as its result the drawing of attention to this new science. Nevertheless, we do not fail to experience some embarrassment, but we are sustained by the Spirits, who exhort us to patience and say that these are trials from which the Society will emerge victorious and, in a certain way, more strengthened. We also have external opposition: on one side the clergy, and on the other, the people of the mosques, affirming, with shouts, that we are under the inspiration of Satan and that our communications proceed from hell. We have still against us the bohemians, those who live by sensualism, without concerning themselves with their soul; materialists or skeptics who repel everything that refers to that other life, whose existence they will not admit. They close their eyes and their ears, call us charlatans and seek to asphyxiate us by mockery and ridicule. But we progress amid all the thorns; we do not lack mediums and daily others appear, very interesting ones. We have communications of various natures and unforeseen incidents to convince the most rebellious, for example, an answer in Italian by a person who does not know that language; answers to questions about the formation of the globe, by a lady medium who never studied geology; another group received poetic communications full of charm, etc.” Observation. – As one sees, the devil is also accused by the Muslim priests. It is to be noted that the priests of all religions give him so much power that in truth one does not know what part they reserve for God, nor how one is to understand his omnipotence. If this is absolute, the devil cannot act without his will; if it is only partial, God is not God. Fortunately people have more faith in his infinite goodness than in his infinite vengeance, and the devil has become much discredited since he was made to play the comedy in all the theaters, from farce to opera. Thus, his name produces scarcely more effect on the population than the horrible images the Chinese placed on the walls to serve as scarecrows to the European barbarians. The incessant progress of Spiritism proves that this means is ineffective. It would be well to seek another. [1]

[see Saint Augustine.]