The true spirit of the traditions

Open the Holy Scriptures and on every page you will find predictions or allegories that are incomprehensible to anyone who is not abreast of the new revelations, and which, for the majority, have been interpreted by their commentators according to the opinion they professed and, very often, according to their own interest. But taking as your guide the science that you have begun to acquire, you will easily be able to discover the hidden meaning they contain. The ancient prophets were all inspired by elevated Spirits, but who gave them, in their revelations, only teachings that could be understood solely by select intelligences, and whose meaning was not in too obvious opposition to the state of the knowledge and the prejudices of that time. It was necessary that it be possible to interpret them in a manner suited to the intelligence of the masses, so that these would not reject them, as they would not have failed to do had those predictions been in head-on opposition to the general ideas. Today our care must be to enlighten you completely and, at the same time, to make you understand the parallels existing between our revelations and those of the ancients. We have another task to perform: that of combating falsehood, hypocrisy and error, a task that is very difficult and very arduous, but whose end we shall attain, for such is the will of God. Have faith and courage; God never encounters an irresistible obstacle to his will. Unforeseen means will be employed by his orders to overcome the genius of evil, now personified by those who ought to march at the head of progress and propagate the truth, instead of hindering it through pride or interest. It is necessary, then, to announce everywhere, with confidence and assurance, the approaching end of slavery, of injustice and of falsehood. I say the approaching end because the events, although they must be accomplished with the wise slowness that Providence imparts to its reforms, with a view to avoiding the misfortunes inseparable from a great precipitation, will take their course within a span of time closer than is expected by those who are terrified by the obstacles they foresee, and also within a time shorter than that awaited by those who, out of fear or selfishness, are interested in the indefinite maintenance of this state of things. Be, therefore, ardent in propaganda, but prudent before your hearers, not terrifying timorous and ignorant consciences. Only the selfish require not the least circumspection, nor should they inspire in you any fear. You have the help of God; their resistance, then, will be powerless against you; it is necessary to show them without equivocation the terrible future that awaits them, on their own account and on account of those who let themselves be perverted by their example, for each one is responsible for the evil he does and for that of which he is the cause. Saint Augustine. n Allan Kardec.

Paris. — Typ. de Cosson et Ce rue du Four-St-Germain, 43.

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Saint Augustine.]