The true

A poet said: “Nothing is more beautiful than the true; only the true is agreeable.”

I recognized in this verse one of the most beautiful inspirations ever given to man. The true is the straight line; and the light, whose splendor need not be veiled by the just men, whose spirit is marvelously predisposed to understand its immense benefits. Why, in our present society, does the light cost so much to be perceived by the majority of men? Why is the teaching of truth surrounded by so many obstacles? It is that until now Humanity has not made progress sufficiently marked, since the origin of Christianity. Since the Christ, his teachings had to be veiled under the form of allegory and of parable, and those who tried to propagate the truth were no more heard than their divine Master; it is that Humanity was to progress with wise slowness, so that its march might be more secure; it is that it needed a long novitiate, in order to become apt to conduct itself by itself. But take comfort! The sun of regeneration, long since in its dawn, will not be slow to spread over you its dazzling clarity; the true light will appear to you and its beneficent influence will extend to all classes of society.

How many, then, will be surprised at not having received sooner this truth, which dates from the most remote antiquity, and which a sentiment of pride always made them walk alongside without seeing it!

At least this time you will not have to suffer any of those horrible cataclysms, which seem so many landmarks destined to mark, across the centuries, the mark of the true light. Better instructed, men will understand that the disturbances that leave behind them a wake of fire and blood would not fit today within our customs, softened by the practice of charity. They will understand, at last, the scope of these sublime words, once uttered by the Christ: “Peace to men of good will!”

There will be no other war than that which is waged against the bad passions. All will unite their forces to expel the Spirit of evil, whose disastrous reign has only, for a long time, held back the progress of civilization. All will dwell on the thought that the true light is the only legitimate conquest, the only one they should aspire to, the only one that can lead them to happiness.

To work, then, all of you who hold the banner of progress! Do not fear to grasp it high and firm, so that from all the corners of the globe men may hasten and settle under its aegis. Ask our celestial Father for the strength and the energy that are indispensable to you for this great work; and, if here you cannot enjoy the happiness of seeing it realized, may you, at least, in dying, carry the conviction that your existence was useful to all, and that the sweetest reward awaits you among us: the joy of having fulfilled your mission for the greater glory of God.

Familiar Spirit.

Allan Kardec.

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