Authority of the Spiritist Doctrine.

— We have already addressed this question in our last issue, with respect to a special article (on the perfection of created beings); but it is of such gravity and has such important consequences for the future of Spiritism, that we deem it our duty to treat it in a more complete manner.

If the Spiritist Doctrine were of purely human conception, it would offer as a guarantee only the lights of the one who had conceived it. Now, no one, in this world, could reasonably entertain the pretension of possessing, exclusively, absolute truth. If the Spirits who revealed it had manifested themselves to a single man, nothing would guarantee its origin to him, for it would be necessary to believe, on his word, the one who said he had received the teaching from them. Granting, on his part, perfect sincerity, at most he could convince the persons of his acquaintance; he would gain sectaries, but he would never come to congregate the whole world.

God willed that the new revelation should reach men by a more rapid and more authentic path. He charged the Spirits, therefore, to carry it from one pole to the other, manifesting themselves everywhere, without conferring on anyone the privilege of hearing their word. A man may be deceived, he may deceive himself; it will no longer be so, when millions of creatures see and hear the same thing. This constitutes a guarantee for each one and for all. Moreover, a man may be made to disappear; but collectivities cannot be made to disappear; books may be burned, but the Spirits cannot be burned. Now, were all the books to be burned, the source of the doctrine would not cease to remain inexhaustible, for the very reason that it is not on Earth, that it arises in all places, and that all may quench their thirst at it. Should men be lacking to spread it, there will always be the Spirits, whose action reaches all and whom no one can reach. It is, therefore, the Spirits themselves who carry out the propagation, with the aid of the innumerable mediums whom they, the Spirits, are also raising up on all sides. If there had been only a single interpreter, however favored he might be, Spiritism would scarcely be known. Whatever the class to which he belonged, such an interpreter would have been the object of the prejudices of many people and not all nations would have accepted him, whereas the Spirits communicate at every point of the Earth, to all peoples, to all sects, to all parties, and all accept them. Spiritism has no nationality and is not part of any existing religion; no social class imposes it, since any person can receive instructions from his relatives and friends from beyond the tomb. It must be so, in order that it may lead all men to fraternity. If it did not maintain itself on neutral ground, it would feed dissensions, instead of appeasing them. In that universality of the teaching of the Spirits resides the strength of Spiritism and, also, the cause of its so rapid propagation. While the word of a single man, even with the concourse of the press, would take centuries to come to the knowledge of all, thousands of voices make themselves heard simultaneously in all corners of the planet, proclaiming the same principles and transmitting them to the most ignorant, as to the most learned, so that there be none disinherited. It is an advantage that none of the doctrines that have arisen until today has yet enjoyed. If Spiritism, therefore, is a truth, it fears neither the ill will of men, nor moral revolutions, nor the physical subversions of the globe, because none of that can reach the Spirits. That, however, is not the only advantage that accrues to it from its exceptional position. It affords it an unassailable guarantee against all the schisms that might arise, whether from the ambition of some, or from the contradictions of certain Spirits. Such conditions, it cannot be denied, are a reef, but one that brings with it the remedy, alongside the evil.

— It is known that the Spirits, by virtue of the difference between their capacities, are far from being, considered individually, in possession of all truth; that it is not given to all to penetrate certain mysteries; that the knowledge of each of them is proportional to his purification; that ordinary Spirits know no more than many men and even less than certain men; that among them, as among the latter, there are presumptuous ones and pseudo-wise ones, who think they know what they do not know; systematic ones, who take their ideas for truths; finally, that only the Spirits of the most elevated category, those who are already completely dematerialized, are found stripped of earthly ideas and prejudices; but it is also known that deceiving Spirits have no scruple in taking names that do not belong to them, in order to foist their utopias. From this it results that, with respect to all that is outside the scope of the exclusively moral teaching, the revelations that each one may receive will have an individual character, without the stamp of authenticity; that they must be considered personal opinions of this or that Spirit and that it would be imprudent to accept them and propagate them lightly as absolute truths. The first control is, without contradiction, that of reason, to which all that comes from the Spirits must submit, without exception. Every theory in manifest contradiction with good sense, with rigorous logic, and with the positive data already acquired, must be rejected, however respectable the name it bears as a signature may be. Incomplete, however, will that examination remain in many cases, by the effect of the lack of lights of certain persons and of the tendencies of not a few to take their own opinions as the sole judges of truth. This being so, what are those to do who do not place absolute confidence in themselves? Seek the opinion of the majority and take the opinion of the latter as a guide. In such a way must one proceed in the face of what the Spirits say, who are the first to furnish us the means of achieving it. The agreement in what the Spirits teach is, therefore, the best verification. It matters, nonetheless, that it occur under determined conditions. The weakest of all occurs when a medium, alone, questions many Spirits about a doubtful point. It is evident that, if he is under the dominion of an obsession, or dealing with a mystifying Spirit, the latter can tell him the same thing under different names. Nor will there be any sufficient guarantee in the conformity presented by what may be obtained through diverse mediums, in a same center, because they may all be under the same influence.

A single serious guarantee exists for the teaching of the Spirits: the agreement that exists among the revelations that they utter spontaneously, making use of a great number of mediums who are strangers to one another and in various places.

It is well seen that we are not dealing here with the communications concerning secondary interests, but with what concerns the very principles of the doctrine. Experience proves that, when a new principle has to be announced, this occurs spontaneously at diverse points at the same time and in an identical manner, if not as to the form, as to the substance.

If, therefore, it pleases a Spirit to formulate an eccentric system, based solely on his ideas and to the exclusion of truth, one may be certain that such a system will remain circumscribed and will fall, in the face of the instructions given from all parts, in accordance with the multiple examples already known. It was that unanimity that overthrew all the partial systems that arose at the origin of Spiritism, when each one explained the phenomena in his own manner, and before the laws were known that govern the relations between the visible world and the invisible world.

That is the basis on which we rely, when we formulate a principle of the doctrine. It is not because it accords with our ideas that we hold it to be true. We do not set ourselves up, by any means, as supreme arbiter of truth and we say to no one: “Believe in such a thing, because it is we who tell it to you.” Our opinion is no more, in our own eyes, than a personal opinion, which may be true or false, since we do not consider ourselves more infallible than anyone else. Nor is it because a principle has been taught to us that, for us, it expresses truth, but because it has received the sanction of agreement.

— That universal control constitutes a guarantee for the future unity of Spiritism and will annul all contradictory theories. There it is that, in the time to come, the criterion of truth will be found. What gave rise to the success of the doctrine set forth in The Spirits' Book and in The Mediums' Book was that everywhere all received directly from the Spirits the confirmation of what those books contain. If from all sides the Spirits had come to contradict it, those works would long since have undergone the fate of all fantastic conceptions. Not even the support of the press would have saved them from shipwreck, whereas, deprived as they found themselves of that support, they did not fail to open a path and to advance swiftly. It is that they had that of the Spirits, whose good will not only compensated for, but also surpassed the ill will of men. Thus it will happen to all the ideas that, emanating whether from the Spirits, or from men, cannot withstand the test of that confrontation, whose force it is licit for no one to contest. Let us suppose it pleases some Spirits to dictate, under any title, a book in a contrary sense; let us suppose even that, with hostile intent, aiming to discredit the doctrine, malevolence were to raise up apocryphal communications; what influence could such writings exercise, once the Spirits contradicted them from all sides? It is with the adhesion of the latter that the one who wishes to launch, in his name, any system whatsoever must guarantee himself. From the system of one to that of all, there lies the distance that goes from unity to infinity. What will the arguments of the detractors be able to achieve, upon the opinion of the masses, when millions of friendly voices, coming from Space, make themselves heard in all corners of the Universe and in the bosom of families, to invalidate them? In this respect the theory has already been confirmed by experience. What has become of the innumerable publications that brought the pretension of demolishing Spiritism? Which of them even retarded its march? Until now, the question is not considered from this point of view, without contestation one of the most grave. Each one counted on himself, without counting on the Spirits. From all of this stands out a capital truth: that the one who would wish to oppose the established and sanctioned current of ideas could, it is true, cause a small local and momentary disturbance; never, however, dominate the whole, even in the present, nor, still less, in the future.

It also stands out that the instructions given by the Spirits on the points of the Doctrine not yet elucidated will not constitute law, so long as those instructions remain isolated; that they must not, consequently, be accepted except with all reservations and by way of clarification.

Hence the necessity of the greatest prudence in giving them publicity; and, in case it is judged convenient to publish them, it matters that they be presented only as individual opinions, more or less probable, but always lacking confirmation. It is that confirmation that one must await, before presenting a principle as absolute truth, unless one wishes to be accused of frivolity or of unreflecting credulity.

— With extreme wisdom do the superior Spirits proceed in their revelations. They do not broach the great questions of the Doctrine except gradually, as the intelligence shows itself apt to comprehend truth of a more elevated order and when the circumstances reveal themselves propitious to the emission of a new idea. That is why at the very beginning they did not say everything, and everything they have not said even today, never yielding to the impatience of the most reckless, who want the fruits before they are ripe. It would be, therefore, superfluous to pretend to get ahead of the time that Providence has assigned to each thing, because, then, the truly serious Spirits would deny their concourse. The frivolous Spirits, caring little for the truth, answer everything; hence it comes that, on all premature questions, there are always contradictory answers. The above principles do not result from a personal theory: they are a necessary consequence of the conditions under which the Spirits manifest themselves. It is evident that, if a Spirit says one thing on one side, while millions of others say the contrary elsewhere, the presumption of truth cannot be with the one who is the only one or almost the only one of such an opinion. Now, for someone to claim to be right against all would be as illogical on the part of the Spirits, as on the part of men. The truly judicious Spirits, if they do not feel themselves sufficiently enlightened on a question, never resolve it in an absolute manner; they declare that they only treat it from their point of view and counsel that one await confirmation.

— However great, beautiful, and just an idea may be, it is impossible that from the first moment it should congregate all opinions. The conflicts that result from this are an inevitable consequence of the movement that operates; they are even necessary for greater enhancement of the truth and it is fitting that they be produced from the very start, so that the false ideas may promptly be set aside. The Spiritists who in this respect entertained any fear may remain perfectly tranquil: all the isolated pretensions will fall, by the very force of things, before the enormous and powerful criterion of universal agreement.

It will not be to the opinion of one man that the others will ally themselves, but to the unanimous voice of the Spirits; it will not be a man, neither we, nor any other who will found Spiritist orthodoxy; nor will it be a Spirit who comes to impose himself upon whomsoever it may be: it will be the universality of the Spirits who communicate over all the Earth, by order of God. That is the essential character of the Spiritist Doctrine; that is its strength, its authority. God willed that His law should rest upon an immovable base and for that reason He did not give it for foundation the fragile head of a single one.

Before so powerful an areopagus, where no cliques are known, nor jealous rivalries, nor sects, nor nations, it is that all oppositions, all ambitions, all pretensions to individual supremacy will come to break themselves; it is that we ourselves would break, if we wished to substitute its sovereign decrees with our own ideas. He alone will decide all litigious questions, will impose silence on the dissidences and will give the reason to whoever has it. Before that imposing accord of all the voices of Heaven, what can the opinion of a man or of a Spirit do? less than the drop of water that is lost in the ocean, less than the voice of the child that the tempest stifles.

Universal opinion, behold the supreme judge, the one who pronounces in the last instance. All the individual opinions form it. If one of these is true, it has on the scale only its relative weight. If it is false, it cannot prevail over all the rest. In that immense concourse, the individualities are effaced, which constitutes a new failure for human pride.

The harmonious whole is already taking shape. This century will not pass without it shining in all its brilliance, in such a way as to dissipate all the uncertainties, for from now until then potent voices will have received the mission of making themselves heard, to congregate men under the same banner, once the field is sufficiently tilled. While this does not occur, the one who floats between two opposing systems may observe in what sense the general opinion is forming; that will be the certain indication of the sense in which the majority of the Spirits pronounce themselves, in the diverse points where they communicate, and a no less certain sign of which of the two systems will prevail. [1] Translator's Note: See The Gospel According to Spiritism, introduction, item II.