The spies

— When, as a consequence of a terrible humanitarian convulsion, society as a whole was moving slowly along, oppressed, crushed, and ignorant of the cause of its oppression, certain privileged beings, certain old veterans of good, placing at the disposal of all their experience of the difficulty of reproducing it, and adding to this the respect that their conduct and their position were bound to provoke, resolved to seek to probe the causes of this general crisis, which strikes each one in particular.

The new era begins and, with it, Spiritism (this word has been created; it only remains to make it understood, and for each one to learn its meaning). Impassive time marches ever on, and Spiritism, which is no longer a mere word, no longer has to make itself understood: it is understood!… But certain Spiritist veterans, those creatures, those missionaries are ever at the head of the movement… Their little battalion is very weak in numbers; but patience!… little by little it gains adherents, and soon it will be an army: the army of the veterans of good! For, in general, in its beginning and in its first years, Spiritism touched almost only the hearts already consumed by the conflicts of life, the hearts that had suffered and paid, those that bore in germ the principles of the beautiful, of good, of the good, of the great. Descending successively from old age to mature age, from mature age to manhood, and from manhood to adolescence, Spiritism infiltrated all ages, as it did all hearts, all religions, all sects, everywhere! The assimilation was slow, but sure!… And today do not fear that this Spiritist banner will fall, sustained from the outset by a firm and sure hand; for today, the young phalanxes of the Spiritist battalions do not vociferate, as their adversaries do: “Make way for the young.” No, they do not say: “Step aside, old ones, to let the young rise.” They ask only for a place at the banquet of the intelligence, only for the right to sit beside their predecessors, bringing their mite to the great whole. Today, youth is becoming virile; it brings its contribution to mature age, in exchange for the experience of the latter, by reason of the great law of reciprocity and of the consequences of collective work for Science, morality, and good; for, in the final analysis, if Science progresses, for whose benefit does it progress? Is it not human bodies that profit from all the elucidations, all the problems resolved, all the inventions achieved? and this profits all, just as if you progress in morality, this profits all the Spirits. Today, therefore, young and old are equal before progress and must fight side by side for its realization.

— The battalion has become an army, an invulnerable army, but one that must fight not one, but thousands of adversaries leagued against it. Thus, young ones, bring with confidence the enthusiasm of your convictions, and you, old ones, your wisdom, your knowledge of men and of things, your experience without illusions.

The army is at the battlefront. Your enemies are numerous, but they are not before you, face to face, breast to breast; they are everywhere, at your side, in front, behind, in your midst, in the very bosom of your heart, and, to combat them, you have only your good will, your loyal consciences, and your tendencies toward good. Of these leagued armies, one has a name: pride; the others: ignorance, fanaticism, superstition, sloth, vices of every kind.

And your army, which must fight head-on, must also know how to fight individually, for you will not be one against one, but one against ten!… A fine victory to win!… Well then!… if you would all fight in mass, with the hope of triumphing, first fight against yourselves, master your bad tendencies. Hypocrites, conquer sincerity; sluggards, become workers; proud ones, be humble, extend your hand to loyalty clad in a tattered smock, and all of you, in solidarity, take up and uphold the commitment to do to others what you would like to be done to you. Thus, let us not cry: Make way for the young, but make way for all that is beautiful, good, for all that tends to draw near to the Divinity.

— Today, people are beginning to take into consideration this poor Spiritism, which they said was stillborn; in it they see a serious enemy. And why?… They did not fear it in its beginning: the child was frail; they laughed at its impotent efforts. But today, now that the child has become a man, they fear it, because it has the strength of manhood. It is that it has gathered around itself men of all ages, of all social positions, of all degrees of intelligence, who understand that wisdom, acquired science, can reside just as well in the heart of a young man of twenty as in the brain of a man of sixty. Today, therefore, this poor Spiritism is feared; they do not dare to come head-on, to measure themselves against it; they take the byways, the path of cowards!… They do not come to tell it in broad daylight: You do not exist; they come into the midst of its partisans to say as they do, to do as they do, to applaud and approve all that they do, when they are with them, in order to combat and betray them when their backs are turned. Yes, this is what they do today! In the beginning they said to one's face what they thought of the puny child, but today they no longer dare, because it has grown, and yet it has never shown its teeth. If I am told to tell you this, though it is always painful to me, it is because it had its usefulness; nothing, not a word, a gesture, an inflection of voice is effected without there being a reason for being, and without bringing its contingent to the general equilibrium. The administration of the posts up On High is far more intelligent and more complete than that of your Earth; every word goes to its objective, to its address, without an envelope, whereas among you the letter that does not bear one never arrives.

[No name.]

Observation. – As can be seen, the above communication is an application of what was said in the preceding one [see item 7 and Allan Kardec's observation, in the preceding article], on the effect of the faculty of vision, and it is not the only time that we have been given to verify the services that this faculty is called upon to render. This does not mean that one must attach a blind faith to all that may be said in similar cases; there would be as much imprudence in believing without reservation the first one who appears as in scorning the warnings that may be given by this means. The degree of confidence one can allow to this depends upon the circumstances; this faculty needs to be studied; above all one must act with circumspection and guard against a hasty judgment. As for the substance of the communication, its coincidence with the one given five months earlier, by another medium, and in another setting [see preceding article], is a fact worthy of note, and we know that analogous instructions are given in different centers. It is, therefore, prudent to remain on one's guard with persons of whose sincerity one is not certain, so as to be edified. Doubtless the Spiritists have only principles that are highly avowable; they have nothing to conceal; but what they have to fear is to see their words denatured and their intentions masked; these are the traps laid for their good faith, by persons who defend the false in order to learn the truth; who, under the appearances of a zeal too exaggerated to be sincere, attempt to drag the groups along a compromising path, whether to stir up embarrassments for them, or to cast discredit upon the Doctrine.