Future of Spiritism

The messiahs of Spiritism: Saint Joseph. — Fénelon.

— Baluze.

— Lacordaire.

— The marked Spirits: Anonymous. — Saint Louis.

— Lamennais.

— Future of Spiritism:

Erasto. — Montaigne.

— The stars shall fall from Heaven: Dupuch, bishop of Algiers.

— The dead shall come forth from the tombs: John the Evangelist.

— The Last Judgment: Erasto. — Clélie Duplantier.

FUTURE OF SPIRITISM.

After its first stages, Spiritism, battle-hardened, freeing itself more and more from the obscurities that served it as swaddling clothes, will soon make its appearance on the great stage of the world.

Events march with such rapidity that one cannot ignore the powerful intervention of the Spirits who preside over the destinies of the Earth. There is, as it were, an inner shudder in the flanks of your globe, in the throes of gestation; new races come forth from the high spheres to whirl about you, awaiting the hour of their messianic incarnation, and preparing themselves for it through the study of the vast questions that today stir the Earth. On all sides one sees signs of decrepitude in customs and legislations, which are no longer in accord with modern ideas. The old beliefs, dormant for centuries, seem to awaken from their secular torpor and are astonished to find themselves in struggle with new beliefs, emanating from the philosophers and thinkers of this and the past century. The degenerate system of a world that was nothing but a simulacrum crumbles before the dawn of the real world, of the new world. The law of solidarity passed from the family to the inhabitants of the States, then to conquer the entire Earth; but this law so wise, so progressive, this divine law, in a word, did not limit itself to that single result; infiltrating into the hearts of great men, it taught them not only that it was necessary to the great betterment of your dwelling, but that it extended to all the worlds of your solar system, and from there extended to all the worlds of immensity! This law of universal solidarity is beautiful, because in it is found this sublime maxim: All for one and one for all.

Behold, my children, the true law of Spiritism, the true conquest of a near future. March, then, imperturbably on your road, without concerning yourselves with the mockeries of some and the wounded self-love of others. We are and shall remain with you, under the aegis of the Spirit of Truth, my master and yours. Erasto. n Paris,

Each day Spiritism extends the circle of its moralizing teaching. Its great voice has echoed from one end of the Earth to the other. Society has been stirred by it, and from its midst have come both adherents and adversaries.

Fervent adherents, skillful adversaries, but whose skill and renown served the very cause they wished to combat, by drawing the attention of the masses to the new doctrine and giving them the desire to know the regenerating teachings that its adherents extol, and which they mocked and ridiculed. Contemplate the work accomplished and rejoice in the result! But what unspeakable effervescence will arise among the peoples when their most beloved writers come to join the more obscure or less known names of those who gather around the banner of truth!

See what the labors of a few isolated groups have produced, most of them hindered by intrigue and ill will, and judge of the revolution that will take place when all the members of the great Spiritist family join hands and declare, with proud brow and firm heart, the sincerity of their faith and of their belief in the reality of the teaching of the Spirits. The masses love progress, they seek it, but they do not fear it. The unknown inspires a secret terror in the ignorant children of a society lulled in prejudices, which essays its first steps on the path of reality and of moral progress. The great words of liberty, of progress, of love, of charity strike the people without moving them; often it prefers its present and mediocre state to a better but unknown future. The reason for this dread of the future lies in the ignorance of the moral sentiment in a great number, and of the intelligent sentiment in others. But, as several philosophers have said, wandering over a false conception of the origin of things, myself included — why should I blush to say it? could I not be mistaken? — it is not true that Humanity is evil by essence. No; in perfecting its intelligence it will not give a greater impulse to its evil qualities. Cast away from yourselves those despairing thoughts, which rest upon a false knowledge of the human spirit. Humanity is not evil by nature; but it is ignorant and, for that very reason, more apt to let itself be governed by its passions. It is progressive and must progress in order to attain its destinies; enlighten it; show it its enemies hidden in the shadow; develop its moral essence, innate within it, and merely dormant under the influence of evil instincts, and you will rekindle the spark of eternal truth, of the eternal prescience of the infinite, of the beautiful and the good, which dwells forever in the heart of man, even the most perverse. Children of a new doctrine, unite your forces; may the divine breath and the help of the good Spirits sustain you, and you will do great things. You will have the glory of having laid the foundations of imperishable principles, whose fruits your descendants will gather.

Montaigne n Paris,

[1]

[v. Thomas Erasto.]

[2]

[v.

Michel Eyquem de Montaigne.]