Regeneration.

“In that time there will be no more cries, nor mourning, nor labor, because that which was before will have passed away.”

This prediction of the Apocalypse was dictated eighteen centuries ago, and it is still awaited that such words come to pass, because events are always regarded once they have happened, and not when they unfold before our eyes.

Nevertheless, this predicted epoch has arrived. There are no more sorrows for the one who knew how to set himself at the side of the road, in order to let the pettinesses of life pass by, without stopping them to make of them an offensive weapon against society.

You are in the midst of these times as the golden ear of grain is in the harvest; live beneath the gaze of God, and his radiance enlightens you! Why do you trouble yourselves with the march of events, which were foreseen by God, when you were nothing but children of the generation of which Jesus spoke, when he said: “Before this generation passes away, great things will come to pass”?

What you are, God knew; what you will be, God sees! It is for you to deeply penetrate yourselves with the path that is traced out for you, because your task is to submit yourselves to all that God has decided. Your resignation, and above all your gentleness, are nothing but testimonies of your intelligence and of your faith in eternity.

Above you, in this Universe where your world moves, hover the messenger Spirits, who received the mission to guide you. They know when the predicted events will be realized. This is why they say to you: “There will be no more cries, nor mourning, nor labor.”

Without doubt there can no longer be any cry for the one who submits to the wills of God, and who accepts his trials. There is no more mourning, since you know that the Spirits who preceded you are not lost to you, but are on a journey. Now, one does not put on mourning when a friend is absent.

Labor itself becomes a favor, for one knows that it is a contribution to the harmonious work that God directs; then, one carries out one's part of the work with the solicitude of the sculptor who sets about polishing his statue. It is an infinite recompense that God grants you.

Meanwhile, you will still encounter hindrances in your attempts to attain social betterment. It is that one never arrives at the result without struggle coming to strengthen one's efforts. The artist is obliged to overcome the obstacles that oppose the radiance of his thought; he becomes victorious only when he has known how to rise above the privations and the misty vapors that envelop his genius at its birth.

The idea that arises was sown by the Spirits when God said to them: “Go and instruct the nations; go and spread the light.” That idea, which grew with the rapidity of a flood, naturally must have met with contradictors, opponents, and the incredulous. It would not be the source of life, if it had succumbed beneath the mockeries that received it at its beginning. But God himself guided this thought through the immensity; he made it fruitful upon the earth, and no one will destroy it! It would be useless to seek to uproot it; they would labor in vain to annihilate it in hearts; children bring it with them at birth, and one would say that a breath of God embeds it in their cradle, as long ago the Star of the East enlightened those who came before Jesus, he himself bringing the regenerating idea of Christianity. You see well, then, that this generation will not pass away without great things coming to pass, for with the idea, faith rises and hope radiates… Courage! that which was predicted by the Christ must be realized. In these times of aspiration toward the truth, the light that enlightens every man who comes into this world shines anew upon you. Persevere in the struggle, be firm, and beware of the snares that are spread for you; remain attached to that banner on which you inscribed: Outside of charity there is no salvation, and then wait, because the one who received the mission to regenerate you is returning, and he said: Blessed are those who shall know my name anew! A Spirit.

Allan Kardec.

Paris. – Typ. de Rouge frères, Dunon et Fresné, rue du Four-Saint-Germain, 43.