The end of the world in 1911.

— The end of the world in 1911, such is the title of a small in-18 brochure, of 58 pages, distributed profusely in Lyon and which is found in that city at the Josserand bookshop, place Bellecour, no.

To the considerations drawn from the agreement of the present state of things with the precursory signs announced in the Gospel, the author adds, according to another prophecy, a cabalistic calculation that fixes the end of the world for the year 1911, neither more nor less, that is, within 43 years. So that, among the living of today, more than one will be a witness of that great catastrophe. Now, here it is not a question of a figure; it is the very real end, the annihilation of the Earth, the dispersion of its elements, and the complete destruction of its inhabitants. It is regrettable that the manner in which this event will take place is not indicated, but then it is necessary to leave something unannounced. It will be preceded by the reign of the Antichrist. According to the same calculations, which were not made by Arago, this personage was born in 1855 and is to live 55 years and a half; and as his death is to mark the end of times, this brings us right to 1911, unless there has been some error of calculation, as for 1840.

Indeed, one remembers that the end of the world had also been predicted for the year 1840; people believed it with such certainty that it had been preached in the churches, and we saw it announced in certain catechisms of Paris to the children of the first communion, which did not fail to impress some young brains deplorably. As the best means of saving one's soul has always been to give money, to strip oneself of the goods of this world, which are a cause of perdition, collections and donations were made with this aim. But the Spirit of evil insinuates itself everywhere in this century of rationalists and drives one to the worst thoughts; we heard, with our own ears, catechism pupils making this reflection: “If,” they said, “the end of the world comes next year as they assure us, it will be as much for the priests as for the others; then what use will the money they ask for be to them?” Truly there are no more children, but terrible little boys.

— Will it be the same with the year 1911? The brochure in question gives us a sure means of assuring ourselves of this: it is the portrait of the Antichrist, by which it will be easy to recognize the original; it is sufficiently characteristic that there can be no mistake. It is sketched by a celebrated German prophet, Holzauzer, born in 1613, and who wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse. n According to Holzauzer, the Apocalypse is nothing but the complete history of the Catholic Church, from its birth to the end of the world, a history which he divides into seven epochs, figured, he says, by the seven churches to which St. John addresses himself. Here are some of the most characteristic features of the Antichrist and of the events that are to precede his coming.

“We are at this moment touching the end of the fifth epoch. It is then that those frightful misfortunes announced in the Apocalypse (chapter VIII.) will come to pass. The plague, war, famine, earthquakes will make innumerable victims. All peoples will rise up against one another; war will be general in Europe; but the conflagration will break out first in Germany…

“After these formidable wars, which will bloody the whole world, Protestantism will disappear forever and the empire of the Turks will crumble. It will be the beginning of the sixth age.

“The peoples, exhausted by these deadly combats, terrified by the horrible scourges that will mark the end of the fifth epoch, will return to the worship of the true God. Coming forth victorious from the countless struggles it will have sustained against heresies, indifference, and general corruption, the religion of Christ will flourish again more brilliant than ever. Never will the Catholic Church have had so spectacular a triumph. Its ministers, models of all virtues, will travel the world to make the word of God heard by men… “But this triumph of religion will be of short duration. Vice, beaten down but not annihilated, will little by little raise its head, and soon corruption, making rapid progress, will again invade all classes of society, and will introduce itself even into the sanctuary. It is then that one will see the abomination of desolation, announced by the prophet. The whole world will be no more than an immense cesspool of vices and crimes of every sort. Thus will the sixth age end. “Then there will come to the Earth he whom the prophets and the Fathers of the Church have designated under the name of Antichrist.

“Poor and unknown, he will live a miserable life during his childhood and early youth. Educated by his father in the study of the occult sciences, he will apply himself to them with fury and will make rapid progress. Endowed with uncommon intelligence, with an ardent and resolute spirit and a character of iron, he will show, from the cradle, the most violent passions. Recognizing in this boy the fearsome qualities of him who is one day to second him so ardently in his struggle against the human race, Satan will tremble with joy and, little by little, will communicate to him all his power. “All who approach him will be marveled by his discourses and actions. They will regard him as a boy predestined for great things, and will say that the hand of the Lord has been stretched out over him to protect and guide him…

“Little by little, helped by renown, and further increasing the marvels attributed to the young chief, the number of his sectaries will rapidly become very considerable…

“Soon, seeing himself at the head of a true army, composed of men devoted unto death, he will no longer hesitate to take the title of king. For some time he will occupy himself with organizing his power and putting a little order among his new subjects, but neglecting nothing to increase their number. Having no family name, he will take the name of Christ, which the Jews will already have given him…

“His ambition growing with his fortune, he will form, in his pride, the design of conquering the whole Earth and submitting all peoples to his laws…

“In a few days the Antichrist will gather an immense army and one will see this new Attila engulf Europe beneath the waves of his barbarous hordes. The enemy armies, struck with terror at the sight of the numerous prodigies he will perform, will let themselves be dispersed and annihilated, without even attempting to fight. Three great kingdoms will be conquered without any resistance. Their sovereigns will expiate in the cruelest tortures their refusal to submit, and the vanquished peoples will be delivered without mercy to all the furies of an unbridled soldiery. Terrified upon learning of these barbarous vengeances, the other nations will immediately submit. Then the whole Earth will form but a single and vast kingdom, which the Antichrist will govern at his pleasure. He will have the city of Jerusalem rebuilt with an unheard-of magnificence, and will make it the seat of his empire. “Dragged along by his fatal destiny, he will make every effort to destroy all religions, above all the Catholic religion. Upon the ruins of the ancient worship, he will rebuild the edifice of a new worship, of which he will be, at the same time, the high priest and the idol. This new religion will have its defenders and its priests everywhere. One of the most relentless and most terrible, the one whom St. John designated in verses 11, 12, and 13 of chapter XIII as the beast with two horns, similar to those of the lamb, will be the great apostate. Holzauzer calls him thus because he will be one of the first to renounce Christianity in order to devote himself with fury to the worship of the Antichrist. “At that time there will reign upon the throne of St. Peter a holy pontiff, under the name of Peter. Struck with grief at the sight of these horrendous misfortunes, and foreseeing the terrible dangers the faithful will run, he will send to all of Christendom holy exhortations to forearm everyone against the seductions of the Antichrist, whose perfidy he will clearly unveil. Furious at this open resistance and at the immense influence of the Holy Father, the great apostate will enter Rome at the head of an army and, with his own hands, will kill the last successor of Peter on the steps of the altar… “Everywhere the churches will be invaded, the sanctuaries violated, the objects of worship profaned. The holy books will be burned, the cross and all the symbols of our august religion will be trampled and dragged in the dust. The pictures and statues exposed to the veneration of the faithful will be cast down; in their place will rise the accursed statue of the Antichrist. — And this statue will speak, says the prophet…

“And one will see learned and eloquent men preaching this idolatry of a new kind and, in a brilliant and imaginative language, exalting the praises of him whose statue speaks and works miracles…

“To strike the eyes of the multitude and subjugate the masses, the Antichrist will perform admirable prodigies. He will transport mountains, will walk upon the waters, and will rise into the air, all brilliant with glory. He will make several suns appear simultaneously, or will plunge the Earth into the most complete darkness. At his voice, the lightning will fall from the sky, the rivers will suspend their course, the walls will collapse. Becoming invisible at will, he will go from one place to another with incredible rapidity and will show himself in several places at the same time. Thus, as we have seen, he will animate his image and communicate to it a part of his power. But, for the most part, these prodigies will be nothing but optical illusions and the result of a diabolical phantasmagoria; they will not be true miracles, because Satan, with all his force, could not change the laws of Nature…” Observation. – If they are not miracles, in the rigorous acceptation of the word, we do not know what name can be given to them; and if they are, for the most part, optical illusions, these illusions depart singularly from the laws of Nature, and they themselves would be miracles, since one has never seen lightning fall and walls collapse through optical effects. What stands out most clearly from this explanation is the difficulty of distinguishing true miracles from false ones, and of making, in effects of this nature, the share of the saints and that of the devil. “At the same time that he strikes all minds with astonishment and admiration, the Antichrist, to win all hearts, will display every appearance of the most austere virtue. While he gives himself over to the most shameful debauchery in the depths of his palace, he will feign temperance and charity. Lavishing gold and silver about him, he will do great good to the poor and there will be everywhere nothing but concerts and praises for his beneficence and his charity. Each day they will see him spend whole hours in prayer in his temple; in a word, he will cover himself with the cloak of hypocrisy with such skill that even his most faithful servants will be persuaded of his virtue and his holiness. “Meanwhile, the Lord will not leave his children without defense and without succor during these times of trial. Enoch and Elijah will return to the Earth to preach the word of God, sustain the courage of the faithful, and unmask the impostures of the false prophets. During one thousand two hundred and sixty days, or three years and a half, they will travel the world, exhorting all men to do penance and to return to the worship of Jesus Christ. They will oppose true miracles to the supposed prodigies of the Antichrist and his apostles… But after they have finished their testimony, the beast that ascends from the abyss (the Antichrist) will make war on them, will vanquish them, and will kill them.” Observation. – One could not affirm reincarnation more clearly. It is not here an appearance, an optical illusion, it is indeed reincarnation in flesh and bone, since the two prophets are killed.

“Then the pride of the Antichrist will know no more limits. Proud of the victory he has just won over the two prophets who so impunely affronted his power for three years and a half, he will have a magnificent throne built on the Mount of Olives and there, surrounded by a legion of demons transformed into angels of light, he will have himself adored by the immense multitude that will be gathered to enjoy his triumph.

“But, the twenty-fifth day having come, the body of the two prophets, animated by the breath of God, will rise again and they will ascend to heaven, brilliant with glory, in the sight of the astonished multitude. Blinded by anger and hatred, the Antichrist will announce that he is going to ascend to heaven to seek out his enemies and hurl them down to the Earth. Indeed, setting off on the wings of the demons that surround him, he will rise into the air; but at that moment the sky will open and the Son of Man will appear upon a luminous cloud. The Antichrist will be hurled down from heaven with his retinue of demons and, the earth splitting open, he will descend alive into hell… “Then the end of the world will be near. No more years, nor months, will pass, but a few days, the last term given to men to do penance. The most frightful prodigies will follow one another without cease, until the whole world perishes in an immense upheaval.

“Such is what Holzauzer announces, and this is nothing but the explanation of what is contained in the Apocalypse; it is the doctrine of all the Fathers of the Church, enclosed in the Gospel and in the Acts of the Apostles.”

Observation. – Thus, then, will the world end! It is not the dream of a man, it is the doctrine of all the Fathers, who are the light of the Church. Those of our readers who have but a vague idea of the Antichrist will thank us, because we have made them know him with some details, according to the competent authorities. If there are but forty-three years ahead of it, we shall not be long in seeing this marvelous reign. By these signs we shall recognize the approach of the fatal date. What is strange in this account is the obliteration of the power of God and of his Church before the Antichrist. Indeed, after a triumph of short duration, the Church succumbs again, never to rise more; the faith of its ministers is not great enough to prevent corruption from introducing itself even into the sanctuary. Is this not an ingenuous confession of weakness and impotence? These are things one may think, but it is clumsy to cry them from the rooftops.

It would have been truly surprising had Spiritism not found a place in this prediction. Indeed, it is there indicated as one of the signs of the times, and here in what terms. It is no longer Holzauzer who speaks, it is the author of the brochure:

— “But behold, these rumors take precision, these terrors, which seem chimerical, take consistency and formulate themselves clearly. The end of the world approaches, they cry on all sides! In Europe, in the Catholic countries, people recall the old prophecies which all announce this great event for our epoch…

“It is none other than the rapping Spirits that give the alarm. Open The Spirits' Book, by Allan Kardec, and read on the first page, in the prolegomena, the following words: “The Spirits announce that the times marked by Providence for a universal manifestation have come and that, being the ministers of God and the agents of his will, they have for mission to instruct and enlighten men, opening a new era for the regeneration of Humanity.””

Observation. – We do not see that to announce the regeneration of Humanity is to announce its end; these two ideas contradict each other. The Spirits, instead of giving the alarm, come to bring hope.

“From the very beginning the prophet Joel tells us: “In those times magic will cover all the Earth, and one will see even babes at the breast do extraordinary things and discourse like grown persons.”” n “Spiritism, this magic of the nineteenth century, has invaded the world. Only a few years ago, in America, in England, in France, admirable, unheard-of phenomena excited the general curiosity. Inert pieces of furniture, animating themselves at the will of the operators, gave themselves over to the most fantastic evolutions, and answered without hesitation the questions addressed to them. People sought what could be the intelligent cause of these intelligent effects. The tables answered: We are Spirits, the souls of the men whom death has carried off, who come to communicate with the living. New phenomena were produced. There were heard, as it were, blows struck on the furniture, on the walls of houses; objects were seen moving spontaneously; voices, symphonies were heard; there were even seen apparitions of persons long dead. The prodigies multiplied. One had to be willing in order to see; one had to see in order to be convinced. “Soon a new religion organized itself. Interrogated, the Spirits themselves drew up a code of their new doctrine. It was, it must be confessed, a philosophical system admirably well combined in every respect. Never did the most skillful sophist know so well how to disguise falsehood and paradox. Not being able, without unveiling their origin and arousing suspicions, to break at one blow the ideas of God and of virtue, the Spirits begin by highly acknowledging the existence of God, the necessity of this virtue; but they make so little difference between the lot of the just and that of the wicked, that one is necessarily led, by these beliefs, to satisfy all one's passions and to seek in death a refuge against unhappiness. Crime and suicide are the two fatal consequences of these principles which, at first sight, seem marked by a morality so beautiful and so pure. “To explain the anomaly of these communications from beyond the tomb, the Spirits could not but announce, as we have seen, that the times marked by providence had come; but, not wishing to speak of the end of the world, which absolutely did not enter into their system, they added: for the universal regeneration of Humanity.”

Observation. – By a singular coincidence, on the very day, February 24, on which this brochure reached us, sent to us by one of our correspondents from Lyon, and at the moment when we were reading these last paragraphs, we received from the environs of Boulogne-sur-Mer a letter, from which we extract the following passages:

“It is from the depths of an obscure valley of the Boulonnais that these few words reach you, reflections of a suffering existence; for Spiritism penetrates everywhere, to spread light and consolations. Personally, how much relief do I not owe to it, as well as to you, sir, who are its dispenser!

“Born of very poor parents, burdened with eight children, of whom I am the eldest, alas! until now I have not earned my bread, although I am twenty-nine years old, owing to the debility of my constitution. Add to this an innate propensity to pride, vanity, violence, etc., and judge what evils I had to endure, in my miserable condition, before Spiritism had come to explain to me the enigma of my destiny. I came to such a point that I resolved to kill myself.

“To this end, to calm my apprehensions and the reproaches of my conscience, I had said to myself, in my faith as a Catholic: I will strike myself with a blow that, although mortal, will not make me die instantly and will leave me the disposal of a few moments of life, sufficient for me to have the possibility of confessing, taking communion, and manifesting my repentance; in a word, of putting myself in condition to assure myself a happy life in the other world, escaping the evils of this one. “My reasoning was very absurd, was it not, sir? And yet, was it not consistent with the dogma that affirms to us that every sin, even every crime, is wiped out by the simple confession made to a priest who gives absolution?

“Now, thanks to the knowledge of Spiritism, such ideas are forever banished from my thought; nevertheless, how much imperfection still remains for me to strip away!”

Thus, Spiritism prevented an act, a crime that would have been committed, not in the absence of all faith, but rather, the person says, by the very consequence of his Catholic faith. In this case, which was the more powerful to prevent the evil? Will this young man be damned for having followed the impulse of Spiritism, the work of the demon, according to the author of the brochure, or would he have been saved, by killing himself, for having received, before dying, the absolution of a priest? Let the author of the brochure, with his hand on his conscience, answer this question.

— The above fragments having been read at the Society of Paris, our former colleague Jobard came spontaneously to give, on the subject, the following communication, through a medium in spiritual somnambulism:

(Society of Paris, February 28. – Medium: M. Morin.)

I was passing by, when the echo brought me the vibration of an immense burst of laughter. I paid attention and, having recognized the noise of the laughter of the incarnate and the disincarnate, I said to myself: No doubt the thing is interesting; let us see!… And I did not believe, gentlemen, that I would have the pleasure of coming to spend the evening among you. Yet, I am happy about it, believe it well, because I know all the sympathy you have kept for your former colleague. Thus, I drew near and the noises of the Earth reached me more distinctly: The end of the world! they exclaimed; the end of the world!… Oh! my God, I said to myself, if it is the end of the world, what will become of them?… The voice of your president and my friend reaching me, I understood that he was reading you some passages from a brochure in which the end of the world is announced as very near. The subject interested me; I listened attentively and, after having reflected maturely, I come, like the author of the brochure, to tell you: Yes, gentlemen, the end of the world is near!… Oh! do not be frightened, ladies, for one must be very close to touch it; and when you touch it you will see it. In the meantime, if you permit me, I will give you my appreciation of this word, the bugbear of weak brains and, also, of weak Spirits; for, know it, if the fear of the end of the world terrifies the faint-hearted beings of your world, it equally strikes with terror the backward beings of erraticity. All those who are not dematerialized, that is, who, although Spirits, live more materially than spiritually, are terrified at the idea of the end of the world, because they understand, by this word, the destruction of matter. Do not be astonished, then, that this idea moves certain Spirits, who would not know what to become, if the Earth existed no more, since the Earth is still their world, their point of support. For myself, I said: Yes, the end of the world is near; it is there, I see it, I touch it… it is near for those who, in spite of themselves, work to hasten its advent!… Yes, the end of the world is near; but, the end of what world?

It will be the end of the world of superstition, of despotism; of the abuses maintained by ignorance, by malevolence, and by hypocrisy; it will be the end of the egoistic and proud world, of pauperism, of all that is vile and debases man; in a word, of all the base and covetous sentiments, which are the sad appanage of your world.

This end of the world, this great catastrophe which all religions agree in foreseeing, is it what they understand by it? On the contrary, should one not see in it the realization of the high destinies of Humanity? And if we reflect on all that is happening around us, will not these precursory signs be the sign of the beginning of another world, that is, of another moral world, instead of that of the destruction of the material world?

Yes, gentlemen, a period of terrestrial purification is ending at this moment; another is going to begin… Everything concurs toward the end of the old world, and those who strive to sustain it work energetically, without willing it, for its destruction. Yes, the end of the world is near for them; they have a presentiment of it and are terrified, believe it well, more than of the end of the terrestrial world, because it is the end of their domination, of their preponderance, to which they cling more than to anything else; and this will not be, in relation to them, the vengeance of God, for God does not take vengeance, but the just reward of their acts. Like you, the Spirits are the children of their works; if they are good, it is because they have worked to be so; if they are bad, it is not because they have worked to be so, but because they have not worked to become good.

Friends, the end of the world is near and I vividly invite you to take good note of this prediction; it is all the nearer in that work is already being done to rebuild it. The wise foresight of Him from whom nothing escapes wills that everything be built before everything is destroyed; and when the new edifice is completed, when the ridge is covered, then it is that the old one will collapse; it will fall by itself, so that between the new world and the old there will be no break in continuity. It is thus that one must understand the end of the world, which so many precursory signs already presage. And who will be the powerful workers for this great transformation? It is you, ladies; it is you, young ladies, with the aid of the double lever of instruction and of Spiritism. In the woman into whom Spiritism has penetrated, there is more than a woman, there is a spiritual worker; in this state, everything working for her, the woman works still much more than the man at the building of the monument, because, when she knows all the resources of Spiritism and knows how to make use of it, the greater part of the work will be done by her. While nursing the body of her child, she will also be able to nourish his spirit; and what better blacksmith than the son of a blacksmith, apprentice of his father? Thus the boy will suck, as he grows, the milk of spirituality, and when you have Spiritists, children of Spiritists and fathers of Spiritists, will not the end of the world, such as we understand it, be realized? After this, marvel that Spiritism is a bugbear for all that clings to the old world, and at the relentlessness with which they seek to stifle it in its cradle? Jobard.

[1] [La Fin du monde en 1911, d’après une prophétie célèbre, par Joseph-Gustave Leserteur - Google Books.]

[2]

[Propheties Barthélémy Holzhauser, 1613-1658.]

[3] [This citation seems to refer to Joel 2.28.]