Yesterday, today, and tomorrow.

Where are we today? where is the light? Everything is dark, everything is murky around us. Yesterday was the past; tomorrow is the future; today is the present… What is it that distinguishes these three days? One lived yesterday, one still lives today, one will live tomorrow, and always in the same circle. Whence, then, does this Humanity come, and where is it going? A mystery that will only be clarified tomorrow. Moses is the past time; the Christ, the present time; the Messiah to come, who is the tomorrow, has not yet appeared… Moses had to combat idolatry; the Christ, the Pharisees; the Messiah to come will also have his adversaries: incredulity, skepticism, materialism, atheism, and all the vices that overwhelm the human race… Three epochs that mark the progress of Humanity; filial parentheses that succeed one another; yesterday it was Moses, today it is the Christ, and tomorrow it will be the new Messiah. I say that it is the Christ today, because it is his word, his doctrine, his charity, all his sublime teachings that must spread everywhere; because, you yourselves see it, Humanity has not progressed much. Barely eighteen centuries separate us from the Christ: eighteen centuries of darkness, of tyranny, of pride, and of ambition.

Take hold of the past, of the present; tomorrow you will contemplate your future… Idolaters of the past, Pharisees of the present, adversaries of tomorrow, the light shines for all peoples, for all worlds, for all individuals, and you do not want to see it!

Creature, you lose heart today, which is the present; you await the realization of the prodigies announced; you will see that they are realized. Soon all the Earth will tremble… the twentieth century will eclipse the brilliance of the preceding centuries, because it will see the realization of what was foretold.

The Messiah who is to preside over the great regenerating movement of the Earth is already born [see Comments on the messiahs of Spiritism], but he has not yet revealed his mission, and we are not permitted to say either his name or the country where he dwells; he will announce himself by his works, and men will tremble at his powerful voice, because the number of the just is still very small. Bind yourselves to matter, egoistic and ambitious men, who live only to satisfy your passions and your worldly desires. Time is short for you; seize it, enlace it, for yesterday is past, today is setting, and soon it will be tomorrow.

Alas! Pharisee of the present, you are always waiting. Let the thunder roll, you will not be startled before the precursory lightning that comes to dazzle your eyes. You who take pleasure in egoism and pride, who persist in the past and in the present, your future will be to be cast out to another world, so that your Spirit may one day attain the perfection to which God calls you. You, Spiritists, who are here, who receive the instructions of the Spirits, be patient, docile, conscious of your acts; do not lose heart; await with calm that tomorrow which is to deliver you from all persecutions. God, from whom nothing is hidden, who reads in hearts, sees you and will not abandon you. The hour draws near and soon we shall be in the tomorrow. But… is that Messiah who is to come the Christ himself? a question difficult to understand in the present time, and which tomorrow will be clarified. Like a good father of a family, God, who is all wisdom, does not impose all the work on a single one of his children. He assigns to each one his task, according to the needs of the world to which he sends them. From this must we conclude that the new Messiah will be neither as great nor as powerful as the Christ? That would be absurd; but wait until the hour sounds to understand the work of the invisible messengers who came to clear the way, for the Spirits have done an immense labor. It is Spiritism that must remove the great stones that could hinder the passage of him who is to come. This man will be powerful and strong, and numerous Spirits are on the Earth to smooth the way and to make fulfilled what was foretold. Will this new Messiah be called the Christ? It is a question to which I cannot reply; await the tomorrow. How many things I would still have to reveal to you! But I stop, because the day of tomorrow does not yet appear. We are barely approaching midnight.

Friends who are here, all animated by the desire for your advancement, work upon yourselves to regenerate yourselves, so that the Master may find you prepared. Courage, brethren, for your effort will not be lost; work to break the bonds of matter, which prevent the Spirit from progressing.

Have faith, for it leads man surely to the end of his journey. Have love, for to love one’s brethren is to love God. Watch and pray: prayer strengthens the Spirit that lets itself be taken by discouragement. Ask your heavenly Father for the strength to triumph over obstacles and temptations. Arm yourselves against your defects; keep yourselves ready, for tomorrow is not far off. The dawn of the century marked by God for the realization of the facts that are to change the face of this world begins to arise on the horizon. The Spirit of Faith.

Medium: Mr. Duboin, in spontaneous somnambulism.

Allan Kardec.

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