In the name of the family and of the friends,

Dear afflicted ones, I speak last beside this open grave, which contains the mortal remains of him who, among us, was called Allan Kardec.

I speak in the name of his widow, of her who was his faithful and happy companion during thirty-seven years of a happiness without clouds and without admixture, of her who shared his beliefs and his works, as well as his vicissitudes and joys; who, now alone, takes pride in the purity of her husband's conduct, in his absolute honesty and his sublime disinterestedness. It is she who gives us all the example of courage, of tolerance, of forgiveness of injuries, and of duty scrupulously fulfilled. I also speak in the name of all the friends, present or absent, who followed step by step the laborious career that Allan Kardec always pursued honorably; of those who wish to honor his memory by recalling some traits of his life.

First I wish to tell you why his mortal envelope was brought here directly, without pomp and with no other prayers than yours! Would he have need of prayers, whose entire life was but one long act of piety, of love for God and for Humanity? Was it not enough that all might be able to unite with us in this common action, which affirms our esteem and our affection? Absolute tolerance was Allan Kardec's rule. His friends, his disciples belonged to all religions: Israelites, Mohammedans, Catholics and Protestants of all sects; of all classes: rich, poor, learned, freethinkers, artists and workers, etc.… All were able to come here, thanks to this measure which compromises no conscience and which will be a good example. But, alongside this tolerance which brings us together, must I cite an intolerance which I admire? I shall do so, because, in the eyes of all, it must legitimize that title of master which many among us attribute to him. This intolerance is one of the most salient features of his noble existence. He had a horror of laziness and idleness; and this great worker died standing, after an immense labor, which ended by exceeding the strength of his organs, but not that of his spirit and his heart. Educated in Switzerland, in that patriotic school where one breathes a free and vivifying air, he occupied his leisure hours, from the age of fourteen, in giving lessons to his comrades who knew less than he.

Having come to Paris, and knowing how to speak German as well as French, he translated for Germany the books of France that most touched his heart. He chose Fénelon to make him known, and that choice denotes the benevolent and elevated nature of the translator. Then he devoted himself to education. His vocation was to instruct. His successes were great, and the works that he published, grammar, arithmetic and others, made popular his true name, that of Rivail. Not content to employ his remarkable faculties in a profession that assured him a tranquil ease, he wished that those who could not pay might profit from his knowledge, and he was one of the first to organize, at this period of his life, free courses, given on the rue de Sèvres, no. 35, in which he taught Chemistry, Physics, comparative Anatomy, Astronomy, etc. For he had touched upon all the sciences and, having well fathomed them, he knew how to transmit to others what he himself knew, a rare and ever-appreciated talent.

For this devoted scholar, work seemed the very element of life. For this reason, more than anyone, he could not endure the idea of death as it was then presented, having as its result an eternal suffering or a selfish and eternal happiness, but without usefulness, neither for others nor for oneself.

He was, as it were, predestined, you see it well, to spread and popularize this admirable philosophy which makes us hope for work beyond the tomb and the indefinite progress of our individuality, which preserves itself by improving itself.

He knew how to draw from facts considered ridiculous and vulgar admirable philosophical consequences and a whole doctrine of hope, of work, and of solidarity, like the verse of a poet whom he loved:

To transform vile lead into pure gold.

Under the effort of his thought everything was transformed and made grand, in the rays of his ardent heart; under his pen everything became precise and crystallized, so to speak, into sentences of dazzling clarity.

He took for his books this admirable epigraph: Outside charity there is no salvation, whose apparent intolerance brings out the absolute tolerance.

He transformed the old formulas and, without denying the happy influence of faith, of hope, and of charity, he raised a new banner, before which all thinkers can and must bow, because that standard of the future bears written upon it these three words:

Reason, Work, and Solidarity.

It is in the name of this same reason that he placed so high, in the name of his widow, in the name of his friends, that I say to you all: look no more upon this open grave. It is higher that we must lift our eyes, to find him who has just left us! To contain that heart so devoted and so good, that choice intelligence, that spirit so fertile, that individuality so powerful, you yourselves see it well, measuring it with your eyes, this grave would be far too small, and none would be large enough. Courage, then! and let us know how to honor the philosopher and the friend, by practicing his maxims and by working, each within the limit of his strength, to propagate those which charmed and convinced us.

[1]

Erratum. — Number of May 1869, page 145, line 19, instead of: et certain, read: éternel.

[2] Erratum.

— Same page, line 31, instead of: tout se pressait, read:

tout se précisait. — Translator's note: The corrections pointed out by Kardec have already been made in the corresponding places of the Brazilian translation.