Correspondence

To the numerous testimonies of sympathy for Mrs. Allan Kardec and the assurances of adherence that we have received from our correspondents in France and the neighboring countries, on the occasion of the death of Mr. Allan Kardec, there come to be joined today the homages rendered to the memory of our venerated master by the Spiritists of the centers overseas. We judged it a duty to place before the eyes of our readers some extracts from these letters, as well as the adherences of the societies of Rouen and of Saint-Aignan to the constitution of the Joint-Stock Company.

One of our correspondents from Saint Petersburg (Russia), Mr. Henri Stecki, author of Spiritism in the Bible (Spiritist Review, November 1868), likewise adheres, and in the most absolute manner, to the new organization. Desirous of personally contributing to the universal popularization of our principles, Mr. Henri Stecki wishes to consecrate the entire proceeds of the sale of his interesting work to the feeding of the reserve fund of the general treasury. We ask him to accept, in the name of Spiritism and of the Spiritists of the whole world, our warm congratulations and lively thanks. n All these testimonies prove abundantly that, according to our most intimate convictions, Spiritism will gather in a near future, without distinction of caste or of nationality, the men sincerely devoted to the true interests and to the regeneration of Humanity.

Saint-Denis (Réunion), July 30, 1869.

Mr. President of the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies.

Sir, It is from the confines of the world that this letter arrives. But, however distant I may be from my brothers in doctrine and from the subscription you opened so fraternally to permit the Spiritists of the whole world to fulfill a duty of gratitude toward our good and dearly missed master Allan Kardec, I keep the hope that I shall not arrive too late to deposit my offering into your hands and to be included in the number of those who have the honor and the glory of erecting a funerary monument to the memory of the man of good who devoted his whole existence to the happiness of Humanity, and who triumphed so completely in bringing hope and love to so many hearts. For this purpose, I charge my correspondent in Paris to deliver to you the sum of 50 francs.

Receive, etc.

A. M.

Port-Louis, July 1, 1869.

To the Mr. President of the Spiritist Society of Paris.

Sir, It is with a sentiment of painful surprise that we received your circular of April 1, 1869, informing us of the sudden death of our well-beloved master and venerated instructor, Mr. Allan Kardec.

The first impression, giving way to reflection, led us to ascertain that nothing is done uselessly in the world, and that everything must follow the law of progress.

Our well-beloved master long ago taught us to understand this, for he told us, by the epigraph of the Review: “Every effect has a cause; every intelligent effect has an intelligent cause; the power of the intelligent cause is in proportion to the magnitude of the effect.” His death, in the circumstances that preceded and followed it, will contribute, we are certain, to impose silence upon the slanderers, to surprise the ignorant, and to lead the laggards of the civilized world to study, see, understand, and progress. If we are well convinced of the solid principles of the doctrine that Mr. Allan Kardec implanted in our hearts and in our spirits, we must understand, better than others, that the transitory movement that is operating at this moment is the prelude of the new era that must regenerate the world in a near future; and all the great Spirits who emigrate now must be, in our opinion, the messiahs who will come to lead Humanity to its most beautiful transformation. What Spirit, better than that of Mr. Allan Kardec, will be able to take a more active part in this beautiful result? What man, during his corporeal existence, from 1869 onward consecrated himself to instructing in a more solid manner a greater number of brothers in humanitarian principles?

What conqueror on our globe, what poet, what author of a useful invention contributed, by the success of his conquests, by the charm of his poetry, or by the power of his invention, to make more persons happy on the Earth, in twelve years of continuous labors, than did Mr. Allan Kardec?

What man undertook, pursued, and completed a more progressive and more moralizing work than that bequeathed by Mr. Allan Kardec, making us understand by his example that one must always leave the door open, at any hour, in any epoch, to the transitory progress that tends toward relative perfection?

Today, for all of us, it is an absolute duty to welcome with zeal your fraternal appeal and to bring, from all points of the terrestrial globe, the frail contribution that, individually, is owed by every Spiritist brother to the center that is the crucible in which all Spiritist harmonies will come to be purified. I have the honor, etc.

Ch. L. L.

Saint-Aignan, September 16, 1869.

Gentlemen members of the committee of the General and Central Treasury of Spiritism, in Paris.

Gentlemen, The members of the Spiritist group of Saint-Aignan, near Rouen, after having taken knowledge of the statutes of the Joint-Stock Company of Spiritism, have the honor of congratulating the founders of an organization that definitively assures the stability of our principles in the future.

The Spiritists of Saint-Aignan are few in number and of little fortune, but they are among those who have gained most from the study of the Doctrine, for in it they found the strength to bear the often cruel trials of life, as well as the hope of conquering future happiness, through their patience and submission to the will of God. Having received much, they do not fear to give little, mindful that the widow’s mite is worth more before God than the prodigality of the rich; but, if their material resources are modest, even so they hope to contribute actively and effectively to the popularization of their beliefs, making their justice and their logic appreciated by those who surround them, transmitting to them the courage and the confidence they have drawn from them. Our modest subscription totals 27 francs.

Be pleased to accept, gentlemen, the assurance of our fraternal sympathy.

For all the members of the group.

J. Chevalier – President.

Weaver at Saint-Aignan, near Rouen (Seine-Inférieure).

Rouen, August 29, 1869.

To the gentlemen members of the committee of the General and Central Treasury of Spiritism, in Paris Gentlemen, The members of the Spiritist Society of Rouen, gathered in session on August 29, 1869 (Sunday), after having studied with the greatest care the extracts of the statutes of the Joint-Stock Company of Spiritism, published in the August number of the Spiritist Review, having recognized the utility of this organization and appreciating the stability that the Doctrine will gain as a consequence of the dispositions that assure it a legal and independent existence, decided the following: 1st – To send congratulations to the founding members of the new Society, whose devotion and disinterestedness they appreciate;

2nd – To approve the articles of the statutes concerning the manner of feeding the reserve fund and to adhere in the most absolute manner to the transfer made to the General Treasury of the 1,000 francs proceeding from the subscription of the Society of Rouen, for the progressive development of the principles of our consoling philosophy. The Society of Rouen must, before all else, provide for its existence; its means of action are limited, but each time that circumstances and resources permit it, it will give its material support and its moral assent to the dispositions taken by the Joint-Stock Company, to assure the vitality and the expansion of Spiritism in the future. (Extract from the register of the minutes of the session of August 29, 1869.)

(There follow the signatures of the principal members.)

[A. DESLIENS.]

[1] At the moment of going to press, we received from the Group of Montauban (Tarn-et-Garonne) a letter of adherence, of which we shall speak in our next number. [Le spiritisme dans la Bible: essai sur la psychologie des anciens … - Google books.]