The Revue Spirite of 1861

Part 11

We continue in this issue the study of the Revue Spirite of 1861, a monthly newspaper focused on the divulgation of Spiritism, founded and directed by Allan Kardec. This study is based on the translation into the Portuguese language made by Julio Abreu Filho and published by EDICEL. The answers to the proposed issues are at the end of the text for reading.

Issues for discussion

A. What is the relation, according to Kardec, that exists between Spiritism and Christianity?

B. When we return to the spiritual world, what will we be asked?

C. Do people, who are born with mental retardation, like the cretins, see what is going on next to them?

Text for reading

187. Mentioning the opponents of Spiritism, Kardec said: "Seeing the moral benefits it provides, the consolations it gives, the crimes it has already prevented, one wonders: who has an interest in fighting it?" (P. 315)

188. And he himself answered: the unbelievers, the ignorant and those who have material interests to defend. (P. 315)

189. The third category of opponents is more dangerous, because it is tenacious and perfidious: to defend interests that may be impaired, they fight in the shade, and they do not lack arrows poisoned by slander. (P. 315)

190. Kardec then proposed to them to continue to preach through examples and to make Spiritism understood with its salutary consequences, and the unbelievers themselves would be forced to speak of it with respect. (P. 316)

191. Christianity, in its emergence, had to fight against a terrible power: Paganism. Spiritism has nothing to destroy, because it bases its foundations on Christianity itself and on the Gospel, of which it is simple application. (P. 316)

192. Is the morality it teaches good or bad? Is it subversive? That is the question. Now, since it is the morality of the Gospel developed and applied, to condemn it would be to condemn the Gospel. (P. 317)

193. Spiritism is far from antagonism and it is the most powerful help towards religion, because it prevents many suicides, returns peace and concord to many families, appeases violent and angry men, gives resignation and consolation to those who did not have them, and brings back to God those who did not recognize Him. (P. 317)

194. In a letter addressed to the Spiritists of Lyons, Erasto calls himself the propagandist of individual freedom, necessary to the development of the incarnated, and says that the equality proclaimed by Christ is the equality before the justice of God, that is, the right to rise in the hierarchy of the Spirits and to one day reach the worlds where perfect happiness reigns. (P. 320)

195. Equality before God is true equality, says Erastus. No one will ask us what we had on Earth, but how did we use what we had here. (P. 320)

196. Erastus further stated that if Christianity defended equality and egalitarian laws, Spiritism embraces fraternity and its laws, a great and lasting work, which future centuries will bless. (P. 321)

197. In the letter, Erasto suggests to the Lyonians Spiritists that they follow the example given by the Spiritists of Bordeaux. (P. 322)

198. He also advises to repel all Spirits who preach division and isolation. (P. 323)

199. Warning about the danger of fascination, Erastus repeated a classic piece of advice given by him in Paris: "It is better to repel ten truths momentarily than to admit one lie, one false theory." (Pages 323 and 324)

200. In a message given at the Spiritist Society of Paris, the Spirit of Eugene Scribe admitted that with the gifts received from God, he should have done better for Humanity in his last earthly existence. (Pages 325 and 326)

201. Pierre Jouty (Spirit) says that the cretins are punished on Earth for the misuse of powerful faculties. "Their soul," says Pierre "is imprisoned in a body and their powerless organs cannot express their thought. This moral and physical mutism is one of the cruelest earthly punishments"(P. 327)

202. They are morally in the same state as the lethargic, which see and hear what is going on around them, without being able to express it. Thus, to mock, insult, and to mistreat them, as it is done sometimes, is to increase their suffering. (PP 327 and 328)

203. A Spirit said in Lyons that jealousy is the companion of pride and envy. To envy the rich is, however, to ignore that he is only an agent of God: if he makes bad use of his fortune, he will have to give Him an accurate account of them. (P. 330)

204. Also in Lyon, a beautiful message about charity was received. "Charity, my friends, is done in many ways. You can do it by thought, words and deeds, "said the Spirit, who unfolded his idea. (P. 331)

205. Concluding the message, its author says: "I give you this maxim of Christ: Love one another. Practice this maxim; unite around this banner and you will receive happiness and consolation". (P. 332) (Continued on next issue.)

Answers to the proposed issues

A. What is the relation, according to Kardec, that exists between Spiritism and Christianity?

After proposing, in a text published in the Revue, that we Spiritists should preach the Doctrine by example, Kardec says that Spiritism is based on Christianity itself and on the Gospel, of which it is a simple application. (Revue Spirite, 1861, pages 316 and 317).

B. When we return to the spiritual world, what will we be asked?

Erastus says that nobody will ask us what we had on Earth, but the use we made of what we had here. (Ibid, page 320).

C. Do people, who are born with mental retardation, like the cretins, see what is going on next to them?

Yes. Their souls are imprisoned in bodies whose powerless organs cannot express their thought. Such people are morally in the same state as the lethargic which see and hear what is going on around them, without being able to express it. Thus, to mock, to insult and to mistreat them, as sometimes is done, is to increase their suffering. (Ibid, pages 327 and 328).