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There are two aspects to the Spiritist Doctrine. One aspect shows a revelation from the spiritual world;
the other shows a human discovery. With the first we have teachings that are universal, extra terrestrial and
identical both in its essential parts and in its general sense. The latter shows that a personal and human
confirmation continues to be made according to the rules of logic, experience and reason. The conviction
emerging from these two aspects is reinforced and becomes progressively more rigorous in direct proportion to
the increase in the number of communications received, thus multiplying and expanding the means for its
verification.
Until now we were only acquainted with individual systems, that is, private revelations; but today,
thousands of voices coming from the deceased make themselves heard. The invisible world is coming into
action, and among its agents, we find eminent Spirits allowing themselves to be recognized only through the
strength and the beauty of their teachings. The great geniuses of Space, moved by a divine impulse, come to
guide our thoughts to radiant summits 11 .
Isn’t this a vast and grandiose manifestation of Providence, never equaled in the past? The difference
of the means can only be compared to that of the results; let us compare.
The personal revelation is fallible. All human philosophical systems, all individual theories, whether
they come from Aristoteles, Tomas of Aquino, Kant, Descartes, Spinoza or from our contemporaries are
unavoidably influenced by the opinions, tendencies, prejudices, and sentiments of their revealers. They also
suffer influences regarding the conditions of time and place in which they are produced. Incidentally, the same
can be said of religious doctrines.
The Spirits’ revelation, however, being impersonal and universal, escapes the majority of these
influences, while supplying a greater number of probabilities, if not certainties. It cannot be suppressed or
tarnished. No man, no nation, no church has privilege over it. It challenges all inquisitions and produces itself
wherever one may least expect. The power of its manifestations has converted the most hostile oppositions,
illuminating them with the new ideas. These men, when moved deep within their souls by the supplications
and exhortations from their deceased relatives, spontaneously made themselves active instruments of its
publicity.
Phenomena analogous to that, which happened to St. Paul on the road to Damascus do no lack in
Spiritism, and have caused many to convert.
The Spirits have incited a great deal of mediums from all walks of life, from the bosom of all social
classes, from among the most diverse factions, and even from the depths of sanctuaries. Clergymen have
received instructions and propagated them either openly or under the veil of anonymity. 12
What has been done with most theories of Physics and Chemistry? Clearly, there exists little more than the laws of attraction and gravity and, still, they
may apply only to a section of the Universe.
Consequently, the method at hand is as follows:
1st) Observation of the facts;
2nd) Its generalization and investigation of the law;
3rd) The rational induction that goes beyond the fleeting and mutable phenomena and perceives the permanent cause that produces them.
11 See the communications published by Allan Kardec in The Spirits’ Book and in Heaven and Hell.
Spirit Teachings obtained by Stainton Moses.
We also indicate – Le Problème de l’Au-Delà (Conseils des Invisibles), Collection of messages published by General Amade. Leymarie, Paris,
1902; Sur le Chemin.., of Albert Pauchard and La Vie Continue de l’Ame, by A. Naschitz-Rousseau, a collection of messages of extreme interest
(Editions Jean Meyer, Paris, 1922).
12 See Rafael, Le Doute, Father Marchal, The Consoling Spirit.
Reverend Stainton Moses, Spirit Teachings.
Father Didon wrote (August 4, 1876), in his Lettres to Mlle. Th. V. (Plon-Nourrit, edit., Paris, 1902), pg. 34: “I believe in the influence the dead
and the saints mysteriously exert upon us. I live in profound communion with the invisibles, and feel the delights of the benefits received from such
secret companionship.
Mr. Alfred Benézech, an eminent preacher of the reformed church of France recently wrote to us (February of 1905) regarding the phenomena
observed by him:
“I feel that Spiritism can really become a positive religion, not one similar to those already revealed, but in the quality of a religion in accordance
with reasoning and Science. What a strange thing! In our epoch of materialism, in which the churches - appearing to be about to disorganize and
dissolve, the religious thought returns to us through the intellectuals, accompanied by the marvelous of ancient times. This marvelous - which I make a
distinction from miracle, since it is no more than a natural, superior and rare fact - will not continue to be at the service of an exclusive church, honored
with favors from the divinity. Rather, it will be a patrimony of Humanity, but without distinction of cults. How much greatness and morality is there not
in this?”
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