The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1862

The Hague envoy – medium M. le Baron de Kock

“The doctrine of reincarnation is an incontestable truth and if someone wants to only think of God’s love, wisdom and justice then one cannot admit any other doctrine. It is true that the following words are found in the sacred books: “Man will be rewarded for his works, after death”; But one does not pay enough attention to the endless quotes that tell you that it is completely unacceptable that modern man is punished for the mistakes and crimes of those who lived before Christ. I cannot go back to so many examples and demonstrations given by those who believe in reincarnation. You can do that yourself and the good Spirits will help you with that, and it will be a pleasant task for you. You can add this to the message I gave you and to those I will give you if God allows. Rest assured of God's love for humanity; God wants the happiness of His children but the only way for them to one day reach such supreme happiness is thoroughly in the successive reincarnations.


I already told you that what Kardec wrote about that fallen angels is the greatest truth. The majority of the Spirits that populate your world have always done so. If they are the same who return for so many centuries is that few have earned the reward promised by God.


Christ said: "This race will be destroyed, and soon the prophecy will be fulfilled". If you believe in a God of love and justice, how can we admit that a person who currently lives and even who has lived for eighteen centuries could be guilty of Christ’s death without admitting reincarnation? Yes, the feeling of love for God, the punishments and rewards of the future life, and the idea of reincarnation are innate in humans for centuries. Look into all stories, see the writings of the sages of antiquity, and you will be convinced that this doctrine has always been accepted by everyone who understood the righteousness of God. Now you understand the meaning of our Earth, and how the time has come for the prophecies of Christ to be fulfilled.


I am so sorry that you only find a few people that think like us. Your countrymen only think of greatness, money and name. They reject everything that can preclude bad passions. May that not withdraw your courage, though! Work for your own happiness and for the good of those who may renounce to their mistakes. Persevere on your work; always have God and Jesus in your thoughts and the heavenly beatitude will be your reward.


If the problem is examined without prejudiced, taking into account the existence of humankind in the several conditions of society and conciliate that existence with God’s love, wisdom and justice and every doubt with respect to reincarnation will disappear.


In fact, how can one reconcile that justice and love with a single existence where everyone is born in different social positions; where one is rich and great while the other is poor and miserable; where one enjoys good health while the other endures diseases of all sorts? Here joy and pleasure; sadness and pain elsewhere; a well-developed intelligence in some while it is just above the brute in others. How to believe in a God that is all love and who made beings condemned to idiotism and madness for life? Who allows children at the spring of their lives to be taken away from the kind warmth of their parents?


I even dare ask if one can attribute love, wisdom and justice to God before those individuals that are immersed in ignorance and barbarism when compared to the civilized nations where there is the rule of law and order and where art and sciences are cherished.


It is not enough to say: “That is how God has established things in His wisdom”. No, the wisdom of God that is love before anything else must become clear for the understanding of everyone. The dogma of reincarnation explains everything. That dogma given by God Himself cannot oppose the precepts found in the Sacred Scriptures. Far for that, the dogma explains the principles from which moral betterment and perfection stems out. The future revealed by Christ is in agreement with the infinite attributes of God. Jesus said: “All humans are not only children of God: they are also brothers and sisters of the same family”. Now, those expressions must be well understood.


Will a worldly father give to some children what is denied to others? Will he throw one of them into the abyss of misery while the other is cumulated with wealth, distinction and dignity? Besides, since the love of God is infinite it cannot be compared to that of a man for his children. Since the different positions of people have a cause and since that cause is based on the principle of love, wisdom, benevolence and justice of God then their only explanation must be found in the doctrine of reincarnation.


God created all Spirits equal, simple, innocent, without vices or virtues, but with the free-will of controlling their actions according to an instinct named conscience, an instinct that gives them the ability to distinguish between good and bad. Each spirit is destined to reach the highest perfection after God and Jesus. In order to achieve that the spirit must acquire the whole knowledge through the study of all sciences; be initiated in all truths and purify through the practice of all virtues. Well, since these superior qualities cannot be acquired in a single existence they all have to live several lives in order to acquire the multiple degrees of knowledge.


Human life is the school of the spiritual perfection in a series of tests. That is why the spirit must know all social conditions and do what it takes to carry out the divine will in all of them. Wealth and power as poverty and humbleness are tests; pain, idiotism, madness, etc. are punishments for some bad deed of a previous life. As with the free will, the individual may pass or fail the test to which one is submitted. In the first case the reward will not be long: it consists on a progression towards the spiritual perfecting. In the second case the spirit is punished through the reparation in a new life of a lost opportunity in the preceding existence from which the spirit was not able to take advantage. Before the incarnation the Spirits wander in the celestial spheres: the good ones enjoying happiness, the bad ones regretting, victimized by the pain of being abandoned by God. However, keeping the memory of the past allow the Spirits to remember their breaches of God’s laws and God allows them to choose their tests and conditions in a new existence, and that explains why we frequently find noble feelings and advanced understanding in the lower echelons of society while sometimes finding ignoble inclinations and brute Spirits in superior classes.


Can we speak of injustice when a person that has badly employed her life can repair her faults in a new existence and get to the final destination? Wouldn’t injustice be in the immediate condemnation and without a possible way back? The Bible speaks of eternal penalties but that should not really apply to a single life, so sad and short, that instant, that blink of an eye when compared to eternity.

Many people ask why God would have hidden this dogma for such a long time, a dogma whose knowledge is useful to our happiness. Would God have loved humanity less than in our time?


The love of God is for the whole eternity. In order to enlighten us He sent wise people, prophets and the Savior Jesus Christ. Isn’t that a proof of an infinite love? However, how has humanity received that love? Have they improved?


Jesus said: “I still have many things to say to you, but you cannot bear them now”⁹. If we take the Sacred Scriptures in their intellectual meaning we will find many citations that seem to indicate that the spirit must experience several lives before reaching the end. Besides, do not we find the same ideas about reincarnation in the works of old philosophers?


The world has progressed significantly in the material aspect, in sciences and social institutions but from a moral point of view it is still crawling behind. Humanity still ignores God’s law and no longer listen to Jesus’ words; that is why God gives them as a last resort and as a means of getting to know the principles of the eternal happiness the direct communication with the Spirits and the teaching of the principle of reincarnation, words that are plentiful of consolation and that illuminate the darkness of the dogmas of so many different religions.


Hands on! May the search be carried out with love and confidence! Read without prejudices; think of everything that God has done to humanity since the creation of the world and you will be confirmed in the faith that reincarnation is a sacred and divine truth.”


OBSERVATION: We did not have the honor of knowing Mr. Baron de Kock. This communication that agree with all principles of Spiritism is not the product of any personal influence.

I

Paintings are another art whose objective is to portray the most beautiful and elevated terrestrial scenery and eventually just imitate nature through the magic of truth. It is a boundless art, so to speak, particularly in your time. Art must not be just about personality in your days. It must be, if I can say so, the comprehension of everything that it has been in history, and the requirements of the local color, far from precluding the originality and personality of the artist, amplify their horizons, develop and purify the taste entailing the creation of interesting works to art itself and to those who want to see a fallen civilization and forgotten ideas in that art.


The so-called historical painting of your schools is not up to the demands of the century. I dare say that there is more future to the artist in their individual researches about art and history than in that avenue where some say I began to tread. There is only one thing that can save art in your time. It is a new impulse and a new school through an alliance between two said contrary principles – realism and idealism – that leads the youngsters to understand that if the masters were called so it is because they lived with nature and their powerful imagination invented where it was necessary to invent but obeyed when needed to obey.


To a large number of arts ignorant people dispositions frequently replace knowledge and observation. Thus, one can find all over persons of interesting imagination, even artists, but not painters. These shall be accounted for as very ingenious draftsmen in history. The speedily work and prompt realization of imagination are gradually acquired through the study and practice in a continuous effort, despite the fact that one may have the skills to paint fast. Art in your century, and I do not say that in every way, fortunately materializes alongside impressive efforts of renowned names of modern painting. Why such a trend? That is what I will show in the forthcoming communication.

II

To understand paintings, as I said in my last communication, one needs to successively go from practice to concept and from concept to practice. I have spent almost my entire life in Rome; when contemplating the works of the masters, I tried to capture the intimate connection, the relationships and harmony of the highest idealism and the true realism. I have rarely seen a masterpiece that meets these two principles; I saw the ideal and the sense of brevity next to a brutal truth and I said to myself: this is the work of a human mind; this is where thought and work meet, soul and body: the whole life. I witnessed the ideas and the views of the soft masters in their understanding, in their forms, their colors, their effects; the expression of their minds was uncertain, their movements banal and without greatness. It takes a long initiation to understand the secrets, the whims and sublimity of nature. It is not just the will of the painter; there is also the huge task of observation and the struggle in one’s mind and in the ongoing realization of art; at some point it must bring to

the work at the hand the instincts and the sens d things, in a word it is always the two main principles: soul and body.

Nicolas Poussin

“Time has come for the realization of what has been announced for the transformation of humanity. Fortunate the ones who have worked selflessly and without any other interest but charity in the land of the Lord! Their work shall be rewarded a hundred times more than expected. Fortunate the ones who have told their brothers: “Brothers, let us work together and let us unite our efforts so that when the master comes the work is done” for the master will tell you: “Come to me you good servants, you who muffled your envy and your disagreements to the benefit of the work!” Unfortunate are the ones, however, who have delayed the time of harvest for their quarrels since the storm will come and they shall be dragged in the turmoil! They will scream: “Grace! Grace!” but the Lord will say: “Why do you ask for grace since you had no pity on your brothers and sisters; since you refused to reach out to them; since instead of helping you smashed the weak? Why do you seek grace, you who sought your reward amidst the earthly joys and in the satisfaction of your pride? You have already gotten your reward as you wished. Ask no more. The heavenly rewards are for those who have not demanded them on Earth.”


Right now God carries out the census of the faithful servants and marks with his finger those who only have the appearance of dedication so that these do not steal the salary of the dedicated servants for God shall entrust the most difficult positions to those who do not retreat before their tasks in the great works of regeneration through Spiritism, and these words shall be accomplished: "But many who are first will be last; and the last, first in the Kingdom of Heavens!”

The Spirit of Truth

I come to you, poor ones lost in a slippery terrain whose inclination claims no more than a few steps to have you precipitated into the abyss. Like the good father I extend the charitable hand to spare you from danger. My greatest desire is to lead you to the paternal and divine shelter so that you can feel the love of God and work through the Christian faith and charity, through the peace and kind pleasures of a home. Like you, my dear children, I met joy and suffering and I know all the doubts in your minds and the struggles of your hearts. I will be just but strict and forearm you against your faults and show you the obstacles that can destroy you.


From up and above the celestial spheres that I dwell my eyes dive with satisfaction into your gatherings eagerly following your sacred instructions. However, while my soul rejoices on one side on another it experiences a bitter suffering when it still sees so much attachment to earthly things in your hearts. To the majority the sanctuary of your lessons is a theater of spectacles with the expectation of wonderful things from our side. We are not assigned with the task of showing you miracles but with that of working your hearts by opening long trenches to cast handfuls of divine seeds on them. We struggle incessantly to make them productive for we know that their roots must grow from one end to the other of Earth, covering its surface. The fruits that will be born from that shall be so beautiful, so pleasing and great that they shall reach heavens. Fortunate is the one who have harvested them and satiated for the blessed Spirits will come to them and crown their heads with the aura of the chosen ones walking them through the steps that lead to the majestic throne of the Eternal, inviting them to share the incomparable happiness, pleasures and endless joy of the celestial phalanx.


Unfortunate is the one who was given to see the light and hear the word of God and who have closed their eyes and shut their ears for the spirit of darkness will embrace them with its grim wings, taking them to the empire of darkness, making them atone their disobedience to the Lord for centuries through countless torments. It is time to apply prophet Hosea’s death sentence: “Coedam eos secundum auditionem coetus eorum”. May these words be like vapor spreading in the air but may them capture your attention and have you seriously meditating about them. Hurry up to dedicate the few moments that you still have to God. One day we will come to ask you what have you done with the lessons and how have you utilized the sacred doctrine of Spiritism.


Therefore, Spiritists of Paris, you who can do a lot given your personal position and your moral influence, you have the glory and the honor of giving the sublime example of the Christian virtues. Do not wait for misery to knock at your door. You must march ahead of your suffering brothers; give the poor the alms of the day; dry the tears of the orphan and the widow with kind and reassuring words. Lift the Spirits of the old person abated by the weight of the years and under the yoke of iniquities, bringing out of their souls the shiny and golden wings of hope in a better future life.


Spread love and consolation around you on your way. Raising your good deeds to the level of your thoughts you shall then honorably deserve the brilliant and glorious title that you are mentally attributed with by the Spirits of the country and from abroad whose eyes rest upon you, touched by admiration for the waves of light that escape from your gatherings, calling you the Sun of France.

Lacordaire

Finally, everyone shall come to work at the vineyard. I already see them coming in large numbers.
Hands on my children! God wants all of you at work.


Sow, sow and one day you will reap abundantly. See the beautiful, dazzling and radiant Sun rising in the East! It comes to warm you up and allow the fruits of the vineyard to grow. Go on, children! The vintages shall be magnificent and each one will drink the chalice of the sacred wine of regeneration. It is the Lord’s wine to be served at the banquet of the universal fraternity! All nations will gather there in a single family, singing hosannas to only one God. Take on your plows and sickles, you who want to live forever. Tie up the grapevine cords; make sure they are upright and their tips will reach heavens. There will be some who will produce a hundred cubits, and the Spirits from the ethereal worlds will come to squeeze the fruits and refresh themselves; the juice will be so powerful that it will give strength and courage to the weak; it will be the nourishing milk to feed the little ones. That is the vintage that is in preparation; it is already done; the vessels that must contain the sacred liquor are being prepared. Approach your lips, you who want to taste because this liquor intoxicate you with heavenly intoxication, and you will see God in your dreams, until reality succeeds dream. Children! Spiritism is the splendid vine that must rise to God. Eager followers, you must show it powerful and strong, and you, little ones, it is necessary that you help the strong ones to propagate it! Cut the buds and plant them in another field; they will produce new vines and other buds in all countries of the world. Yes, I tell you, everyone will drink the juice from the vine in the Kingdom of Christ with our heavenly Father! Hence, be strong and ready and do not live a life of austerity. God does not demand that you live in austerities and deprivation; God does not ask you to be covered in cilice; God wants everybody to feel the warmth of His Sun and if some beams are colder than others it is to have his power and strength understood by all. No, do not cover yourself with cilice; do not mortify your flesh by the whip of discipline. One needs to be robust and powerful to work at the vineyard. One must sustain the God given vigor. God did not create humanity to transform it into an adulterated place; God created it with the manifestation of His glory and power.


You who wish to live the true life, you shall walk our Lord’s path when you have given bread to the unfortunate ones, the alms to misery and your prayers to God. Then, when your eyelids are definitely shut by death an angel of God will proclaim your deeds and carry your soul over to God on her white wings of charity, as pure and beautiful as the blossoming lily of the morning Spring day. Pray, love and do charity my brothers! The vineyard is large as is the field of the Lord. Come, come for God and Jesus call you and I bless you.

St. Augustine

“A man is in a life threatening situation. It is necessary to risk one’s life to save him. It is known that the person is a criminal and as such if saved he could commit new crimes. Despite all that should we risk ourselves to save him?”


The answer that follows was obtained by the medium Mr. A. Didier, at the Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, on February 7^th, 1862:


That is a very serious question that can be very naturally presented to the spirit. I will respond according to my own moral advancement since it is related to the issue of risking one’s life even for a wrongdoer.


Dedication is blind. One helps a personal enemy hence one must help an enemy of Society that is a criminal. Would you then believe that it is only death that we save him from? It could be his entire previous life. Think about this: In those rapid instants that steal the last minutes of his life the lost man sees his past life before his eyes. Death may come too soon for him and his reincarnation might be perhaps terrible. Go on, enlightened people by the Spiritist Science! Move on and subtract him from his doom and then, perhaps, that man who could die cursing you might embrace you. However, you must not ask if he will or will not do that. Just save him for by doing so you obey that voice from the heart that says: “You can save him; just do that!”

Lamennais

OBSERVATION: Out of an incredible coincidence some days ago we received the following communication from a Spiritist group in Le Havre, more or less dealing with the same subject. They tell us that after a conversation about the murderer of Dumollard, the spirit of Mrs. Elisabeth of France who have already given several messages, spontaneously dictated the following:


“True charity is one of the most sublime teachings that God has given the world. A complete fraternity must exist among the true disciples of his doctrine. You must love the miserable, the criminals as God’s creatures to whom forgiveness and mercy must be shown if they repent, like it has been done to yourselves for your faults against the law. Know this that you are more to blame than those to whom you deny forgiveness and commiseration for they frequently do not know God as you do and shall be less accountable than you. Do not judge. Oh! Do not judge my dear friends, for your judgment shall come back to you even more severely and you need indulgence to the sins that you do incessantly. Do not you know that there are many actions that are criminal to the eyes of God of purity and that are not even considered misdemeanor to the eyes of the world? True charity is not only the alms that you give, not even in the words of reassurance that follow. No. That is not the only thing that God expects from you. The sublime charity taught by Jesus Christ also consists on the benevolence towards your neighbor at all times and in all things. You can still exercise that sublime virtue towards many people that do not need alms but to whom your kind and consoling words will give courage and lead them to the Lord.

I also tell you this, the times when the great fraternity will reign in this globe are near. The law of Christ will rule the masses. He will be the only brake and the only hope and he will guide the souls to the dwellings of the blessings.


Hence, love one another as children of the same Father. Do not differentiate the other miserable ones for God wants all to be equal. Thus, you must neglect no one. God allows heartless criminals among you as a teaching. Soon, when the true laws of God govern the masses, there will no longer be the need for such teachings and all impure and revolted Spirits shall be spread out onto inferior worlds, according to their inclinations.


You own them the help of your prayers: that is true charity. One must not say of a criminal: “That is a ingrate; Earth must be cleansed of their presence; death that is imposed upon them is too kind a punishment to someone of that kind.” No. That is not how you should speak. Look at your model, Jesus. What did he say when he saw these type of individuals by his side? He was sorry for this very unfortunate person, reaching out to him. In reality you cannot do that but you can at least pray for that miserable person and assist their spirit over that time that they still have on Earth. Regret may touch their heart if you pray faithfully. He is your neighbor as much as the best of humanity. His strayed and disturbed soul was created like yours, to the image of a perfect God. Hence, pray for him. You must not be judgmental. Only God can.

Elisabeth of France