Spiritist Society of Constantine
Notice: We speak of the society that was formed in Constantine with the title African Society of Spiritist Studies under the auspices of the Parisian Society. We transcribe below a communication that was received at that Society when it was established:
“Although the works carried out by you up until now are not exempt of criticism, we do not wish to go over that given your heartfelt good will. We take intention into account before facts. Before anything else you must be aware of the greatness of the task here initiated and do your utmost to successfully achieve the results. That is the condition to have you assisted by superior Spirits.”
“Let us look into some points of the matter and see if you have not done any wrong. To begin with you made the great mistake of utilizing all of your mediums in the private communications. What is the general evocation if not an appeal to the good Spirits to communicate with you? Then, what you do? Instead of waiting after the general evocation, giving the good Spirits time to communicate through this or that medium according to the sympathies that might exist, you immediately move on to the private evocations. You must realize that this is not a good way of receiving spontaneous evocations as it is done in other societies. Thus, wait for some time and collect the general communications that will always teach you some needed truths. You can then pass on to the private evocations. In that case you must employ one medium only. Do not you know that only the superior Spirits may communicate through multiple mediums? You must not allow more than one medium for each private communication and if in doubt with respect to the truthfulness of the given answers then on another day you may employ another medium. You are just at the beginning of the Spiritist Science and you cannot harvest all the fruits given to the experimented followers. You should not, however, feel discouraged for your efforts to improve and propagate the immutable truth of God will be taken into account.”
“Hence, my friends, go on and may the ridicule that you will face more than once in your path not veer you off from the straight-line of the Spiritist belief.”
Jacques
The Spiritists of Constantine requested our intervention to ask Saint Augustine for his sponsorship of their Society. He gave us the following communication about it:
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, June 27th, 1862 – medium Mr. E. Vézy First addressing the members of the Parisian Society he said:
“Our children from the New France did well in associating with you. They did well by not separating from the trunk. Be always united and the good Spirits will be with you.”
He then continues, now addressing those of Constantine:
“Friends, I feel happy for having been chosen to be your spiritual guide. Since I am connected to Earth through the great mission of its regeneration, I am pleased to be able to give you encouragement and even more so to a group of thinkers who are involved with the great idea and for being able to preside over your works. Thus, have my name in front of yours and the Spirits of my order will come to keep away those other Spirits who always surround assemblies that discuss moral laws and laws of progress.”
“May fraternity and concord be with you! Remember that all men are brothers and that the great objective of Spiritism is to have them one day united at the same home and have them seating at the table with the same father: God.”
“That is such a beautiful mission! It is a great joy to come to you to let you know about the divine designs! To reveal to you the wonders from beyond the grave! But you that are already initiated in these sublime truths spread the seed around you and your reward will be great. You shall enjoy its premises on Earth. What a joy! March on, always on the path of enlightenment, love and charity.”
“Pronounce my name with confidence at times of fear or doubt. Your hearts will soon be relieved from the pain and bitterness that it might contain. Do not forget that I will be with you anywhere you go on Earth to spread the evangelical apostolate. I will keep you all in my soul so that one day I can transfer you to a greater and stronger one. I will always be with you as I am here now. My voice will carry the sweetness that you will recognize for I do not like the screams or the acute sounds. You will always hear me saying: Love one another! Spare me the need for the whip that must hit the evil one. Although this may sometimes be needed may you never count among those! There will be a time when humanity will kindly march under the command of the good shepherd. It you, children, the ones who must help us in that regeneration and who must listen to the first call for here is the gathering herd and here is the shepherd.”
OBSERVATION: The spirit refers to a revelation of great importance made for the first time in a Spiritist group of a small African town in the middle of the desert, through a completely illiterate medium. The revelation that was transmitted to us immediately came from multiple places in France and abroad. Since then numerous very characteristic and detailed documents came to give it a kind of consecration. We will make it public in due course.
“Hence you must work and have courage. Discuss the matters in your meetings without emotions. Ask for our advice, our opinion, so that you do not make mistakes, or conclude heretic things. Above all do not make it an article of faith or a dogma. Keep in mind that God’s religion is the religion of the heart; that it is founded on one principle only that is charity and its development is based on the love of humanity. Never cut a single branch of the tree. It is stronger with all its branches and these branches perish when separated from the original trunk.”
“Keep in mind that Jesus wanted his church to be based on a stone in order to be solid in the same way that he commands that Spiritism must have one root only so that it may be stronger spread on the whole surface of the soil however arid and dry it may be.”
“An incarnate spirit was chosen to drive you, to guide you. Obey him with respect; not for his laws as they do not command you, but his wishes. Through your submission you will demonstrate to your enemies that you are disciplined enough to take part in the new crusade against the error and superstition, the necessary spirit of love and obedience to march against barbarism.”
“Be then surrounded by this modern flag: Spiritism under one chief only and you will destroy these ideas of horny heads and long tails that must disappear. I will not tell you the name of that chief. He moves on and shows no fear before the bites of the serpents and the reptiles of envy and jealousy around him. He shall stand up for we have blessed him so that he will be always strong and robust. Follow him then. Storms shall fall upon your heads and some of you will not find refuge or shelter. These must show resignation like the Christian martyrs and understand that life and the awakening of dormant nations is the great work that claims their suffering, and that one day they shall be rewarded in the kingdom of our Father.”
Saint Augustine
The following passage was extracted from a recent letter sent to us by the President of the Constantine Society:
“We are all concerned, Europeans and Indigenous peoples alike. Several groups are formed around us and people get involved with Spiritism everywhere. The creation of our Society will at least have the merit of having drawn the attention to this new science. We still face some embarrassment but we are sustained by the Spirits to urge us to be patient, telling us that these are atonements that will result in victory of the society at up to a certain extent it will come out strengthened. We also face external opposition. The Church on one side and the Mosque on the other, claiming that we are under the influence of Satan and that our communications come from hell. We also have the mockers against us, given to sensuality and careless about their own fate, materialists or skeptical who reject everything related to this new life whose existence they deny. They keep their eyes and ears shut, calling us charlatans, trying to silence us by force or ridicule. We, nevertheless, proceed through the thorns. We do not lack very interesting mediums that daily come to us. We receive communications of multiple kinds and unforeseen incidents capable of convincing the fiercest unbeliever like an answer given in Italian by a person who ignores that language; answers to questions about the formation of Earth by a lady medium who did not study geology. Another group received messages with charming poetry.”
OBSERVATION: As seen the Muslim priests also brought the devil to the picture. It is remarkable that the priests of all denominations give him such a power that we can hardly know which part they attribute to God or how they understand God’s omnipotence. If it is absolute than the devil could not act without God’s permission; if it is partial then God is not God. Fortunately we have more faith in the infinite benevolence of God than His infinite vengeance and the devil became much discredited after having being taken to all theaters to play a role from comedy to opera. Thus the word devil today does not have more effect upon people than the images that the Chinese used to hand on the walls so as to send away the European barbarians. The unstoppable progress of Spiritism demonstrates the inefficacy of such means. One needs to find another one.
