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The Spiritist Review - Journal of Psychological Studies - 1863 > April > Spiritist dissertations > Be strict on yourself and helpful to others, 1st homily
Be strict on yourself and helpful to others, 1st homily
Parisian Society of Spiritist Studies, January 9th, 1863
Medium Mr. D’Ambel
This is the first time that I come to visit you my dear children. I wished I could have chosen another medium, more sympathetic to the feelings that I shared in my whole terrestrial life and more apt to help me with the religion but since St. Augustine had long ago taken over the medium whose brains would have been more useful to me and to whom I was attracted I address you through this one that served Mr. Jobard to introduce me to your philosophical society. Today it will then be very difficult to express what I want to say first given the difficulty in manipulating the mediumistic material first considering that I am not much used to that and second because I must have my ideas flowing through a mind that do not admit them. Having said that let us move on to the subject.
A witty hunchback from antiquity used to say that men of his time carried a two-face backpack; the rear part carried one’s defects and imperfections while the front received all the imperfections of others. That is what the Gospels would bring later on with the allegory of the “speck in the brother’s eye”. My God, my children, it is about that that the faces of the backpack change place. It is up to the sincere Spiritists to operate such a change bringing to the front the bag that contains their own imperfections so that by having them continuously before their eyes they can correct them and having those of others on their back they no longer show envy or malevolence.
Ah! How worthy you shall then be of the professed doctrine, the one that will regenerate humanity, when the sincere followers will act with charity and no longer worry about the “speck” that bothers the eye of the neighbor and, on the contrary, take care of the “beam” that blinds their own eyes.
Ah! My dear children, that “beam” is formed by the layers of your own egotistic tendencies, your bad inclinations and your cumulated faults with which you have so far and like everyone else had too much paternal tolerance whereas most of the time you only show intolerance and severity with your brothers’ weaknesses.
I wanted so much to see you all freed from this moral disease that affects everybody, oh my dear Spiritists, inviting you with all my strength to follow the path that I indicate to you. I know well that many of your bad tendencies have already been modified but I still see a lot of softness and indecision in you towards the absolute good, that the distance that keeps you apart from the sinners and materialists is not long enough to keep you away from the torrents that can still drag you back. Ah! You still have a tough phase to achieve the heights of the saint and reassuring doctrine that my brothers the Spirits have revealed to you for several years.
The militant life that I have just left, praise the Lord, I saw so many lies be taken as truth; so many vices be raised as virtues that I feel happy for having left behind an environment where sadness and moral miseries were almost always covered in the mantle of hypocrisy. I must congratulate you for not allowing the followers of that insidious hypocrisy to join your ranks.
My friends, never allow yourselves to be fooled by golden words. See and observe that actions before you open your doors to those who request such an honor because many false brothers will try to mingle with you so that they can bring disturbance and subtly spread division.
My conscience commands me to enlighten you and I do so with the sincerity of my heart not worrying about anyone else. You are warned. From now on you must act coherently.
To being as I started I beg you, my beloved children, to take care of yourselves seriously; to eliminate all impurities that must still be eating your hearts; to gradually reform yourself but without interruption and according to the sound Spiritist moral; finally, to be as strict with yourselves as you must be indulgent with the weaknesses of your brothers.
If this first homily lacks something regarding the form it is only due to my inexperience with mediumship. I will do better the next time I am allowed to communicate with you taking the opportunity to thank my friend Jobard for having sponsored me.
Good bye my children, I bless you.
François-Nicolas-Madeleine
Medium Mr. D’Ambel
This is the first time that I come to visit you my dear children. I wished I could have chosen another medium, more sympathetic to the feelings that I shared in my whole terrestrial life and more apt to help me with the religion but since St. Augustine had long ago taken over the medium whose brains would have been more useful to me and to whom I was attracted I address you through this one that served Mr. Jobard to introduce me to your philosophical society. Today it will then be very difficult to express what I want to say first given the difficulty in manipulating the mediumistic material first considering that I am not much used to that and second because I must have my ideas flowing through a mind that do not admit them. Having said that let us move on to the subject.
A witty hunchback from antiquity used to say that men of his time carried a two-face backpack; the rear part carried one’s defects and imperfections while the front received all the imperfections of others. That is what the Gospels would bring later on with the allegory of the “speck in the brother’s eye”. My God, my children, it is about that that the faces of the backpack change place. It is up to the sincere Spiritists to operate such a change bringing to the front the bag that contains their own imperfections so that by having them continuously before their eyes they can correct them and having those of others on their back they no longer show envy or malevolence.
Ah! How worthy you shall then be of the professed doctrine, the one that will regenerate humanity, when the sincere followers will act with charity and no longer worry about the “speck” that bothers the eye of the neighbor and, on the contrary, take care of the “beam” that blinds their own eyes.
Ah! My dear children, that “beam” is formed by the layers of your own egotistic tendencies, your bad inclinations and your cumulated faults with which you have so far and like everyone else had too much paternal tolerance whereas most of the time you only show intolerance and severity with your brothers’ weaknesses.
I wanted so much to see you all freed from this moral disease that affects everybody, oh my dear Spiritists, inviting you with all my strength to follow the path that I indicate to you. I know well that many of your bad tendencies have already been modified but I still see a lot of softness and indecision in you towards the absolute good, that the distance that keeps you apart from the sinners and materialists is not long enough to keep you away from the torrents that can still drag you back. Ah! You still have a tough phase to achieve the heights of the saint and reassuring doctrine that my brothers the Spirits have revealed to you for several years.
The militant life that I have just left, praise the Lord, I saw so many lies be taken as truth; so many vices be raised as virtues that I feel happy for having left behind an environment where sadness and moral miseries were almost always covered in the mantle of hypocrisy. I must congratulate you for not allowing the followers of that insidious hypocrisy to join your ranks.
My friends, never allow yourselves to be fooled by golden words. See and observe that actions before you open your doors to those who request such an honor because many false brothers will try to mingle with you so that they can bring disturbance and subtly spread division.
My conscience commands me to enlighten you and I do so with the sincerity of my heart not worrying about anyone else. You are warned. From now on you must act coherently.
To being as I started I beg you, my beloved children, to take care of yourselves seriously; to eliminate all impurities that must still be eating your hearts; to gradually reform yourself but without interruption and according to the sound Spiritist moral; finally, to be as strict with yourselves as you must be indulgent with the weaknesses of your brothers.
If this first homily lacks something regarding the form it is only due to my inexperience with mediumship. I will do better the next time I am allowed to communicate with you taking the opportunity to thank my friend Jobard for having sponsored me.
Good bye my children, I bless you.
François-Nicolas-Madeleine