THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM

Allan Kardec

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HUMAN AND DIVINE FAITH


12. In Man, faith is the inherent sentiment of his future destiny; it is the consciousness he has of the immense faculties implanted in his inner-self, a source in latent state, which it is his duty to make blossom forth and grow by the action of his will.

Till today faith has only been understood in its religious sense because Christ exalted it as a powerful lever, and because He has been seen only as the Head of a religion. However, Christ, Who performed material miracles, showed us through these same miracles what Man can do when he has faith, that is to say, the will to desire and the certainty that this wish maybe achieved.

Did not the apostles also perform miracles by following ~ example? Moreover, what were these miracles if not natural effects whose causes were not understood at that time, but which can be explained in great part today, and which by the study of Spiritism and magnetism will become totally comprehensible?

Faith is either human or divine, according to how Man applies his faculties, to the satisfaction of terrestrial needs or to celestial and future aspirations. A man of genius who throws himself into the realisation of a great undertaking will triumph if he has faith, because he feels sure of succeeding and that he is bound to reach the end envisaged. This certainly puts an immense force at his disposal. A good man, believing in his celestial future, desiring to fill his existence with beautiful and noble actions in the certainty of the happiness which awaits him, draws on his faith for the necessary force and so accomplishes miracles of charity, devotion, and abnegation. Finally, there are no evil tendencies which cannot be combated by faith.

Magnetism is one of the greatest proofs of the power of faith when put into action. It is through faith that it cures and produces those singular phenomena in other times called miracles.

I repeat: faith is both human and divine. If all incarnates could be persuaded of the force which they carry within themselves, and if they wished to place their will at the service of this force, they would be capable of producing these so called miracles that are nothing more than the development of a human faculty. - A Protecting Spirit (Paris, 1863).

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