The mission of the Spiritists
4. Do you not already hear the noise of the tempest which will sweep away the old world and destroy all the iniquities of this planet? Ah, praise the Lord, all those who have put their faith in His sovereign justice and who, as new apostles of the belief revealed by the superior prophetical voices, go forth to preach the new doctrine of reincarnation and the elevation of Spirits according to whether they have fulfilled their missions and supported their terrestrial trials well or badly.
Do not be afraid! The tongues of fire are above your heads. Oh, true adepts of Spiritism . . . you are God's chosen ones! Go forth and preach the Divine Word. The time has come when you should sacrifice your habits, your work, and your futile occupations to its dissemination. Go forth and preach! The elevated Spirits are with you. You will most certainly speak to those who do not wish to hear the Voice of God, because this Voice calls them unceasingly to abnegation. You will preach disinterestedness to those who are avaricious, abstinence to the dissolute, gentleness to domestic tyrants and despots! Lost words, I know, but it does not matter. It is necessary that you irrigate the land to be sown with the sweat of your labour, seeing that it will not come to fruit nor produce except under the repeated blows of the evangelical hoe and plough. Go forth and preach!
To all of you, men and women of good faith who are conscious of your inferiority before the many worlds scattered in infinite space! . . . Launch yourselves into the crusade against injustice and iniquity. Go forth and ostracize the worship of the golden calf, which spreads more and more each day. Go forth; God guides you! Simple and ignorant humanity, your tongues will be freed and you will speak as no orator speaks. Go forth then and preach, for those of the population who are heedful will happily take in your words of consolation, fraternity, hope and peace.
What matter the ambushes rigged against you along the pathway! Only wolves fall into wolf traps, since the Shepherd will know how to defend His sheep from the sacrificial butchers.
Go forth those who, great before God and more blessed than Saint Thomas, believe without demanding to see and accept the fact of mediumship even when they have not managed to obtain it for themselves. Go then, for the Spirit of God is guiding you.
March forward, magnificent phalanx of faith! Before you the great battalions of unbelievers will dissipate, as does the morning dew at the first rays of the sun.
Jesus said that faith is the virtue which moves mountains. However, heavier that the greatest mountain are the impurities and all the vices which are derived from them, which lie deposited in the hearts of men. So then, depart full of courage to remove this mountain of iniquities which future generations should only know as legend, in the same way that you know only very imperfectly of the times which preceded pagan civilization.
Moral and philosophical upheavals will be produced at all points of the globe; the hour approaches when the divine light will spread itself over both worlds.
Go, and bring forth the divine word: to the big ones who will deride it, to the sages who will ask for its proves, and to the little and simple ones who will finally accept it, because it is between the martyrs of the duty, this earthly atonement, that you shall find the fervour and the faith. Go; these ones will receive your consolations with grace loans, singing to the praise of God, and will bend down, thankful for their earthly miseries.
Be your phalanx armed with resolution and courage. To work! Plough is ready; the earth is waiting; it is time to work.
Go, and thank God for the glourious tasks he trusts you. Imagine but that, between the called ones to the Spiritism, many shall lose themselves. Observe then your route, and follow the path of truth.
Q. If many called to Spiritism shall lose themselves, how can we recognize the ones who are in the good path?
A. You will recognize them by the principles of true charity they profess and put into practice; you will recognize them in the number of afflicteds whom they will bring consolations; you will recognize them by their love to the neighbour; by their abnegation, their personal disinterest; you will, finally, recognize them by the triumph of their principles, for God wants the triumph of his law. Those who follow his law are his chosen, and he will give them the victory, but will shatter those who distort the spirit of the law and make a mere means of it, so as to satisfy their vanity and ambition.
Erastus, guardian angel of the medium.
Paris, 1863.
