For sale: Imitation of the Gospel According to Spiritism[1]With the moral maxims of Jesus Christ, their agreement with Spiritism
and their application to the several situations of life
By Allan Kardec
With the following epigraph:
“
There is no unbreakable faith but the one that can face reason in all times of humanity.”
We abstain from providing any reflection about the book, with the exception of the below excerpt from its introduction that explains its objective.
“The subjects found in the Gospels may be divided in four parts: the common acts of Jesus’ life, the miracles, the predictions and the moral teaching.
[2] If the first was object of controversy the last one remained untouchable. Disbelief itself bends before that divine code: it is the terrain in which every doctrine can meet and the flagship that can accommodate every one, whatever their beliefs may be, for it has never been the subject of religious disputes, always and everywhere raised by issues of dogma.
As a matter of fact the sects would have found their own condemnation had they discussed them because in their majority they were more attached to the mystical than the moral part that requires the reformation of oneself. To mankind, in particular, it is a rule of behavior that embraces every circumstance of life, public or private, the principle of all social relationships based on a strict justice; it is finally and above all the infallible route to future happiness, the tip of the veil that is lifted about our future life. This is the part that constitutes the exclusive objective of this work.
“
Everybody admires the evangelical moral. Each one proclaims its sublimity and necessity but many do so based on what they heard or in their faith in some maxims that became proverbial but only a few know them with profundity and even less understand them and deduce their consequences.The reason for that is due a great deal to the difficulty in reading the Gospels, unintelligible to a large number of people. The allegorical style, the intentional mysticism of the language lead the majority to read it just to relief their consciences and out of duty as they read prayers without understanding them that is without benefit. The moral precepts that are spread here and there, mixed amongst the mass of other reports, go unnoticed. It is then impossible to retain the whole and turn it into the object of a separated reading and meditation.It is true that treaties of evangelical moral were written but the organization in moral literary style remove the primitive sincerity that at the same gives both its enchantment and authenticity. There are even detached maxims that are reduced to the simplest expression of proverb thus becoming not more than aphorisms that lose part of their value and interest in the absence of the accessories and circumstances in which they were given. To avoid such inconveniences we gathered in this book the verses that may form, in a way, a code of universal moral, without distinction of cult. In the citations we kept everything that could be useful to the development of the idea, eliminating nothing but was strange to the subject. In addition we scrupulously respected the original translation of Sacy,[3] as well as the division of verses.However, instead of keeping a chronological order that has no real advantage in such a matter we methodically grouped and classified the maxims according to their nature so that and as much as possible some are deduced from others. The reference of chapters and verses are provided if people want to resource to the common classification. All that was only a material effort that alone would have only a secondary utility. The essential was to bring them to the attention of everyone with the explanation of obscure passages and the development of all consequences aiming at their application to the several situations of life. That is what we tried to do with the help of the good Spirits that assist us.Many points of the Bible, of the Gospels and sacred authors in general are unintelligible and even seem irrational just because they lack the key to understand their true meaning. Such a key is entirely in Spiritism as found by those that have already studied it seriously and as it will be later on better acknowledged.Spiritism is found everywhere, in antiquity and in all periods of humanity. Its traces are inscribed everywhere, such as in beliefs and monuments. That is why if Spiritism opens up new horizons for the future it also casts a not less shiny light upon the mysteries of the past. As a complement to each precept we added some instructions chosen from those dictated by the Spirits in several countries and through several mediums. Had those instructions come out from a single source they could have suffered a personal influence or that of the environment whereas the diversity of origins demonstrates that the Spirits give their teachings everywhere and that nobody has the privilege of that.This work is to be used by all. Every person may find there the means of accommodating their behavior to the moral of Jesus Christ. In addition the Spiritists find there the applications that are more specially related to them. Thanks to the communications from now on established in a permanent way between mankind and the invisible world the evangelical law taught in all nations by the Spirits themselves will no longer be dead word because every person will understand it and will be necessarily called upon to practice it by the advice of their own spiritual guides. The instructions of the Spirits are truly the voices of heavens that come to enlighten mankind and invite us to imitate the Gospels.”
[1] A thick volume, in-12. Didier bookseller, Quai des Grands-Augustins; Ledoyen, Palais-Royal and at the office of the Spiritist Review. Price: 3.5 francs.
[2] Later on Mr. Allan Kardec modified the division into five parts, including the passages that served the Church for the establishment of its dogmas. (TN)
[3] Louis-Isaac Lemaistre de Sacy(29 March 1613 – 4 January 1684), a priest of Port-Royal, was a theologian and French humanist. He is best known for his translation of the Bible the most widespread
French Bible in the 18th century, also known as the Bible de Port-Royal (TN, Wikipedia)
