Societies of Anvers and Marseille
Antwerp, February 27th, 1864
Dear Master, we have the honor of letting you know about the society that we have just founded in Antwerp named Spiritist Circle Love and Charity. As you will see in the 2nd Article of the regulations we put ourselves under the sponsorship of the central society of Paris as under yours. We consequently declare to be associated to the Doctrine found in The Spirits’ Book and The Mediums’ Book. We are strongly committed to follow the path of the true Spiritists and want you to know that charity is the main objective of our meetings. Kindly consult with the spiritual president of your society to be fully convinced about our true feelings. However fragile our efforts may have been so far they were sincere and from that standpoint we are convinced that we are no strangers to him. We have the honor of attaching one of the letters obtained in our circle trough a speaking medium so that you can judge our tendencies, etc.
OBSERVATION: In fact the letter above was followed by an extensive communication that testifies about the good path followed by that society. In the same direction we also received another letter from the Spiritist Society of Marseille.
Marseille, March 21st, 1864
Mr. President, we are glad to let you know about the formation of our new society under the title Marseillaise Society of Spiritist Studies whose authorization has just been granted by Mr. Senator in charge of the administration of the Bouches-du-Rhone Department. Helped by your good advice, dear Master, we will do our best to follow the footstep of our Parisian brothers whose regulations were adopted by us for the organization of sessions. We place ourselves under the flagship of the Parisian Society and we also inscribe in our own flag: There is no salvation but through charity. Dr. C…, our President, will also have the honor of writing to you just after our inauguration. In the interest of the cause, dear Sir, we beg you to kindly give the publicity that you believe to be adequate about our Society so that the sincere followers can join us.
Sincerely, etc.
We have already said that the majority of the societies formed in France and abroad declare to be under the sponsorship of the Parisian Society. All letters that are sent to us about their formation have the same Spirit as the ones above. These spontaneous adhesions testify about the principles that prevail amongst the Spiritists and the Parisian Society cannot stay insensitive to so many signs of sympathy that demonstrate the serious intention of moving forward under the same flagship. That does not mean that others that have not made such an official declaration follow another orientation, far from that. The correspondence that they keep with us is a sufficient guarantee of their feelings and good direction of their studies. A very large number of meetings, in fact, do not have the organization of a society properly speaking and in their majority constitute only simple groups. Outside of societies and regular groups there are family gatherings that only accept family members and those are innumerable and multiply every day particularly in the higher classes.
