THE GOSPEL ACCORDING TO SPIRITISM

CHAPTER 6

CHRIST THE CONSOLER

The gentle yoke. The promised consoler. INSTRUCTIONS FROM THE SPIRITS: The advent of the Spirit of Truth.

1. Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke unto you, and learn of me, for l am meek and lowly in heart: and ye shall find rest unto your souls. For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light - (Matthew, 11: 28-30).

2. All sufferings such as miseries, deceptions, physical pain and loss of loved ones will find consolation from faith in the future and from confidence in God's justice, all of which Christ came to teach Man. On the other hand, for those who expect nothing after this life or who simply doubt, afflictions will seem heavier to them as they do not have any hope of mitigating their bitterness. This is what prompted Jesus to say: "Come unto me all who are fatigued and I will give you rest."

Meanwhile, the assistance and happiness promised to the afflicted depends on one condition, which is to be found in the Law He taught. His yoke is the observance of this Law, but the yoke is light and the Law gentle because it only imposes love and charity as its obligations.

3. If ye love me keep my commandments. And I will pray the Father and He shall give you another Comforter, that he may abide with you for ever. Even the Spirit of Truth; whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye shall know him; for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you. But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you (John, 14: 15-17 & 26).

4. In this passage from John, Jesus promises another consoler: the Spirit of Truth, which the world did not yet know because it was not sufficiently mature to be able to understand. This is the consoler sent by the Father to teach mankind all things and to call to mind all that Christ had said. Therefore, if this Spirit of Truth was to come at a later date to teach these additional matters, then it was because Christ had not told everything. If the Spirit of Truth was to come to remind us of what Christ had said that is because it had been forgotten or not properly understood.

Spiritism has come at the predicted time to fulfill Christ's promise. Presided over by the Spirit of Truth, it calls Man to observe the law and reveals all manner of things so making understandable what Jesus had said only in parable form. Christ himself had given the warning: "Listen all those who have ears to hear." Spiritism has come to open man's eyes and ears because it speaks without figuration or allegory, so lifting up the veil which had been intentionally cast upon certain mysteries. Finally, then, it has come to bring supreme consolation to the disinherited of this Earth and to all who suffer by showing them the just cause of their suffering and the useful purpose of all pain.

Christ said: "Blessed are the afflicted for they shall be consoled." But how can anyone feel fortunate if they do not know why they suffer? Spiritism shows the cause of suffering to be in past existences and in the destiny of this planet, on which Man makes atonement for his past. It explains the object behind suffering by showing it as a salutary process which produces a cure and also as a means of purification, both of which guarantee future happiness. From this it is possible for Man to understand that he deserves all his sufferings and to believe that this is just. He also learns that his suffering and pain will help him to progress and so is able to accept it without complaining, just as a worker accepts the work which will guarantee his salary. Spiritism gives Man an unshakable faith in the future so that he is no longer troubled by this consuming doubt within his soul. He is also enabled to see things from on high, which makes the importance of his earthly vicissitudes disappear on the vast and splendid horizon which Spiritism sets before him. The prospect of the happiness which awaits therefore gives him patience, resignation and courage to continue to the end of his path.

In this manner Spiritism realises what Jesus said of the promised Consoler, by bringing knowledge of those things which allow Man to know where he came from, where he is going and why he is on Earth; so attracting mankind towards the true principles of God's law and offering consolation through faith and hope.

THE ADVENT OF THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH

5. I have come, as I came on another occasion to those misguided sons and daughters of Israel, to bring the truth and to dissipate the darkness. Harken unto me! As my words in the past have done, so must Spiritism remind the incredulous that above them reigns the immutable truth which is the existence of the good God, the great God, who causes the plants to germinate and the waves to rise up. As a reaper, I have gathered in sheaves the scattered goodness in the breasts of humanity and said: "Come unto me, all you who suffer."

But Man with ungratefulness has moved away from the straight and wide path which leads to the Kingdom of my Father and has followed the bleak pathways of impiety. My Father does not wish to annihilate the human race; He wants the living and the dead, that is to say those who are dead according to the flesh because death does not exist, to assist each other mutually and listen no more to the voice of the prophets and apostles, but listen instead to those who no longer live upon Earth and who proclaim: "Pray and believe! Death is the resurrection and life is an ordeal you seek, during which the virtues you have cultivated will grow and develop, even as the cedar tree."

Those of you who are weak and know the obscurity of your own minds, do not deviate from the beacon which divine clemency has put into your hands so as to enlighten your pathway and reconduct you, who are lost children, once again to the bosom of the Father.

I am too much overcome with compassion for your miseries and by your immense weakness not to extend a helping hand to all those unhappily misguided who, while looking up to Heaven, fall into the pit of error. Believe, love, and meditate on these things which are revealed unto you. Do not mix the chaff with the good seed, nor the Utopias with the truth.

Spiritists! Love one another, that is the first precept; educate yourselves is the second. Within Christianity you will find all the truths. The errors in which Man has become enrooted are all of human origin. Here from beyond the grave, where you thought there was nothing, voices clamour: "Brothers and sisters! Nothing perishes! Jesus Christ is the victor over all evil, you can be the victors over impiety." - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Paris, 1860).

6. I have come to instruct and console the poor disinherited. I have come to tell them to raise up their resignation to the level of their trials, and to weep, since pain was consecrated in the Garden of Olives. But wait with patience, for the consoling angels will also come to them and dry their tears.

Workers, plan your path! Recommence the following day the wearisome labour of the previous day. The work done by your hands furnishes the body with earthly bread; however, your souls are not forgotten. I, the divine Gardener, cultivate them in the silence of your thoughts. When the time comes for repose and the thread of life slips through your fingers and your eyes are closed to the light, you will feel the surging within and the germination of My precious seed. Nothing is lost in the Kingdom of our Father. Your sweat and miseries form the treasure that will make you rich in the superior spheres, where light substitutes the darkness and where the most naked of you will perhaps become the most resplendent.


In truth I say unto you that those who bear their burdens and help their brothers and sisters are beloved by Me. Instruct yourselves in the precious doctrine which dissipates the error of revolt and shows the sublime object of human trials. As the wind sweeps the dust, so the breeze of the Spirits dissipates your resentment against the riches of the world, which are frequently very pitiable, since they are subject to more dangerous trials than yours. I am with you and My apostle will instruct you. So, you who are kept captive by life, drink from the living spring of love and be prepared to one day launch yourselves, free and happy, upon the bosom of He Who created you weak so that you might become perfect; Who desires that you model your own pliable clay in order to be the author of your own immortality. - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Paris, 1861).

7. I am the great Physician of souls and I have come to bring you the remedy that will cure. The weak, the suffering and the sick are My favourite children and lam come to save them. Come then unto me, you who suffer and find yourselves oppressed and you will be alleviated and consoled. Do not search for strength and consolation elsewhere as the world is impotent to offer them. God directs a supreme appeal to your hearts by means of Spiritism. Listen to Him. Eradicate impiety, lies, error and incredulity from your aching souls. They are like monsters who suck the purest of your blood and open wounds which are almost always mortal. Thus in the future when you have become humble and submissive to the Creator, you will keep His divine law. Love, pray, be gentle to the Spirits of the Lord, and call unto them from the bottom of your hearts. Then He will send His beloved son to instruct you and to say these goodly words: "I am come because you called me." - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Bordeaux, 1861).

8. God consoles the humble and gives strength to the afflicted when they ask. His might covers the Earth and in every place, with each tear shed, He places a consoling remedy. Abnegation and resignation are a continuous prayer and contain profound teaching. Human wisdom resides in these two words. Would that all suffering Spirits could understand this truth, instead of clamouring against their pain and moral sufferings which it behoves them to partake. So, take these words for your motto: devotion and abnegation - and you will be strong as they resume all the obligations which charity and humility impose. The sentiment of fulfilled duty will give repose and resignation to your Spirit. Then your heart will beat more steadily, your soul become more tranquil and your body be protected against despondency. This is why the body feels that much weaker according to how profoundly the Spirit is stricken. - THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH (Havre, 1863).