Respect due to past beliefsParis, group Delanne, February 4
th, 1867 – medium Mr. Morin
“Blind faith is the worst of all principles! To believe with fervor in any dogma, when sound reason refuses to accept it as a truth, is to make an act of nullity and to voluntarily deprive oneself of the most beautiful of all gifts that the Creator has given us; it is to renounce the freedom of judgement, the free will that must rule over all things in the measure of justice and reason.
Generally, men are carefree and believe in a religion only for the sake of conscience, and not to entirely reject those good and sweet prayers that rocked their youth, and that their mother taught them at home, at the sleeping hours of the night; but if this memory sometimes presents itself to their mind, it is most often with a feeling of regret that they return to this past, where the worries of the mature age were still buried in the night of the future.
Yes, every man regrets this carefree age, and very few can think of their younger years! ... But what remains an instant later? ... - Nothing! ...
I began by saying that blind faith was pernicious; but we should not always reject as fundamentally bad everything that seems tainted by abuse, made up of errors, and above all, invented at will for the glory of the proud and the benefit of those concerned.
Spiritists, you must know, better than anyone, that nothing is accomplished without the will of the Supreme Master; it is, therefore, up to you to think carefully before formulating your judgment. Men are your incarnate brethren, and it is possible that many of the works of ancient times were your own works in a previous existence. The Spiritists must, above all, be logical with their learning, and not throw stones at institutions and beliefs of another time, simply because they are of another age. To become what it is today, society has needed God to gradually shine light and knowledge onto it.
It is therefore not for you to judge whether the means employed by him were good or bad. Only accept what seems rational and logical to you; but do not forget that old things have had their youth, and that what you teach today will become old in turn. Respect, therefore, the old age! The old ones are your parents, as old things were the forerunners of new things. Nothing gets old, and if you fail this principle with respect to all that is venerable, you are failing in your duty, you are lying to the doctrine you profess.
The old beliefs have worked out the renovation that begins to take place! … All of them, in so far as they were not exclusively material, had a spark of truth. Regret the abuses that have crept into the philosophical teaching, but forgive the errors of another age, if you, in turn, want to be excused in the future. Do not give your faith to what seems bad to you, but neither should you believe that everything you are taught today is the absolute expression of truth. Believe that, in every age, God expands the horizon of knowledge, according to the intellectual development of mankind.
Lacordaire.”
