BOOK III. CHAP. VIII.

or among another one ; and all are thus enabled to profit by the ascen- sional movement of the various nations of the earth, from the benefits of which movement they are excluded by the theory which assumes that there is only a single life for each individual.
Another difficulty presented by the theory referred to may be con- veniently examined in this place. According to that theory, the soul is created at the same time as the body ; so that, as some men are more advanced than others, it follows that God creates for some men souls more advanced than the souls He creates for other men. But why this favouritism ? How can one man, who has lived no longer than another man, often not so long, have merited to be thus endowed with a soul of a quality superior to that of the soul which has been given to that other man ?
But the theory of the unity of existence presents a still graver diffi- culty. A nation, in the course of a thousand years, passes from bar- barism to civilisation. If all men lived a thousand years, we could understand that, in this period, they would have the time to progress ; but many die every day, at all ages, and the people of the earth are incessantly renewed, so that every day we see them appear and disap- pear. Thus, at the end of a thousand years, no trace remains in any country of those who were living in it a thousand years before. The nation, from the state of barbarism in which it was, hns become civi- lised— but what is it that has thus progressed? Is it the people who were formerly barbarian ? But they died long ago. Is it the new- comers? But if the soul is created at the same time with the body, it follows that their souls were not in existence during the period of bar- barism ; and we should therefore be compelled to admit that the efforts made to civilise a people have the power, net to work out the improvement of souls that are created i??iper/ect, but to make God create souls of a better quality than those which He created a thousand years before.
Let us compare this theory of progress with the one now given bv spirits. The souls that come into a nation in its period of civilisation have had their infancy, like all the others, but they have lived already, and have brought with them the advancement resulting from progress previously made ; they come into it, attracted by a state of things with which they are in sympathy, and which is suited to their present de- gree.of advancement, so that the effect of the efforts to civilise a people is not to cause the future creation of souls of a better quality, but to attract to that people souls that have already progressed, whether they have already lived among that people, or whether they have lived elsewhere. And the progress accomplished by each people, when thus explained, furnishes also the key to the progress of the human race in its entirety, by showing that when all the peoples of the earth shall have reached the same level of moral advancement, the earth will be the resort of good spirits only, who will live together in fraternal union, and all the bad spirits who now infest it, finding themselves out of place among the others, and repelled by them, will go away, and will seek in lower worlds the surroundings that suit them, until they have rendered themselves worthy of coming back into our transformed an-d happier world. The theory commonly received leads also to this other consequence, viz., that the labour of social amelioration is profitable only to present and future generations ; its result is null for the genera-
THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 307
tions of the past, who made the mistake of coming into the world too soon, and who have to get on as they can, weighted as they are through the faults of their barbarian epoch. According to the doctrine now set forth by spirits, the progress accomplished by later generations is equally beneficial to the generations that preceded them, and who, re-living upon the earth under improved conditions, are thus enabled to improve themselves in the focus of civilisation. (222.)
Civilisation.
790. Is civilisation a progress, or, according to some philosophers, a decadence, of the human race ?
" A progress, but incomplete. Mankind does not pass suddenly from infancy to the age of reason."
— Is it reasonable to condemn civilisation ?
" You should condemn those who misuse it, rather than condemn the work of God."
791. Will civilisation be eventually purified, so that the evils caused by it will disappear ?
" Yes, when man's moral nature shall be as fully developed as his intelligence. The fruit cannot come before the flower."
792. Why does not civilisation produce at once all the good it is capable of producing?
" Because men are not as yet either ready or disposed to obtain that good."
— May it not be also because in creating new wants it excites new passions ?
" Yes, and because all the faculties of a spirit do not pro- gress together ; everything takes time. You cannot expect perfect fruit from a civilisation that is still incomplete.,, (751-780.)
793. By what signs shall we know when a civilisation has reached its apogee ?
" You will know it by its moral development. You be- lieve yourselves to be considerably advanced, because you have made great discoveries and wonderful inventions, be- cause you are better lodged and better clothed than the savages ; but you will only have the right to call yourselves * civilised ' when you have banished from your society the
308 BOOK III. CHAP. VIII.
vices that dishonour it, and when you live among yourselves like brothers, practising Christian charity. Until then, you are merely enlightened nations, having traversed only the first phase of civilisation."
Civilisation has its degrees like everything else. An incomplete civilisation is a state of transition which engenders special evils unknown to the primitive state ; but it none the less constitutes a natural and necessary progress, which brings with it the remedy for the evils it occa- sions. In proportion as civilisation becomes perfected, it puts an end to the ills it has engendered, and these ills disappear altogether with the advance of moral progress.
Of two nations which have reached the summit of the social scale, that one may be called the most advanced in which is found the smallest amount of selfishness, cupidity, and pride ; in which the habits are more moral and intellectual than material ; in which intelligence can develop itself most freely ; in which there is the greatest amount of kindness, good faith, and reciprocal benevolence and generosity ; in which the prejudices of caste and of birth are the least rooted, for those prejudices are incompatible with the true love of the neighbour ; in which the laws sanction no privilege, and are the same for the lowest as for the highest ; in which justice is administered with the least amount of partiality ; in which the weak always finds support against the strong ; in which human life, beliefs, and opinions are most respected ; in which there is the smallest number of the poor and the unhappy ; and, finally, in which every man who is willing to work is always sure of the neces- saries of life.
Progress of Human Legislation.
794. Would the laws cf nature be sufficient for the regu- lation of human society, without the help of human laws ?
" If the laws of nature were properly understood, and if men were willing to practise them, they would be sufficient. But society has its exigencies, and requires the co-operation of special laws."
795. What is the cause of the instability of human laws? " In times of barbarism the laws were made by the
strongest, who framed them to their own advantage. It has therefore become necessary to modify them, as men have acquired a clearer comprehension of justice. Human laws will become more stable in proportion as they approach the standard of true justice ; that is to say, in proportion as they are made for all, and become identified with natural law."
THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 309
Civilisation has created for man new wants, and these wants are relative to the social state he has made for himself. He has found it necessary to regulate by human laws the rights and duties appertaining to this state ; but, influenced by his passions, he has often created rights and duties that are merely imaginary, that are contrary to natural law, and that eveiy nation effaces from its code in proportion as it pro- gresses. Natural law is immutable and the same for all ; human law is variable and progressive ; it alone could consecrate, in the infancy of human societies, the right of the strongest.
796. Is not the seventy of penal legislation a necessity in the present state of society?
u A depraved state of society requires severe laws, but your laws, unhappily, aim rather at punishing wrong-doing when done, than at drying-up the fountain-head of wrong- doing. It is only education that can reform mankind ; when that is done, you will no longer require laws of the same severity."
797. How can the reform of human laws be brought about ?
" It will be brought about by the force of things, and by the influence of the men of greater advancement who lead the world onward in the path of progress. It has already reformed many abuses, and it will reform many more. Wait I"
Influence of Spiritism on Progress.
798. Will spiritism become the general belief, or will its acceptance remain confined to the few ?
" It will certainly become the general belief, and will mark a new era in the history of the human race, because it belongs to the natural order of things, and because the time has come for it to be ranked among the branches of human knowledge. It will nevertheless have to withstand a good many violent attacks — attacks that will be prompted rather by interest than by conviction, for you must not lose sight of the fact that there are persons whose interest it is to combat this belief, some from self-conceit, others from worldly considerations ; but its opponents, finding them- selves in a decreasing minority, will at length be obliged to rally to the general opinion, on pain of rendering them- selves ridiculous."
3IO BOOK III. CHAP. VIII.
Ideas are only transformed in the long run, never suddenly. Errone- ous ideas become weakened in the course of successive generations, and finish by disappearing, little by little, with those who professed them, and who are replaced by other individuals imbued with new ideas, as is the case in regard to political principles. Look at paganism ; there is certainly no one, in our day, who professes the religious ideas of pagan times ; and yet, for several centuries after the advent of Christianity, they left traces that could only be effaced by the complete renovation of the races who held them. It will be the same with spiritism ; it will make considerable progress, but there will remain, during two or three generations, a leaven of incredulity that only time will be able to de- stroy. Nevertheless, its progress will be more rapid than that of Chris- tianity, because it is Christianity itself that opens the road for it, and furnishes its basis and support. Christianity had to destroy ; spiritism has only to build up.
799. In what way can spiritism contribute to progress?
" By destroying materialism, which is one of the sores of society, and thus making men understand where their true interest lies. The future life being no longer veiled by doubt, men will understand more clearly that they can insure the happiness of their future by their action in the present life. By destroying the prejudices of sects, castes, and colours, it teaches men the large solidarity that will, one day, unite them as brothers ."
800. Is it not to be feared that spiritism may fail to triumph over the carelessness of men and their attachment to material things ?
" To suppose that any cause could transform mankind as by enchantment would show a very superficial knowledge of human nature. Ideas are modified little by little, accord- ing to the differences of individual character, and several generations are needed for the complete effacing of old habits. The transformation of mankind can therefore only be effected in the course of time, gradually, and by the contagion of example. With each new generation, a part of the veil is melted away ; spiritism is come to dissipate it entirely. But, meantime, if it should do no more than cure a man of a single defect, it would have led him to take a step forward, and would thus have done him great good, for the taking of this first step will render all his subsequent steps easier. "
THE LAW OF PROGRESS. 3 1 1
80 1. Why have not spirits taught, from the earliest times, what they are teaching at the present day?
" You do not teach to children what you teach to adults, and you do not give to a new-born babe the food which he could not digest ; there is a time for all things. Spirits have taught many things that men have not understood or have perverted, but that they are now capable of under- standing aright. Through their teaching in the past, how- ever incomplete, they have prepared the ground to receive the seed which is now about to fructify. "
802. Since spiritism is to mark a progress on the part of the human race, why do not spirits hasten this progress by manifestations so general and so patent as to carry convic- tion to the most incredulous ?
t( You are always wanting miracles; but God sows miracles by handfuls under your feet, and yet you still have men who deny their existence. Did Christ Himself convince His contemporaries by the prodigies He accomplished? Do you not see men, at this day, denying the most evident of facts, though occurring under their very eyes? Have you not among you some who say that they would not believe, even though they saw ? No ; it is not by prodigies that God wills to bring men back to the truth ; He wills, in His goodness, to leave to them the merit of convincing them- selves through the exercise of their reason.''