The doctrine of moral responsibility is a consequence of the belief In a future life. Reason and our sense of justice tell us that, in the apportionment of the happiness to which all men aspire, the good and the wicked could not be confounded together. God could not will that some men should obtain, without effort, blessings Which others only obtain through persevering exertion.
Our conviction of the justice and goodness of God, as evidenced by the justice and goodness of His laws, forbids us to suppose that the good and the bad can occupy the same place in His sight, or to doubt that. sooner or later, the former will receive a reward, and the latter a chastisement, for the good and the evil they have done. And thus, from our Innate sense of justice, we derive our intuition of the rewards and punishments of the future.
Intervention of God in Rewards and Punishments.
963. Does God concern Himself personally about each man? Is He not too great, and are we not too small, for each individual to be of any importance in His sight?
"God concerns Himself about all the beings He has created, however small they may be; nothing is too minute for His goodness."
964. Has God to concern Himself about each of our actions in order to reward or to punish us?
"God's laws apply to all your actions. When a man violates one of those laws, God does not pronounce sentence on him by saying, for example, "You have been gluttonous; I shall punish you for it.’ But He has traced a limit to appetite. Maladies, and even death, are the consequence of overstepping that limit. Punishment, in all cases, is a result of the infraction of a law."
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK All our actions are subjected to the laws of God; and any wrong doing en our part, however unimportant It may seem to us, is a violation of those laws. When we undergo the consequences of such violation, we have only ourselves to thank for It; for we are the sole authors of our happiness or unhappiness, as Is shown in the following apologue: - "A father has educated and Instructed his child-that Is to say, he has given him the means of knowing how to guide himself in the affairs of life. He makes over to him a piece of land to cultivate, and says to him, 'I have given you the practical directions, and all the necessary implements, for rendering this land productive, and thereby gaining your living. I have given you all the instruction needed for understanding those directions. If you follow them, your land will yield abundant harvests, and will furnish you wherewithal to obtain repose in your old age; if you do not, it will bear nothing but weeds, and you will die of hunger. And having said this, he leaves him free to act as he pleases."
Is it not true that the land thus given will produce exactly in the ratio of the skill and care bestowed on its cultivation, and that any mistake or negligence on the part of the son will have an injurious effect on its productiveness? The son will therefore be well or ill off in his old age, according as he has followed or neglected the directions given to him by his father. God is still more provident than the earthly father, for He tells us, every moment, whether we are doing right or doing wrong, through the spirits whom He constantly sends to counsel us, though we do not always heed them. There is also this further difference- viz., that, if the son of whom we have been speaking has misemployed or wasted his time, he has no opportunity of repairing his past mistakes, whereas, God always gives to man the means, through new existences, of doing this.
Nature of Future Joys and Sorrows. 965. Is there anything of materiality in the joys and sorrows of the soul after death?
"Common-sense tells you that they cannot be of a material nature, because the soul is not matter. There is nothing carnal in those joys and sorrows; and yet they are a thousand times more vivid than those you experience upon the earth; because the spirit when freed from matter is more impressionable; matter deadens its sensibility." (237-257.)
966. Why does man often form to himself so gross and absurd an idea of the joys and sorrows of the future life?
"Because his intelligence is still but imperfectly developed. Does the child comprehend as does the adult? Besides, his idea of a future life is often a result of the teachings to which he has been subjected-teachings that are urgently in need of reform.
"Your language being too incomplete to express what lies beyond the range of your present existence, it has been necessary to address you through comparisons borrowed from that existence, and you have mistaken the images and figures thus employed for realities; but, in proportion as man becomes enlightened, his thought comprehends much that his language is unable to express."
967. In what does the happiness of perfected spirits consist?
"In knowing all things; in feeling neither hatred, jealousy, ALLAN KARDEC envy, ambition, nor any of the passions that make men unhappy. Their mutual affection is for them a source of supreme felicity. They have none of the wants, sufferings, or anxieties of material life; they are happy in the good they do, for the happiness of spirits is always proportioned to their elevation. The highest happiness, it is true, is enjoyed only by spirits who are perfectly purified; but the others are not unhappy. Between the had ones and those who have reached perfection, there is an infinity of gradations of elevation and of happiness; for the enjoyments of each spirit are always proportioned to his moral state. Those who have already achieved a certain degree of advancement have a presentiment of the happiness of those who are further on than themselves; they aspire after that higher happiness, but it is for them an object of emulation, and not of jealousy. They know that it depends on themselves to attain to it, and they labour to that end, but with the calmness of a good conscience; and they are happy in not having to suffer what is endured by evil spirits."
968. You place the absence of material wants among the conditions of happiness for spirits; but is not the satisfaction of those wants a source of enjoyment for mankind?
"Yes, of animal enjoyment; but when men cannot satisfy those wants, they are tortured by them."
969. What are we to understand when it is said that the purified spirits are gathered into the bosom of God, and employed in singing His praises?
"The statement is an allegorical picture of the knowledge they possess of the perfections of God, because they see and comprehend Him; but you must not take it literally, any more than other statements of a similar character. Everything in nature, from the grain of sand upwards. ‘sings'-that is to say, proclaims the power, wisdom, and goodness of God; but you must not suppose that spirits of the highest order are absorbed in an eternal contemplation, which would be a monotonous and stupid would be a perpetual uselessness. They have no longer to undergo the tribulations of corporeal life, an exemption which is itself an enjoyment; and, besides, as we have told you, they know and comprehend all things, and make use of the intelligence they have acquired in aiding the progress of other spirits; and they find enjoyment in this order of occupation."
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK 970. In what do the sufferings of inferior spirits consist?
"Those sufferings are as various as are the causes by which they are produced, and are proportioned to the degree of inferiority of each spirit, as the enjoyments of the higher spirits are proportioned to their several degrees of superiority. They may be summed up thus -The sight of happiness to which they are unable to attain; envy of the superiority which renders other spirits happy, and which they see to be lacking in themselves; regret, jealousy, rage, despair, in regard to what prevents them from being happy; remorse and indescribable moral anguish. They long for all sorts of enjoyments; and are tortured by their inability to satisfy their cravings."
971. Is the influence exercised by spirits over one another always good?
"It is always good on the part of good spirits; but perverse spirits endeavour to draw aside from the path of repentance and amendment those whom they think are susceptible of being misled, and whom they have often led into evil during their earthly life."
- Death, then, does not deliver us from temptation?
"No, but the action of evil spirits is much less powerful over other spirits than over men, because they no longer have the material passions of the tempted for auxiliaries." (996.)
972. In what way do evil spirits bring temptation to bear upon other spirits, since they have not the passions to work upon?
"If the passions no longer exist materially, they still exist in thought, on the part of spirits of slight advancement; and the evil ones keep up impure thoughts in their victims by taking them to places where they witness the exercise of those passions, and whatever tends to excite them.”
- But what end do those passions subserve, since they have no longer any real object?
"That is just what constitutes the tortures of the spirit-life. The miser sees gold which he cannot possess; the debauchee, orgies in which he can take no part; the haughty, honours which he envies, but cannot share."
973. What are the greatest sufferings that can be endured by wicked spirits?
"It is utterly impossible to describe the mental tortures that are the punishment of some crimes; even those by whom they are experienced would find it difficult to give you an idea of them.
ALLAN KARDEC But, assuredly, the most frightful of them all is the sufferer s belief that his condemnation is unchangeable and for all eternity."
Men form to themselves, in regard to the joys and sorrows of the soul after death, a conception more or less elevated according to the state of their intelligence. The greater a man's degree of development, the more refined and the more divested of materiality is his idea of them; the more rational is the view he takes of the subject, and the less literally does he understand the images of figurative language in regard to them. Enlightened reason, in teaching us that the soul is an entirely spiritual being, teaches us also that it cannot be affected by impressions that act only upon matter; but it does not follow there from that is exempt from suffering, or that it does not undergo the punishment of its wrongdoing. (237.)
The communications made to us by spirits show us the future state of the soul, no longer as a matter of theory, but as a reality. They bring before us all the incidents of the life beyond the grave; but they also show us that they are the natural consequences of the terrestrial life, and that, although divested of the fantastic accompaniments created by the imagination of men, they are none the less painful for those who, in this life, have made a bad use of their faculties. The diversity of those consequences is infinite, but may be summed up by saying that each soul is punished by that wherein it has sinned. It is thus that some are punished by the incessant sight of the evil they have done; others, by regret, fear, shame, doubt, isolation, darkness, separation from those who are dear to them, etc 974. Whence comes the doctrine of eternal fire? "From taking a figure of speech for a reality, as men have done in so many instances." - But may not this fear lead to a useful result?
"Look around you, and see whether there are many who are restrained by it, even among those by whom it is inculcated. If you teach what is contrary to reason, the impression you make will be neither durable nor salutary."
Human language being powerless to express the nature of the sufferings of spirit-life, man has been unable to desvise any more appropriate comparison for them than that of flee, because, for him, fire is at once the type of the most excruciating torture, and the symbol of the most energetic action. It is for this reason that the belief in ''everlasting burning" has been held from the earliest antiquity and transmitted by succeeding generations to the present day; and it is for this reason, also, that all nations speak, in common parlance, of ''fiery passions," of "burning love," "burning hate," "burning with jealousy," etc.
975. Do inferior spirits comprehend the happiness of the righteous?
"Yes; and that happiness is a source of torment for them, for they understand that they are deprived of it through their own fault; but it also leads a spirit, when freed from matter, to aspire after a new corporeal existence, because every such existence, if well employed, will shorten the duration of that torment. It is thus that he makes choice of the trials through which he will be enabled to expiate his faults; for you must remember that each spirit suffers for all the evil he has done or of which he has been THE SPIRITS’ BOOK THE SPIRITS’ BOOK the voluntary cause, for all the good which he might have done and which he did not do, and for all the evil that has resulted from his having failed to do the good he might have done."
"In the state of erraticity, a spirit's sight is no longer veiled; it is as though he had emerged from a fog and saw the obstacles that intervene between him and happiness, and he therefore suffers all the more, because he understands the full extent of his culpability. For him, illusion is no longer possible; he sees things as they really are."
A spirit, when errant, embraces, on the one hand, all his past existences at a glance: on the other, he foresees the future promised to him, and comprehends what he lacks for its attainment. He is like a traveller who, having reached the top of a hill, beholds both the road over which he has already travelled, and that by which he has still to go in order to reach the end of his journey.
976. Is not the sight of spirits who suffer a cause of affliction for the good ones? And, if so, what becomes of the happiness of the latter, that happiness being thus impaired?
"Good spirits are not distressed by the suffering of those who are a lower point than themselves, because they know that it will have an end; they aid those who suffer to become better, and lend them a helping hand. To do this is their occupation, and is a joy for them when they succeed."
- This is comprehensible on the part of spirits who are strangers to them, and who take no special interest in them; but does not the sight of their sorrows and sufferings disturb the happiness of the spirits who have loved them upon the earth?
"If spirits did not see your troubles, it would prove that they become estranged from you after death, whereas all religions teach you that the souls of the departed continue to see you; but they regard your afflictions from another point of view. They know that those sufferings will aid your advancement if you bear them with resignation; and they are consequently more pained by the want of fortitude which keeps you back, than by sufferings which they know to be only temporary."
977. Spirits being unable to hide their thoughts from one another, and all the acts of their lives being known, does it follow that those who have wronged their fellows are always in presence of their victims?
"Common sense might suffice to tell you that it cannot be otherwise.
ALLAN KARDEC - Is this divulging of all his evil deeds, and the perpetual presence of those who have been the victims of them, a chastisement for the guilty spirit?
"Yes, and a heavier one than you may suppose it to be; but it only lasts until he has expiated his wrong-doing, either as a spirit, or as a man in new corporeal existences."
When we find ourselves in the world of spirits, all our past will be brought into view, and the good the evil that we have done will be equally known. In vain would the malefactor seek to avoid the sight of his victims; their presence, from which he cannot possibly escape, will be for him a punishment and a source of remorse until he has expiated the wrongs he has done them, while the spirit of the upright man will find himself constantly surrounded by kindness and good-will.
Even upon the earth there is no greater torment for the wicked man than the presence of his victims, whom he does his utmost to avoid. What will it be when, the illusions of the passions being dissipated, he comprehends the evil he has done, sees his most secret actions brought to light and his hypocrisy unmasked, and perceives that he cannot hide himself from the sight of those he has wronged? But, while the soul of the wicked is thus a prey to shame, regret, and remorse, that of the righteous enjoys perfect peace.
978. Does not the remembrance of the faults committed by the soul, during its state of imperfection, disturb its happiness even after it has attained to purity?
"No, because it has redeemed its faults, and has come forth victorious from the trials to which it had submitted for that purpose."
979. Does not the prevision of the trials it has still to undergo, in order to complete its purification, excite in the soul a painful apprehension that must lessen its happiness?
"Yes, in the case of a soul who is still soiled by evil, and therefore it can only enjoy perfect happiness when it has become perfectly pure. But for souls who have attained to a certain degree of elevation, the thought of the trials they have still to undergo has in it nothing painful."
The soul, arrived at a certain degree of purification, has already a foretaste of happiness. It is pervaded by a feeling of satisfaction, and is happy in all that it sees, in all that surrounds it. The veil which covers the marvels and mysteries of creation being already partially raised for it, the divine perfections begin to be perceived by it in their splendour.
980. Is the sympathic link which unites spirits of the same order a source of felicity for them?
"The union of spirits who sympathise in the love of goodness is one of their highest enjoyments, for they have no fear of seeing that union disturbed by selfishness. In worlds altogether spiritual, they form families animated by the same sentiment, and this union constitutes the happiness of those worlds, as in your world you THE SPIRITS’ BOOK group yourselves into categories, and experience pleasure in being thus brought together. The pure and sincere affection felt by elevated spirits, and of which they are the object, is a source of felicity, for there are neither false friends nor hypocrites among them."
Man enjoys the first-fruits of this felicity upon the earth when he meets with those with whom he can enter into cordial and noble union. In a life of greater purity than that of the earth, this felicity becomes ineffable and unbounded, because their inhabitants meet only with sympathetic souls whose affection will not be chilled by selfishness. For love is life; it is selfishness that kills.
981. Is there, as regards the future state of spirits, any difference between him who, during his earthly life, was afraid of death, and him 'who looked forward to it with indifference, or even with joy?
"There may be a very considerable difference between them, though this is often obliterated by the causes which gave rise to that fear or that desire. Those who dread death, and those who desire it, may be moved by very different sentiments, and it is those sentiments which determine the state of a spirit. For instance, it is evident that, if a man only desires death because it will put an end to his tribulations, that desire is, in reality, a sort of murmuring against Providence, and against the trials which lie has to undergo."
982. Is it necessary to make a profession of Spiritism, and to believe in spirit-manifestations, in order to ensure our well-being in the next life?
"If it were so, it would follow that those who do not believe in them, or who have not even had the opportunity of learning anything about them, will be disinherited, which would be absurd. It is right-doing that ensures future well-being; and right-doing is always right-doing, whatever may be the path that leads to it." (165-799.)
Belief in Spiritism aids our self-improvement by clearing our ideas in regard to the future; it hastens the progress and advancement of individuals and of the masses. because it enables us to ascertain 'what we shall some day be, and is at once a beacon and a support. Spiritism teaches us to bear our trials 'with patience and resignation, turns us from the wrong-doing that would delay our future happiness, and contributes to our attainment of that happiness; but it does not follow that we may not attain to that happiness without it.
Temporal Sorrows.
983. Does not a spirit, when expiating its faults in a new existence, undergo material suffering, and, that being the case, is it ALLAN KARDEC correct to say that, after death, the soul experiences only moral sufferings?
"It is very true that, when the soul is reincarnated, it is made to suffer by the tribulations of corporeal life; but it is only the body that undergoes material suffering.
"You often say, of one who is dead, that he is released from suffering; but this is not always true. As a spirit, he has no more physical sufferings; but, according to the faults he has coinmitted, he may have to bear moral sufferings still more severe, and, in a new existence, he may be still more unhappy. He who has made a selfish use of riches’ will have to beg his bread, and will be a prey to all the privations of poverty; the proud will undergo humiliations of every kind; he who has misused his authority, and treated his subordinates with disdain and harshness, will be forced to obey a master still harder than himself. All the tribulations of life are the expiation of faults committed in a preceding existence, when they are not the consequence of faults committed in the present one. When you have quitted your present life, you will understand this. (273, 393, 399.)
"He who, in the earthly life, esteems himself happy because he is able to satisfy his passions, makes few efforts at self-improvement. Such ephemeral happiness is often expiated in the present life, but will certainly be expiated in another existence equally material."
984. Are the troubles of our earthly life always the punishment of faults committed by us in our present lifetime?
"No; we have already told you that they are trials imposed on you by God, or chosen by you in the spirit-state, and before your reincarnation, for the expiation of faults committed by you in a former existence; for no infraction of the laws of God, and especially of the law of justice, ever remains unpunished, and if it be not expiated in the same life, it will certainly be so in another. This is why persons whom you regard as excellent are so often made to suffer; they are stricken in their present life for the faults of their past existences." (393.)
985. When a soul is reincarnated in a world less gross than the earth, is such a reincarnation a reward?
"It is a consequence of its higher degree of purification; for, in proportion as spirits become purified, they reincarnate themselves in worlds of progressively higher degrees, until, having divested THE SPIRITS’ BOOK themselves of all materiality and washed themselves clean of all stains, they enter on the eternal felicity of the fully purified spirits in the presence of God."
In worlds in which the conditions of existence are less material than in ours, the wants of their inhabitants are less gross, and their physical sufferings are less acute. The men of those worlds no longer possess the evil passions which, in lower worlds, make them each other's enemies. Having no motives for hatred or jealousy, they live in peace with one another, because they practise the law of justice, of love, and of charity and they therefore know nothing of the worries and anxieties that come of envy, pride, and selfishness, and that make the torment of our terrestrial existence. (172, 182.)
986. Can a spirit who has progressed in his terrestrial existence be reincarnated in the same world?
"Yes; and if he have not been able to accomplish his mission, he may himself demand to complete it in a new existence; but, in that case, it is no longer an expiation for him." (173.)
987. What becomes of the man who, without doing evil, does nothing to shake off the influence of matter?
"Since he has made no progress towards perfection, he has to begin a new existence of the same nature as the one he has quitted. He remains stationary; and thus prolongs the sufferings of expiation."
988. There are persons whose life flows on in a perfect calm; who, having nothing to do for themselves, are exempt from all cares. Is their good fortune a proof that they have nothing to expiate from any former existence?
"Do you know many such? If you think you do, you are mistaken. Such lives are often only calm in appearance. A spirit may have chosen such an existence; but he perceives, after quitting it, that it has not served to bring him on, and he then regrets the time he has wasted in idleness. Bear well in mind that a spirit can only acquire knowledge and elevation through activity; that, if he supinely falls asleep, he does not advance. He is like one who (according to your usages) needs to work, but who goes off for a ramble, or goes to bed, with the intention of doing nothing. Bear well in mind, also, that each of you will have to answer for voluntary uselessness on your part, and that such uselessness is always fatal to your future happiness. The sum of that happiness is always exactly proportioned to the sum of the good that you have done; the sum of your unhappiness is always proportioned to the sum of the evil that you have done, and to the number of those whom you have rendered unhappy."
ALLAN KARDEC ALLAN KARDEC 989. There are persons who, without being Positively wicked, render all about them unhappy by their ill-temper; what is, for them, the consequence of this?
"Such persons are assuredly not good, and they will expiate this wrong by the sight of those whom they have rendered unhappy, which will be a constant reproach for them; and then, in another existence, they will endure all that they have caused to be endured by others."
Expiation and Repentance 990. Does repentance take place in the corporeal state, or in the spiritual state?
"In the spiritual state; but it may also take place in the corporeal state, when you clearly comprehend the difference between good and evil."
991. What is the consequence of repentance in the spiritual state?
"The desire for a new incarnation, in order to become purified. The spirit perceives the imperfections which deprive him of happiness; and he therefore aspires after a new existence in which he will be able to expiate his faults." (332, 975).
992. What is the consequence of repentance in the corporeal state?
"The spirit will advance even in his present life, if he have the time to repair his faults. Whenever your conscience reproaches you, or shows you an imperfection, you may always become better."
993. Are there not men who have only the instinct of evil, and are inaccessible to repentance?
"I have told you that progress must be incessant. He who, in his present life, has only the instinct of evil, will have the instinct of goodness in another one, and it is to effect this end that he is re-born many times. For all must advance, all must reach the goal; but some do this more quickly, others more slowly, according to the energy of their desire. He who has only the instinct of good is already purified, for he may have had that of evil in an anterior existence.” (804.)
994. Does the perverted spirit who has not recognised his faults during his life always recognise them after his death?
THE SPIRITS’ BOOK "Yes; he always does so, and lie then suffers all the more, for he feels all the evil he has done, or of which he has been the voluntary cause. Nevertheless, repentance is not always immediate. There are spirits who obstinately persist in doing wrong, notwithstanding their sufferings; but, sooner or later, they will see that have taken the wrong road, and repentance will follow this discovery. It is to their enlightenment that the efforts of the higher spirits are directed, and that you may usefully direct your own."
995. Are there spirits who, without being wicked, ape indifferent about their own fate?
"There are spirits who do not occupy themselves with anything useful, but are in a state of expectancy. In such cases they suffer in proportion to their inactivity; for all states and conditions must conduce to progress, and with them, this progress is effected by the suffering they experience."
- Have they no desire to shorten their sufferings?
"They have that desire, undoubtedly; but they have not sufficient energy to do what would give them relief. Are there not among you many who prefer to starve rather than to work?"
996. Since spirits see the harm that is done them by their imperfections, how is it that any of them Persist in aggravating their Position, and prolonging their state of inferiority, by doing evil, as spirits, in turning men aside from the right road?
"It is those whose repentance is tardy that act thus. A spirit who repents may afterwards allow himself to be drawn back into the wrong road by other spirits still more backward than himself." (971.)
997. We sometimes find that spirits, who are evidently of very he who, urged on by pride, revolts against God, persisting in his touched by the prayers offered for them. How is it that others, whom we have reason to believe are more enlightened, show a hardness and a cynicism that no efforts can vanquish?
"Prayer is only efficacious in the case of spirits who repent; he who, urged on by pride, revolts against God, persisting in his wrong-doing, and perhaps going even more widely astray, cannot be acted upon by prayer, and can only derive benefit therefrom when a glimmering of repentance shall have shown itself in him." (664.)
ALLAN KARDEC We must not lose sight of the fact that a spirit, after the death of his body. is not suddenly transformed. If his life have been reprehensible, it has been so because he was imperfect. But death does not render him perfect all at once he may in his wrong-doing, his false ideas, his prejudices, until he has become enlightened by study, reflection, and suffering.
998. Is expiation accomplished in the corporeal state, or in the spirit-state?
"Expiation is accomplished during the corporeal existence, through the trials to which the spirit is subjected; and, in the spirit-state, through the moral sufferings belonging to the spirit's state of inferiority."
999. Does sincere repentance during the earthly life suffice to efface the faults of that life, and to restore the wrong-doer to the favour of God?
"Repentance helps forward the amelioration of the spirit, but all wrongdoing has to be expiated."
- That being the case, if a criminal should say, "Since I must necessarily expiate my past, I have no need to repent," what effect would it have upon him?
"If he harden himself in the thought of evil. his expiation will be longer and more painful." 1000. Can we, in the present life, redeem our faults?
"Yes, by making reparation for them. But do not suppose that you can redeem them by a few trifling privations, or by giving, after your death, what you can no longer make use of. God does not value a sterile repentance, a mere smiting of the breast, easily done. The loss of a little finger in doing good to others effaces more wrong doing than any amount of self-torture undergone solely with a view to one's own interest. (726.)
"Evil can only be atoned for by good; and attempts at reparation are valueless if they touch neither a man's pride nor his worldly interests.
"How can his rehabilitation be subserved by the restitution of ill-gotten wealth after his death, when it has become useless to him, and when he has already profited by it?
"What benefit can he derive from the privation of a few futile enjoyments and of a few superfluities, if the wrong he has done to others is not undone?
"What, in truth, is the use of his humbling himself before God, if he keeps up his pride before SOF THE SPIRITS’ BOOK 1001. Is there no merit in ensuring the useful employment, after our death, of ‘he property possessed by us?
"To say that there is no merit so doing would not be correct; it is always better than doing nothing. But the misfortune is, that he who only gives after his death is often moved rather by selfishness than by generosity; he wishes to have the honour of doing good without its costing him anything. He who imposes privation upon himself during his life reaps a double profit- the merit of his sacrifice, and the pleasure of witnessing the happiness he has caused. But selfishness is apt to whisper, "Whatever you give away is so much cut off from your own enjoyments;' and as the voice of selfishness is usually more persuasive than that of disinterestedness and charity, it too often leads a man to keep what he has, under pretext of the necessities of his position. He is to be pitied who knows not the pleasure of giving; for he is deprived of one of the purest and sweetest of enjoyments. In subjecting a man to the trial of wealth, so slippery, and so dangerous for his future, God placed within his reach, by way of compensation, the happiness which generosity may procure for him, even in his present life."
1002. What will become of him who, in the act of dying, acknowledges his wrong-doing, but has not time to make reparation? Does repentance suffice in such a case?
"Repentance will hasten his rehabilitation, but it does not absolve him. Has he not the future, which will never be closed against him?"
Duration of Future Penalties.
1003. Is the duration of the sufferings of the guilty, in the future life, arbitrary or subordinate to a low?
"God never acts from caprice; everything in the universe is ruled by laws which reveal His wisdom and His goodness."
1004. What decides the duration of the sufferings of the guilty?
"The length of time required for his amelioration. A spirit's state of suffering or of happiness being proportioned to tile degree of his purification, the duration of his sufferings, as well as their nature, depends on the time it takes him to become better. In proportion as he progresses, and his sentiments become purified, his sufferings diminish and change their nature.”
ALLAN KARDEC 1005. Does time appear, to the suffering spirit, longer or shorter than in the earthly life?
"It appears longer; sleep does not exist for him. It is only for spirits arrived at a certain degree of purification that time is merged, so to say with infinity." (240) 1006. Could a spirit suffer eternally?