The end of the world in 1911, such is the title of a small brochure in-18, of 58 pages, widespread in Lyon with profusion, found in that city at Josserand bookseller, place Bellecour, # 3. To the considerations drawn from the agreement of the current state of things with the precursor signs announced in the Gospel, the author adds, according to another prophecy, a cabalistic calculation that determines the end of the world in the year 1911, not more and not less, that is to say in 43 years; it means that among the living today, more than one will witness this great catastrophe. Now, there it is not a question of a figure; it is the very real end, the annihilation of Earth, the scattering of its elements, and the complete destruction of all its inhabitants. It is regrettable that the way by which such event will take place is not indicated, but something must be left to the unforeseen.
It will be preceded by the reign of the Antichrist; according to these same calculations, that were not done by Arago, this character was born in 1855 and must live 55 years and a half; and since his death must mark the end of times, that brings us right to 1911, unless there was some miscalculation, as for 1840.
We remember, in fact, that the end of the world had also been predicted for the year 1840; it was believed to be so certain that it was preached in churches, and we saw it announced in certain catechisms in Paris, to the children of the first communion, and that did not fail to annoyingly impress some young brains. As the best way to save one's soul has always been to give money, to get rid of the goods of this world that are a cause of downfall, there were reliefs and donations provoked for that purpose. But the evil Spirit slips in everywhere in this century of reasoners, and leads to the worst thoughts; we have heard, with our own ears, catechism students making this reflection: “
If the end of the world arrives next year, as they said and we were assured, that will be for the priests as well as for everybody else; then, what will the money they ask be used for? There are no more children, really, but naughty children.
Will it be the same for the year 1911? The pamphlet in question gives us a certain means of making sure of that, it is the portrait of the Antichrist, whose original will be easy to recognize; it is characteristic enough that one cannot be mistaken. It is drawn by a famous German prophet, Holzauzer, born in 1613, who wrote a commentary on the Apocalypse.
According to Holzauzer, the Apocalypse is nothing other than the entire history of the Catholic Church, from its birth to the end of the world, a history divided in seven epochs, represented, he says, by the seven Churches addressed by Saint John. Here are some of the most characteristic features of the Antichrist and the events that must precede his coming:
“
We are now approaching the end of the fifth epoch. It is then that these appalling misfortunes announced in the Apocalypse will occur (chap. VIII). Plague, war, famine, earthquakes will cause countless victims. All peoples will rise against one another; war will be general in Europe; but the fire will break out first in Germany... After these formidable wars that will shed blood over the whole world, Protestantism will disappear forever, and the empire of the Turks will collapse. It will be the beginning of the sixth age. The peoples exhausted by these deadly battles, frightened by the horrible plagues that will mark the end of the fifth epoch, will return to the worship of the true God. Out victorious from the countless struggles that it will have sustained against heresies, indifference and general corruption, the religion of Christ will flourish again, more brilliant than ever. Never has the Catholic Church had such a dazzling triumph. Its ministers, models of all virtues, will travel the world to make people hear the word of God ... But this triumph of religion will be short-lived. Abated but not destroyed, vice will gradually raise its head, and soon corruption making rapid progress, will again invade all classes of society, and will penetrate even into the sanctuary. It is then that we will see the abomination of desolation, announced by the prophet. The whole world will be nothing more than an immense sentinel of vices and crimes of all kinds. Thus, the sixth age will end. Then the one that the prophets and the fathers of the church have designated as the antichrist will come to earth. Poor and unknown, he will live a miserable life during his childhood and early youth. Raised by his father in the study of occult sciences, he will devote himself to that with fury, making rapid progress. Endowed with an unusual intelligence, an ardent and resolute mind, and an iron character, since the cradle he will show the most violent passions. Recognizing in this child the formidable qualities of the one who must one day support him so ardently in his struggle against mankind, Satan will tremble with joy, and will gradually transmit all his power to him. All those who approach him will be amazed by his speeches and actions. They will regard him as a child predestined to great things, and they will say that the hand of the Lord was extended on him to protect and guide him... Little by little, with Pheme[1] helping, and further magnifying the wonders attributed to the young leader, the number of his sectarians will quickly become very considerable... Soon, seeing himself at the head of a true army, made up of men committed to death, he will no longer hesitate to take the title of king. For some time, he will take care of organizing his power, and of putting a little order among his new subjects, while neglecting nothing to increase their number. Having no surname, he will take the name of Christ, that the Jews will have already given him... His ambition growing with his fortune, he will form, in his pride, the plan to conquer the whole earth, and to subject all peoples to his laws ... In a few days, the Antichrist will assemble an immense army, and we will see this new Attila engulfing Europe in the waves of his barbarian hordes. The enemy armies, struck with terror at the sight of the many wonders he will perform, will allow themselves to be dispersed and annihilated, without even trying to fight. Three great kingdoms will be conquered without striking a blow. Their sovereigns will atone their refusal of submission in the cruelest tortures; and the defeated peoples will be mercilessly delivered to the whole fury of a frenzied soldiery. Terrified by learning of these barbarian revenge, the other nations will immediately submit. The whole Earth will then form one vast kingdom only, that the Antichrist will rule at will. He will rebuild, with incredible magnificence, the city of Jerusalem, and make it the seat of his empire ... Carried away by his fatal destiny, he will do his best to destroy all religions, and especially the Catholic religion. On the remains of the old cult, he will rebuild the edifice of a new cult, of which he will be both the high priest and the idol. This new religion will have its defenders and priests everywhere. One of the most bitter and the most terrible, that Saint John designated in verses 11, 12, 13, of chapter XIII, by the beast with two horns, like those of the lamb, will be the great apostate. Holzauzer calls him so because he will be one of the first to renounce Christianity to furiously devote himself to the cult of the Antichrist. At that time a holy pontiff named Peter will reign on the throne of Saint Peter. Struck with grief at the sight of these appalling misfortunes and foreseeing the terrible dangers that the faithful will face, he will send holy exhortations throughout the Christendom to protect everyone against the seductions of the Antichrist, whose perfidy he will clearly reveal. Furious at this open resistance and the immense influence of the Holy Father, the great apostate will enter Rome at the head of an army, and will kill with his own hands the last successor of Peter, on the very steps of the altar... Churches will be invaded everywhere, sanctuaries violated, objects of worship desecrated. The holy books will be burned, the cross and all the symbols of our august religion trampled underfoot and dragged in the dust. The paintings and statues exhibited for the veneration of the faithful will be overturned; the cursed statue of the Antichrist will rise in their place. - And this statue will speak, said the prophet... And educated and eloquent men will be seen preaching this idolatry of a new kind, and in brilliant and colorful language exalting the praises of him whose statue speaks and works miracles ... To strike the eyes of the crowds and subjugate the masses, the Antichrist will perform amazing wonders. He will lift the mountains, walk on the waters, and rise in the air, shining with glory. It will cause several suns to appear at the same time or will plunge Earth into complete darkness. At his voice, lightning will fall from the sky, rivers will suspend their courses, walls will collapse. Becoming invisible at will, he will travel from one place to another with marvelous speed, and he will show himself in several places at once. Finally, as we said, he will animate his image and communicate to it part of his power. But all these wonders will be, for the most part, only optical illusions, and the result of a diabolical phantasmagoria; they will not be true miracles, because Satan, with all his power, could not change the laws of nature…” Observation: If these are not miracles, in the strict sense of the word, we do not know what else can carry this name; and if they are, for the most part, optical illusions, these illusions deviate singularly from the laws of nature, and would themselves be miracles, for we have never seen lightning strikes and walls falling apart by optical effects. What emerges more clearly from this explanation is the difficulty in distinguishing true miracles from false ones, and of making, in the effects of this nature, the part of the saints and that of the devil.
“At the same time that he will strike all minds with astonishment and admiration, the Antichrist will display all the appearances of the most austere virtue, to win all hearts. While he will indulge in the most shameful debauchery, at the back of his palace, he will seem to make people believe in his temperance and his chastity. Lavishing gold and silver around him, he will do great good for the poor, and everywhere there will be nothing but concerts of praise for his beneficence and his charity. We will see him every day spending whole hours in prayer in his temple; in short, he will cover himself with the mantle of hypocrisy with such skill that even his most faithful servants will be convinced of his virtue and his holiness. The Lord, however, will not leave His children vulnerable and helpless during these times of trial. Enoch and Elijah will return to earth to preach the word of God, support the courage of the faithful, and expose the deceptions of false prophets. For twelve hundred and sixty days, or three and a half years, they will travel the world, exhorting all men to do penance and return to the worship of Jesus Christ. They will oppose true miracles to the pretended wonders of the Antichrist and his apostles ... But after they will have completed their testimony, the beast that rises from the abyss (the Antichrist) will wage war against them, overcome them and kill them." Observation: Reincarnation could not be more bluntly affirmed. Here it is not an appearance, an optical illusion, it is indeed reincarnation in flesh and blood, since the two prophets are dead.
“Then, the pride of the Antichrist will know no limits. Proud of the victory he has just won over the two prophets who braved his power with such impunity, for three and a half years, he will have a magnificent throne built on the Mount of Olives, and there, surrounded by a legion of transformed demons as angels of light, he will be worshiped by the immense multitude who will be gathered to enjoy his triumph. But on the twenty-fifth day, the body of the two prophets, animated by the breath of God, will be resurrected, and they will ascend into heaven, shining with glory, at the sight of the terrified crowd. Blinded by anger and hatred, the Antichrist will announce that he is going to go up to heaven to seek his enemies there, and to throw them down to earth. Indeed, leaving on the wings of the surrounding demons, he will rise in the air; but at that moment the sky will open, and the Son of the Man will appear in a luminous cloud. The Antichrist will be cast down from heaven with his entourage of demons, Earth will open, and he will descend alive into hell... Then the end of the world will be near. No longer will years or months pass, but few days, the last term given to men for penance. The most frightening wonders will follow one another relentlessly, until the whole world perishes in immense upheaval. This is what Holzauzer announces, and this is only the explanation of what is contained in the Apocalypse; it is the doctrine of all the Fathers of the Church, contained in the Gospel and the Acts of the apostles." Observation: So, that is how the world will end! It is not a man's dream; it is the doctrine of all the Fathers who are the light of the Church. Those of our readers who have only a vague idea of the Antichrist, will be grateful for the description given to them, with some details, according to the competent authorities. If there is only forty-three years ahead, it will not be long before we see this wonderful reign. By these signs, we will recognize the proximity of the fatal date.
What is strange in this story is the erasure of the power of God and of his Church, before that of the Antichrist. Indeed, after a triumph of short duration, the Church succumbs again not to rise afterwards; the faith of its ministers is not great enough to prevent corruption from entering the sanctuary. Isn’t this a naive admission of weakness and helplessness? These are things that one can think of, but that is awkward to shout from the rooftops.
It would have been astonishing if Spiritism had not found a place in this prediction; it is, in fact, indicated as one of the signs of times, and here is in what terms. It is no longer Holzauzer speaking, but it is the author of the brochure:
“
But here these noises becoming clearer, these horrors that seem chimerical, take on consistency and are clearly formulated. The end of the world is approaching, we cry from all sides! In Europe, in Catholic countries, we recall old prophecies that all herald this great event for our time ... It is the knocking Spirits that raise the alarm. Open The Spirits' Book by Allan Kardec, you will read on the first page, in the prolegomena, the following words: "The Spirits announce that the times marked by Providence for a universal manifestation have arrived, and that being the ministers of God, and the agents of his will, their mission is to educate and enlighten men, opening a new era for the regeneration of humanity." Observation: We do not see that to announce the regeneration of humanity is to announce its end; these two ideas contradict each other. Instead of sounding the alarm, the Spirits come to bring hope.
“And first the prophet Joel tells us: "In those days, magic will cover all the earth, and we will see even children at breasts doing extraordinary things and speaking like grown-ups." Spiritism, that nineteenth century magic, has invaded the world. Only a few years ago, in America, England and France, surprising and unheard-of phenomena aroused general curiosity. Inert furniture, that came to life at the will of operators, gave way to the most fantastic evolutions, and answered, without hesitation, questions that were addressed to them. They sought what could be the intelligent cause of those intelligent effects. The tables answered, they are Spirits, the souls of men taken away by death, who come to communicate with the living. New phenomena were produced. There was a sound of blows struck in the furniture, in the walls of the dwellings; objects moving spontaneously were seen; voices and symphonies were heard; there were even appearances of people who have been dead for a long time. The wonders multiplied. You had to want to see; you had to see to be convinced. Soon a new religion was organized. When questioned, the Spirits themselves wrote the code of their new doctrine. It was, it must be admitted, a philosophical system admirably well combined in all respects. Never has the most skillful sophist been able to disguise lies and paradox so well. Not being able, without revealing their origin and arousing suspicion, suddenly break with the ideas of God and of virtue, the Spirits begin by recognizing loudly the existence of this God, the necessity of this virtue; but they make so little difference between the fate of the righteous and that of the wicked, that one is necessarily led, by these beliefs, to satisfy all their passions, and to seek in death a refuge from misfortune. Crime and suicide are the two fatal consequences of these principles, that appear, at first glance, to be imbued with such a beautiful and pure morality. To explain the anomaly of these communications from beyond the grave, the Spirits could not help announcing, as we have seen, that the times marked by Providence had come; but not wishing to speak of the end of the world, that did not enter their system at all, they added: "for the universal regeneration of humanity." Observation: By a singular coincidence, on that very day, February 24
th, when we received this brochure, addressed to us by one of our correspondents in Lyon, and at the time when we were reading these last paragraphs, we received a letter from the surroundings of
Boulogne-sur-Mer, from which we extracted the following passages:
“
It is from the bottom of an obscure valley in Boulonais that these few words reach you, reflections of a suffering existence; for Spiritism permeates everywhere, spreading light and consolation. Personally, what relief do I not owe it, as well as to you, sir, who are the provider of that! Born from very poor parents, with eight children, of whom I am the eldest, alas! I have not yet earned my bread, although twenty-nine years old, by the weakness of my health. Add to this an innate propensity for pride, vanity, violence, etc., and judge what evils I had to endure in my miserable condition before Spiritism came to explain to me the enigma of my destiny. It was to the point that I had resolved to kill myself. To that end, to calm my apprehensions and the reproaches of my conscience, I said to myself, in my Catholic faith: I will strike myself with a blow that, while being fatal, will not kill me instantaneously, and will allow me to have enough moments of life so that I have the possibility of confessing myself, of receiving communion and of manifesting my repentance; in short, to put myself in a position to ensure a happy life in the other world, while escaping the evils of this one. My reasoning was very absurd, wasn't it, sir? And yet, wasn’t it consistent with the dogma that assures us that every sin, even every crime, is erased by the simple admission made to a priest who gives absolution? Now, thanks to the knowledge of Spiritism, such ideas are forever banished from my thought; however, how many imperfections I still must strip away!” Thus, Spiritism prevented an act, a crime that would have been committed, not in the absence of all faith, but by the very consequence of his Catholic faith, the person says. In this case, which was the most powerful to prevent the evil? Will this young man be disgraced for having followed the impulse of Spiritism, the work of the devil, according to the author of the pamphlet, and had he been saved, by committing suicide, but having received the absolution of a priest, before dying? May the author of the brochure answer this question with his hand on his conscience.
Having the fragments reported above been read at the Parisian Society, our former colleague, Jobard, spontaneously came to give the following communication on this subject, by a medium in spiritual somnambulism:
Parisian Society, February 28
th, medium Mr. Morin
I was passing when the echo brought me the vibration of an immense burst of laughter. I listened and having recognized the sound of the laughter of the incarnate and the discarnate, I said to myself: The thing is undoubtedly interesting; let's go and see! … And I didn't think, gentlemen, that I would have the pleasure of coming to spend the evening with you. However, I am still happy about it, believe it, because I know all the sympathy you have kept for your former colleague.
I then approached, and the sounds of Earth came to me more distinct: The end of the world! they shout; the end of the world! … Hey! My God, I said to myself, if it is the end of the world, what will become of them? … The voice of your president and my friend’s voice reached me, I heard him reading a few passages to you, of a brochure announcing the end of the world as very imminent. The subject interested me; I listened attentively, and after having thought carefully, I come, like the author of the pamphlet, to say to you: Yes, gentlemen, the end of the world is near! … Oh! don't be afraid, ladies; for you have to be very close to it to touch it, and when you touch it, you will see it.
In the meantime, if you allow me, I will give you my assessment of this word, scarecrow of weak brains, and of weak minds; because, know it, if the apprehension of the end of the world terrifies the pusillanimous beings of your world, it also strikes with terror the inferior beings of erraticity. All those who are not dematerialized, that is, those that although Spirits, live more materially than spiritually, are frightened at the idea of the end of the world, because they understand, by this word, the destruction of matter. Do not be surprised then, that this idea touches certain spirits who would not know what would become of them, if Earth no longer existed; for Earth is still their world, their fulcrum.
I said to myself: Yes, the end of the world is near; it is there, I see it, I touch it… it is close to those who, unwittingly, are working to hasten its advent! … Yes, the end of the world is near; … but end of which world?
It will be the end of the world of superstition, despotism, abuses maintained by ignorance, malice, and hypocrisy; it will be the end of the selfish and proud world, of pauperism, of all that is vile and degrades man; in short of all the ignoble and greedy feelings that are the sad prerogative of your world.
This end of the world, this great catastrophe that all religions agree to foresee, is it what they mean? Shouldn’t we see in this, on the contrary, the fulfillment of the lofty destinies of humanity? If we think about everything that is going on around us, aren't these warning signs the signal for the beginning of another world, I mean another moral world, rather than that of the destruction of the material world?
Yes, gentlemen, a period of earthly purification is ending at this time; another is about to begin ... Everything is bringing the old world to an end, and those who strive to support it are working energetically, unwittingly, for its destruction. Yes, the end of the world is near for them; they have a presentiment of it and are frightened by it, believe it, more than of the end of the terrestrial world, because it is the end of their domination, of their preponderance, to which they hold more than to anything else; and it will not be God's vengeance towards them, for God does not avenge himself, but it will be the just reward for their deeds. The Spirits are, like you, the children of their works; if they are good, it is because they have worked to become so; if they are bad, it is not that they have worked to become so, it is because they have not worked to become good.
Friends, the end of the world is near, and I urge you to take note of this forecast; it is so close that we are already working to rebuild it. The wise foresight of the one from whom nothing escapes, wants everything to be built instead of everything being destroyed; and when the new edifice is crowned, when the ridge is covered, it is then that the old will crumble; it will fall on its own; so that between the old world and the new there will be no break in continuity.
That is how we must understand the end of the world, that already presages so many warning signs. And who will be the most powerful workers for this great transformation? It's you, madams; it is you, young ladies, with the help of the double lever of education and Spiritism. In the woman into whom Spiritism has sunk in, there is more than a woman, there is a spiritual worker; in this state, everything working for her, the woman still works much more than the man, in the edification of the monument; for when she knows all the resources of Spiritism, and knows how to use them, the greater part of the work will be done by her. By breastfeeding the body of her child, she will also be able to breastfeed her Spirit; and who is a better blacksmith than the son of a blacksmith, apprentice of his father? The child will thus suck, as he grows, the milk of spirituality, and when you have Spiritists, children of Spiritists and parents of Spiritists, won’t the end of the world, as we understand it, be accomplished? Are you then astonished, that spiritualism is the scarecrow to everything that pertains to the old world, and the ruthlessness with which they try to suffocate it in its cradle!
Jobard
[1] Greek mythology, goddess of fame (Wikipedia, T.N.)
