LETTER TO THE EPISCOPAL CLERGY.
Although the subjoined letter has been published in various channels, as well as in a separate pamphlet, I deem it proper to record it in this work, as, otherwise, many who may see the one might not see the other. It will be perceived that the substance of my second letter has been already incorporated in the preceding pages, ([714] to 776.) Of course it is to the first letter that I now allude, and which I intend to record here.
Letter from Dr. Hare to the Clergy of the Protestant Episcopal Church, offering to lay before them the New Evidence of Immortality. (Submitted to the late Convention, Philadelphia, May 15, 1855.)
Reverend and Dear Sirs: Having, from my youth, been on friendly terms with the clergy of the Episcopal Church, within the pale of which I was born and christened; having, in fact, had among the clergy of that church some excellent friends and relatives,—it has been a source of regret that I have not been able to see doctrines deeply affecting the happiness of mankind in the same light. I am, however, fully sensible of the kindness and courtesy with which I have been treated by clergymen in general, and especially by those of the church above designated. I have always been under the belief that in no part of the globe, nor at any period of human history, has a priesthood existed as moral, as sincere, and truly pious as those of my country; and among that priesthood, I believe, none have stood higher in these qualifications than such as are of the Episcopal Church.
It is happy for me that of late I have, in one respect, found myself more in accordance with the Christian clergy: I allude here to the awakening of perfect confidence in the immortality of the soul. There was on this subject, heretofore, this difference between my sentiments and those of my clerical friends, that while I hoped for a future state, I was no less skeptical respecting the evidence of witnesses who lived some thousand years ago than of those who have, in modern times, alleged themselves to have witnessed supernatural manifestations. I required in the former case, no less than in the latter, intuitive proof; or the consistent testimony of independent observers having sufficient sense, knowledge, and integrity to make reliable witnesses.
Happily, in the case of Spiritualism, both of these tests have been afforded to me, so that I now believe in a future state no less firmly than the orthodox Christian.
Like St. Paul, in the case of Christianity, I entered upon the investigation of Spiritualism with a view to refutation; but the very instruments which I contrived to accomplish that object produced the opposite effect.
If human testimony is not to be taken when advanced by contemporaries known to be conscientious, truthful, and well informed, how is it to be relied on with respect to those of whom we know nothing available beside what their own writings mention?
I am prepared to submit a communication respecting the spirit world from my father, sanctioned by a convocation of spirits, whose approbation was manifested by means which no mortal could pervert.
The practical influence on my mind has been to make me far more happy, to remove all fear of death, and to render me more watchful as to my deportment in life. I know that my sainted parents, and other relatives and friends, my children who died in infancy, are around me, witnessing every act and exercising a limited power over my safety and my health.
Mourning for the dead now seems to be groundless, and at all events can be indulged only upon selfish considerations. But who would grieve deeply at a transient separation, even for years, from friends made happier by the change, when sure of a happy reunion ultimately?
No evidence of any important truth in science can be shown to be more unexceptionable than that which I have received of this glorious fact, that heaven is really “at hand,” and that our relatives, friends, and acquaintances who are worthy of happiness, while describing themselves as ineffably happy, are still progressing to higher felicity; and while hovering aloft in our midst, are taking interest in our welfare with an augmented zeal or affection, so that, by these means, they may be a solace to us, in despite of death.
As the reverend clergy of the Episcopal Church are about to meet in Philadelphia, I deem it my duty to afford them an opportunity of hearing the evidence on which I rely; and which, with due effort, they can have subjected to their own intuition.
Should the clergy deem it expedient to listen to my exposition, I shall be ready to answer any queries which may be made.
I am aware that there may be considerations which may justify the clergy in declining to hear me. I have never, in my own case, deemed it wise to seek abstract right at the expense of practical evil. I would not urge persons in certain official stations to become converts to Spiritualism, lest it should, by consequent unpopularity, interfere with their usefulness, as in the case of Judge Edmonds; and a like objection must arise as to the conversion of clergymen, so far as to bring their convictions in competition with their professional vocation. Orthodox Christians are generally educated to believe not only that the revelation on which they rely is true, but that no other can be justifiable. Hence they are evidently displeased that spiritualists should allege themselves to have come by other means to that belief in immortality which is admitted on all sides to be the greatest comfort under the afflictions to which temporal life is liable.
There is, moreover, this discordancy in doctrine: Agreeably to Scripture, man is placed here for probation, and is liable to be eternally punished if he prove delinquent. According to Spiritualism, man is placed here for progression, and when he goes to the next world, still will have the opportunity to progress, however wicked he may be when he departs this life.
It is conceived by spiritualists that if, as the orthodox allege, God be omnipotent, he can make his creatures to suit his will; if he be omniscient, he must know what they are when made; and if he be prescient, he can foresee what they will be, and consequently cannot have the smallest conceivable motive for exposing them to probation.
I foresee that it may not be deemed expedient to take any notice of this letter; but whatever may be the result in this way, does not interfere with the propriety of my putting it in your power to avail yourselves of my offer; since I have a sanction from a higher source, the spirit of the immortal Washington, the proofs of whose communion with me I am prepared to submit to any respectable inquirers.
I am aware that this language would, a few years ago, have made me attach the idea of insanity to the author; but this cannot, nevertheless, in the slightest degree, be deducible from it now, from the notorious fact that the same monomania is never entertained by any two persons, and in my hallucination, if it be such, there are a multitude of participators. That is to say, there are a multitude of persons of every grade who believe that they have communicated with their spirit friends, as I have with mine; and who, like me, have believed themselves to have held communion with the spirits of some of the most distinguished men who have departed this life. A faith in the miracles of the New Testament may as well be adduced as insanity as belief in spiritual manifestations under these circumstances.
The fact that manifestations have been made and truthfully described has been admitted by the Catholic Church, but are ascribed to Satanic agency.
Let the doctrines of Spiritualism, and those of the church in question, be compared, in order to determine which owes most to Satan.
The existence of a devil being admitted, was there ever a more fertile source of diabolical intolerance than the idea that a peculiar belief being necessary to save men’s souls from hell fire, any temporal evil to which mortals might be subjected to coerce belief, would be as justifiable as the forcible extirpation of an incipient cancer from the body of a child unwilling to submit to the operation? If ever there was a devil’s agency, it may be seen in the auto-da-fé, the Inquisition, and the massacre of St. Bartholomew’s day.
Of the same devilish character was the execution of Servetus by Calvin, or the persecution of the Quakers and witches by the Puritans.
Respectfully, your well-wisher, Robert Hare.