APPENDIX.
Under this head I place some articles which could not be embodied in this work; but which it may nevertheless be expedient to place within the reach of certain readers. Among the articles referred to is the theory of electricity, which I first published in 1848, and which has been approved by the spirit of Franklin, and, in obedience to his advice, inserted in this volume. Unfortunately, there are but few persons sufficiently acquainted with the phenomena which form its basis, and the technical language employed by professed electricians, to find it agreeable to study the subject in question; but they may qualify themselves to do so by studying the elementary works on this branch of science.
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.