Thomas Lake Harris (May 15, 1823 – March 23, 1906) was an Anglo-American Universalist minister, spiritualistic prophet, poet, and vintner. Harris is best remembered as the leader of a series of communal religious experiments, culminating with a group called the Brotherhood of the New Life in Santa Rosa, California.

Biography

Early life

Thomas Lake Harris was born May 15, 1823, at Fenny Stratford in Buckinghamshire, England. His parents were strict Calvinistic Baptists and very poor. When Harris was five years old his parents emigrated from England, settling in the town of Utica, New York. His mother died when he was still a young boy and Harris was forced by circumstances to help support the family from the age of 9. In that church he came into contact with a young newspaper publisher, Horace Greeley, who was so moved by one of Harris's sermons that he was inspired to organize Harris's congregation to help found the New York Juvenile Asylum. The experiment was racked by squabbles over property and personalities, and after two years, the Virginia commune collapsed.

Publications and sources

Harris published a book, Lyra triumphalis, dedicated to A. C. Swinburne. His teaching was esoteric in form, but has been considered a thinly veiled attempt to alter the ordering of sexual relations.

A good deal of verse published by Harris, in more than 40 volumes, was what we would call today science-fictional themes. He depicted interplanetary empires, imperial cities entirely covering planets, and the "ancient astronaut" myth, in which space travellers helped early humans with agriculture, technology and spiritual development.

The Path (Vol. VI, February, 1892, pp. 346–47) printed the article "The Brotherhood of the New Life" by W. Q. Judge, which said that "The Brotherhood of the New Life" has nothing in common with the Theosophical Society. Judge was a follower of Helena P. Blavatsky, the founder of theosophy.

The authoritative biography, written from the perspective of the disciples of Harris, "Life," by A. A. Cuthbert, was published in Glasgow in 1908. The text has language common to Harris's sect and it also contains some biographical facts as well as quotations.

The information about Harris in Memoir of the Life of Laurence Oliphant and of Alice Oliphant, his Wife (1891), by Margaret Oliphant, his cousin, has not been refuted and Oliphant's own portrait of Harris in Masollam seems truthful. But his personal magnetism and self-confidence led many to continue to believe in him.

Works

  • Juvenile Depravity and Crime in Our City: A Sermon. New York: C.B. Norton, 1850.
  • An Epic of the Starry Heaven. New York: Partridge and Brittan, 1855.
  • A Lyric of the Golden Age. New York: Partridge and Brittan, 1856.
  • A Lyric of the Morning Land. New York: Partridge and Brittan, 1856.
  • Wisdom of Angels (1856)
  • Hymns of Spiritual Devotion. New York: New Church Publishing Association, 1857.
  • The First Book of the Christian Religion. New York: New Church Publishing Association, 1858.
  • Regina: A Song of Many Days. London: William White, 1860.
  • The Second Visibility of Jesus. London: William White; Manchester: Johnson and Rawson, [1860].
  • Arcana of Christianity: An Unfolding of the Celestial Sense of the Divine Word Through Thomas Lake Harris.
  • Part III — The Apocalypse: Volume 1. New York: Brotherhood of the New Life, 1867.
  • Modern Spiritualism (1860)
  • The Great Republic: A Poem of the Sun. New York: Brotherhood of the New Life, 1867.
  • The Breath of God with Man: An Essay on the Grounds and Evidences of Universal Religion. New York: Brotherhood of the New Life, 1867.
  • The Lord: The Two-in-One: Declared, Manifested, and Glorified. Salem-on-Erie, NY:: Brotherhood of the New Life, 1876.
  • The Wedding Guest. With Lily C. Harris. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1877-1878.
  • Bridal Hours: Dedication Ode for the House of Jesus and Yessa Aestivossa, 1875. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove Vineyard, 1878.
  • The Wisdom Of The Adepts: Esoteric Science in Human History. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1884.
  • The Joy Bringer: Fifty-three Melodies of the One-in-Twain: February-March MDCCCLXXXVI. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1886.
  • Star-Flowers: A Poem of the Woman's Mystery. In Nine Cantos. 1886-1887.
  • Canto the First. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1886.
  • The New Republic: A Discourse of the Prospects, Dangers, Duties and Safeties of the Times. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1891.
  • God's Breath in Man and in Humane Society. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1891.
  • Brotherhood of the New Life: Its Fact, Law, Method and Purpose. Santa Rosa, CA: T.L. Harris, 1891.
  • Conversation in Heaven: A Wisdom Song. [Santa Rosa, CA]: Fountaingrove, 1894.
  • In Dawnrise: A Song of Songs. [Santa Rosa, CA]: [Fountaingrove], 1896.
  • The Song of Theos: A Trilogy. Glasgow: C. W. Pearce & Co., 1903.

Notes

Further reading

  • Respiro, The Brotherhood of the New Life: An Epitome of the Works and Teachings of Thomas Lake Harris. In Five Volumes. London: E.W. Allen, 1896.

Other sources

  • This work in turn cites:
  • Allen, T. L. Harris, The Seer (1897)