The sun., 1872-02-17
SOME VIEW BOOKs.
A phiiesoph,caI y,pa,e,,,or oruc,i.

sumo, will be Of interest TO all classes of read
ers. I'm fact, while multitudes seldom or never
think about heaven, Its opposite has awful
fascination for them, which brings II con-
stantly before their minds. Whatever, there
furc, promises To throw light upon its char
acter and the conditions Of existence in II,
cannot fail to command very general attention.
Mr.. Barrett eyows himself ut the outset to he
n Disciple Of Emanuel Swedenborg, and makes
the revelations Of TINT remarkable seer the basis
Of his argument all through his book Indeed,
lie carries his devotion to his master SO far as to
say Of his doctrine of the eternal duration Of
hell that at Is a Divine revelation, as much so
~ the Immortality of the soul, the nature and
Time of tho resurrection. the nature Of heaven
aud hell, and the law that determines tho asso-
citations of each one aud tho appearance Of his
surroundings In the Hereafter. Whoever rejects
the dortrinc, therefore set hls own reason above
revelation, or assumes to be wise above what Il
written" This Is tie language Of a scctary. not
" n philosopher; aud We ARE dad to nnd. from
assertions elsewhere made l., Nfr 3u1,'tt that II
is not countenanccd by swcd,nhorn IN hi In
unductory chapter he rcmnrla:
u%., 70 S9g i6Srci9rs ssyrc,a f. r,gye fSr rn
,whinS eplroye tstlft 10 hi, r'ionll mtuiioHs tln
US IVY @ ,y11 shd ~ al'" ""o'"er Z" 'tr Tor him
fhis tclct idst tln ddetsb1dlre IN be Kent in
19oc,ion 4 70 pi'h, Is rytcted N II" New hntch and
truth 2t s cnur,h ShoYd be .re' in orrr that may
M nr p.nyNed. y, What y truth hntfecn, Pu' aNoicc
naye nye Nsd9in N con 'quoi,e OF rs!hg uYa. Where.
h. believed although It is uhder,toud hr angel re-.
s,f are god whom am bound to believe -"
And elsewhere he says, concerning the claim
OF nfalllhility made by some for Swedenborg:
-" We may admit his divine Illumination VIC may br.
nvve thd ne was enllshened and tankt oi God a. No
clalm to he, mud diyncy authorized revelation,
and ye, We may eolicye thl Iii ilunnnai'n sas not
ncly nfalihic that lis rcn lnd even III. Thought ou
olo@ pf @PIn Sm Pp@@ Pp@lq a. ni .s fnr ~ @ ~ oc h9Y pa
une contrary to his general teaching upon he same
Accepting the book In this liberal spirit, and
Judging It by our own rational perceptions, we
nnd II to he u really valuable contribution to the
worlds stock Of religious ideas. Even those who
dissent from its teachings must admit that they
are extremely plausible and have much to sup
port them in well known psychological facts.
The generally received view uf he'll Il that ~ "A
literal lake of fire and brlmstouc, or. at least.
some material place of fiery torment In which
sinners are to lie tortured by way OF punishment
for their mIsdeeds In this life. Until within a
few years preachers were very fond OF INDUCING
in imaginary descriptions of the horrors Of this
prison-hO of the damned, following gem
orally the accounts Of II given by Milton in his
Paradise Lost" Mr.. Barrett quotes from
Buckles "ITlstory OF Civilization in England"
to show how the Scotch clergymen Of the seven
tcenth century used to treat the subject
"Tn the pictures which they drew. they reproduced
age. They delighted IN telling trir honrrs that th'y
o6 o' fIy 2SsSS See !" ( ' & S rV Ps 'SS. ~ S
item. Tho, wtrr to be- ,hrown Into boiiine oil sni
sc,idirg i,Si river of hrn.tonc hroadrr tHan iho
51 51, rd va s%S S S werS Inc r h 'ev @ SS, S,,agr
lpg, n9d thoy were on'' ~, ur,t For tc torture, be
I%,h4,a % va ths yrn " VA .lI G n,,l Wns ..cc', dgd
b. was auora lime moved on, mat he in,.nt uncr,p
i,c-n gonles ia f,sh places prq ision heg mad, ~,
IaHcd n ~ character 81 veil as ,trrua In - Duration
cprey il WA t 1 M %as II va M hs ioy T. sa 6
nidc. For ecCotdinr p. them 9'l va. ucd lefore
plth, and compirtug ihi- rpc, 81 torture. go fhst
vhcn ihc hnuan r,cc arp,ar,dit micht BE- ready fur
W,lr '.r' pto1 Ample, however. ns the uirtug,nrnts
enough q co1lalu HE counuc,- Victim. l-c.sautly
i'ut 10 hat c,panse ihcro a no yod Tor tie dole
Of gc'.rp.ra'"d Nh tae ~ cN a.d yels of u1dlnE
como Nlth their piercing ecrcaus whiting iu con, NJ
Know ug thaf other torments mor rrleyuuE I'm were
reserved for thcmT
In confederation of Mr.. Buckles assertions
Mr.. Barrett quotes from u number Of re-
ligious writers OF the period referred to, at the
same time acknowledging that, in the present
age, these horrible ideas haye been by many
"o,ttsgymen-Mr Beev,.rr among them aban-
doned Nevertheless they constitute with most
people the substratum Of their conceptions OF
the character Of he'll, and are to a certain ex-
tent upheld In the orthodox churches, whilo
they form the object Of attack Of the more lib
eral sccts
The swedenboreian view, rs presented by Mr..
Barrett, Is that he'll Is not place. but state Of
the sodl which projects itself outwardly, maxi
ing the surrounding s,senefy conform to its own
character, Its torments are not torments In
ficted by the Lord In retrlbutlon for past sins,
but the burning agony Of evil passions striving
to vent themselves, and by the divine law OF
retaliation reactlng upon their unhappy victim.
For, according to Swedenborg, the soul IL or
ganzed OF spiritual substance, as the natural
body Is Of material substance. II Is that In
us which thinks, remembers, reasons, loves. II
|, endowed with the senses Of seeing, hearing,
feeling, touching, and tasting, far more acute
and perfect, too, than tie bodily senses
IL e. not subject To decay or death,
but lives on after the natural body
dies When that change which we call death
and which Is the death of the body taScs place.
the soul passes consciously into the spiritual
world II was there before death, but uncon-
sciou-ly while its outlook was into the realm of
nature just "a the body In a state Of sleep Is
uncOuscously, In the natural world and when
II awakes II becomes fully conscious Of it, abode
here While the soul tahernaclcs In the flesh,
its senses are ordinarily closed but when re-
leased from all connection with the body, It's
senses are all opened. II awake' to conscious
ness of IT. existence In the spiritual world IL Is
then brought into open and sensible Intercourse
with the people and objects of that world, Its
! eyes and ears being opened, 10 sees and hears
other spirits just as in this world we and hear
one another. Hence Il has the capacity Of suffer
| ing and enjoyment, even m re fully than II had
| while In the material body, and If its career In
that body has 0Xed 1t In an evil state, II remains
| in that state to eternity. A. the wicked man on
earth IL consumed by his own lusts he IL IN
| he'll, with the difference that there he n sur
| rounded by the appearance Of burning fire and
| smoke while his rage expresses itself in an im-
| r~'ent sna>Ling Of teeth.
The obvious objection to his Nvi.i~-'~'i"h ~
| that It robs hell Of none Of the repulslye fea-
| lures which are so severely reprehended In the
| old-fashioned view. Whether man suffers In
| the flesh or In the spirit II Of little moment So
long as he really suffers and to say that his suf-
| fcrlng is the result Of his internal state, does
I