News and citizen. [volume] (Morrisville, Vt. ;) 1881-current, 1916-04-05
But what information are they able

buL WudL lnlOTIHdllOn are Lney dDle
TO give us beyond their conviction
that the human personality does not
cease to be an individual and coherent
mentality when death ends it's ex-
istence in physical body?
TO be sure, the additional informa
ton they present is very meagre.
Their efforts have been to accumulate
the kind of evidence that tends tc
prove the fact of immortality, rather
than to inform us of the conditions
in which human beings find them
selves as discarnate existences.
Conditions In the Other World
However, there are works dealing
with the actual conditions surround
ing those who are in the spiritual
world; and of these none is more
worthy of note than the treatise on
the life after death by Emanuel Swe-
denborg, based upon his own unique
experiences and Investigations.
Professor F. w. H. Myers, one
of the original members of the So
ciety for Psychical Research, and
author of monumental treatise
("Human Personality, and It's Sur
vival of Bodily Death") summarizing
the results of the investigations OF
that society during the first twenty
years of its existence, speaks in that
work OF SwedenbOrg and his state
ments as follows:
For my own part regard Sweden
borg as true and early precursor OF
that great inquiry which it is our
present object to advances sand as
the most notable recent case where
such communication has been claimed
observation-disclosures writings on the
world OF spirits contain accounts OF
what he saw and felt in that world i,
and of such differences with regard
to its laws as his actual experience
suggested*** story-one of the
strangest lives yet lived by mortal
mems corroborative of the slowly
rising fabric of knowledge of which
he was the uniquely gifted precursor. "
Sir William F. Barrett, F. r. S. ;,
who may rightfully be called the
founder of the Society for Psychical
Research, has made the following
statement concerning the noted Swed-
ish scientist:
"Swedenborg carries into all his
writings the calm, unimpassioned air
OF science. He declared that the
change we call death is not an abrupt
transition from the ordered mystery
of life and law we know here to
nebulous and unimaginable realm
wholly different from the present; but
that the other life is a continuation
and development of the present life**~
He claimed to have had intromission
to the spiritual world, and his state
ments of the life and activities there
in, throughout all his voluminous
writings, are so consistent and ap-
parently veridical, that they deserve
respectful consideration.
After these estimates of Sweden
borg by leaders of psychical research,
the following opinions of other noted
persons are of interest.
The great English poetess, Eliza
beth Barrett Browning, expEessed her
views in these words: ITO my mind
the only light that has been cast on
the other life is found in Sweden
Dorg's philosophy.
The late Rev. R. Heber Newton,
he celebrated rector of All Souls
Protestant Episcopal church in New
York city, published an article some
years ago, in which he said:
THE first really new conception
# the character of immortality given
o the world for eighteen centuries
anne through the great savant and |
and theologian of Sweden |
Emanuel Swedenborg***Wh |
he nature of the sources of his |
bought, its character was revolu- !
ionary. He reconstructed the whole
lea of the hereafter. For the first
Ime in eighteen centuries-one might
lmost say for the first time in the
istory of humanity-it took on sane
nd sensible forms, and became ra-
onal and conceivable, natural ana
ecessary."
Detailed information
1t is impracticable to give here any
xplanation of Swedenborg's ideas
oncerning the life after death. For
lat purpose considerable space
ould be needed. However, he
rote a special treatise upon the
inject, entitled Heaven and HE'LL"
Id anybody who may desire to
ad it will find it in any public
Drary or can get it at slight ex-
'nse through any bookseller.
From the standpoint of the Society
r Psychical Research, Swedenborg
the most remarkable instance in
history OF a person who has
aimed full knowledge of the condi-
ms in the spiritual world from ac-