George Vale Owen
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George Vale Owen
Of all the examples of recent years there is none which can compare in fullness
and dignity with the writings of the Rev. George Vale Owen, whose great script,
"The Life Beyond the Veil," may be as permanent an influence as that of
Swedenborg. It is an interesting point, elaborated by Dr. A. J. Wood, that even
in most subtle and complex points there is a close resemblance between the work
of these two seers, and yet it is certain that Vale Owen is very slightly
acquainted with the writings of the great Swedish teacher. George Vale Owen is
so outstanding a figure in the history of modern Spiritualism that some short
note upon him may not be out of place. He was born in Birmingham in 1869 and was
educated at the Midland Institute and Queen's College, Birmingham. After
curacies at Seaforth, Fairfield, and the low Scotland Road division of
Liverpool, where he had a large experience among the poor, he became vicar of
Orford, near Warrington, where his energy has been instrumental in erecting a
new church. Here he remained for twenty years working in his parish which deeply
appreciated his ministrations. Some psychic manifestations came his way, and
finally he found himself impelled to exercise his own latent power of inspired
writing, the script purporting to come in the first instance from his mother,
but being continued by certain High Spirits or Angels who had come in her train.
The whole constitutes an account of life after death, and a body of philosophy
and advice from unseen sources, which seems to the author to bear every internal
sign of a high origin. The narrative is dignified and lofty, expressed in
slightly archaic English which gives it a curious flavour of its own.
Some extracts from this script appeared in various papers, attracting the more
notice as being from the pen of a vicar of the Established Church. The
manuscript was finally brought to the notice of the late Lord Northcliffe, who
was much impressed by it and also by the self-denial of the writer, who refused
to take any emuneration for its publication. This followed weekly in Lord
Northcliffe's Sunday paper, the Weekly Dispatch, and nothing has ever occurred
which has brought the highest teachings of Spiritualism so directly to the
masses. It was shown incidentally that the policy of the Press in the past had
been not only ignorant and unjust, but actually mistaken from the low point of
view of self-interest, for the circulation of the Dispatch increased greatly
during the year that it published the script. Such doings were, however, highly
offensive to a very conservative bishop, and Mr. Vale Owen found himself, like
all religious reformers, an object of dislike, and suffered veiled persecution
from his Church superiors. With this force pushing him, and the pull in front of
the whole Spiritualist community, he bravely abandoned his living and cast
himself and his family on the mercy of whatever Providence might please to
direct, his brave wife entirely sympathizing with him in a step which was no
light matter for a couple who were no longer young. After a short lecturing tour
in America and another in England, Mr. Vale Owen is at present presiding over a
Spiritualist congregation in London, where the magnetism of his presence draws
considerable audiences. In an excellent pen-portrait, Mr. David Gow has said of
Vale Owen:
The tall, thin figure of the minister, his pale, ascetic face lit by large eyes,
luminous with tenderness and humour, his modest bearing, his quiet words charged
with the magnetism of sympathy, all these revealed in full measure what manner
of man he is. They disclosed a soul of rare devotion kept sane and sweet by a
kindly, humorous sense and a practical outlook on the world. He seemed to be
charged more with the Spirit of Erasmus or of Melanchthon than of the bluff
Luther. Perhaps the Church needs no Luthers to-day.
If the author has included this short notice under the head of personal
experience, it is because he has been honoured by the close friendship of Mr.
Vale Owen for some years, and has been in a position to study and endorse the
reality of his psychic powers. The author would add that he has succeeded in
getting the independent Direct Voice sitting alone with his wife. The voice was
a deep, male one, coming some feet above our heads, and uttering only a short
but very audible greeting. It is hoped that with further development consistent
results may be obtained. For years the author has, in his own domestic Circle,
obtained inspired messages through the hand and voice of his wife, which have
been of the most lofty and often of the most evidential nature. These are,
however, too personal and intimate to be discussed in a general survey of the
subject.