 'THE LIFE BEYOND THE VEIL'The first four volumes are called:
 "This Script - transmitted by automatic or, more correctly, by inspirational writing - falls into four distinct sections, all, however, forming one progressive whole. It was all, quite evidently, planned out in advance by those who had its transmission in hand. "The link between mother and son was, no doubt, considered the most likely avenue through which to open up communication in the first instance. It was my mother, therefore, and a band of friends who transmitted to me the first part. "The experiment proving successful, another teacher was introduced named Astriel, one of higher rank and of more philosophic mind and diction. The messages given by my mother's band and Astriel form the first book of the Script, the Lowlands of Heaven. "Having passed this test I was handed over to Zabdiel, whose messages are on a higher level than the simple narrative of my mother. These form the Highlands of Heaven. "The next phase was the Ministry of Heaven, given by one who called himself 'Leader', and his band. Subsequently he seems to have assumed, more or less, sole control of communication. Then he speaks of himself as 'Arnel'. Under this name his narrative, which forms the fourth book, The Battalions of Heaven, is the climax of the whole. His messages are of a more intense nature than any of the foregoing, which were evidently preparatory. "It will be obvious that, in order to obtain the true perspective, the books should be read in the sequence given above. Otherwise some of the references in the later volumes to incidents narrated in the earlier may not be quite clear. "As to the personages concerned in the transmission of the messages: my mother passed into the higher life in 1909, aged sixty-three. Astriel was the headmaster of a school in Warwick in mid-eighteenth century. Of Zabdiel's earth-life I know little or nothing certain. Arnel gives some account of himself in the text. Kathleen, who acted as amanuensis on the Spirit side, lived in Anfield, Liverpool. She was a seamstress and died, at the age of twenty-eight, about three years before my daughter Ruby who is mentioned in the text and who passed over in 1896 at the age of fifteen months.
"There is an opinion abroad that the clergy are very credulous beings. But our training in the exercise of the critical faculty places us among the most hard-to-convince when any new truth is in question. It took a quarter of a century to convince me - ten years that Spirit Communication was a fact, and fifteen that the fact was legitimate and good. "From the moment I had taken this decision, the answers began to appear. First my wife developed the power of automatic writing. Then through her I received requests that I would sit quietly, pencil in hand, and take down any thoughts which seemed to come into my mind projected there by some eternal personality and not consequence on the exercise of my own mentality. Reluctance lasted a long time, but at last I felt that friends were at hand who wished very earnestly to speak with me. They did not overrule or compel my will in any way - that would have settled the matter at once, so far as I was concerned - but their wishes were made ever more plain. "I felt at last that I ought to give them an opportunity, for I was impressed with the feeling that the influence was a good one, so, at last, very doubtfully, I decided to sit in my cassock in the Vestry after Evensong. "The first four or five messages wandered aimlessly from one subject to another. But gradually the sentences began to take consecutive form, and at last I got some which were understandable. From that time, development kept pace with practice. When the whole series of messages was finished I reckoned up and found that the speed had been maintained at an average of twenty-four words per minute. "On two occasions only had I any idea what subject was to be treated. That was when the message had obviously been left uncompleted. At other times I had fully expected a certain subject to be taken, but on taking up my pencil the stream of thought went off in an altogether different direction. "The effect of what, perhaps, we might term the more mechanical operations, as these impinge upon the organism of the human brain, the transmitters themselves describe in some detail. "Vibrations, initiated by them and projected through the Veil, find their target in the mentality of the human instrument and are reproduced, on this side, in what is, in effect, a kind of inner clairvoyance and clairaudience...That is, he sees these scenes in his imagination as he, by similar process, is able to visualize his garden or house or other well-known place, when at a distance. "The words of the messages seem to travel on a celestial-mundane telephonic current. He can hear them interiorly in much the same manner as he is able to hum over a well-remembered tune, or to reproduce a speech he has heard with all its inflections and cadences, pathetic or uplifting - all this interiorly, and without himself uttering a sound. "In addition, however, there is a deeper content in the operation. It is that effect upon the human instrument produced by the more or less intimate contact of spirit with spirit. This is actual 'Spiritual Communion', and is recognized in the Creed of Christendom in the article 'The Communion of Saints'. "So intimate and so perfect must be the sympathy of aim and affection existing between transmitter and receiver, that whenever any thought comes through which seems to be at variance with what is true, immediately a shock is felt, and the instrument faces about, as it were, with a query in his mind, which on the part of the communicator is a immediately observed and noted. " 
The Rev. G. Eustace Owen gave the Greater World Association a few details about his father, which shows that he was a practical man with a sense of humour and a great tolerance for the weakness of others, which means that he was a very good companion as well as a good Christian. The Rev. Eustace Owen writes: "In his book WITH NORTHCLIFFE IN FLEET STREET, J. A. Hammerton alludes to the Rev. Vale Owen as 'that typical visionary of the half-Christian, half-spiritualist sort.' That view is held by many people who knew him through his writings; but it is not a true portrait. My father was a visionary without being a crank. While having a clear view of life's spiritual basis, he was most practical and methodical in all his ways. "I remember how gently he dealt with others, how broad-minded he was in argument, his tolerance of opponents, and how he endured persecution with immense patience. Many an opponent's sword was blunted by his understanding of the one who wielded it! Yet he could be severe when necessary. Cruelty in any form roused his indignation. To bullies and schemers he became a very Elijah! "I have never known anyone more direct in thought and words, or one who so detested shams. Beneath his graciousness lay the hard-ness of a good soldier of the Cross, so that he bore scorn and persecution without wavering. Quietness sometimes conceals a rare courage. "In the book HE LAUGHED IN FLEET STREET, Bernard Falk describes a meeting between Lord Northcliffe and my father, in 'The Times' office, when the former asked him to accept £1,000 for publishing extracts from the Script in the 'Weekly Despatch.' He continues:
The Rev. G. Eustace Owen adds: "All our family are pleased that the Script is not to be allowed to remain in oblivion. The rising generation particularly need the comfort and illumination of its message. We are all so glad that 'The Greater World' have so keenly and so boldly taken up this re-publication. May their confidence be justified and their labours blessed!"
"I have not had an opportunity of reading the whole of THE LIFE BEYOND THE VEIL, but among the passages I have perused are many of great beauty. "It seems to me that the personality of the Rev. G. Vale Owen is a matter of deep importance and to be considered in connection with these very remarkable documents. During the brief interview that I had with him I felt that I was in the presence of a man of sincerity and conviction. He laid no claims to any particular psychic gift. He expressed a desire for as little pub-licity as possible, and declined any of the great emoluments that could easily have come to him as the result of the enormous interest felt by the public all over the world in these Scripts. "
"THE long battle is nearly won. The future may be chequered. It may hold many a set-back and many a disappointment, but the end is sure. "It has always seemed certain to those who were in touch with truth, that if any inspired document of the new revelation could get really into the hands of the mass of the public, it would be sure by its innate beauty and reasonableness to sweep away every doubt and every prejudice. "Now world-wide publicity is being given to the very one of all others which one would have selected, the purest, the highest, the most com- plete, the most exalted in its source. Verily the hand of the Lord is here! "The narrative is before you, and ready to speak for itself. Do not judge it merely by the opening, lofty as that may be, but mark the ever ascending beauty of the narrative, rising steadily until it reaches a level of sustained grandeur. "Do not carp about minute details, but judge it by the general impression. Do not be unduly humorous because it is new and strange. "Remember that there is no narrative upon earth, not even the most sacred of all, which could not be turned to ridicule by the extraction of passages from their context and by over- accentuation of what is immaterial. The total effect upon your mind and soul is the only standard by which to judge the sweep and power of this revelation. "Why should God have sealed up the founts of inspiration two thousand years ago? What warrant have we anywhere for so unnatural a belief? "Is it not infinitely more reasonable that a living God should continue to show living force, and that fresh help and knowledge should be poured out from Him to meet the evolution and increased power of comprehension of a more receptive human nature, now purified by suffering. "All these marvels and wonders, these preternatural happenings during the last seventy years, so obvious and notorious that only shut eyes have failed to see them, are trivial in themselves, but are the signals which have called our material minds to attention, and have directed them towards those messages of which this particular script may be said to be the most complete example. "There are many others, varying in detail according to the sphere described or the opacity of the transmitter, for each tinges the light to greater or less extent as it passes through. Only with pure spirit will absolutely pure teaching be received, and yet this story of Heaven must, one would think, be as near to it as mortal conditions allow. "And is it subversive of old beliefs? A thousand times No. It broadens them, it defines them, it beautifies them, it fills in the empty voids which have bewildered us, but, save to narrow pedants of the exact word who have lost touch with the spirit, it is infinitely reassuring and illuminating. "How many fleeting phrases of the old Scriptures now take visible shape and meaning? "Do we not begin to understand that 'House with many mansions,' and realize Paul's 'House not made with hands,' even as we catch some fleeting glance of that glory which the mind of man has not conceived neither has his tongue spoken? "It all ceases to be a far-off elusive vision and it becomes real, solid, assured, a bright light ahead as we sail the dark waters of Time, adding a deeper joy to our hours of gladness and wiping away the tear of sorrow by assuring us that if we are only true to God's law and our own higher instincts there are no words to express the happiness which awaits us. "Those who mistake words for things will say that Mr. Vale Owen got all this from his subconscious self. Can they then explain why so many others have had the same experience, if in a less exalted degree? "I have myself epitomized in two small volumes the general account of the other world, drawn from a great number of sources. It was done as independently of Mr. Vale Owen as his account was independent of mine. Neither had possible access to the other. And yet as I read this far grander and more detailed conception I do not find one single point of importance in which I have erred. "How, then, is this agreement possible if the general scheme is not resting upon inspired truth? "The world needs some stronger driving force. It has been running on old inspiration as a train runs when the engine is removed. New impulse is needed. If religion had been a real compelling thing, then it would show itself in the greatest affairs of all - the affairs of nations, and the late war would have been impossible. What church is there which came well out of that supreme test? Is it not manifest that the things of the spirit need to be restated and to be recoupled with the things of life? "A new era is beginning. Those who have worked for it may be excused if they feel some sense of reverent satisfaction as they see the truths for which they laboured and testified gaining wider attention from the world. It is not an occasion for self-assertion, for every man and woman who has been honoured by being allowed to work in such a cause is well aware that he or she is but an agent in the hands of unseen but very real, wise, and dominating forces. And yet one would not be human if one were not relieved when one sees fresh sources of strength, and realizes the all-precious ship is held more firmly than ever upon her course."
CONTENTS OF THE LIFE BEYOND THE VEIL SERIES:VOLUME I - THE LOWLANDS OF HEAVENVOLUME II - THE HIGHLANDS OF HEAVENVOLUME III - THE MINISTRY OF HEAVENVOLUME IV - THE BATTALIONS OF HEAVENVOLUME V - THE OUTLANDS OF HEAVEN
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