HELL DOES NOT EXIST IN OLD SENSE OF WORD, POET MARKHAM DECLARES

ST. LOUIS, Nov. 15 - "There is no hell at all in the old sense of the word," said Edwin Markham, famous American poet, in a lecture at Sheldon memorial, 3648 Washington avenue.

The author of "The Man and the Hoe" lectured on Immanuel Swedenborg, calling him "the eyeball in the front of the eighteenth century." Elucidating the Swedenborgian idea of the postmortem universe, Markham said, in part:

"What, in brief does Swedenborg tell us of the world beyond? He tells us that the spiritual world is divided into three realms necessary for evolution of the human spirit. It contains a realm called heaven, another called hell, and still another called the spirit world, a realm between heaven and hell. There is nothing irrational or arbitrary about these realms. The world of spirits receives all men and women as they leave the earth; and it is the realm of education and preparation for the heaven country or the hell country.

"Love, the service of love, is the hinge of destiny. No one is forced into the heaven country or the hell country, but each one goes to the realm that is the choice of his own heart.

"There is no literal hellfire, for all hellfire is only the burning of evil desire. All hells, therefore, are created by men. Men go to hell only because they prefer hell to heaven. Indeed, hell is the heaven of the selfish."

-- Des Moines Register, Nov. 16, 1917