Christopher Hasler JUNE 19 New Church Press Manchester 1970 Swedenborg June 19th 1770

8/6/2019 Christopher Hasler JUNE 19 New Church Press Manchester 1970 Swedenborg June 19th 1770

1/19


2/19

June 19Rev. Christopher V. A. HaslerPublished by theNew-Church Sunday School Union

to commemorateThe New-Church World Assembly

1970 London


3/19

Distributed byThe New-Church Press Ltd.20, Bloomsbury Way, London W.C.1,and New-Church House,34, John Dalton Street, Manchester M2 6LE.


4/19

Only one manEvery year, on June 19th, the people of the New Churchmeet together to celebrate an event which did not takeplace on the earth!Therefore, had vou lived 200 years ago, in the year 1770,Vou would not have noticed anything unusual. No kingor prince, no politician or admiraI, no ordinary man orwoman knew that they were living at a time which wouldbecome one of the most important days in history:JUNE 19th, 1770.Only one man on earth understood that something mostwonderful happened on that day, and it happened in thatworld where ail people go when they die. We cali itThe spiritual world.On that day, 200 years ago, a very wise and humble mancould see that there was great excitement in the spiritualworld, and that the Lord Jesus Christ had called togetherthe twelve disciples who had followed Him on earth, andHe told them that He had new work fo r them.

3


5/19

cD-rel?,:;-19

ElTIanuelSwedenborg 1688 -1772C.f( ~ ~ The man who told us this was Emanuel Swedenborg.HWas born-in SWden on January 2 ~ a s the son of a Bishop and he became one of the most outstanding men that ever Iived. He was always finding outhow things worked; how they could be improved; howthey could be made more cheaply so that everyone cou Idbuy them. He was concerned for sailors on the high seas,and he worked out a method so that, by means of themoon, they could find out in which longitude they were.He was always practical and never stopped learning, evenwhen he became known in ail the countries of Europe asone of the great scientists of his day. He wrote bookson mathematics, chemistry, physics, mining, geology,steel-making, and many other subjects. They were soldin many countries.But his search had not ended. He wanted to know howIife began: where it comes from; and how it dwells inthe body. He studied the human body, and wrote manyvolumes about the different organs, but he could notdiscover the living soul within the body, although healways believed that God gives to every man a soul whichcan never die.When he was 56 years old, something most wonderfulhappened to him. This is how he wrote about it :"1 tell you the truth. The Lord Himself appeared beforeme. He opened the eyes of my spirit, and so introducedme into the spiritual world. 1was able to see the heavensand the hells. and also to talk with angels and spirits."Ali this happened to him because he was given a specialtask to do by the Lord. The real reason was that theChurch on earth had lost the simple faith in the Lord JesusChrist as the only God of heaven and earth.

4

1


6/19

One Godof Heaven & EarthBecause you have been brought up in the New Church,you have a very clear idea about the Lord you worship.Vou know only Jesus, and you say your prayers to Him,since you know that there is no other God. When youread His Word, it is God Himself wh o is speaking to youand teaching you.Vou know this, bu t if the Lord had not revealed it toSwedenborg, you would have a very different idea of God.Perhaps you would believe that Jesus was only a man,a great Teacher with amazing powers, but not God.Vou might believe that Jesus was the Son of God, andthat besides Him there were two other persons: God theFather, and God the Holy Ghost. Vou would be taughtnot to say prayers to Jesus (as vou would wish to ) butto the Father who is the Almighty, though you could no timagine Him at ail.But most likely, vou would not believe anything anymore; bu t in any case, vou would not have a very c1earidea of the Lord God, and no one could really begin toexplain it to vou. When people do not know whether tobelieve in one God or in three, they will usually end upbelieving nothing, and will come to think that there is noGod.This is what has already happened to many people, andif you say that vou believe in God, they will laugh at yoursimplicity and ask, "What, you still believe in thosestories ?"But there is a God, and He could not allow such ignoranceto continue and spread without revealing the truth thathas been lost.

5


7/19

'1 W"as ln the spirit'Can we really trust Swedenborg, that Swedish scientist?Can we believe him when he calmly tells us that not onlydid the Lord Himself appear to him, but that He alsoopened his spiritual eyes, so that he could be in heavenand in hell while he still Iived on the earth? Are suchthings possible?There is really nothing new in this, because the Lordappeared to His disciples and others after His resurrec tion, and also opened their spiritual senses: eyes and earsand touch, so that they could see, hear and fee!. ManyOld Testament prophets were also able to see wonderfulthings in the spiritual world, and to describe them in greatdetai!.When the disciple John was an old man living on the isleof Patmos: the Lord appeared to him and instructed himto write ail the things that he saw in the spiritual world.You can read about this in the first chapter of the bookof Revelation. You will then see the Iikeness between thecommand given to John and the command given toSwedenborg.Now suppose you believed the Lord had ca lied you to dosome important work for Him! You would put aside ailother things and concentrate on that. This is whatSwedenborg did. He gave up ail other employments andscientific research and started a very careful study of theLord's Word, reading it in Hebrew and in Greek. Thenhe wrote and published many books about the thingswhich the Lord revealed to him.

6


8/19

Heavenly MysteriesThe first theological work which Swedenborg wrote isalso the longest, and we still cali it by its Latin title:ARCANA CAELESTIA. In English this means, HeavenlyMysteries. In the English translation the work runs into12 volumes, and with the Index that makes 13 books.What are these wonderful mysteries which Swedenborgwas commanded to publish? He explains:

( j ) "People who read the Word of the Old Testament thinkthat i t is only a history of the Jewish people, becauseAC.1 this is what i t looks like. Vet the Word contains hiddenmysteries which describe the lord, heaven and theChurch."The Word was specially written and dictated by the LordHimself so as to contain a deeper and heavenly meaning.Swedenborg explains the real meaning of the first tw obooks in our Bible, GENESIS and EXODUS. The Book ofGenesis opens with the stories which describe thecreation of the world in six days; Adam and Eve; theFlood; the Tower of Babel.Are these stories really true? At one time everyonebelieved them, bu t today this is not so. Many people say,'These are just old stories, but science tells us verydifferent things. The world took millions and millions ofyears to evolve, not just six days '"People could have saved themselves ail these arguments,if only they had read Arcana Caelestia: fo r these earlystories are true, but in a most special way. They are notreal histories, but "made-up histories" which contain avery important message about man's spiritual Iife. TheBible is not out of date. On the contrary, we have hardlystarted to use it, since up to now it has not been properly

7


9/19

understood. It has been like a closed book. But now wecan know that the Lord speaks to us in His Word to giveus power to fight against evils, and to let us see Himmore c1early.ARCANA CAELESTIA is a very learned work which con tains deep wisdom. But it makes things c1ear to us, andin it there are passages of great simplicity. At the begin ning of the work, Swedenborg wrote: A. c.. (FrcJ) ..By the Lord, in the following pages, is meant only JESUS

1-\ c. J'-r CHRIST, the Saviour of the world, who is called the Lord,without other names. Everywhere in heaven He is acknow ledged and adored as the Lord, because He has ail powerin heaven and on earth. He also commanded, saying:'You cali me Lord; and you are right, fo r so 1 am'(John 13: 13). And after His resurrection His disciplescalied Him Lord. In the universal heaven they know noother Father than the Lord, because He is the one, as HeHimself said: '1 am the way, and the truth, and the life' ..(John 14: 6) .Can anything be more simple? To have such a c1ear andbeautiful idea of the Lord Jesus Christ as our heavenlyFather is something which we have because we belongto the New Church. This was the main truth that Sweden borg was appointed to proclaim and publish.

8


10/19

---

From thingsheard and seen

\Because ARCANA CAELESTIA is so long, it is not thefirst work which people buy and read when they want tofind ou t about the New Church. The book which peoplemostly read is one which Swedenborg called: HEAVENAN 0 HELL, or, to give it its full title: Heaven and itsWonders, and Hell. From things heard and seen.The Lord Jesus Christ spoke about heaven and hell manytimes, but when ideas about spiritual truths became confused, no one really knew how to understand His words.People came to know less and less about Iife after death.Today many people do not know what to believe, andmany even do not think we shall live after death; so theycontradict the teaching of the Lord in the Gospel. Swedenborg said as much in the introduction to the book:"Church people today hardly know a thing about heavenand hell, or about life after death, although these thingsJ.!-# 1 are ail described in the Word. In fact, many people bornin the Church deny them, saying in their hearts, 'Who hascome from that world and told us?'"In order that people should no t take this negative l ine which is especially common among those who know a lo tabout worldly things, and so mislead and corrupt thosewho are simple in heart and simple in fai th- I have beenallowed to live with angels and to talk with them as oneman talks to another. 1have also been permitted to seethe things in the heavens as weil as in the hells. Fromwhat 1 have heard and seen, 1 can now describe thesethings in the hope that ignorance and unbelief may beenlightened and dispelled. Such r e v e l a t i o r L l ~ ..now made,because this is what is meantby'the cOmlng ofthe Lord." - - - _ .

9


11/19

A book which tells us about heaven arild hell, the worldwhere ail human lives continue, is bound to be a greatadventure book, full of exciting ideas. But Swedenborgwas a very serious and practical scientist. He was notinterested in writing a sensational book, but in describingwith great care and in great detail ail that we need toknow about the world which we must one day enter. Itis more like a text -book. But what wonderful secrets areunfolded in its pages! Quietly and patiently (and this isalso how you must read it ) the author describes whatheaven is like; what happens to us just after we die; howwe gradually awake and are made welcome by angels andfriends we knew on earth; how little children who die areeducated in heaven and become angels. We learn thatthe happiness of heaven is so great because everyonethere has something useful to do, and ail wish to sharewhat they have with others.The Lord does not wish anyone to go to hell and He triesto prevent this happening, but people who love badnessjust cannot be stopped from wanting to jon companions\ who are like themselves and with whom they can havetheir fights and lies and cruelty . They really feel at homewith those who are like themselves. It is a picture of awasted life; but people always freely choose to go either) to heaven or to hell, because they would not wish to liveanywhere else.One day you must read this book .because it tells us ingreat detail about the "heavenly mansions" which theLord promised to prepare fo r us. Everyone should havea copy of this book: for when people die, their familiesand friends are sad because they do not know what hashappened to them. They are in great doubts and fear,and so feel very unhappy. Yet the Lord has revealed somany truths which would make people full of new hope.

10


12/19

The crowning workln 1770 Swedenborg was an old gentleman of 82, nearlyat the end of his long and useful life, but still very heartyand busy. He knew that he would not live very muchlonger on this earth, and looked forward to the day whenhe would enter the spiritual world fo r the last time andstay there for ever. But he still had something veryimportant to do. He knew that he had to complete thecrowning work of his WRITINGS-for this is what weusually cali ail his religious books. He had to publish inone volume ail the doctrines of the New Church. Hewrote to his friend:"1 can tell you this, fo r the Lord has promised it to me:1 shall no t die before 1 hav reclvedfrom-the pressthis~ o r k whicf i - isnow - ready-tobeprJted:-THE'TRUECHRISTIAN RELIGION."The principal object of this work is to show that theDivine Trinity is united in the Lord."You see how faithful Swedenborg remained to his mission,always showing that the Lord Jesus Christ is the onlyGod. As he completed the pages of the work, The TrueChristian Religion, he had a wonderful experience, andadded a short note before he made a new clean copyfor the printer:MEMORANDUM ic..fl, (

( ] ) "After this work wa s finished, the Lord calied together'Ris MlVe disciples, who followed Him in the world; andthe next day He sent them out into the whole spiritualworld to preach the Gospel that the Lord Jesus Christreigns, whose kingdom shall be fo r ever and ever, according to the predicition of Daniel 7: 13-14; and Revelation11: 15; and also that'They are blessed who come unto the marriage supperof the Lamb" (Revelation 19: 9) .

11


13/19

-rctThis is meant bythese words of the Lord:He shan send His angels and they shall gather togetherHis elect from one end of the heavens to the other(Matthew 24:31).What an amazing statement!The Lord once said: "God is not the God of the deadbut of the living." We think of people in history as beingfrozen in books, statues, or paintings, and having no moreto do than give us a difficult time when we are sitting jorexams and have to remember their dates and deeds. But,in fact, no one is dead! Certainly not the disciples-Peter,James and John, as weil as ail the rest. They are breathing now, and they are busy. They, too, went into thespiritual world as soon as they died and, because of theirlove for the Lord, they wou Id try to continue the workthey had done on earth in their simple and forthright way.But as more people arrived from the earth, they saw thatthe Church on earth was divided and falling into greaterconfusion. You would have to s t ~ 9 > " the history of theChurch to know what difficulties arose, how people arguedancreven fought together, ail in the name of Christianity.Somehow, e ~ e r y t h i n g was turning against the simple anddirect message which the discipleshad tried to teach.But 'Prhaps they were upheld in hope by the words whichJesus spoke to them while He was with them on theearth. He had foretold that the Church would becomedarkened by taise ideas, and that He would have to comeagain when the time became right an-dwhm the peQpiecoUld understand the truth more fully: --.--_._-- - -"When the --Son otman comes, will He find faith on theearth?" (Luke 18: 8)."1 have still many things to say to you, but you cannotbear them now" (John 16: 12).But the time was ripe on J ~ 9!h, 1770.The Lord announced again, but this time with greaterpower, because the people today can bear a greater light12


14/19

of truth, that He alone is the God of heaven and earth.And because this is so, the truth had to be announcedboth in the spiritual world and on the earth.How gladly the disciples must have obeyed the commandlNow they knew fully that the Lord whom they had alwaysloved so dearly was the only God and heavenly Fatherof ail men, their Creator as weil as their Saviour. Thisidea would be too big to take in while they Iived withthe Lord, or even as He appeared to them after the resur rection. But now it was different. They could bear thisgreat and wonderful tr.uth, and they ~ o u l d want to goand share it with everyone in the spiritual world, and say:'The Lord Jesus Christ reigns, and of His kingdom thereshall be no end!"This is what happened in the spiritual world.On earth the same wonderful message was given bySwedenborg in his Writings. Ali the works he wrote tellthe same truth that the Lord Jesus Christ is God alone.We know this revelation asTHE SECOND COMING OF THE LORD.This is why Swedenborg wrote:

"Since the Lord cannat show Himself in persan, and yet-r He has foretold that He will come and establish a NewChurch, which is the New Jerusalem, He must do this by~ 1 means of a man who is able ta receive the doctrines ofthis Church with his understanding, and ta publish them

by the press. 1 swear that the Lord has appeared ta meHis servant, and sent me on this duty,"No wonder we think that June 19th is a very special dayfor ail New Church people!Without that a n n o u n c e m ~ n t of truth not one of us couldhave that simple and clear idea that God is one, and thatHe is the Lord Jesus Christ.

13


15/19

And so we say with the angels, for heaven and the Churchon earth now speak with the same voice:TO JESUS CHRIST BE GLORY AND DOMINIONFOR EVER AND EVER.HE IS THE ALPHA AND THE OMEGA,THE BEGINNING AND THE END,THE FIRST AND THE LAST;WHO IS, AND WHO WAS,AND WHO IS TO COME;THE ALMIGHTY.

14


16/19

Quotations in the text were taken from the followingbooks by Emanuel Swedenborg:The True Christian Religion 779o Arcana Caelestia 1 Arcana Caelestia 14-15

G ) Heaven and Hell 1C.. The True Christian Religion 791,-6 The True Christian Religion 779


17/19


18/19

-.=-

e\0

-0=...

-0)

=CD-

CO

=


19/19

Documents

Christopher Hasler JUNE 19 New Church Press Manchester 1970 Swedenborg June 19th 1770