1. THE FAITH OF THE NEW HEAVEN AND THE NEW CHURCH

A statement of faith, set out in both universal and particular terms, is placed at the beginning to serve as a preface to the book which follows, to be like a doorway leading into a church, and a summary presenting in a short compass what follows at more length. It is called the faith of the new heaven and the new church, because heaven, where the angels are, and the church among men form a single unit, just as the internal and external sides of the personality make up a single individual. This is why a member of the church who possesses the good of love which arises from the truths of faith, and possesses the truths of faith which arise from the good of love, is, so far as the interiors of his mind are concerned, an angel of heaven. Therefore too after dying he comes into heaven, and there enjoys happiness depending upon how far the good and truth are linked. It should be known that in the new heaven, which is at the present time being established by the Lord, this statement of faith serves as its preface, doorway and summary.

725. VII. Those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are in the Lord and the Lord is in them. Thus it is through the Holy Supper that they are linked with the Lord.

I have shown in several of the preceding chapters that it is those who possess faith in the Lord and charity towards the neighbour that worthily approach the Holy Supper; and that the truths of faith bring about the Lord's presence, and the good of charity together with faith brings about linking. It follows from this that those who worthily approach the Holy Supper are linked with the Lord; and those who are linked with the Lord are in Him and He is in them. The Lord Himself clearly states that this happens to those who approach worthily in this passage of John:

He who eats my flesh and drinks my blood remains in me and I him, John 6:56.

Elsewhere in the same gospel He teaches us that this is linking with the Lord:

Remain in me, and I too in you. If someone remains in me and I in him, he bears much fruit, John 15:4-5; and Revelation 3:20.

What does linking with the Lord mean but being among those who are in His body? And His body is made up of those who believe in Him and do His will. His will is the exercise of charity in accordance with the truths of faith.

65. (vi) MAN WAS CREATED TO BE A FORM FOR DIVINE ORDER.

Man was created to be a form for Divine order, because he was created as an image and likeness of God; so since God is order itself, he was created as an image and likeness of order. The two factors which brought order into existence and preserve it in existence are the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom; and man was created to be a receiver of these. Consequently he was by creation endowed with the order according to which the Divine Love and the Divine Wisdom act in the universe, and principally that according to which they act in the heaven of angels, so that this whole heaven is a form of Divine order on the largest scale, and in the sight of God it appears like one man. There is too a full correspondence between that heaven and man. For there is no community in heaven which does not correspond to some member, internal part or organ in the human body. So it is said in heaven that a certain community is in the province of the liver, or the pancreas, or the spleen, or the stomach, or the eye, or the ear, or the tongue, and so on. The angels themselves know under what part of the human body they come. The truth of this I was allowed to know by direct experience. I saw a community composed of some thousands of angels as one person. This showed plainly that heaven taken together is an image of God, and the image of God is a form of the Divine order.