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.

63. (v) GOD IS PRESENT EVERYWHERE FROM FIRST TO LAST IN HIS ORDER.

It is the heat and light of the sun of the spiritual world, in the midst of which God is, which makes Him present everywhere from first to last in His order. By means of this sun order came into existence, and from it He sends forth heat and light, which penetrate the universe from first to last and produce the life possessed by every human being and animal, and also the vegetative soul which every plant on earth has. Its heat and light act upon every single thing and cause each to live and grow in accordance with the order imposed on them from creation. Since God has no extent, yet fills all the space in the universe, He is omnipresent. It has been shown elsewhere [30] that God is non-spatially in all space and non-temporally in all time, as a result of which the universe is in respect of its essence and its order the fulness of God. This being so, God by His omnipresence perceives everything, by His omniscience provides everything, and by His omnipotence performs everything. This makes it plain that omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence make one, in other words, one supposes the other and thus they cannot be divided.