Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/34

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THE SWEDENBORG LIBRARY.

Lord; and this freedom is the love of good and truth. But infernal freedom consists in being led of the devil; and this freedom is the love of evil and the false, properly it is lust.

They who are in infernal freedom believe that there is servitude and compulsion in not being allowed to do evil and to think what is false at pleasure: but they who are in heavenly freedom, dread to do evil and to think what is false, and if they are compelled thereto they are tormented.

From these considerations it may be manifest what Free-will is, namely: that it consists in doing good from determination or from the will; and that they are in that freedom, who are led of the Lord. (A. C. 9585-9591.)


FREEDOM IN SELF-COMPULSION.

To humble oneself is expressed in the original tongue by a word which signifies to afflict; and for a person to afflict himself means, in the internal sense, to compel himself, as may appear from many passages in the Word. That man ought to compel himself to do good, to obey the things which the Lord has commanded, and to speak truths, which is to humble himself beneath the Lord's hands, or to submit himself under the power of Divine Good and Truth, implies and involves more arcana than it is possible to unfold in a few words.

There are certain spirits who had laid it down as a

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