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principle during their abode in the world, that because they heard that all good was from the Lord, and that man could do no good of himself, therefore they should not compel themselves to do anything, but should cease from their own exertions, under the supposition that all endeavor must therefore be vain. Therefore they waited for immediate influx to move their will, and did not compel themselves to do any sort of good; yea, so far did they carry this principle, that when any evil insinuated itself, they gave themselves up to it, imagining it to be permitted, because they were not sensible of any resistance to it from within.

But these spirits are such, that they are as it were without anything of their own, or any proprium, so that they have no principle of self-determination, in consequence of which they are among the unprofitable. For they suffer themselves to be led alike by the wicked and the good, and endure much from the wicked.

But such as have compelled themselves in opposing evil and falsity, although at first they thought their exertion was from themselves, or from their own power, yet being afterwards enlightened to see that it was from the Lord, even as to the smallest motions towards it, — these cannot, in the other life, be seduced by evil spirits, but are among the happy. Hence it may be seen that man ought to force himself to do good and to speak truth. The arcanum herein concealed is this: that man is hereby gifted of the Lord with a celestial proprium.