Page:The Swedenborg Library Vol 3.djvu/39

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THE LORD USES NO COMPULSION.
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pelled by another to do good. But for a man to compel himself is to act from a certain free-principle unknown to himself; for nothing that is compulsive comes from the Lord. Hence it is a universal law, that all good and truth should be inseminated in freedom, otherwise the ground is not at all recipient and nutritive of good; nay, there is not any ground in which the seed can possibly grow. (A. C. 1937.)


THE LORD COMPELS NO ONE.

The Lord never compels any one ; because he who is compelled to think what is true and to do what is good, is not reformed, but then thinks what is false and wills what is evil still more than at other times. This is the consequence of all compulsion; as may appear also from daily experience and observation, which serve to evince these two truths: 1st, That the consciences of men do not suffer themselves to be compelled; 2d, That all mankind have a natural propensity to what is forbidden.

Every one, also, is desirous to come out of a state which is not free into one which is, this being agreeable to his life. Hence it is evident that nothing is pleasing and acceptable to the Lord which proceeds from a principle that is not free, that is, from a principle void of spontaneity or willingness. For when any one worships the Lord from a principle void of freedom, he worships Him from no principle of his own, but is

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