Chapter VIII

. is devoted to the vexed question of Free-Determination,

or Free-Will. The doctrines of the Church, as commonly held, are first stated, and then the New Church doctrine on the question is explained under the following heads:—The two trees in the garden of Eden, one of life, and the other of the knowledge of good and evil, signify the free-will which man enjoys in respect to spiritual things. Man is not life, but a recipient of life from God. Man, during his abode in the world, is held in the midst between heaven and hell, and thus in a spiritual equilibrium, which constitutes free will.

From the permission of evil, which every man experiences in his internal man, it is evident that man has free-will in spiritual things. Without free-will in spiritual things, the Word would not be of any use, consequently the Church would be a nonentity. Without free-will in spiritual things, man would have nothing which would enable him to conjoin himself by reciprocation with the Lord; and consequently there would be no imputation, but mere predestination, which is detestable. Without free-will in spiritual things, God would be chargeable as the cause of evil. Every spiritual principle of the Church that is admitted and received in freedom, remains, but not otherwise. The human will and understanding enjoy this free-will; but the commission of evil, both in the spiritual and natural worlds, is restrained by laws, or else society in both would perish. If men were destitute of free-will in spiritual things, it would be possible for all men throughout the whole world, in a single day, to be induced to believe in the Lord; but this would be in vain, because nothing remains with man which is not freely received. Miracles are not performed at the present day because they deprive man of free-will.

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