2881. If it had been possible for man to be reformed under compulsion there would not be anyone at all in the universe who would not be saved. Nothing would in fact be easier for the Lord than to compel man to fear Him, to worship Him, or indeed so to speak to love Him. The means available to Him are countless. But because that which is done under compulsion is not joined to a person and so does not become his own, it is therefore quite alien to the Lord to compel anybody. As long as a person is engaged in conflicts, that is, is a member of the Church militant, it seems as though the Lord does compel that person and thus that he has no freedom; for he is at that time constantly battling against self-love and love of the world, and so against the freedom into which he was born and into which he has grown up, and as a consequence he seems, as just mentioned, to have no freedom. But in those conflicts in which he is victorious he possesses greater freedom than outside of them; yet this freedom does not originate in himself but in the Lord, though it still seems to be his own; see 1937, 1947.