20. We say that a person is kept free to turn one way or the other. This freedom is something every person has, not of himself, but from the Lord, and that is why we say he is kept free.

Regarding the equilibrium between heaven and hell, and a person’s being in it and so in a state of freedom, see the book Heaven and Hell 589-596 and nos. 597-603.

We will see in its own place that everyone is kept in a state of freedom, and that no one has that freedom taken from him.