28. In the work itself, named THE TRUE CHRISTIAN RELIGION, it has been shown that by the two trees, the one of "life" and the other of the "knowledge of good and evil," being placed in the garden of Eden, is signified that free-determination in spiritual things was given to man (n. 466-469); to which must be added that without such free-determination man would not be a man, but only a figure and semblance; for his thought would be without reflection, consequently without judgment, and thus in Divine things, which are the things of the Church, he would have no more power of turning himself, than a door without a hinge, or, with a hinge, bolted with a steel bar; and his will would be without decision, consequently no more active with respect to justice or injustice than a tombstone, beneath which lies a dead body. That man's life after death, and the immortality of his soul, is owing to the gift of this free-determination, and that this is the "likeness of God," has been proved in the work itself-as also above.

[2] Yea, man, that is, his mind, without this would be like a sponge which imbibes water in great abundance but is not able to discharge it, in consequence of which both would decompose,-the water into foulness, and the sponge into slime. Consequently, the Church with such a person would not be a Church, and thus a temple wherein the worship of God is performed; it would be like the den of some wild beast under the root of a lofty tree which sways to and fro overhead; except, only, that it would be able to take something therefrom, and apply itself to some other use than lying in tranquillity under it. Moreover, without free-determination in spiritual things, man would be blinder in all and each of the things of the Church, than a bird of night in the light of day, but more sharp-sighted than such a bird in the darkness of night; for with his eyelids he would close his eyes, and dim their sight to the truths of faith, but would raise his eyelids, open his eyes, and expand their sight like an eagle, to the falsities of faith. Free-determination in spiritual things arises from man walking, and living his life in the midst between heaven and hell; from heaven operating into him from above, and hell from beneath; and from the option given to man of turning himself either to higher or to lower things, thus either to the Lord or to the Devil.

201. 4. By his divine providence the Lord gathers the impulses of the whole human race into a single form, which is a human form. We will see in the next section that this is a pervasive feature of the Lord's providence. People who credit everything to the material world also credit everything to human prudence. This is because people who credit everything to the material world are at heart denying God, and people who credit everything to human prudence are at heart denying divine providence: the two are inseparable.

Still, for the sake of their good name and out of a fear of losing it, both kinds of person will claim verbally that divine providence is universal and that we are responsible for the details, the aggregate of these details being what we mean by our prudence.

[2] But think seriously: what is "universal providence" when the details are taken away? Is it anything but a mere word? By "universal" we mean something that comes from details taken together, as a generality arises from specific instances. If you take the details away, then, what is the "universal" but something with a vacuum inside, like a surface with nothing inside it, or like a compound with no components?

If we say that divine providence is a universal government and that things are not governed but just kept connected and that the activities of government are managed by others, could this be called a universal government? No king has this kind of government, because if some king were to give his subjects control over everything in his kingdom he would no longer be a king, he would simply be called a king. He would have only the honor of the name, and no honor of real substance. We could not credit such a king with any government at all, let alone a universal government.

[3] Providence on God's part is called prudence on our level. If we cannot speak of universal prudence in the case of a king who has not kept anything for himself but the name, so that the kingdom can be called a kingdom and thereby held together, by the same token we cannot speak of a universal providence if we are taking care of everything with our own prudence.

Much the same holds for the terms "universal providence" and "universal government" when we talk about the material world, if we assert that God created the universe and then provided the material world with the ability to manage everything on its own. What is "universal providence" in this case but a metaphysical term that apart from being a term has no reality whatever?

Many of the people who give the material world credit for everything that is brought forth and give our own prudence credit for everything that happens, but who still say that God created the material world, think of divine providence only as an empty phrase. As things really are, though, divine providence includes the smallest details of the material world and the smallest details of our prudence, which is why it is universal.