123. 7. Het is het voortdurende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer dat Hij de mens met zich verbindt en Zich met hem, opdat Hij hem de gelukzalige dingen van het eeuwige leven kan geven.

Dit kan niet geschieden tenzij voor zoveel als de boze dingen met de begeerten ervan verwijderd zijn. Dat het voortdurende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer is de mens te verbinden met Zich en Zich met hem, en dat het die verbinding is die de hervorming en de wederverwekking wordt genoemd en dat de mens daaruit de zaliging heeft, is boven in de n. 27-45 getoond. Wie ziet niet dat de verbinding met God het eeuwige leven en de zaliging is; dit ziet toch eenieder die gelooft dat de mensen uit de schepping beelden en gelijkenissen van God zijn, (Genesis 1:26, 27) en die weet wat het beeld en de gelijkenis van God is. Wie, die gezonde rede heeft, kan, als hij vanuit zijn redelijkheid denkt en vanuit zijn vrijheid wil denken, geloven dat er drie goden zijn, gelijkwaardig van wezen en dat het Goddelijk Zijn of het Goddelijk Wezen verdeeld kan worden. Dat het drievuldige in één God is, kan gedacht en begrepen worden, zoals de ziel en het lichaam in de engel en in de mens begrepen wordt en het daaruit voortgaande van het leven. Omdat dit drievuldige in één er alleen is in de Heer, volgt dat de verbinding zal zijn met Hem. Gebruik uw redelijkheid en tegelijk de vrijheid van denken en u zult deze waarheid in haar licht zien; maar neem eerst aan dat God is en dat de hemel is en dat het eeuwige leven is. Omdat nu God één is en de mens vanuit de schepping Zijn beeld en gelijkenis gemaakt is en omdat hij door de helse liefde en door de begeerten ervan en de verkwikkelijke dingen daarvan, in de liefde van alle boze dingen is gekomen, en hij vandaar het beeld en de gelijkenis van God bij zich verwoest heeft, volgt dat het het aanhoudende van de Goddelijke Voorzienigheid van de Heer is dat Hij de mens met Zich zal verbinden en Zich met de mens en zo te maken dat hij Zijn beeld zal worden. Dit is ook te dien einde dat de Heer de mens de gelukzalige dingen van het eeuwige leven kan geven, dit volgt hieruit, want de Goddelijke Liefde is zodanig. Dat Hij deze echter niet kan geven, noch hem Zijn beeld maken, tenzij de mens zoals uit zich de zonden in de uitwendige mens verwijdert, is omdat de Heer niet slechts de Goddelijke Liefde maar ook de Goddelijke Wijsheid is, en de Goddelijke Liefde niets doet tenzij vanuit haar Goddelijke Wijsheid en volgens die. Dat de mens niet met Hem verbonden en zo hervormd, wederverwekt en gezaligd kan worden, tenzij het hem is geoorloofd vanuit het vrije volgens de rede te handelen, hierdoor is de mens immers werkelijk mens, is volgens Zijn Goddelijke Wijsheid, en al wat is volgens de Goddelijke Wijsheid van de Heer is ook van Zijn Goddelijke Voorzienigheid.

129. It Is a Law of Divine Providence That We Should Not Be Compelled by Outside Forces to Think and Intend and So to Believe and Love in Matters of Our Religion, but That We Should Guide Ourselves and Sometimes Compel Ourselves

This law of divine providence follows from the two preceding ones, namely, that we should act in freedom and in accord with reason (71-99), and that we should do this for ourselves, even though it is being done by the Lord--that is, in apparent autonomy (100-128). Since it is not from freedom and according to reason and not in autonomy to be compelled but comes from the absence of freedom and from someone else, this law of divine providence follows directly from the two earlier ones. Everyone recognizes that none of us can be compelled to think what we do not want to think or to intend what we think we do not want to intend. So we cannot be compelled to believe what we do not believe and certainly not anything that we do not want to believe; or to love what we do not love and certainly not anything that we do not want to love. Our spirit or mind has complete freedom to think, intend, believe, and love. This freedom comes to us by an inflow from the spiritual world, which does not compel us. Our spirit or mind is actually in that world. The freedom does not flow in from the physical world, which accepts the inflow only when the two worlds are in unison.

[2] We can be compelled to say that we think and intend something or that we believe and love something, but unless this is or becomes a matter of our own desire and our consequent reasoning, it is not something that we really think, intend, believe, and love. We can also be compelled to speak in favor of religion and to act according to religion, but we cannot be compelled to think in its favor as a matter of our own faith and to intend it as a matter of our own love. In countries where justice and judgment are cherished, everyone is obliged not to speak against religion or to violate it in action, but still no one can be compelled to think and intend in its favor. This is because each of us has a freedom to think in sympathy with hell and to intend in its favor, or to think in sympathy with heaven and to intend in its favor. Still, our reason tells us what the quality is of the one and of the other and what lot awaits the one and what lot awaits the other. Our ability to intend on the basis of reason is our capacity to choose and to decide.

[3] This may serve to show that what is outside cannot compel what is inside. However, it does happen sometimes, and I need to show that it is harmful in the following sequence.

1. No one is reformed by miracles and signs, because they compel.

2. No one is reformed by visions or by conversations with the dead, because they compel.

3. No one is reformed by threats or by punishment, because they compel.

4. No one is reformed in states where freedom and rationality are absent.

5. Self-compulsion is not inconsistent with rationality and freedom.

6. Our outer self has to be reformed by means of our inner self, and not the reverse.

8911. The things that have been stated so far show what the situation is with a person and his life. That is to say, they show that a person is such as his will is, and that he remains such after death since death is not the end to life but the continuation of it. Since therefore a person is such as his will is - because, as has been stated above, the will is the real person - being judged according to one's deeds means being judged according to one's will, since there is no disparity between will and deed. Though external restraints exist - fear of the law, and fear of the loss of position, gain, reputation, or life - to inhibit the deed, the deed is all along in the will, and the will all along in the deed. It is like endeavour and motion. Motion is nothing other than an extension of the endeavour; for as endeavour comes to an end, so does motion. Therefore there is nothing essential within motion apart from endeavour. Learned people know this, for it is a recognized and well-established idea. In the human being endeavour is the will and motion is action; and they are called such in the human being because in him endeavour and motion are living. Being judged according to one's will is the same as being judged according to one's love; it is also the same as being judged according to the ends one has in view in life, as well as being judged according to the way one lives. For a person's will is his love, it is the end he has in view in life, and it is the very life itself within him. The truth of this is clear from the Lord's words which have already been quoted - One who looks at a woman ¹ in such a way that he lusts after her has already committed adultery with her in his heart. Matthew 5:27-28. It is clear also from His saying that killing someone is not only performing that deed but also the desire to perform it, which is meant by being angry and reviling him with insults, Matthew 5:21-22. Furthermore a person is indeed judged according to his deeds; yet no further questions are asked than these - How far did those deeds spring from his will? and What nature did his will give them?

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