Page:The Doctrines of the New Church Briefly Explained.djvu/145

Rh do it without man's coöperation, and this could not be given if man had no free-will in spiritual things; that only the good which a man freely chooses, or which is received by him in freedom, remains as a permanent possession; that man's free-will is forever held inviolable, and forever guarded by the Lord as his most precious endowment, since without it the good and truth of charity and faith could not be implanted in him, nor heavenly happiness be conferred. We are perfectly free to choose good or evil; but when we do good, while we do it as of ourselves, yet we ought to believe and acknowledge that it is the Lord who every moment gives us the disposition and power to do it. Swedenborg says:

"Such is the law of order, that man ought to do good as of himself, and not hang down his hands under the idea that, because he cannot of himself do anything that is good, he ought to wait for immediate influx from above, and so remain in a passive state; for this is contrary to order. But he ought to do good as of himself; and when he reflects upon the good that he does or has done, he should think, acknowledge and believe that it was the Lord in him who did it. For when a person hangs down his hands under the above-mentioned idea, he is not a subject on which the Lord can operate, since He cannot operate by influx on any one who deprives himself of everything into which the requisite power can be infused. . . Man does not live from himself;