Selection from Divine Providence ~ Emanuel Swedenborg
NO ONE IS REFORMED BY THREATS AND PUNISHMENTS
IT IS OF THE LORD'S DIVINE PROVIDENCE
MAN SHOULD ACT FROM FREEDOM
IN ACCORDANCE WITH REASON
It is admitted that the external cannot compel the internal, but that the internal can compel the external; also that the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away.It is also admitted that external enjoyments allure the internal to consent and love; and it may be known that a compelled internal and a free internal are possible. But although all these things are admitted they nevertheless need illustration; for many things when they are heard, being true, are at once perceived to be so, and are therefore assented to; but unless they are also corroborated by reasons they may be disproved by arguments from fallacies, and at last denied. Therefore the things just stated as admitted must be taken up and rationally confirmed.
First: The external cannot compel the internal, but the internal can compel the external. Who can be compelled to believe and to love? One can no more be compelled to believe than to think that a thing is so when he thinks that it is not so; and one can no more be compelled to love than to will what he does not will; for belief belongs to thought, and love belongs to the will. But the internal may be compelled by the external not to speak ill of the laws of the kingdom, the moralities of life, and the sanctities of the church; thus far the internal may be compelled by threats and punishments; and it is so compelled and ought to be. This internal, however, is not the strictly human internal, but is an internal that man has in common with beasts; and beasts can be compelled. The human internal has its seat above this animal internal. It is this human internal that is here meant, and that cannot be compelled.
Secondly: The internal is so averse to compulsion by the external that it turns itself away. This is because the internal wishes to be in freedom, and loves freedom, for freedom belongs to man's love or life, as has been shown above; consequently when freedom feels itself to be compelled it withdraws as it were within itself and turns itself away, and looks upon compulsion as its enemy; for the love that constitutes man's life is irritated, and causes the man to think that in this respect he is not his own, and therefore does not live for himself. Man's internal is such from the law of the Lord's Divine providence that man should act from freedom in accordance with reason.
From this it is clear that to compel men to Divine worship by threats and punishments is pernicious.
But there are some who suffer themselves to be compelled in respect to religion, and some who do not. Of those who suffer themselves to be so compelled there are many within the papal jurisdiction; but this takes place with those in whose worship there is nothing internal, but all is external. Of those who do not suffer themselves to be compelled there are many of the English nation; and as a consequence of this there is in their worship an internal, and what there is in the external is from their internal. In regard to their religion their interiors appear in spiritual light like bright clouds; while the interiors of the former, in respect to religion, appear in the light of heaven like dark clouds. These appearances are presented to sight in the spiritual world, and will be seen by any one who wishes to see them when he comes into that world after death. Furthermore, compelled worship shuts in evils, which evils then lie hidden like fire in wood under ashes, which is continually kindling and spreading till it breaks out in flames; while worship not compelled, but spontaneous, does not shut evils in, and in consequence they are like fires that blaze up quickly and are gone. All this makes clear that the internal is so averse to compulsion that it turns itself away. The internal can compel the external, because the internal is like a master, and the external like a servant.
Thirdly: External enjoyments allure the internal to consent, and also to love. There are two kinds of enjoyments, enjoyments of the understanding and enjoyments of the will; those of the understanding are also enjoyments of wisdom, and those of the will are also enjoyments of love; for wisdom belongs to the understanding, and love to the will. And inasmuch as the enjoyments of the body and its senses, which are external enjoyments, act as one with the internal enjoyments which belong to the understanding and the will, it follows that while the internal is so averse to compulsion by the external as to turn itself away from it, it also looks with such favor on enjoyments in the external as even to turn itself to it; thus on the part of the understanding there is consent, and on the part of the will there is love.
In the spiritual world all children are led by the Lord into angelic wisdom, and through that into heavenly love, by means of things enjoyable and pleasing; first by means of beautiful things in their homes, and by means of pleasing things in gardens; then by means of representatives of spiritual things, which affect the interiors of their minds with pleasure; and finally by means of truths of wisdom, and so by means of goods of love. Thus this is done continuously by means of enjoyments in their order; first by means of the enjoyments of the love of the understanding and of its wisdom; and finally by the enjoyments of the will's love, which becomes their life's love; and to this all other things that have entered by means of enjoyments are held subordinate.
This takes place because everything of the understanding and will must be formed by means of what is external before it is formed by the means of what is internal; since everything of the understanding and will is first formed by means of what enters through the senses of the body, especially through the sight and hearing; and when the first understanding and first will have been formed, the internal of thought looks upon these as the externals of its thought, and either conjoins itself with them or separates itself from them. It conjoins itself with them if they are delightful to it, and it separates itself from them if they are not.
But it must be clearly understood that the internal of the understanding does not conjoin itself with the internal of the will, but that the internal of the will conjoins itself with the internal of the understanding, and makes the conjunction to be reciprocal; but this is done by the internal of the will, and not in the least by the internal of the understanding. This is the reason why man cannot be reformed by means of faith alone, but only by means of the will's love, which makes a faith for itself.
Fourthly: A compelled internal and a free internal are possible. A compelled internal is possible in such as are in external worship only and in no internal worship; for their internal consists in thinking and willing that to which the external is compelled. Such is the state of those who worship men living and dead, and thus worship idols, and whose faith is based on miracles. In such no internal is possible except what is at the same time external.
A compelled internal is also possible in such as are in the internal of worship. It may be an internal compelled by fear or an internal compelled by love.
Those have an internal compelled by fear who are in worship from a fear of the torment of hell and its fire. Such an internal, however, is not the internal of thought before treated of, but is the external of thought, and is here called an internal because it belongs to thought. The internal of thought before treated of cannot be compelled by any fear; but it can be compelled by love and by a fear of losing love. In its true sense the fear of God is nothing else.
To be compelled by love and a fear of losing it is to compel oneself — that compelling oneself is not contrary to liberty and rationality.
COMPELLED WORSHIP AND WORSHIP NOT COMPELLED
All this makes clear what compelled worship is and what worship not compelled is.
Compelled worship is corporeal, lifeless, darkened, and sad; corporeal because it is of the body and not of the mind, lifeless because there is no life in it, darkened because there is no understanding in it, and sad because there is no enjoyment of heaven in it. But worship not compelled, when it is genuine, is spiritual, living, clear, and joyful; spiritual because there is spirit from the Lord in it, living because there is life from the Lord in it, clear because there is wisdom from the Lord in it, and joyful because there is heaven from the Lord in it.
(from Divine Providence 136, 137)