FREEDOM (pt. 3)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
FREEDOM
(pt. 3)

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That man has the freedom of thinking evil and falsity, and also of doing it, so far as the laws do not withhold him, is in order that he may be capable of being reformed; for goods and truths are to be implanted in his love and will, so that they may become of his life, and this cannot be done unless he have the freedom of thinking evil and falsity as well as good and truth. 

This freedom is given to every man by the Lord, and so far as he does not love evil and falsity, so far, when he thinks what is good and true, the Lord implants them in his love and will, consequently in his life, and thus reforms him. 

What is inseminated in freedom, this also remains, but what is inseminated in a state of compulsion, this does not remain, because what is from compulsion is not from the will of the man, but from the will of him who compels. Hence also it is, that worship from freedom is pleasing to the Lord, but not worship from compulsion; for worship from freedom is worship from love, but worship from compulsion is not so.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 143)

• In the manuscript, the author, Emanuel Swedenborg, annexed to each section of the doctrine extracts from the  Arcana Coelestia, because in the  Arcana Coelestia the same things are more fully explained.  Arcana Coelestia is available in print or online.

FREEDOM (pt. 2)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
FREEDOM
(pt. 2)

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To do evil from freedom, appears as freedom, but it is slavery, because that freedom is from the love of self and from the love of the world, and these loves are from hell. Such freedom is actually turned into slavery after death, for the man who has been in such freedom then becomes a vile servant in hell.

But to do good from freedom is freedom itself, because it is from love to the Lord and from love towards the neighbor, and these loves are from heaven. This freedom also remains after death, and then becomes freedom indeed, for the man who has been in such freedom, becomes in heaven like a son of the house. This the Lord thus teaches:

Everyone that doeth sin is the servant of sin; the servant abideth not in the house forever: the son abideth forever; if the Son shall have made you free, you shall be truly free (John 8:34-36). 

Now, because all good is from the Lord, and all evil from hell, it follows that freedom consists in being led by the Lord, and slavery is being led by hell.

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 142)

• In the manuscript, the author, Emanuel Swedenborg, annexed to each section of the doctrine extracts from the  Arcana Coelestia, because in the  Arcana Coelestia the same things are more fully explained.  Arcana Coelestia is available in print or online.

FREEDOM (pt. 1)

The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine
Emanuel Swedenborg
• Doctrinal Series •
FREEDOM
(pt. 1)

---

All freedom is of love, for what man loves, this he does freely; hence also all freedom is of the will, for what man loves, this he also wills; and because love and the will make the life of man, so also does freedom.

From these things it may appear what freedom is, namely, it is that which is of the love and the will, and thence of the life of man. Hence it is, that what a man does from freedom, appears to him as if from his own proprium (what is man's own - self-hood).

(The New Jerusalem and Its Heavenly Doctrine 141)

• In the manuscript, the author, Emanuel Swedenborg, annexed to each section of the doctrine extracts from the  Arcana Coelestia, because in the  Arcana Coelestia the same things are more fully explained.  Arcana Coelestia is available in print or online.