AC 8307 - "In Thy mercy Thou have led this people." (Exodus 15:13)

AC 8307
The mercy of the Lord is perpetual with every person,
for the Lord wills to save all people, whoever they are;
but this mercy cannot flow in until evils have been removed,
for evils and the derivative falsities stand opposed and prevent it.
But as soon as evils are removed,
mercy flows in, that is, good from mercy from the Lord,
which good is charity and faith.

A person can abstain from evils from himself;
but he cannot receive good from himself.
That a person can abstain from evils from himself
is because the Lord continually inflows
into the will of a person with this endeavor,
and thereby puts him in freedom to desist from evils,
as also to apply himself to good.
The Lord also gives him the faculty of understanding truth,
but that he does not understand
is because he does not wish to understand,
and this on account of the evil that is of the life;
for falsity defends evil,
and truth condemns it.
Hence it is that a person cannot be presented
with spiritual good by the Lord,
thus cannot be led through mercy,
unless he desists from evil.