AC 3158 - Freedom and Conjunction

AC  3158

Tell me; and if not, tell me.
(Genesis 24:49)

That this signifies their free state of deliberation . . ..
This is evident from the sense of the words themselves.
From all that has gone before
it is clear that while the sense of the letter in this chapter
is dealing with
the betrothal and marriage of Rebekah to Isaac,
the internal sense is dealing with
the introduction and joining together of truth and good,
for the introduction and joining together
of truth and good
is spiritual betrothal and spiritual marriage.
In both instances a free state to deliberate is necessary.
The necessity for it in betrothal and marriage
is well known,
but the necessity for it
in the introduction and joining together of truth and good
is not so well known
because it is not visible to the natural person
and belongs among the things that go on
quite apart from any reflecting on them.
Yet this activity continues moment by moment
in one who is being reformed and regenerated,
that is to say,
he experiences a free state
when truth is being joined to good.

Everyone may know, if he merely stops to think,
that nothing ever exists as a person's own
unless it forms part of his will.
That which belongs solely to the understanding
does not become a person's own
until it belongs also to his will,
for what belongs to the will
constitutes the essential being of a person's life,
whereas what belongs to the understanding
constitutes the manifestation of that essential being.
Consent flowing from the understanding alone
is not consent,
but all consent springs from the will.
Unless therefore the truth of faith
which belongs to the understanding
is received by the good of love
which belongs to the will
it is in no sense truth that has been acknowledged,
and so is not faith.
In order that it may be received
by good that belongs to the will
it is necessary that a free state should exist.
Everything that belongs in the will looks to be free.
The state itself of the will is freedom,
for what I will, I choose and desire
since that is what I love and acknowledge
as that which is good.
From this it becomes clear
that the truth of faith in no sense
becomes a person's own
until it has been accepted by the will,
that is, introduced and joined
to the good there,
which cannot happen except in a free state.