that the Lord acts into the external by the internal in man and so
teaches and leads him; also that it is of the Lord's divine providence
that man is to act in freedom according to reason. Either action would
perish in man if miracles were done and he were driven by them to
believe. That this is so can be seen rationally in this way: undeniably
miracles induce belief and powerfully persuade a person that what the
miracle-doer says and teaches is true, and at first this engages man's
external of thought, virtually holding it spellbound. But one is deprived
by this of the two faculties called rationality and liberty, thus cannot
act in freedom according to reason, nor can the Lord then inflow into the
external of man's thought through the internal save only to leave man to
confirm from his rationality what has been made a matter of his belief by
the miracle.

[2] The state of man's thought is such that from the internal of thought
he can see a piece in the external of his thought as in a mirror--for as
was said above, one can behold one's own thought, which is possible only
from more interior thought. Beholding the item as in a mirror he can turn
it this way and that and shape it to look attractive to him. If there is
truth in it, it may be likened to an attractive and animated maiden or
youth. But if a man cannot turn it this way and that and shape it, but
only believe it persuaded of it by a miracle, then if there is truth in
it, it may be likened to a maiden or youth carved in stone or wood, in
which is nothing alive. It may also be compared to an object which is
constantly in view and looked at alone, keeps one from seeing what is to
either side and behind it. It can also be compared to a continual sound
in the ear, which does away with perceiving the harmony of many sounds.
Such are the blindness and deafness induced on the mind by miracles. It
is the same with anything confirmed but not regarded from rationality
before it is confirmed.