135. Nevertheless, speech with spirits--rarely with angels of heaven--is
possible and has been granted to many for ages. When it is granted,
spirits speak with a man in his native tongue and briefly. And those who
speak with the Lord's permission never say anything that takes away the
freedom of the reason, nor do they instruct, for the Lord alone teaches
man, doing so by means of the Word to the man's enlightenment (of this in
numbers to come). I have been given to know this in my own experience. I
have spoken with spirits and angels for many years now. No spirit has
dared and no angel has wished to tell me, still less to instruct me,
about things in the Word or about any of its doctrine. The Lord alone has
taught me, who revealed Himself to me and afterwards continued to appear
to me as He does now, as the Sun in which He is, as He appears to the
angels, and He has enlightened me.

136. (iii) _No one is reformed by threats or penalties, as these coerce._
It is known that the external cannot compel the internal, but the
internal can compel the external; also that the internal refuses to be
coerced by the external and turns away. It is likewise known that
external enjoyments entice the assent and love of the internal; and it
may also be known that there is a forced internal and a free internal.
But all this, though known, needs to be lighted up, for much on being
heard is perceived at once to be so, because it is truth and hence is
affirmed, but if it is not confirmed by reasons, it can be weakened by
arguments from fallacies and finally denied. What we have said is known,
is therefore to be taken up afresh and established rationally.

[2] First: _The external cannot compel the internal, but the internal can
compel the external._ Who can be forced to believe or love? One can no
more be compelled to believe than he can be compelled to think that
something is so when he thinks it is not so, or to love than to will