AE 176 & 177 - natural truths & the Word in the letter

AE 176
Natural truth is truth in the memory, not in life;
truth of life is good.

Truths in the natural person are knowledges and cognitions,
from which a person can think, reason, and conclude naturally
respecting the truths and goods of the church,
and the falsities and evils which are opposed to these,
and can consequently be in some natural illustration when he reads the Word.
For the Word in the letter is not understood without illustration;
and illustration is either spiritual or natural.
Spiritual illustration is only with those who are spiritual;
and the spiritual are those that are of the good of love
and charity and in truths therefrom;
while mere natural illustration is with those who are natural.

AE 177 [2-3]
... to read the Word solely for the repute of erudition or for fame,
that they may be exalted to honors and gain wealth,
is to read it for the sake of self and the world as ends,
thus from the loves of self and the world.
And as these loves are of a person's proprium [a person's self]
so the things that a person sees and perceives from them
are from self-intelligence.

But those who read the Word from the spiritual affection of truth,
which affection is a love of knowing truth because it is truth,
see truths in the Word,
and rejoice in heart when they see them;
and this because they are in illustration from the Lord.