AE 193, 195 - Thinking About the Lord, His Word and Living a Moral Life

AE 193 [2]

. . . with those who, when left to themselves alone,
think justly about the Divine,
about the Word and the truths of the church therefrom,
and who love truths even to the life, that is,
so that they wish to live according to them.
The thoughts of these in their spirit
make one with their thoughts
from the memory of the body,
thus they make one
with the knowledges of truth and good
which they have from the Word;
and so far as these make one,
these knowledges receive spiritual life,
for they are elevated by the Lord
from the external or natural person
into the internal or spiritual person,
and constitute the life, that is,
the understanding and will, of the spiritual person.
Truths, in the spiritual person, are living truths,
because they are Divine,
and from these person has life there.

AE 195 [2]

A person lives a moral life from a spiritual origin
when he lives it from religion;
that is, when he thinks,
when anything evil, insincere, or unjust presents itself:
that this must not be done
because it is contrary to the Divine laws.
When one abstains from doing such things
in deference to Divine laws
he acquires for himself spiritual life,
and his moral life is then from the spiritual;
for by such thoughts and faith
a person communicates with the angels of heaven,
and by communication with heaven
his internal spiritual person is opened,
the mind of which is a higher mind,
such as the angels of heaven have,
and he is thereby imbued (permeated)
with heavenly intelligence and wisdom.
From this it can be seen
that to live a moral life from a spiritual origin
is to live from religion,
and within the church,
to live from the Word;
for those who live a moral life
from religion and from the Word
are elevated above their natural person,
thus above what is their own [proprium],
and are led by the Lord through heaven;
consequently they have
faith, the fear of God, and conscience,
and also the spiritual affection of truth,
which is the affection of
the knowledges of truth and good from the Word,
for to such people
these are Divine laws,
according to which they live.
Many of the heathen live such a moral life,
for they think that evil must not be done
because it is contrary to their religion;
this is why so many of them are saved.