in the same way, and yet in heart may deny that there is a God, a heaven
and a hell, and a life after death. And if he shuns evils and does
goods, it is merely in the external form, and not in the internal; thus
while he is outwardly in respect to the life of the body like a
Christian, inwardly in respect to the life of his spirit he is like a
devil. All this makes clear that a man can become spiritual, or receive
spiritual life, in no other way than by a life according to religion
from the Lord.

I have had proof that this is true from angels of the third or inmost
heaven, who are in the greatest wisdom and happiness. When asked how
they had become such angels, they said it was because during their life
in the world they had regarded filthy thoughts as abominable, and these
had been to them adulteries; and had regarded in like manner frauds and
unlawful gains, which had been to them thefts; also hatreds and
revenges, which had been to them murder; also lies and blasphemies,
which had been to them false testimonies; and so with other things.
When asked again whether they had done good works, they said they loved
chastity, in which they were because they had regarded adulteries as
abominable; that they loved sincerity and justice, in which they were
because they had regarded frauds and unlawful gains as abominable; that
they loved the neighbor because they had regarded hatreds and revenges
as abominable; that they loved truth because they had regarded lies and
blasphemies as abominable, and so on; and that they perceived that when
these evils have been put away, and they acted from chastity, sincerity,
justice, charity and truth, it was not done from themselves, but from
the Lord, and thus that all things whatsoever that they had done from
these were good works, although they had done them as if from
themselves; and that it was on this account that they had been raised up
by the Lord after death into the third heaven. Thus it was made clear