Adults, who have not received a conscience in this world, cannot receive it in the next, and consequently cannot be saved. The reason of which is, because they have no plane or ground within them, into which heaven, or the Lord through heaven, may descend, and by which he may operate, so as to lead them to himself: for conscience, when formed, is that which receives the influx of heaven, and causes conjunction with it. Hence it follows, that they who are finally lost, have no conscience, and that their torment or punishment arises from another source. It is therefore of the utmost consequence to the future well-being of man, that he acquire to himself, while in the body, the true principles of heavenly life; and that on every occasion he conduct himself justly, uprightly, and conscientiously.
XXIX. Piety.
IT is supposed by many, that a spiritual life, or a life which leads to heaven, consists in piety, in an external appearance of sanctity, and in a renunciation of the world. But piety without charity or neighbourly love, an external sanctity without that which is internal, and a renunciation of the world without an intercourse with, the world, do not constitute the true spiritual life of man. Yet piety, when derived from charity, and external sanctity, when derived from that which is internal, and a renunciation of the world, when united with a life of usefulness in it, do really constitute and make manifest his spiritual life.
Piety consists in thinking and speaking in a godly, religious manner, exercising oneself much in prayer, behaving on such occasions with humility, frequenting
