ho acknowledge a God and live
according to the civil laws of justice from a religious notion, are
saved. By the civil laws of justice we mean such precepts as are
contained in the Decalogue, which forbid murder, theft, adultery, and
false witness. These precepts are the civil laws of justice in all the
kingdoms of the earth; for without them no kingdom could subsist. But
some are influenced in the practice of them by fear of the penalties of
the law, some by civil obedience, and some also by religion; these last
are saved, because in such case God is in them; and every one, in whom
God is, is saved. Who does not see, that among the laws given to the
sons of Israel, after they had left Egypt, were those which forbid
murder, adultery, theft, and false witness, since without those laws
their communion or society could not subsist? and yet these laws were
promulgated by Jehovah God upon Mount Sinai with a stupendous miracle:
but the cause of their being so promulgated was, that they might be also
laws of religion, and thus that the people might practise them not only
for the sake of the good of society, but also for the sake of God, and
that when they practised them from a religious notion for the sake of
God, they might be saved. From these considerations it may appear, that
the pagans, who acknowledge a God, and live according to the civil laws
of justice, are saved; since it is not their fault that they know
nothing of the Lord, consequently nothing of the chastity of the
marriage with one wife. For it is contrary to the divine justice to
condemn those who acknowledge a God, and from their religion practise
the laws of justice, which consist in shunning evils because they are
contrary to God, and in doing what is good because it is agreeable to
God.

352. XVI. BUT NONE EITHER OF THE LATTER OR OF THE FORMER CAN BE
ASSOCIATED WITH THE ANGELS IN THE CHRISTIAN HEAVENS. The reason of this
is, because in the Christian heavens there are celestial light, which is
divine truth, and celestial heat, which is divine love; and these two
discover the quality of goods and truths, and also of evils and falses;
hence, there is no communication between the Christian and the Mahometan
heavens, and in like manner between the heavens of the Gentiles. If
there were a communication, none could have been saved but those who
were in celestial light and at the same time in celestial heat from the
Lord; yea neither would these be saved if there wa