1220. THAT IT IS PERMISSIBLE TO JUDGE CONCERNING THE INTERIORS OF MAN WHICH HAVE REGARD TO HIS CIVIL LIFE I have sometimes discussed with spirits whether it is allowable to judge concerning man's interiors, and with their agreement it was said, that it is allowable to judge concerning his civil and moral life, but not his spiritual life, concerning which the Lord alone judges because He alone knows. It is allowable to explore the civil and moral life of men from their words and actions, for societies are formed in the world in order that it may be known, from various reasons and ends, whether it is allowable to enter into association with them; otherwise, man would be in such a state of affairs that he would easily be led astray into evils, and despoiled of all his goods. 1748, Mar. 7. By moral life is understood everything honorable in respect to society. But man cannot judge how the moral virtues co-operate with faith, nor of what quality a man is as to his interiors in relation to faith.