2819. As regards the Lord’s temptations in general, some were more external and some more internal; and the more internal they were, the more grievous. The inmost ones are described by the Evangelists (Matthew 26:37-39, 42, 44; 27:46; Mark 14:33-36; 15:34; Luke 22:42-44); but see what has been said before respecting the Lord’s temptations, namely: That the Lord first contended from goods and truths which appeared as goods and truths (n. 1661); That He contended against the evils of the love of self and the world from Divine Love toward the whole human race (n. 1690, 1691 at the end, 1789, 1812-1813, 1820); That He alone contended from the Divine Love (n. 1812, 1813): That all the hells fought against the Lord’s love, which was for the salvation of the whole human race (n. 1820): That the Lord endured the most grievous temptations of all (n. 1663, 1668, 1787): That the Lord became righteousness from His own power by means of temptations and victories (n. 1813, 2025): That the union of His Human Essence with His Divine Essence was effected by the Lord by means of temptations and victories (n. 1737, 1813, 1921, 2025, 2026). See also what has been said before concerning temptations in general (n. 59, 63, 227, 847): That temptation is a combat concerning power, as to whether good or evil, truth or falsity, is to reign supreme (n. 1923): That in temptations there are indignations, and many other affections (n. 1917): That temptations are celestial, spiritual, and natural (n. 847): That in temptations the evil genii and spirits assail the things of the love, and thus the things of the man’s life (n. 847, 1820): What temptations effect (n. 1692 at the beginning, 1717, 1740): That temptation is for the purpose that corporeal things may be subdued (n. 857): That the evils and falsities in a man who is being regenerated are subdued by temptations, not abolished (n. 868): That truth has the first place in combat (n. 1685): That man combats from the goods and truths which he has acquired by knowledges, though they be not in themselves goods and truths (n. 1661): That evil spirits and genii excite the falsities and evils in a man, and hence come temptations (n. 741, 751, 761).

That in temptations man thinks that the Lord is absent, whereas He is then more present (n. 840): That man can by no means sustain the combats of temptations of himself, because they are against all the hells (n. 1692 the end): That the Lord alone combats in man (n. 1661, 1692): That by means of temptations evil genii and spirits are deprived of the power of doing evil and inspiring falsity in man (n. 1695, 1717): That temptations come with those who have conscience, and more acute ones with those who have perception (n. 1668): That temptations rarely exist at this day, but in their place anxieties, which are of another character and from another source (n. 762): That men spiritually dead cannot sustain the combats of temptations (n. 270): That all temptations are attended with despair respecting the end (n. 1787, 1820): That after temptations there is fluctuation (n. 848, 857): That the good learn by temptations that they are nothing but evil, and that all things are of mercy (n. 2334): That by temptations goods are conjoined more closely with truths (n. 2272): That men are not saved by temptations if they yield in them, nor if they think that they have merited by them (n. 2273): That in every temptation there is freedom, and stronger than out of temptations (n. 1937).

751. As the subject here treated of is the temptation of the man of the new church called “Noah” and as few if any know the nature of temptations (because at this day there are few who undergo such temptations, and those who do undergo them know not but that it is something inherent in themselves which thus suffers), the subject shall be briefly explained. There are evil spirits who as before said in times of temptation call up a man’s falsities and evils, and in fact call forth from his memory whatever he has thought and done from his infancy. Evil spirits do this with a skill and a malignity so great as to be indescribable. But the angels with the man draw out his goods and truths, and thus defend him. This combat is what is felt and perceived by the man, causing the pain and remorse of conscience.

[2] There are two kinds of temptations, one as to things of the understanding, the other as to those of the will. When a man is tempted as to things of the understanding, the evil spirits call up only the evil things he has been guilty of (here signified by the “unclean beasts”), and accuse and condemn him; they do indeed also call up his good deeds (here signified by the “clean beasts”), but pervert them in a thousand ways. At the same time they call up what he has thought (here signified by the “fowl”), and such things also as are signified by “everything that creepeth upon the ground.”

[3] But this temptation is light, and is perceived only by the recalling of such things to mind and a certain anxiety therefrom. But when a man is tempted as to the things of the will, his thoughts and doings are not so much called up, but there are evil genii (as evil spirits of this kind may be called) who inflame him with their cupidities and foul loves with which he also is imbued, and thus combat by means of the man’s cupidities themselves, which they do so maliciously and secretly that it could not be believed to be from them. For in a moment they infuse themselves into the life of his cupidities, and almost instantly invert and change an affection of good and truth into an affection of evil and falsity, so that the man cannot possibly know but that it is done of his own self, and comes forth of his own will. This temptation is most severe, and is perceived as an inward pain and tormenting fire. Of this more will be said hereafter. That such is the case has been given me to perceive and know by manifold experience; and also when and how the evil spirits or genii were flowing in and inundating, and who and whence they were; concerning which experiences, of the Lord’s Divine mercy special and particular mention will be made hereafter.