1752. Save only that which the lads have eaten. That this signifies the good spirits, is evident from what precedes, and from what follows. It is evident from what precedes, for Mamre, Eshcol, and Aner are mentioned above (verse 13) as being allies of the covenant of Abram, by whom was signified the state of the Lord’s rational man as to His external man, in respect to the quality of its goods and truths; and thus it is evident that by them were signified the angels who were with the Lord when He was combating, as is plain from the explication there given. The same is evident from what follows, as will presently appear. Those who went with Abram are here called “the lads” or “children,” by whom no others are meant than good spirits; but by “the men,” who are spoken of immediately afterwards, are meant angels. That there were angels with the Lord when He fought against the hells, is evident from the Word; as also from the consideration that when He was in the combats of temptations, it could not be otherwise than that angels should be present, to whom the Lord from His own power gave strength, and as it were power, to fight together with Him, for all the power that the angels have is from the Lord.

[2] That angels fight against the evil, may be seen from what has occasionally been said before concerning the angels with man-that they protect man, and avert the evils which are threatened by infernal spirits (see above, n. 50, 227, 228, 697, 968) but all their power is from the Lord. The good spirits also are angels, but lower ones, for they are in the first heaven; the angelic spirits are in the second; and the angels, properly so called, are in the third (see n. 459, 684). Such is the form of government in the other life that the good spirits are subordinate to the angelic spirits, and the angelic spirits to the real angels; so that they constitute one angelic society. The good spirits and the angelic spirits are those who are here called “the lads;” but the real angels, “the men.”

227. As it is desirable that the origin of perception, internal dictate, and conscience, should be known, and as at the present day it is altogether unknown, I may relate something on the subject. It is a great truth that man is governed by the Lord by means of spirits and angels. When evil spirits begin to rule, the angels labor to avert evils and falsities, and hence arises a combat. It is this combat of which the man is rendered sensible by perception, dictate, and conscience. By these, and also by temptations, a man might clearly see that spirits and angels are with him, were he not so deeply immersed in corporeal things as to believe nothing that is said about spirits and angels. Such persons, even if they were to feel these combats hundreds of times, would still say that they are imaginary, and the effect of a disordered mind. I have been permitted to feel such combats, and to have a vivid sense of them, thousands and thousands of times, and this almost constantly for several years, as well as to know who, what, and where they were that caused them, when they came, and when they departed; and I have conversed with them.