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).

761. That spiritual temptation in man is a combat of the evil spirits with the angels who are with him, and that this combat is commonly felt in his conscience, has been stated before, and concerning this combat it should also be known that angels continually protect man and avert the evils which evil spirits endeavor to do to him. They even protect what is false and evil in a man, for they know very well whence his falsities and evils come, namely, from evil spirits and genii. Man does not produce anything false and evil from himself, but it is the evil spirits with him who produce it, and at the same time make the man believe that he does it of himself. Such is their malignity. And what is more, at the moment when they are infusing and compelling this belief, they accuse and condemn him, as I can confirm from many experiences. The man who has not faith in the Lord cannot be enlightened so as not to believe that he does evil of himself, and he therefore appropriates the evil to himself, and becomes like the evil spirits that are with him. Such is the case with man. As the angels know this, in the temptations of regeneration they protect also the falsities and evils of a man, for otherwise he would succumb. For there is nothing in a man but evil and the falsity thence derived, so that he is a mere assemblage and compound of evils and their falsities.