is from man, for the combat is carried on from and concerning those things that are with man."[1]
The nature of these temptations is thus further described:—"Evil spirits never make assault upon anything but what man loves, and their assault is violent in proportion to the intensity of the love. As soon as they observe even the smallest thing which man loves,—or perceive by the scent, as it were, what is delightful and dear to him, they assault and endeavor to destroy it; consequently, they assault and endeavor to destroy the whole man, since his life consists in such loves. Nothing is more pleasant to them than thus to destroy man, nor would they ever desist from their attempts, even to eternity, unless they were repelled by the Lord. Such of them as are particularly malignant and cunning, insinuate themselves into man's very loves by soothing and flattering them; thus they introduce themselves into the man; and presently when they have thus introduced themselves, they endeavor to destroy his loves, and by so doing to kill the man; and this, in a thousand ways and modes altogether incomprehensible. Nor do they carry on their assaults merely by reasonings against goods and truths, but they pervert goods and truths, and enkindle a sort of fire of lust and persuasion, so that the man does not know but that he is actually in such lust and persuasion, and at the same time they inflame these with a delight which they steal from man's other delights. Thus with the utmost cunning they infect and infest the man, and this so artfully by
- ↑ A.C., 5,036.
