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THE GREAT ARENA
In temptations the hells fight against man, and the Lord for him. To
every falsity which the hells inject, there is an answer from the
Divine. The falsities inflow into the outward man, the answer into the
inward man, coming to perception scarcely otherwise than as hope, and
the resulting consolation, in which, however, there is a multitude of
things of which the man is unaware.
--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 8159
In temptations a man is left, to all appearance, to himself alone; yet
he has not been left alone, for God is then most present in his inmost
being, and upholds him. When anyone overcomes in temptation,
therefore, he enters into closer union with God.
--_True Christian Religion, n._ 126
"BY LITTLE AND LITTLE"
When man is being regenerated, he is not regenerated speedily but
slowly. The reason is that all things which he has thought, purposed
and done since infancy, have added themselves to his life and have
come to constitute it. They have also formed such a connection among
themselves that no one thing can be removed unless all are at the same
time.
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