them to good, as far as they can in man's free choice. They are
forbidden to act violently, and so to break a man's cupidities and
principles; but are bidden to act gently. It is also an office of
theirs to govern evil spirits who are from hell. When evil spirits
infuse evils and what is false, the angels instill what is true and
good, by which they at least temper an evil. Infernal spirits are
continually assaulting, and angels constantly giving protection.
Especially do the angels call forth goods and truths which are with a
man, and oppose them to the evils and falsities which the evil spirits
excite. Hence a man is in the midst, nor does he apperceive the evil
or the good; and being in the midst, is free to turn himself to the
one or to the other. By such means angels from the Lord lead and
protect a man, and this every moment, and every moment of a moment.
For, should the angels intermit their care a single instant, man would
be plunged into evil from which he could never afterward be led forth.
These offices the angels do from a love which they have from the Lord;
for they know nothing pleasanter and happier than to remove evils from
a man, and to lead him to heaven. That this is their joy, see _Luke_,
XV, 7. Scarcely any man believes that the Lord has such a care for
man, and this continually, from the first thread of his life to the
last, and on to eternity.

--_Arcana Coelestia, n._ 5992

WHOLESOME AND UNWHOLESOME COMMUNICATION

Many believe that a man can be taught by the Lord through spirits who
speak with him. They who believe so, and will this communication, do
not know, however, that it is attended with danger to their souls.
While a man is living in the world, he is in the midst of spirits as
to his spirit; nevertheless spirits do not know they are with man, nor
a man that he is with spirits. But as soon as spirits begin to speak
with a man, they come out of their spiritual state into the man's
natural state; and then they know that they are with man, and they
unite themselves to the thoughts of his affection, and they speak with
him from those thoughts. Thence it is that the spirit speaking is in
the same principles as the man, whether these be true or false. These
he stirs up, and through his affection, united to the man's, strongly
confirms them. All this shows the danger in which a man is who speaks
with spirits, or who manifestly perceives their operation. Of the
nature of his affection, good or