23. Nothing is more common in the Word than for the word 'day' to be used to mean the particular time at which events take place, as in Isaiah,

The day of Jehovah is near. Behold, the day of Jehovah comes. I will make heaven tremble, and the earth will be shaken out of its place, on the day of My fierce anger. Its time is close at hand, and its days will not be prolonged. Isaiah 13:6, 9, 13, 22.

And in the same prophet,

Her antiquity is in the days of antiquity. On that day Tyre will be forgotten for seventy years, like the days of one king. Isaiah 23:7, 15.

Since 'day' stands for the particular time it also stands for the state associated with that particular time, as in Jeremiah, Woe to us, for the day has declined, for the shadows of evening have lengthened! Jeremiah 6:4

And in the same prophet,

If you break My covenant that is for the day and My covenant that is for the night, so that there is neither daytime nor night at their appointed time. Jeremiah 33:20, 25.

Also,

Renew our days as of old. Lamentations 5:21.

1017. That the nature of the multiplying depends on the character of the affection, let the person serve as an example who accepts the basic assumption that faith alone saves somebody even when he does not perform any charitable action, that is, has no charity, and so separates faith from charity. Such a person separates faith from charity not only because he has accepted that assumption since earliest childhood, but also because he really does think that if anyone were to say that charity, or the works of charity, were the essential constituent of faith and led a devout life on those grounds he would inevitably be placing merit in works, which however is a falsity. Thus he rejects charity and considers the works of charity to be worthless, and so keeps solely to the idea of faith, which is no faith at all when devoid of its essential, which is charity. As long as he confirms himself in that assumption he in no way acts from an affection for good but from the affection inherent in the delight of being able to live without any restriction on his evil desires. And anyone among those like this who relies on many different facts to confirm that assumption does not act from an affection for truth but from glory of self, in order that he may consequently appear greater, more learned, and more eminent than everybody else, and so be promoted to the ranks of the distinguished and wealthy. Thus he acts from the delight accompanying the affection, and this delight causes things of a confirmatory nature to multiply, for as stated, the character of the affection determines that of the multiplication. In general, if a basic assumption is false, nothing but falsities can possibly result from it. In fact everything conforms to the basic assumption. Indeed, as I know from experience, which in the Lord's Divine mercy I will describe elsewhere, people who confirm themselves in such basic assumptions concerning faith alone and who have not been governed at all by charity, pay no attention to, and so to speak do not see, all that the Lord has said so many times about love and charity, as in Matthew 3:8-9; 5:7, 43-48; 6:12, 15; 7:1-20; 9:13; 12:33; 13:8, 27; 18:21- end; 19:19; 22:35-39; 24:12-13; 25:34, 40, 41, 45; Mark 4:18-20; 11:13-14, 20; 12:28-34; Luke 3:8-9; 6:27-38, 43-end; 7:47; 8:8, 14-15; 10:25-28; 12:58-59; 13:6-9; John 3:19, 21; 5:42; 13:34-35; 14:15, 21, 23; 15:1-17; 21:15-17.