221. 'Breeze, or breath, ¹ of the daytime' means a time when the Church still had a residue of perception. This becomes clear from the meaning of 'day' and of 'night'. The most ancient people compared states of the Church to the times of the day and of the night. States when the Church still had light they compared to times of the day; therefore this verse speaks of 'the breath' or breeze of the daytime' as when they still had some residue of perception, from which they knew that they were fallen. The Lord too calls a state in which there is faith 'the daytime' and one in which there is none 'the night', as in John,

I must work the works of Him who sent Me while it is day; night is coming when nobody will be able to work. John 9:4.

The consecutive states of man's regeneration for the same reason were called 'days' in Chapter Genesis 1.

Footnotes:

9561. 'Thus for the six branches going out of the lampstand' means the power of truth derived from good so far as all things in the spiritual heaven are concerned. This is clear from the meaning of 'six' as all in their entirety, as above in 9555; from the meaning of 'branches' as truths derived from good, and consequently power, dealt with above in 9555, 9558; and from the meaning of 'the lampstand' as the spiritual heaven, also dealt with above, in 9548. From these meanings it is evident that 'the six branches going out of the lampstand' means the power of truth derived from good so far as all things in the spiritual heaven are concerned.