1974. As for the meaning of "evening and morning," in all phases of regeneration, both general and particular, the progression starts from evening, and tends toward morning. In general, the evening of those who are being regenerated is misery, temptations, despair, but they arrive at the morning. So also in detail, in all phases of regeneration one begins from evils, which are turned into good. And it is worth remembering that evil spirits begin, out of their own fantasies and passions, to arouse the person, but that these evils are turned into good in various ways. This has been revealed to me by experience lasting 3 years. So that is "evening and morning," and it applies to every least phase. Therefore it is the process not only of regeneration, but also of the perception of goodness. 1748, 16 May.

4168. 'These twenty years I have been with you' means the proprium. This is clear from the meaning of 'twenty' as the good present in remnants, 2280. But when the term remnants is used in reference to the Lord nothing else is meant than His proprium, 1906. 'Twenty years' means states of the proprium - 'years' meaning states, see 487, 488, 493, 893. In the highest sense the content of Jacob's words addressed to Laban refers to the proprium within the Natural which the Lord acquired to Himself by His own power, in particular to the various states of that proprium.