Arcana Coelestia #221
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:
1. literally, spirit
Arcana Coelestia #4229
4229. CHAPTER 32
In Volume Three 1 an explanation was begun of what the Lord has foretold in Matthew 24 about the Last Judgement. The explanation stands in the preliminary sections to the final chapters of that volume and has been taken as far as Matthew 24:31, see 3353-3356, 3486-3489, 3650-3655, 3897-3901, 4056-4060. The internal sense in brief of all that He foretold is evident from the explanations contained in those paragraphs; that is to say, He foretold the progressive ruination of the Church and the establishment at length of a new Church, in the following order:
1. People ceased to know what good or truth was, and instead began to argue with one another about these.
2. They treated them with contempt.
3. They did not in their hearts acknowledge them.
4. They profaned them.
5. And because the truth of faith and the good of love would continue to exist with some who are called the elect, the state of faith as this will be at that time is described.
6. Then the state of charity as this will be.
7. And finally the beginning of a new Church is dealt with, which is meant by the words which were explained last of all, namely,
And He will send out His angels with a trumpet and a loud voice, and they will gather His elect from the four winds, from one end of the heavens to the other end of them. Verse 31.
These words are used to mean the beginning of a new Church, see the end of 4060.
Footnotes:
1. i.e. of the Latin, which begins with paragraph number 2760. The treatment of Matthew begins with paragraph number 3353.
