935. 'And summer and winter' means the state of a regenerate person as regards things belonging to his new will, which by turns come and go as summer and winter do. This becomes clear from what has been stated about cold and heat. The changes taking place in people who have yet to be regenerated are likened to cold and heat, while those that take place in those who have been regenerated are likened to summer and winter. That the person who has yet to be regenerated is the subject of the former phrase while one who has been regenerated is the subject of this latter is clear from the consideration that with the former 'cold' is mentioned first and 'heat' second, while here 'summer' comes first and 'winter' second. The reason is that the person who is being regenerated starts from 'cold', that is, from the point of no faith and charity; but once he has been regenerated he starts from the point of charity.
[2] The fact that a regenerate person experiences alternations, that is to say, at one point no charity resides with him and at the next some charity, is perfectly clear for the reason that with everybody, even the regenerate, nothing but evil exists. Everything good with him is the Lord's alone. Because nothing but evil exists with him it is inevitable that he undergoes such changes, at one time living so to speak in 'summer', that is, in charity, and at another in 'winter', that is, in no charity. The result of such changes is that a person is being ever more perfected and so made ever more happy. Such changes take place with a regenerate person not only during his lifetime but also when he has entered the next life, for without changes like those of summer and winter as regards things of the will, and like those of day and night as regards things of the understanding, he is in no way perfected and made more happy. In the next life however people's changes are like those of summer and winter in temperate regions and like those of day and night in springtime.
[3] The Prophets too describe these states as summer and winter, and as day and night, as in Zechariah,
And it will be, on that day living waters will flow out from Jerusalem, part of them to the eastern sea and part of them to the western sea; in summer and in winter will it be. Zech 14:8.
This refers to the New Jerusalem, or the Lord's kingdom in heaven and on earth, that is, the state of His kingdom in both places, which is also called summer and winter. In David,
O God, Your is the day, Thine also is the night. You have prepared the light and the sun, You have fixed all the bounds of the earth, You have made summer and winter. Ps 74:16, 17.
These words embody like matters. Similarly in Jeremiah who says that the covenant for the day is not to be broken, nor the covenant for the night, so that day and night come at their appointed time, Jer 33:20.
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