When the man of the church is in a natural state, and not yet in a spiritual state, natural affections, which are various cupidities arising from the loves of self and of the world, rise up and cause various emotions of the mind (which is signified by the tempest on the sea); in this state the Lord appears as absent, and this apparent absence is signified by that the Lord was asleep in the ship. (Matthew 8:23-26).

(références: Apocalypse Explained 514)