Arcana Coelestia #7
7. The first state is the state which precedes, both the state existing from earliest childhood onwards and that existing immediately before regeneration; and it is called a void, emptiness, and thick darkness. And the first movement, which is the Lord's mercy, is 'the Spirit of God hovering over the face 1 of the waters'.
V:
1. literally, The faces
Romans 7:19
19
For the good which I desire, I don't do; but the evil which I don't desire, that I practice.
