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'.

Footnotes:

1105. That these things are meant is quite clear from what has been stated already about numbers and years, see 482, 487, 488, 493, 575, 647, 648.