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:

877. 'The waters were over the face ¹ of the earth' means that falsities were still there to overflowing. This is clear from the meaning of 'the waters of the flood' as falsities, as shown adequately already, and so from the very words themselves.

Footnotes: