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:

6001. 'And said, Jacob, Jacob' means made to natural truth. This is clear from the representation of 'Jacob' as natural truth, dealt with in 3305, 3509, 3525, 3546, 3599, 3775, 4009, 4234, 4520, 4578. The reason why the name 'Jacob' and not Israel is used is that natural truth and all that accompanies it must be introduced into the facts known to the Church, meant by Jacob's going down into Egypt together with his sons, see below in 6004.