Arcana Coelestia #47
47. That these words contain arcana concerning regeneration becomes additionally clear from the fact that verse 24 above spoke of the earth bringing forth 'living creatures, beasts, and wild animals of the earth', while in the verse that followed the order was different, namely that God made the wild animals of the earth first and then the beasts. Indeed a person does first produce things so to speak from himself, and continues to do so until he becomes celestial. And so regeneration begins with the external man and moves on to the internal. This is why there is a different order here, with external things coming first.
The New Jerusalem and its Heavenly Doctrine #138
138. They who have not received conscience in the world, cannot receive it in the other life; thus they cannot be saved. The reason is, because they have no plane into which heaven, that is, the Lord through heaven, may flow in, and by which He may operate, and lead them to Himself. For conscience is the plane and receptacle of the influx of heaven.