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:

8421. 'And it shall be on the sixth day' means at the end of each state. This is clear from the meaning of 'day' is state, dealt with in 23, 487, 488, 493, 2788, 3462, 3785, 4850, 7680; and from the meaning of 'the sixth' as the end of a state. The reason why 'the sixth day' means the end of a state is that 'seven days' or 'a week' means a whole period or complete state, 2044, 3845, 6508, and therefore the day before the seventh, which is 'the sixth', means the end of that state, while the day after, which is 'the eighth', means the beginning of the same state, 2044, 8400.