Page:Arcana Coelestia (Potts) vol 1.djvu/20

8 And therefore the Lord is called the "Redeemer," the "Former from the womb," the "Maker," and also the "Creator;" as in the same Prophet:—

In David:—

Again:

That "heaven" signifies the internal man; and "earth" the external man before regeneration, may be seen from what follows.

. Verse 2. And the earth was a void and emptiness, and darkness was upon the faces of the deep (abyssi); and the Spirit of God was brooding upon the faces of the waters. Before his regeneration, man is called the "earth void and empty," and also the "ground" wherein nothing of good and truth has been sown; "void" denotes where there is nothing of good, and "empty" where there is nothing of truth. Hence comes "thick darkness," that is, stupidity, and an ignorance of all things belonging to faith in the Lord, and consequently of all things belonging to spiritual and heavenly life. Such a man is thus described by the Lord through Jeremiah:—

. The "faces of the deep" are the cupidities of the unregenerate man, and the falsities thence originating, of which he wholly consists, and in which he is totally immersed. In this state, having no light, he is like a "deep," or something obscure and confused. Such persons are also called "deeps," and "depths of the sea," in many parts of the Word, which are "dried up," or " wasted," before man is regenerated. As in Isaiah:—

Awake as in the ancient days, in the generations of old. Art not thou it that drieth up the sea, the waters of the great deep, that maketh the