618. That "Noah was righteous and perfect" that he "walked with God" and in this verse that he "begat three sons" is all said in the past tense, and yet these expressions look to the future. It should be known that the internal sense is such that it has no relation to times; and this the original language favors, where sometimes one and the same word is applicable to any time whatever, without using different words, for by this means interior things appear more evidently. The language derives this from the internal sense, which is more manifold than anyone could believe; and therefore it does not suffer itself to be limited by times and distinctions.