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And the earth changed into another,

k< One day we shall change this earth into another earth."

And after this change the earth and heaven will be
annihilated; the earth will be like pure silver, and
upon this earth no sin whatever will be committed :
in all this, the day of resurrection, heaven, and hell
are rendered present. As to what is asserted that
this earth wrill be changed into another—the Orien-
tals say, this is meant to relate to a vision which is
called the region of symbolic truth. And the ren-
dering present heaven and hell; this also refers to
an attribution of good and bad. Whoever assumes
the form of Hur or Kasur, serpent or scorpion, is
rendered happy or miserable. As to the transmuta-
tion of the earth—this needs no interpretation: what
wonder is it that the culture of a region passes into
that of another country; and the passage from the
region of the sensible into that of allegory is evi-
dent in the transformation of the folded heavens.
It has also been maintained that " the book of God"
is one thing, and cc the word of God" another :
because the word is derived from the world1 of
commands, which has its purport from the invisible
and rational world; whilst the book is from the
world of creatures; that is, the material world; the

1 The word dalem, " world," has here (as it occurs with the corres-
ponding Sanskrit word loka] the meaning of state, *' condition."