191

" There is for him, on the other side, but one place known."

" By * the eighth heaven' is understood the hea-
ven of the fixed stars, and there are the constella-
tions ; " the churches" mean the twelve signs of the
zodiac; each community of them inhabits a deter-
mined side; they do not combat ,each other., as the
southern have no business with the northern, and
each has his fixed situation : some of the constella-
tions are in the zodiac, some to the south, and others
to the north.

" Besides, the prophet said: I saw five man-
" sions greater than any thing else, which spread
tc their shade over earth and heaven." He denotes
here the great heaven, which, in its interior incloses
all the other heavens, and is the greatest of all
spaces.

Again, saying: " When I proceeded, I saw four
" seas, the waters of each being of a different color/'
he implies an account of essentiality, corporeity, ma-
teriality, and exteriority; inasmuch as this account
is generally perplexing, the idea of every one being
conceived in a different way, and each way interpre-
ted by every one.

And what the prophet said: " I saw angels much
" occupied with beads and prayers and all taken up
ic with the precious sentence, There is no God but one
" God:" this refers to pure spirits who are free from
matters of desire, and spotless; and every man who