Now, the necessary mansions of our restored selves are those two contrary
and incompatible places we call heaven and hell; to define them, or
strictly to determine what and where these are, surpasseth my divinity.
That elegant apostle which seemed to have a glimpse of heaven hath left
but a negative description thereof: 'which neither eye hath seen, nor ear
hath heard, nor can enter into the heart of man': he was translated out
of himself to behold it; but being returned into himself could not
express it. St. John's description by emeralds, chrysolites, and
precious stones is too weak to express the material heaven we behold.
Briefly, therefore, where the soul hath the full measure and complement
of happiness, where the boundless appetite of that spirit remains
completely satisfied that it can neither desire addition nor alteration,
that I think is truly heaven: and this can only be in the enjoyment of
that essence whose infinite goodness is able to terminate the desires of
itself, and the insatiable wishes of ours; wherever God will thus
manifest Himself, there is heaven, though within the circle of this
sensible world. Thus the soul of man may be in heaven anywhere, even
within the limits of his own proper body; and when it ceaseth to live in
the body it may remain in its own soul, that is, its Creator. And thus
we may say that St. Paul, whether in the body, or out of the body, was
yet in heaven. . . . Moses, that was bred up in all the learning of the
Egyptians, committed a gross absurdity in philosophy when with these eyes
of flesh he desired to see God, and petitioned his Maker, that is truth
itself, to a contradiction.