The Preachers' Garden of the Triumphant City of Jerusalem

...have been said of it. For no human intellect, however elevated for this present state, will be able truly and simply to conceive of the greatest goods of that city as they are in themselves, except under a figure, which is as distant from the thing figured as the east is from the west; or rather, as far as heaven is from the earth. Nor indeed have I thought it vain, from the authorities of Holy Scripture previously read, premeditated, and well-pondered—as well as from the opinions of the Fathers, other holy Doctors, and wise men—upon the knowledge received beforehand concerning a city of this kind, very often to ascend and descend through the choirs, seats, and mansions of the blessed: now to fly hither, now thither with the swiftest flight of the mind, to traverse or to pass through; to fix the eyes of the mind; to address its blessed inhabitants, and to present myself to them in spirit, and there to linger: to encompass in the mind and to behold the whole Empyrean heaven itself, its spheres and circles, and the places of the blessed.
Phil. 3.

For in this way, as Paul says, our conversation is in heaven. Indeed, we ought to fix our sense, affections, and mind upon this fatherland rather than upon the exile of this world; upon the permanent, eternal city rather than upon that which shall soon fail; upon those greatest future goods that shall remain forever, rather than upon these present things, still for a little while to be corrupted. Upon the true goods rather than upon the deceptive and fleeting; so that through the continual contemplation and meditation of it, we may be kindled unto its love and desire, having despised these fleeting, transitory goods. Wherefore, I have written this work not only for my own benefit, but also for the utility and spiritual progress of others. Do not wonder, however, gentle reader, if in these considerations of ours you do not read many authorities and opinions of the Fathers and other holy Doctors. This was omitted by me partly so that I might not increase this volume too much and affect the minds of readers with weariness. And partly also because, by meditating and contemplating, I have drawn out from the Holy Scriptures and the opinions of the holy Doctors things expressed by them more virtually than formally: more with the dictate of reason and memory than by the frequent use of books. For if I had expressed here the opinions of the Doctors from which I extracted those things which we have said are virtually included in them, this work would indeed have increased too much. Nor am I ashamed to confess that [they are] far [less] than those things which are...