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    and perverted by the vulgar and unreflecting , and hence both the doctrine and the persons of its advocates have been exposed to very unmerited obloquy . In a matter of real importance , this is submitted to with cheerfulness ; but in a case like the present , one is inclined to regret that they should have laid themselves open to it . The popular idea that heaven ( by which term is meant a particular place reserved for the abode of the blessed in a future state , in the immediate

    presence , or at least in the more sensible perception of the presence , of God ) is somewhere in the sky , above the clouds , proceeds , indeed , upon a false system of philosophy , being founded on views of the constitution of the universe which have been long since exploded . But I do not see that we are therefore required or authorized to conclude that there is no such place as heaven in the sense which we have given to that term . Certainly , whatever notions we may choose to adopt respecting the Divine

    omnipresence , every creature , to whatever degree of exaltation he may be enabled in a course of ages to attain , being necessarily finite , must be limited in his presence ; he must have some locality ; there must , consequently , be some place where he is either happy or miserable . That place , wherever it may be , we call , in the one case , heaven , in the other , hell . Perhaps , it may even be true , according to Mr . Belsham ' s suggestion , that they may be one and the same in point of absolute locality ; the difference consisting not in

    external circumstances , but in the constitution and affections of the mind , and the degree of improvement it has attained in the one case , or of degradation to which it shall have been reduced in the other ; conformably to the saying of our Lord , " Behold , the kingdom of God is within you . " Mr . Belsham has pursued this idea into various details , in tracing which he has displayed considerable ingenuity . Into these , however , I do not think it advisable at present to follow him .

    So much , however , appears to be quite evident , that whatever is destined to affect finite creatures , must necessarily have some sort of locality ; and hence I see nothing inconsistent with the most strict notions of the Divine omnipresence in the supposition that there may be some particular place or places where the presence of God is more peculiarly and expressly manifested . This , indeed , is nothing more than what we are abundantly sensible of at present . However conscious we may be in our moments of reflection

    that God is always with us , and that there is no place to which his actual presence does not extend , yet we are so much under the influence of external circumstances as to be much more sensibly alive to this important fact at some times and in some places than in others . The well-known influence of local associations is very powerful upon the minds even of the most reflecting ; perhaps , indeed , it is still more powerful upon them than upon the generality of mankind , who , from want of information , or an habitual

    frivolity of mind , are accustomed to pass with little emotion over scenes which have been distinguished by events of the greatest importance in the history of their country or of the world , Ci We were now treading , " says Dr . Johnson , speaking of Iona , " that illustrious island which was once the luminary of the Caledonian regions , whence savage clans and roving

    barbarians derived the benefits of knowledge and the blessings of religion . To abstract the mind from all local emotion would be impossible , if it were endeavoured , and would be foolish , if it were possible . Whatever withdraws us from the power of our senses , whatever makes the past , the distant , or the future , predominate over the present , advances us in the dignity of thinking beings . Far from me and my friends be such frigid philosophy

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    On the Locality of a Future State . 453

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), July 2, 1828, page 453, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2562/page/21/