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 it contains,  eye  hath  not  seen  nor  ear  heard. Even the imagination  of  a  Dante  or  a  Milton  has  found  the description of  heaven  as  hopeless  a  task,  as  did  they seek to  examine  with  the  naked  eye  the  midday  sun. Reason, alone,  unaided  by  faith,  can  give  of  heaven but the  faintest,  most  shadowy  picture. Among the ancient Pagan  philosophers  there  are  no  less  than two hundred  and  eighty-six  opinions  as  to  what  constituted heaven,  some  holding  it  was  the  exercise  of the  highest  virtue;  others,  the  pursuit  of  knowledge; others, the  enjoyment  of  all  earthly  blessings,  etc. Their  mistake  was,  first,  in  seeking  to  locate  heaven in the  enjoyment  of  some  created  thing,  and  since nothing created  can  have  all  the  properties  they  instinctively felt  the  object  of  happiness  should  possess, they erred,  secondly,  in  making  that  object  not  one as it  should  be,  but  the  sum  total  of  all  created  good things. So far,  indeed,  are  all  earthly  things  from being heaven,  or  a  substitute  for  it,  that  it is  only  by  excluding  them  and  learning  what heaven is  not,  that  we  can  form  any  conception of what  heaven  really  is. " In  heaven,"  says St. Bernard,  "  there  is  nothing  you  can  dislike and  there  is  everything  you  can  desire,"  and nothing short  of  that  will  ever  satisfy  the  insatiable human heart. How, then,  can  earthly  pleasure  give the full  joy  of  heaven,  since  pleasure,  though  sweet to the  taste,  grows  bitter,  and  sours  in  the  swallowing? How can  virtue  or  knowledge  be  heaven,  since virtue, however  exalted,  is  perfected  in  infirmity;  and knowledge, the  most  profound,  is  to  learn  how  little