“Heaven is likened in Scripture to a splendid and glorious city. Many men are ever surprised and amazed by the sight of a splendid city. We need not to be told how often heaven is called the holy city of God. Other cities are built by men, but this city, we are told, was built immediately by God himself. His hands reared up the stately mansions of this city, and his wisdom contrived them. Hebrews 11:10 “For he looked for a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God.” Other cities that are royal cities, that is, the cities that are the seats of kings and where they keep their courts, are commonly, above all others, stately and beautiful; but heaven, we are told, is the royal city of God, where the King of heaven and eart dwells, and displays his glory. Hebrews 12:22, “The city of the living God.”

— Jonathan Edwards. Sermons and Discourses, Kenneth E. Minkema, The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 14, page 141. New Haven: Yale, 1997.