BOOK 1. THE SUBJECT.
CHAPTER 3.
1.3.1. An Explanation of the Act and Object.
For the act you must look. Looking is either; A. Ocular or B. Mental.
A. Ocular
For ocular vision, there may be some use of that in heaven, for there we shall look on Jesus. - "With these eyes shall I behold him," saith Job xix. 27. "And we shall see him as he is, saith the apostle, 1 John iii. 2. Now we see him as in a glass, then we shall see him face to face," 1 Cor. xiii. 12. But till then, "We must walk by faith, not by sight," 2 Cor. v.,7.
B. Mental
1. For mental vision, or the inward eye, that is it that will take up our discourse, and that is it which the apostle speaks of in his prayers for the Ephesians, "That the eyes of their understanding may be opened, that they may know," etc. Eph. i. 18. Now the excellency of this mental sight is far above the ocular sight: for there are more excellent things to be seen by the eye of the mind, than by the eye of the body; we only see a piece of the creation by the eye of the bod}', but the mind reacheth everything that is in it, yea, the mind reacheth to him that made it: God is invisible, and yet this eye sees God. It is said of Moses, That "he saw him that is invisible," Heb. xi. 27.
2. It is the sight of the mind, that gives light and vigour to the sight of the eye: take away the inward sight, and the light of the external sense is but as darkness and death.
3. It is the sight of the mind that looks into the worth, use, and property of anything presented. The eye can see a thing, but not the worth of it; a beast looks on gold as well as a man, but the sight and knowledge of the worth of it, is by the internal light of the mind; so the eye can see a thing, but not the use of it; a child looks on a tool in the hand of a workman, but the sight and knowledge of the use of it, is only by a man of reason that hath internal light to judge of it: and so the eye can see a thing, but not the propriety of it; a beast looks on his pasture, and he likes it, not because it is his, but because it is a pasture and well furnished. Now, we know that the worth and use and property of a thing, are the very cream of the things themselves, and this the eye of the mind conveys, and not the eyes of the body. It is said of Joseph, that "he saw his brethren and knew them, but they knew not him," Gen. xlii. 7, 8. This was the reason why Joseph was so exceedingly taken at the sight of his brethren, that his bowels wrought with joy, and a kind of compassion towards them; but they were before him as common strangers; though they saw Joseph their brother a prince, yet they were taken no more with the sight of him, than of any other man, because they knew him not.
Again, this mental looking is either notional and theoretical, or practical and experimental, the first, we call barely the look of our minds; it is an enlightening of our understandings with some measure of speculative sight, in spiritual and heavenly mysteries. The second we call the look of our minds and hearts, whereby we not only see spiritual things, but we are affected with them: we desire, love, believe, enjoy and embrace them. To this purpose is that rule, "That words of knowledge do sometimes signify the affections in the heart, and the effects thereof in our lives." And this was the look which Paul longed for, "That I may know him and the power of his resurrection," Phil. iii. 10. i.e. That he might have experience of that power, that it might so communicate itself unto him, as to work upon him to all the ends of it. And this was the look that Bernard preferred above all looks. "In reading of books (saith he) let us not so much look for science, as savouriness of truth upon our hearts." "This I pray (saith the apostle) that your love may abound yet more and more, in knowledge and in all judgment," Phil. i. 9. i.e. in knowledge and feeling. And certainly this feeling, this experimental looking on Jesus, is that my text aims at; it is not a swimming knowledge of Christ, but an hearty feeling of Christ's inward workings; it is not heady notions of Christ, but hearty motions towards Christ, that are implied in this inward looking.
For the object; you must look on Jesus
It is the blessedest object that the eye of the mind can possibly fix upon; of all objects under heaven, Jesus hath the pre-eminency in perfection, and he should have the pre-eminency in our meditation. It is he that will make us most happy when we possess him, and we cannot but be joyful to look upon him, especially when looking is a degree of possessing Jesus, for the name signifies Saviour. It is an Hebrew name; the Greeks borrowed it from the Hebrews, the Latins from the Greeks, and all other languages from the Latins. It is used five hundred times in Paul's epistles, saith Genebrard. It comes from the Hebrew word Jehoshuah, or Joshua, which in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah (written after the Babylonian captivity) is Jeshua, and so is our Saviour's name always written in the Syriac translation of the New Testament. This name Jesus was given to Christ the Son of God by his Father, and brought from heaven by an angel, first to Mary, and then to Joseph. And on the day when he was circumcised (as the manner was) his name was given him by his parents, as it was commanded from the Lord, "by the angel Gabriel," Luke i. 26, 31 . Not to stand on the name, for the matter of it includes both his offices and natures; he is the alone Saviour of man. "For there is none other name under heaven given among men, whereby we must be saved," Acts iv. 12. And he is a perfect and an absolute Saviour; "he is able to save them to the uttermost that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them, Heb. vii. 25. I will not deny, but that the work of salvation is common to all the three persons of the Trinity: it is a known rule, "All outward actions are equally common to the three persons or as they are all one in nature and will, so must they be also in one operation; the Father saveth, the Son saveth, and the Holy Ghost saveth; yet we must distinguish them in the manner of saving. The Father saveth by the Son, the Son saveth by paying the ransom and price of our salvation, the Holy Ghost saveth by a particular applying of that ransom unto men. Now, whereas the Son pays the price of our redemption, and not the Father, nor the Holy Ghost; therefore, in this special respect, he is called our Saviour, our Jesus, and none but he.
This objection, though contained in a word, is very comprehensive; herein is set forth to our view, the offices of Christ, the two natures of Christ, the qualities of Christ, the excellencies of Christ; O what variety of sweet matter is in Jesus? He hath in him "all the powders of the merchants," Cant. iii. 6. An holy soul cannot tire itself in viewing Jesus, we know one thing tires quickly, unless that one be all; which so is Christ, and none else, "He is all, and in all," Col iii. 11. All belonging to being, and all belonging to well-being; in things below Jesus, some have this excellency, and some have that, but none have all; and this withers contemplation at the root. Contemplation is soul recreation, and recreation is kept up by variety; but O what variety is in Jesus? Variety of time, He is Alpha and Omega; variety of beauty. He is white and ruddy; variety of quality, he is a lion and a lamb, a servant and a son; variety of the excellency in the world, he is a man and God. O where shall we begin in this view of Jesus? "Who shall declare his generation? Or who shall count and reckon his age?" Isa. liii. 8. "Or who shall count and reckon his age?" All the Evangelists exhibit unto us the Saviour, but every one of them in his particular method. Mark describes not at all the genealogy of Jesus, but begins his history at his baptism. Matthew searcheth out his original from Abraham. Luke follows it backwards as far as Adam. John passeth further upwards even to the eternal generation of this "word that was made flesh." So they lead us to Jesus mounting up four several steps: in the one, we see him only among the men of his own time; in the second, he is seen in the tent of Abraham; in the third he is yet higher, to wit, in Adam; and finally, having traversed all ages, through so many generations we come to contemplate him in the beginning, in the bosom of the Father, in that eternity in which he was with God before all worlds. And there let us begin, still looking unto Jesus, as he carries on the great work of our salvation from first to last, from everlasting to everlasting.