Ver. 1. And lift up his eyes to heaven] This and the like outward gestures in prayer, as they issue from the fervency of the good heart, so they reflect upon the soul, whose invisible affections by these visible actions, in the saints, are the more inflamed. Howbeit, hypocrites, though they have their hands elbow deep in the earth, will seem to pierce heaven with their eyes lift up in prayer. Videntur torvo aspectu caelum ad se attrahere, saith Calvin somewhere; they so fix their eyes in public prayer, as if they would leave them on the roof of the church; when all is but histrionical, theatrical, counterfeit, προς το θεα θηναι, to be seen of men, Matthew 6:1. The eagle, when she soareth highest, have ever an eye to the prey below; so hath the hypocrite to profit, credit. The hour is come] q.d. I ask not before the time is come, I am ripe and ready for thy kingdom. Some would be in heaven ere they have done their work upon earth. But what said that ancient? Domino, si tibi sim necessarius, non recuso vivere: Lord, if thou hast any further service for me to do, I am willing to live longer. When we come to heaven, the reward will be so large, that we shall repent us (if it were possible there to repent for anything) that we have done no more work. It is not lawful, saith Capel, to wish for death simply, neither to be set free from the troubles, fears, and cares of sin, nor that we would not conflict, nor wrestle any longer (for this were to serve ourselves, and seek our own ease and ends), but in hatred to sin, as it is sin.
Ver. 2. That he should give eternal life] And what more free than gift? Note this against our merit mongers, who not only cry, with Novatus, Non habeo, Domine, quod mihi ignoscas, I have done nothing that thou shouldest forgive me; but with Vega, Vitam aeternam gratis non accipiam, I will not have heaven for nothing. How much better St Augustine, Homo agnoscat, saith he, ut Deus ignoscat. Man knows that God may forgive. And William Wickam, founder of New College, who though he did many good works, yet he professed that he trusted to Jesus Christ alone for salvation.
Ver. 3. That they may know thee] To know God in the face of Christ is heaven beforehand; Qui non habet Christum in horoscopo, non habet Deum in medio caeli. (Bucholcer.) “By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many,” saith God concerning Christ, Isaiah 53:11, that is, by faith; which enfolds assent of the judgment, consent of the will, and affiance or assurance of the heart. Papists place faith in the will only, and exclude knowledge. Nay, Bellarmine affirmeth that faith may be better defined by ignorance (that mother of devotion) than by knowledge. They dig out men’s eyes (as they dealt by Samson) and then make sport with them; they confine faith to the will, that they may do what they will with the understanding and the heart; as the friars send men on pilgrimage, that they may lie with their wives the while.
Ver. 4. That thou gavest me to do] Our Saviour counts his work a gift; so should we take it for a favour, that he employs us, that we may have any office about him, that we may magnify him with our bodies, “whether by life or death,” Philippians 1:19. As a heretic I am condemned, said Mr Bradford, and shall be burned, whereof I ask God heartily mercy that I do no more rejoice than I do, having so great cause as to be an instrument, wherein it may please my dear Lord God and Saviour to suffer. And the greatest promotion, said Latimer, that God giveth in this world, is, to be such Philippians to whom it is given, not only to believe, but also to suffer. Ignatius professed he would rather be a martyr than a monarch. John Noyes took up a fagot at the fire, and kissed it, saying, Blessed be the time that ever I was born to come to this. The apostles rejoiced that they were graced so as to be disgraced for Christ, Acts 5:41.
Ver. 5. With the glory which I had, &c.] Our Saviour then is no upstart God, and of a later standing, as the Arians and Mahometans would make of him. Mahomet speaks very honourably of Christ, except only in two things. First, he denied that he was crucified, but that some other was crucified for him. Secondly, he took up the opinion of the Arians, to deny his Divinity. Arius at Constantinople, sitting upon the close stool, purged out his guts. Mahometism is now there in that place, as it were the excrements of Arius.
Ver. 6. I have manifested thy name] The Jews seek to detract from the glory of our Saviour’s miracles, by giving out, that he did them by I know not what superstitious or magical use of the name of Jehovah. (Bernard.) But that name of God that he is here said to manifest, is that nomen maiestativum, that holy and reverend name of God, set down Exodus 34:6,7, a name that would fill our hearts with heaven, and answer all our doubts, had we but skill to spell out all the letters in it.