no guile.” As if He had said, “His dream, by whose name I have called thee, shall be mani-
fested in thee; make no haste to wonder, “thou shalt see greater things than these. Ye shall
see heaven open, and the Angels of God ascending and descending unto the Son of Man.”3665
See what Jacob saw; see why Jacob anointed the stone with oil; see why Jacob prophetically
signified and prefigured the Anointed One. For that action was a prophecy.
6. Now I know what you are waiting for; I understand what you would hear from me.
This too will I briefly declare, as the Lord enableth me; “ascending and descending unto the
Son of Man.” How—if they descend to Him, He is here; if they ascend to Him, He is above.
But if they ascend to Him, and descend toHim, He is at once above and here. It cannot any
way possibly be, that they should ascend to Him, and descend to Him, unless He be both
there whither they ascend, and here whither they descend—How do we prove that He is
both there, and that He is here? Let Paul, who was first Saul, answer us. He found it by ex-
perience, when he was first a persecutor, and afterwards became a preacher; first Jacob, af-
terwards Israel; who was himself too “of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin.”3666
In him let us see Christ above, Christ below. First, the very Voice of the Lord from heaven
shows this; “Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?”3667 What! had Paul ascended into heaven?
Had Paul so much as cast a stone into heaven? He was persecuting the Christians, binding
them, haling them to be put to death, searching them out in every place where they lay hid,
when they were found on no consideration sparing them. To whom the Lord Christ saith,
“Saul, Saul.” Whence crieth He? From heaven. Therefore He is above. “Why persecutest
thou Me?” Therefore He is below. Thus have I explained all, though briefly, yet as well as I
could to you, Beloved. I have ministered to you according to my duty, and now for your
duty, do ye think upon the poor. Let us turn to the Lord, etc.
3665 John i. 51.
3666 Phil. iii. 5.
3667 Acts ix. 4.
981
On the words of the Gospel, John i. 48,’When thou wast under the fig tree,…