overwhelming that it transforms a person more into the likeness of Jesus. Therefore,
he assures his readers, “so God receives none to contemplate his face, but he
transformes them into his own likenesse by the irradiaton of his light, and Christ hath
none that dive into these depths of his glorious and blessed incarnation, but they carry
along with them sweet impressions of an abiding and transforming nature.”^220
Gazing is the final word used by Ambrose and receives little attention in
comparison with looking and beholding. However, Ambrose reinforces the
significance of the Ascension declaring, “what shall he ascend, and shall not we in
our contemplations follow after him? gaze O my soul on this wonderful object, thou
needest not feare any check from God.”^221 According to Ambrose the beatific vision
was the “glorious sight of Christ as God.”^222 The Puritans and most spiritual writers
before them recognized that contemplation could anticipate but never fully realize the
beatific vision until a person reached heaven.^223 Saint Paul was the exception briefly
experiencing this during his rapture into heaven recorded in 2 Corinthians 12:2.^224
Further this experience of seeing God face to face was sometimes referred to as “the
very top of heaven.”^225 In the following illustration Ambrose weaves the beatific
vision and the themes of both beholding and gazing together to describe Christ’s
holiness, “the Saints in glory now see the face of Christ; ... they do nothing else but
stare, and gaze, and behold his face for ages, and yet they are never satisfied with
(^220) Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (^) , 350, cf. 526, 917 for other examples of
transformation that are not directly connected with 2 Cor 3:18. 221
222 Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 8^71 - 2.^
Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 1096, cf. 1092-103, 1111-3 and Media (1657), 259-
60 for a sustained treatment on this topic. 223
Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus, 481 and Williams, “Puritan Enjoyment of God,”
125, 265 224 - 6.
(^225) Ambrose, Ambrose, Looking Unto JesusLooking Unto Jesus, 1093, 1095.- 4.^