The Single Eye: Singleness of Purpose in Eternal Perspective

The eye that is haplous (single, undivided) fills the whole body with light. This is not optical biology but moral vision. When a man fixes his singular object upon eternity—making the securing of his salvation the dominant pursuit—he moves forward in an element of clearness, without the doubts that harass divided hearts.

What we most desire, we most wish to know about. Let desire for salvation actuate a man, and he will never cease inquiring until he has found it. The laboriousness of the search produces the largeness of discovery: the whole body becomes full of light.

He that has singled out eternity as his object proves he possesses a just estimate of its importance compared with time. To our faulty optics, magnitude is reversed; but when seen in true proportions, all prospects of futurity are altered. This restores justice and order to the whole perspective of being. Measure time upon the scale of eternity, and it sweeps away a multitude of errors. One principle illuminates the entire field of contemplation.

The "single eye" is not one that sees only one thing, but one that looks in one direction. It marks one ruling passion to which all others are subordinate. A navigator may pursue discovery of a distant region, repelling all temptations to linger—yet he attends to waters below, firmament above, and compass by which he steers. His object is one; his pursuit is illuminated by the light of many sciences. So the single eye toward eternity remains undistracted, yet fully informed by grace.