The True Way to the Tree of Life, Part · Section 24
XXIV. Direction.
ZEalously endeavour to promote the Glory of God, and of Iesus Christ, in all things, throughout the whole course of thy life; and to be where Christ is, to behold his Glory, that so thine inchoate happiness may be compleatly consummate, in the immediate vision, and full fruition of God in Christ unto all eternity. 1 Cor. 10. 31. and 6. 20. 1 Pet. 4. 11. 2 Thes. 1. 12. —Ioh. 17. 24. Mat. 5. 8. 1 Thes. 4. 17. Rev. 22. 3, 4, 5. For,
1. Gods Glory, and the Souls felicity in the full enjoyment of God in Christ unto all eternity, are the two principal Ends of all, which thou, and every man, should chiefly intend and aim at in his whole life, 1 Cor. 10. 31. Rom. 11 36. Psal. 73. 24. to the end: God… made all things for his glory Pro. 16. 4. And all things ought to be levelled to his Glory. Man is made capable of God. and therefore he is restless till he can fully center in God, in whom alone in Christ all his happiness is treasured up. Augustine said sweetly e—Feei…ti nos …d te: & inquietum est Cor nostrum, d…nec requiescat in te. Aug. Conf, lib. 1. c. 1. Tom. 1.;—Thou hast made us for thee; And our heart is unquiet till it rest in thee. As the Needle once touched with the loadstone, is unquiet till it come to the Magnetick Center, and point towards the Pole.
2. Thou, that wast dead in sin, and a child of wrath, but art quickened by God and made a child of Grace, of the riches of his Grace. Eph. 2. 1. 5, 6, 7. Canst never do enough for this God, and for his glory▪ And therefore he hath provided heaven for his people wherein they may glorifie him eternally. Yet while thou art on earth, glorifie him to the uttermost in thy momentany life, for thy Redemption, Reconciliation, Vocation, Sanctification, Justification and hopes of Salvation: So shalt thou by this heavenly imployment begin Heaven on Earth and pr…posses… thyself of Paradise.
3. If a little taste, a short glimpse of Gods favour in Christ, breaking thorough the thick clonds of thy manifold frailties here on earth, be so sweet, as to transcend incomparably all subl…nary enjoyments, Psal, 4. 6, 7. Cant. 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7: Then how sweet, how delicious, how ravishing will be the full Sun-shine of his Love unto thy Soul in Heaven for ever when all imperfections and infirmities shall be totally and finally done away, Eph. 5. 27. Act. 3. 19. Rev. 21. 4. and 22. 3. To haev Communion with Christ in this world by Grace, is a blessed Priviledge Ioh. 1. 3. Eph. 1. 3. But to be with Christ in Paradise and to have Communion with him in glory is foreign by much more better. How elegantly! Here being, as it were, 3 Comparatives. Phil. 1. 23. viz. To be with Christ is far the best of all. Herein our Blessed Saviour himself placeth the height of his peoples eternal felicity, That they may be where he is, to behold his glory, Ioh. 17. 24. That will be an immediate vision: Not as now through a glass darkly, but face to face clearly 1 Cor. 13. 12. That will be a perfect Vision: For we shall see him as he is, 1 Joh. 3. 2. and know even as also we are known, 1 Cor. 13. 10, 12. That will be a glorious Vision: we shall behold Christs Glory, which is infinitely beyond all Celestial, Angelical, or Created Glory, Ioh. 17. 24. That will be a transforming Vision: for, we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is, 1 Joh. 3. 2. Phil. 3. 21. That will be a Beatifical Vision: for the chief blessedness Christ placeth in seeing God, Mat. 5. 8. That will be a Vision with fruition: we shall so see Christ, as fully to enjoy him, as our Head, as our Husband, as our Redeemer, as our Happiness, as our Treasure, as our Glory, as our All. That will be an eternal Vision and fruition: for, so we shall be ever with the LORD, 1 Thes. 4. 17. There we shall (said Augustine)fIbi vacabimus & videbimus; videbimus & amabimus; amabimus & la…dabimus. Ecce quod erit in fine, sine fine. Aug. de Civit. Dei, l. 22. cap. 30. sub finem. Tom. 5. rest and see; we shall see and love; we shall love and laud. Lo what shall be in the end, without end. This will be the very Heaven of Heaven, and Glory of Glory. Unto this eternal Bliss, the Lord God Almighty, and the Lamb, bring him that writeth these things, and him that readeth them with an honest heart, in his due time. Amen, and Amen.
Sept. 18. 1669. FINIS.
End of the text · Francis Roberts, The True Way to the Tree of Life (1673)