A Sincere Believer Comforted and Encouraged, Title page 2 – To the reader 3
MESSIAH'S SPLENDOR; OR THE GLIMPSED GLORY OF A BEAUTIOUS CHRIST.
By ROBERT DINGLEY, Miniſter of the Goſpel.
And he ſhall be as the light of the morning, when the Sun riſeth.
2 Sam. 23.4.
I Ieſus am the bright Morning-Starre.
Rev. 22.16.
A light to lighten the Gentiles, and the Glory of thy people Iſrael.
Luk. 2.32.
Lumen eſt umbra Dei; & Deus eſt lumen luminis.
Plato. Pol. 6.
LONDON; Printed by Matthew Simmons, at the guilded Lyon in Alderſgate-ſtreete. 1649.
TO THE HONORED and religious Lady, Mris Elizabeth St Johns, wife to the truly Honourable Patriot, Oliver Saint-Johns, Lord chiefe Juſtice of the common Pleas.
As alſo To her worthy and vertuous ſiſter Mris Mary Langhorn, wife to Mr William Langhorn, Eſquire, R.D. dedicates his Book, and wiſhes an abundance of Grace here, and eternall enjoyments of God in Glory.
THé light of the Goſpel is as the Sun which ſhines more and more unto the perfect day. aEo hominem virtute praeſtantē ſub vehit ut non ante aſcendendi finē faciat, quam ad ſummum illud praeſtantiſſimum que lumen pervenit. Dr Jermin out of Nazianzen.Knowlegde ſhall cover the earth, as waters the bHab. 2.14.Sea. The light of the cIſa. 30.26.Moon ſhall be as the light of the Sun, and the light of the Sun as the light of ſeven dayes. Now, if ever, are theſe Scriptures fullfilling, a great light appeares, and in the midſt of this light you are not in darkneſſe, butd2 Pet. 1.19. the day-ſtarre is riſen in your bearts: Oh ſhut not your eyes againſt any truth of God, reſt not in the things you have received, bute2 Pet. 3.18 grow in grace, and in the knowledge of Chriſt. f1 Tim. 1.19.Many there are who of faith make ſhipwrack. Try g1 Theſ. 5.21.all things, but hold faſt that which is good: You have formerly honoured mee with your attention when I was preſent among youhAt Barnes in Surrey.,*And you were members of my Congregation. you were indeed the faireſt flowers in my garden, and much encouragement I received from you in my Miniſtry, for which I bleſſe God, and you, and for all the favours you have ſhewed mee: Be pleaſed now to peruſe theſe notes, which I acknowledge unworthy your piercing and judicious eyes: The ſubject of theſe Sermons is Chriſt in his beauty, iEffluens plenus manet. Theophylact.ſhedding his rayes of glory on all that ſtand round about him; This ſhould bek1 Cor. 2.2. the ſubject of all our Sermons, who are the Meſſiahs Paranymphsl2 Cor. 5.20., under-ſuitors for Chriſt: 'Tis a mercy to enjoy the light of the SunmOf old it grew into a Proverb, Satius eſſe ſolē non lucere, quam Chryſoſtomum non docere. much more the bright beames of Goſpel-Diſcoveries. Let us walk in this light, and live up to it, let us prize it, and rejoyce in it: Now the good Lord bring your hearts more and more in love with Chriſt, and helpe you ſo to live in him, and to him now, that ſhortly you may enjoynGaudium in fine, ſed ſine fine. Bern. de diverſ. 19. endleſſe felicity in his boſome; This ſhall be his prayer for you that is.
Novemb. 4. 1648. Your ſervant in Chriſt. ROBERT DINGLEY.
To the Wel-diſpoſed READER.
THere are two deſireable Suns:Per metaphoram, filius Dei vocatur foreign. Sol juſtu…ae. Mal. 4.2. Vide Matth. 17.2. and what ſo much as theſe are the deſire of Nations? Now who that's wiſe covets not diſcoveries of the chiefe of them? This judicious Authors rendition of the Righteous Suns worth, ha's warm'd my heart, God grant it cooles not thine by accident.
Chriſt as a Sunne is a publick good;Matth 20.23. He's a ſervant to Saints, He came not to be miniſtred unto, but to miniſter: He's a great one, yet Sunlike ſerves he his inferiours. Stand and wonder at this. The Sun's that vaſt veſſell into which the light naturall was gather'd at firſt, which till then was ſcatter'd in the Heavens intire Body.foreign Sol qui ſignificat ſervum, à foreign Chaldaeis miniſtrare. Dan. 7.10. Quod verbum in Chaldaica paraphraſi Gen. 40. v. 4. uſurpatur. & ſic dictus, quoa in adminiſcrando tum… ne totius …un… mini…er ſi…: He took upon …im the form of a ſervant, Phil. 2.7. Non ſolum ſervi ut ſubeſſet, ſed quoſi mali ſervi ut vap… laret. Bern. ter. quart. Heb. Cant 1.13. Exod. 16.21. But behold! this feeling Author ſhewes thee an higher Sun, fill'd with all light ſpirituall, light marvellous: Chriſtiſtians, where's your admiration and adoration of this glorious Sun? Behold, you that love to ſee him, he's a bundle of Myrrh to you; let him lie all night between your breaſts: in your nights of ſorrowes and ſharpeſt ſufferings, improve him heartily, and uſe him kindly. For did not he open his Armes, Heart and Bowels in the night of his heavineſſe, to embrace, heale and ſave you?
Would'ſt thou be thawed, melted, and well moulded into an heavenly Frame? In this elaborate Treatiſe thou haſt a glimpſe of the means. Lov'ſt thou to be ſcorched kindly, and not conſumed? Let this Sun look upon thee. What but this brings forth thy fruit,Cant. 1.6. ripens that which ha's root, & withers that which ha's none? Deſireſt thou to be warmed, heated, inlivened, and cloathed? Chriſts preſence as an huge Sun effects all this,Deut. 33.14. Job 8.16. Mark 4.6. Rev. 21.32. and makes thy ſoule (his heavenly plant) to thrive. The woman, the Church which John ſaw in his Viſions, was cloathed with the Sun, i.e. Jeſus Chriſt, & uxor fulget radiis mariti; even the Spouſe ſhines out in the beames of her Husbands beauty.Matth. 13.43. They ſhall ſhine as the Sun in the Kingdom of their Father. A Chriſtian is never ſo araied as then.
Gracious child! what wantſt that thy Father hath not laid up for thee in this righteous Sun?Pſal. 136.8. Pſal. 19.5. The Sun in 24 houres turns round the celeſtiall globe: ſo God and Chriſt come riding on the clouds, the ſwiſteſt movers in nature. Chriſt can encompaſſe all Saints i'th world …stu oculi, in a moment. Jer. 31.35. He can and will adorn the with immenſe glory, rule thee and ſpeed thee in every performance.
He will attract thee to himſelfe, exhale, draw, and dry up all thy empty vapours, and ſinful bloody iſſues, make thy dark aire light, and fill thy obſcure intellectuals with an huge maſſe of viſions. Eclipſe not then this Sun. What! ſhall fleſhly delights and carnall pleaſures intervene, interpoſe, and chop in 'twixt ſweet Chriſt and thine own ſoule? Will not this veile his beauty from thee?Luna ingerens inter ſolem & obtuitū noſtrū ohumbrat ſolē. This moon of earth, & earthly traſh ſhould be under foot Rev. 12.1. Chryſoſt. hom. ad Pap. Antioch. and cauſe that thou thy ſelfe ſhalt lie downe in ſorrow? 'Tis a wonder to the wiſe, that ſith all fire aſcends, the verſion of the Sun-beames ſhould be towards the earth, and that the light thereof ſhould ſtream downward: But behold a greater, viz. Jeſus Chriſt laying out himſelfe on ſinners to make them Saints, the Maker cloathing himſelf with the perſon made.
After Paul came from Paradiſe,2 Cor. 12.4. Nee Chriſtus nee coelum pacitur hyperbolen A man cannot hyperbolize in ſpeaking of Chriſt and Heaven. Trap. in loc. Oecolampadius on his deathbed ſpake thus, Hic ſat …is, Here … hin me is divine light in p…enty. where CHRIST dwells, he affirm'd that he ſaw ſuch things there, foreign, which is not poſſible for a man to utter: for words are to weak to expreſſe its worth, are foreign, word leſſe words.
And if ſuch be the glory of his manſions, what is he? and what mortall can behold his face and live? Excellens ſenſibile deſtruit ſenſum the object is to ſtrong for the ſeeing faculty;James 1.7. foreign, a man without Jeſus Chriſt, is but foreign vu…gus fictilis. He is but an Earthen pot, Iſa. 64.8. the eye is little whilſt here, and therefore takes not in much of ſuch light: light and brightnes makes one ſtone excel another, & ſtars themſelves to ourſhine each other; but this Sun excels them all, having no parallax, no variableneſſe, hee's alwayes one and the ſame to his: be not thou then wholly void of foreign, a tacite conſent and ſeed-plot of grace for Chriſt,Vae mundo àl ſcandalis, vae, vae, vae, ab exemplis bonis. Bernard. and walk not unworthy of him.
Finally, this pious Author ha's painfully anatomiz'd Chriſt unto thee, as a glorious Sun, a Righteous, Riſing, and Healing Sun: Doe thou bleſſe God for ſuch an inſtrument of Sions good,Gratiae ceſſat decurſus, ubi non eſt gratiarum recurſus. who hath ſpoken theſe things from his owne heart, to correct and comfort the hearts of others, leſt the ſame Sun harden thy heart, which is wont to ſoften others. Thus ſpeakes he, who prayes that the followers of the Lamb may be many, and ſubſcribes himſelf a lover of the meaneſt of the Members of Chriſt,
From my Study in Brides Churchyard▪ Novemb. 5. 1648. SAMUEL MOORE.