PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Christian in Complete Armour
William Gurnall, 1617–1679 · 726,331 words · 834 reading sections
AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 535
people, if he had had a mind to have gone this way to the crown ; but he knew those plausible arguments for such a fact, which would have pleased the mul- titude, would not have pacified his own conscience, and this stayed his hand from any such ripping open the womb of the promise, to come to the crown, but left it to…
921 wordsSECTION 542A TRIAL OF WHAT METAL OUR HELMET OF HOPE IS MADE.
compared with that blessing which sanctifies the heart to use them for God's glory. And this is the ordinary portion of the waiting soul, and that not only in outward comforts, but inward also. The joy and inward peace which the sincere soul hath thus, makes it more humble, holy, heavenly ; whereas the comfort which th…
851 wordsSECTION 543538 AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION.
Let lis ascertain whether we have this hehiiet of hope on our lieacis or not, — tliis liehiiet recommended to lis in the text. As for such paltry ware as most are contented with, it deserves not the name of true hope, no more tlian a paper cap doth of a hehiiet. Oh ! look to the metal and temper of your helmet in^n esp…
864 wordsSECTION 544AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 539
a right thereunto, but all he can say, is, he dreamed the last night that your house and land were his, and therefore now he demands it ; would you not think the man insane, and had more right to a madhouse than to your estate ? And yet there are many who hope to be saved, that can give no better reason for the same ; …
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if the soul be dead, the hope cannot be alive. And the soul may be dead, and yet put into a very handsome dress of external reformation and profession, as well as a dead body naay be clad with rich clothes. A beggar's son, wearing the clothes of a rich man's child, maj' as well hope to be heir to the rich man's land, a…
833 wordsSECTION 546AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 541
When thou hast spent thy own breath and sph-its in praising God, thou hadst need beg a collection of praises of all thy friends who have a heart to contribute to such work, that they woxild help thee in paying this debt ; yet all this (with what in heaven thou shalt disburse thyself to all eternity, in better coin than…
813 wordsSECTION 547AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 541
their own company.' When among the inigodly world, they made account they were not in their own company, and therefore stayed no longer than ijccds must among them. There were cnougli surely in the land of Canaan with whom Ahraham might have associated ; but he knew they were not company for him to be linked to in any …
886 wordsSECTION 548AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 543
world themselves use. Thou, Christian, art of a more noble spirit than these. And as we have a finer stone to sharpen a razor with than we use for a butcher's knife, so, certainly, a more spiritual argument would become thee better, to make thee keen and sharp against sin, than what prevails with the worst of men somet…
892 wordsSECTION 549544 AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION.
death's hand at thy door, to come forth unto him, that he may perform his promise which, in the day of thy betrothing, he made to thee ; and thou lovest him but Httle, if thou be not willing to be at the trouble of a removal hence, to enjoy liis blissful presence in heaven, where such j)i-eparation is made for thy ente…
913 wordsSECTION 550AND TAKE TJIE HELMET OF SALVATION. 545
in it, the heart, which is perpetually in motion, might be kept from being inflamed into a distemperecf heat? The devil is pleased if he can, at any time, get a saint to sin ; but he glories most, when he can lay them in the dirt, in their holiday clothes, and make them defile themselves when they have their gai- ments…
836 wordsSECTION 551AND TAKE TJIE HELMET OF SALVATION. 545
sail spread to the wind, is so filled with the truth and goodness of the promise, that it swells into an assured hope of what is promised, and rcjoiceth in a certain expectation of what it shall have when it comes to the shore of e+ernitj', though it be now tossed and weather-beaten with a thousand tem])tations and tri…
915 wordsSECTION 552AND TAKE TJIE HELMET OF SALVATION. 545
' that after we have done the will of God, we may receive the promise,' Heb. X. 36. And if of patience then of hope, because patience bears all on hope's back. Now, because we know not the certain degree of hope that will serve our turn, (God having purposely concealed the weight of affliction and tempta- tion he inten…
925 wordsSECTION 553KAQ AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION.
all endeavour and attendance on the means of salvation; yea, desperately say, To what purpose is it to think of praying, hearing, and meditating when there is no hope? What! should we send for the ])hysician when our friend is dead? What good will the chafing and rubbing the body do, when the head is severed from it? T…
821 wordsSECTION 554AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION'. 54.9
Adam ; and the condition of this was, perfect obedience of the person that claimed happiness by it : this is not the condition now required ; and he that stands groping at this door, in hope to enter into life by it, shall not only find it nailed up, and no entrance to be had, but also deprives himself of any benefit o…
912 wordsSECTION 555550 AND TAKK THE HELMET OF SALVATION.
tlie triitli of the promise, and the evidence is, which he liath, tliat the condition of the promise, namely, faith and repentance, is \vron<;;lit in his sonl, so will his hope be weak or strong. If liis assent to the trnlh of tlie })romise be weak, or his evidence for tlie truth of his faith and repentance be dark and…
922 wordsSECTION 556AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 551
Section IV.— If you would strengthen yoin- hope, labour to increase your love. There is a secret, yet powei'ful influence which love hath on hope. Moses greatly befriended the Israelite, when he slew the Egyptian that fought with him. Love kills slavish fear, one of the worst of enemies hope hath in the Christian's hea…
859 wordsSECTION 557552 AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION.
every godly person may taste witli him : ver. 7, 8, ' Let Israel hope in the Lord ; for with the Lord there is mercy, and with him is plenteous redemption : and he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities ;' as if he had said, That which is a ground of hope to nie, notwithstanding the clamour of my sins, aifords as …
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what a glorious name this will gain him in the thoughts of those he thus exalts ;■ these things, (which are all to he found in the word of promise,) well weighed and acknowledged, cannot but open the heart, though shut with a thousand bolts, to entertain the promise, and believe all is truth that God saith. You see how…
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right hand ;' now observe hope's inference, vcr. 2A, — 'Thou shaltguicle nie with thy counsel, and afterward receive me to glory.' And as exjieriences carefully kept, and wisely improved, would conduce nnich to the strengthening the Christian's hope of salvation; so also would they lift up his head above all those dist…
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First, There is the same power still in God, that was then ; what he did once for thee, he can with as much ease do again ; and this is one way thy experi- ences may help thee. Thou hast seen God make bai-e his arm, so that except thou thinkest that he since hath lost the strength or use of it, and is become at last a …
904 wordsSECTION 561AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 555
recall, that put a new lile into her hope, — ' The Lord is my portion, saith my soul, therefore will I hope,' Lam. iii. 24. See the soul makes a spiritual mercy, because incomparabl)'greater of the two, aground of hope fortemporal salvation, wliich is less. And hast not thou chosen him for thy portion ? Dost thou not l…
876 wordsSECTION 562AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 557
Satan's doing it foi' thee ; yet be not oppressed into discouragement by them. Remember how God hath answered the like objections formerly, and saved thee notwithstanding ; if these could have hardened his bowels against thee, hadst thou been alive, yea, out of hell at this day ? Didst thou ever receive a mercy of whic…
866 wordsSECTION 563AND TAKE THE HELMET OF SALVATION. 557
than they woukl be, if these dear friends had but a hopeful parting. If the sliriek and nioiu'nful outciy of some fi-iends in the room of a dying man may so disturb him as to make liis passage more terrible, how much more then must the horror of the sinner's own conscience, under the apprehensions of that hell whither …
900 wordsSECTION 564EPHESIANS VI. 17.
a sad epitaph is this to be on a man's grave-stone, — ' Here lies one that cut his own throat, — this is the man that would not be reclaimed ! He saw hell before him, and yet would leap into it, notwithstanding the entreaties of Christ, by his Spirit and ministers to the contrary.' And the oftener thou hast attempted t…
850 wordsSECTION 5655Q0 AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
skill to use this weapon ! The usual name in Scripture for war is the ' sword,' Jer. XXV. 29 : ' I will call for the sword upon all the inhabitants of the earth;' that is, I will send war. And this, because the sword is the weapon of most universal use in war, and also that whereby the greatest execution is done in bat…
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order that it stands in. First, It may be brought in after all the rest, to let us know how necessary the graces of God's Spirit are to our right using of the word. There is nothing more abused than the word, and why, but becavise men come to it with unsound and unsanctified hearts ? The heretic quotes it to prove his …
856 wordsSECTION 567THE DIVINITY OF THE SCRIPTURE SHEWN, AND THE SUFFICIENCY OF ITS OWN TESTIMONY TO PROVE THE SAME.
I BEGIN with the weapon itself, ' The sword of the Spirit, which is the word of God.' I shall first hold forth the sword naked, and then ])nt it again into the sheath, to handle it under the metaphor of a sword. There is a twofold word of God. First, A substantial, or subsisting word, and that is the Son of God, John i…
865 wordsSECTION 568AND TRE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 5(33
That the Holy Scriptures are the undoubted word of God. By the Scriptures, I mean tlie Old and New Testaments contained in the Bible ; both wliich are that one foundation whereupon our faith is built, Eph. ii. 21 : ' Built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets.' That is the doctrine which God by them hath de…
824 wordsSECTION 569(-^4, AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
his face, voice, or handwi'iting ? Certainly then it cannot seem strange tliat the God of lieavcn should be discerned from his sorry creature, by his voice and writing in tlie sacred Scriptiires. Do \ve not see that lu> hatli interwoven his glorious name so in the works of creation, tliat they speak liis j)ower and God…
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First, The historical : in which let us consider the antiquity of the matter related. There are some pieces that could not possibly drop from a creature's pen : where should or could he have his reading and learning to enable him to write the history of the creation? The heathen, by the inquiry of natural reason, have …
849 wordsSECTION 5715(3(5 AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
story of Christ's life and death, to save their own credit, that they interweave the weaknesses and sins of one another all along their relations. Hence we read of the sinful passion and revenge working in the sons of Zebedee ; Peter acting the devil's part to tempt his Master at another time ; the ignoi'ance of all th…
801 wordsSECTION 5725(3(5 AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
we should not count liis predictions for prophecies, but rather as comments and explications of the short and dark texts of natural causes, and acknowledge him a learned naturalist, but not deserving the name of a true prophet. Secondl}', If he hath not his hint from natural causes, then he gathers his inferences from …
859 wordsSECTION 573568 AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
the alarm from them to do liis utmost to impede their accompHshment, seeing his whole kingdom lay at stake, so as either he must hinder them, or they woidd ruin it; and that, notwithstanding all this, together with his restless endeavour against them, they should he all so fairly delivered in their full time ; yea, man…
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all the empires the world ever saw, the Roman was the gi'eatest; and yet when the Roman eagle's wings were grown the largest, they conld not over- spread more than the third part of this lower world. And how vain and ridiculous had it heen for the emperor to have attempted to make a law for those nations, which neither…
897 wordsSECTION 575570 ^^^ ^HE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
Section II. — The spotless purity of Scripture commands do no less evince their divine extraction. 'God is the Holy One,' Isa. xlii. 16. He alone is perfectly holy; 'The heavens are not clean in his sight,' Job xv. 15. He can charge the angels themselves (who may be the ' heavens' in the aforementioned place) with foll…
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upon the world, and then denounce the wrath and vengeance of God against those who shall speak in God's name, hut were never sent of him, as the Scrip- ture mentions? Certainly, that earth which sv/allowed Korah, and his ungodly companions, for pretending to an authority from God, as good as the priest's, to offer ince…
831 wordsSECTION 577THE PROPERTY OF THE .WORD TO AWAKEN AND TERRIFY THE CONSCIENCE.
the world, besides yourself, were privy to the place where you lay this key ; if you should hud it takeu away, and the cabinet opened and rifled, you would soon conclude whose doing it was. Thus, when you find your heart disclosed, and the secret thoughts therein laid open unto you in the word, you may easily conclude,…
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But you will say, if there be such a conscience-shaking power in the word, how comes it to pass, that many notorious sinners sit so peaceably, and sleep so soundly under it? They read it at home, and hear it preached powerfully in public, yet are so far from feeling in their consciences, that they remain senseless and …
863 wordsSECTION 579574 ^^^ '^^^ SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
and, therefore, the word which doth this can come from none hut liim ; and that it is ahle not onlj' to do this, but also to fill the soul with joy unspeakable, and full of gloiy, is a truth so undoubted, that we need not ascend up to heaven for further confirmation ; that Spirit which first indited the word hath seale…
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up the rear, is the converting power of the word, not set last, because the least among tliem, but rather because it is tlie greatest wonder of them all, and com- prehends in it all the other. When souls are converted, the blind receive their sight ; 'you were darkness, but now light in the Lord.' The lame Avalk, in th…
887 wordsSECTION 581576 A^^ ^"E SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
be obtained by any less than tbe arm of the Ahnighty, especially if we take two or three circumstances into our consideration. First, The meanness of the persons employed to preach this doctrine ; being of the meanest and lowest of the peo^jle, and many of them as mean in their intellectual accomplishments as they were…
881 wordsSECTION 582AND THE SWOUD OF TIIK SPIRIT. 577
pleased themselves with the renown that they should win by their sufferings, and that their names should be written and read in the leaves of fame when they were dead and gone, some Roman spirit might have been found to have endured as much : or if it had taught them, that they should have ascended into their fiery cha…
799 wordsSECTION 583578 AND THE SVVOKD OF THE SPIRIT.
saith Christ to his disciples, John xvi. 31. How oft, alas! had the same thing sonnded in their ears, and knocked at their door for entertainment, hnt never could he received, till now that the Spirit put in his finger to lift up the latch ! B. Davenant, on Colossians, tells us a story out of Gerson, concerning a holy …
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Section I. — The elect, who for a time, tlirough ignorance and prejudice, are joined with the saints' enemies, as busy sticklers and bloody persecutors as the worst, — the word of God is a sacrificing knife, to rip open their hearts, and let out the hot blood of their sins, which made them so mad against the church of …
879 wordsSECTION 585580 AN^ '^^^ SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
destruction upon them. When the prophet would express the indubitable ruin of the Philistines impending-, mark what prognostic he gives, ' Woe unto the inhabitants of the sea-coast ! the word of the Lord is against you;' as if he had said. You are a lost, undone people ; the whole world cannot save you, for tlie word o…
867 wordsSECTION 586AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIKIT. 581
subtle band of Satan. We read of Apollos, Acts xviii. 28, that ' he mightily convinced tlie Jews ;' he did, as it were, knock them down with the weight of liis reasoning : and out of what armoury fetched he the sword with which he so prevailed? See the same verse, ' Shewing by the Scriptures, that Jesus was Christ;' an…
897 wordsSECTION 587582 AND THE SWOKD OF THE SPIRIT.
Anstotelicum Christianismum procitderunt, who went to the philosopher's forge to shape a Christianity. What is this, but to carry gold to be weighed in the chandler's scales, and to look for the sun by the light of the moon? A modern divine saith, 'Most heresies have sprung either from pride, ignorance, or the sophistv…
845 wordsSECTION 588582 AND THE SWOKD OF THE SPIRIT.
a strong wind to spread and carry it on its wings, whither will it fly ? Oh, how hard to quench it ! A whole legion of devils are as soon cast out of the body as one lust out of the soul ; yea, sooner. Satan likes his lodging better in the heart than in the house. He came the more willingly out of the man into the swin…
958 wordsSECTION 589THE FOURTH AND LAST ENEMV THE CHRISTIAN ENGAGETH, MADE UP OF MANY TROOPS OF AFFLICTIONS, TOGETHER WITH HIS VICTORY OVER THEM, OBTAINED BY THIS SWORD OF THE WORD,
example how \vc should come armed into the field against tliem ; for Christ could with one beam shot from his Deity (if he had pleased to exert it) have as easily laid the bold fiend prostrate at his foot, as afterward he did them that came to attack him ; but he chose rather to conceal the majesty of his Divinity, and…
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was sure to meet with trouble enough, then God gave him a woi'd of promise, as you may observe, to fence his soul, before he taught him to make coats to clothe his body, Gen. iii. 15, compared with ver. 21. The Lord knew how indispensably necessary a word of promise was to keep him from being made a prey the second tim…
849 wordsSECTION 591SCRIPTURES.
own desti'uction,' 2 Pet. iii. 16 ; and therefore they judge that as the Scripture is so dangerous for ordinary people to meddle with, it is best to put it out of their reach, as we do a sword from children, though they cry nuich for it. See what a fair glove they draw over so foul a hand. But did Peter, because some u…
921 wordsSECTION 592AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 587
This falls heavily upon them that charge the Holy Scriptures with insufficiency, as not containing all things necessaiy to salvation. What a horrid blasphemy is this, and reproach to the great God, that he should send his people into the field, and put such a wooden sword into their hand as is not sufficient to de- fen…
772 wordsSECTION 593AN EXHORTATION TO THANKFULNESS FOR THE SWORD OF THE WORD, WHERE- BY WE ARE ENABLED TO STAND ON OUR DEFENCE AGAINST OUR GREATEST ENEMIES.
which they have at tlieir tongue's end, and interpose to break the blow that is made at them. Tell the sensualist of his voluptuous, brutish life, and you shall have him sometimes reply, Solomon was not so precise and scrupulous, who saith, ' A man hath no better thing under the sun, than to eat and to drink, and to be…
850 wordsSECTION 594AN EXHORTATION TO THANKFULNESS FOR THE SWORD OF THE WORD, WHERE- BY WE ARE ENABLED TO STAND ON OUR DEFENCE AGAINST OUR GREATEST ENEMIES.
and unarmed, which are here in the mouth of danger, and can no way pass to the place of bliss prepared for them, but through their enemies' quarters. When Israel took their march out of Egypt toward the promised land, few or none would trust them to travel through their country, but all rose up in arms against them. Th…
894 wordsSECTION 595590 ^'^^ THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT.
the support the saints have found from this holy hook in their confinements. God hath graciously ordered it, that tlie most useful and necessary truths for the afHicted saints, hang on the lower boughs of this tree of life, within the reach of a poor Christian, who is but of an ordinary stature in knowledge. O, think, …
919 wordsSECTION 596AND THE SWORD OF THE SPIRIT. 59]
see God, his power and glory, as of old, that David's heart longed for, and could not well live without. God threatens to bring a famine of hearing the word, Amos viii. 11. Mark, not a famine of reading the word, but of hearing the word. If the word be not preached, though we have the Bible to read at home, yet it is a…
871 wordsSECTION 597592 ^'^'^ "^^^ SWORD OP THE SPIRIT.
an incorruptible treasiu'e lay, and would lose it rather than your sloth ! Oh in what breast doth the ancient zeal of former saints to the word lodge ! Have they not counted it above rubies? Have they not travelled over sea and land to get the sight of it ? — given the money out of their purse, the coat off their backs…
927 wordsSECTION 598SEVERAL CARNAL SHIFTS AND OBJECTIONS, THAT SOME BRING TO EXCUSE THEM FROM THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES, REMOVED.
ignorant of it, because we can do notliing in faith. Labour, therefore, to study this book, though thou be a dunce in all besides ! What is it thou wouldst learn ? Jsitthe true knowledge of God? Thoumayest tumble over all the philosophers that ever wrote, and when thou hast done, not be able to frame a right notion of …
880 wordsSECTION 599SEVERAL CARNAL SHIFTS AND OBJECTIONS, THAT SOME BRING TO EXCUSE THEM FROM THE STUDY OF THE SCRIPTURES, REMOVED.
Section I. — Is this the plea that thou meanest to use when thou comest to tlie bar, and art called to give thy answer to Christ, thy judge, upon this matter ? Does not thy heart quake witliin thy breast, to tliink how he will knit his brow, and throw this thy apology, with disdain and wrath, upon thy face ? Did so muc…
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ostrich doth of her eggs, not caring what becomes of them. What do these but throw them into the devil's mouth, by sending them ovxt into a sinful world without the knowledge of God and his word, to become a prey to every lust ! To hell they must needs go, if God shews no more pity to them than their parents have done.…
885 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical work by William Gurnall, 1617–1679. OCR from an original historical scan hosted by Internet Archive; OCR may contain recognition errors.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.