PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Christian in Complete Armour
William Gurnall, 1617–1679 · 726,331 words · 834 reading sections
176 THAT YE MAY BE ABLE TO STAND
Sharp afflictions are to the soul as a driving rain to the house ; we know not that there are such crannies and holes in tlie house, till we see it drop down here and there. Thus we perceive not how unniortihed this corruption, not how weak that grace is, till we are thus searched, and made more lully to know what is i…
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and with hell they are at an agreement ; when the overflowing scourge shall pass through, it shall not come unto them ; and now, like dehtors, they have feed the sergeant, they walk abroad boldly, and fear no arrest. But God tells them, as fast as they bind he will loose : ' Your covenant with death shall be disannulle…
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out our dajs, and continuing us some while here in the land of the living ? Was it that we might have time to revel, or rather ravel out upon the pleasure of this vain world? Doth he give us our precious time to be employed in catching such butterflies as these earthly honours and riches are ? It cannot be. Masters do …
948 wordsSECTION 184IN THE EVIL DAY. 179
Secondly, A wise man labours duly to time his care and endeavour for the attaining of what he proposeth. It is the fool that comes when the market is done : as the evil day is of great concernment in respect of its event, so the placing of our care for it in the right season is of chief imjDortance, and that sure nuist…
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chariot to sit with them, but all other arc commanded to go behind. Alas, poor-spirited wretches ! something might be said for you, if this evil day of death and judgment were such en/ia i-a(ionls as had no foundation or being but what our fancies give them. Such troubles there are in the world, which have all their ev…
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Use 3. — This reproves those who indeed think oft of this evil day, much against their will, by reason of an awakened conscience, that is ever pinching them, and preaching on Paul's text before Felix to them, till it makes them tremble as he did ; yet such is the power of lusts in their hearts, that it makes them spur …
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necessity of these do make thee to harden thyself against them ; this might indeed in some heathen, that is not resolved whether there be another world cr no, help a little to blunt the edge of that terror, which otherwise would cut deeper into his amazed heart. But if thou believest another world, and that judgment wh…
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of tliem thou wilt find poor and persecuted, yet Christ is not ashamed to call them brethren, neither must thou. If thou findest thy heart now in such a dispo- sition as suits these interrogatories, I dare not deny the banns ; yea, I dare not but pronounce Christ and thee husband and wife. Go, poor soul, (if I may call…
897 wordsSECTION 189CHAPTER VIII.
ride on him : when he flies back and starts at a thing, you do not yield to his fear and go back, that will make him worse another time ; but you ride him up close to that which he is afraid of, and in time you break him of that quality. The evil day is not such a terrific thing to thee that art a Christian, as that th…
833 wordsSECTION 190CHAPTER VIII.
indulgence, when he said, ' Then shall I not be ashamed when I have respect to all thy commandments,' Psa. cxix. 6, when my eye is to all thy command- ments. The traveller hath his eye on or towards the place he is going to, though he he but yet short of it ; there he would be, and is putting on all he can to reach it …
923 wordsSECTION 191CHAPTER VIII.
Secondly, Perseverance is necessary, because our enemy perseveres to oppose us. There is no truce in the devil's heart, no cessati(m of arms in our enemy's camp. If an enemy continue to assaidt a city, and they within cease to resist, it is easy to tell what will follow. The prophet that was sent to Bethel did his erra…
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his feet. Well, he shall have treading for treading ; God himself will set his foot upon him, Psa. cxix. 118 : 'Thou hast trodden down all that err from thy statutes.' And who think you will be weary soonest ? He that is under foot bears the weight of the whole man U])on him. To be under the foot of God, is to lie unde…
904 wordsSECTION 193183 AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND.
common gifts of the Spirit, God was not bound to give them, nor is he to con- tinue them. Thou hast some knowledge of the tilings of God ; thou mayest for all this die without knowledge at last : thou art a sinner in chains ; restraining grace keeps thee in ; this may he taken off, and thou let loose to thy lusts as fr…
892 wordsSECTION 194183 AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND.
can hinder the accomplishing of that promise of eternal life which was given and passed to Christ in their behalf before the foundation of the world. If a saint could any way miscarry and fall short of this eternal life, it must be from one of these three causes : 1. Because God may forsake the Christian, and withdraw …
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walk in my statutes, and ye shall keep my judgments and do them!' He doth not say, they shall have his Spirit, if they will walk in his statutes ; no, his Spirit shall cause them to do it. But may be thou art afraid thou may est grieve him, and so he in anger leave thee, and thou perish for want of his help and counsel…
895 wordsSECTION 196AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND. 191
soul, who by faith should be adopted into Abraham's family, and so become a child of the promise, should fail of inheriting the blessing of the promise, which is eternctl life ; called so, Tit. i. 2 ; and all this because the promise is founded upon grace, that is, God's inmiutable good pleasure in Christ, and not xipo…
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this he will break Satan's head, and not cease till he hath brought forth judg- ment unto complete victory in thy soul. He that can make a few wounded men rise up and take a strong city, can make a wounded spirit triumph over sin and devils, Jer. xxxvii. 10. The ai-k stood in the midst of Jordan till the whole camp of …
893 wordsSECTION 198AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO STAND. 193
Thirdly, Consider, that although the Christian be secured from a total and final apostasy, yet he may fall sadly, to the bruising of his conscience, enfeebling his grace, and reproach of the gospel ; which sure are enough to keep the Christian upon his watch, and the more, because ordinarily the saints' back- slidings …
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shalt tread upon his high places, from which he hath made so many shots at thee. Thou shalt see them all dismantled and demolished, till there he not left standing any one corruption in thy bosom for a devil to hide and hai-bour himself in. Satan, at whose approach thou hast so trembled, shall then be subdued under thy…
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well on this day ? Ai-e not your thoughts inquiring who those blessed souls are which shall he acquitted by the lively voice of Christ the Judge ? You need not ascend to search the rolls of election in heaven : here you may know they are such as fight the Lord's battles on earth against Satan, in the Lord's armour, and…
896 wordsSECTION 201WHEREIN IS BRIEFLY SHEWED THE NECESSITY OF RESISTING SATAN S TEMP- TATIONS, WITH THE DANGER OF YIELDING TO THEM.
some idol, as Israel the calf in Moses's absence, which he may dance before. But let. heaven come in sight, and the Christian's heart will be well warmed with the thoughts of it, and you may as soon persuade a Iving to throw his royal diadem into a sink, and wallow with his ro])es in a kennel, as a saint to sin with ex…
920 wordsSECTION 202STAND THEREFORE. 197
Reas. 1. — -The command is express for it, 1 Pet. v. 9 : ' Whom resist sted- fast in the faith.' Set yourself in battle against him, as the word imports ; fight him whenever he comes. Soldiers must keep close to their commission, whatever comes on it. When Joab sent Uriah to stand in the fore front of the battle, in th…
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and the sinner feed on earth and eartlily things, to which he is staked down by his carnal heart; hut the Christian hath a hope in liis bosom of possessing greater glory than this peddling world can pretend to ; yea, a faith that is able to entertain him at present with some of heaven's joys, it being the nature of tha…
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2. He is an encroaching enemy, and therefore to be resisted. ' Let not the sun go down upon your wrath,' saith the apostle, ' neither give place to the devil,' Eph. iv. 26, as soldiers, by cowardly leaving some outwork they are set to defend, give place to their enemy, who enters the same, and from thence doth more eas…
866 wordsSECTION 205STAND THEREFORE. 199
First, When he understands the pec\iliar duty of his place and relation. ' The wisdom of the prudent is to understand his way,' Prov. xiv. 8. His way, that is, the way which he in particular is to walk. It will not profit a man to know .the way to York, if going to London; yet how prone are we to study another's way an…
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person knew his own place ! If the sea kept its own place, we should have no inundations ; if men had theirs, we should neither have seen such floods of sin, nor miseries, as this unhappj' age has heen almost drowned with. But it must be a strong bank indeed, that can contain our fluid spirits within our own terms. Pet…
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many souls breaks in npon them at this door. First they break their ranks, and then they are led further into temptation. Absalom fii-st looks over the hedge in his ambitions thought ; a king he would be ; and this wandering desire beyond his place lets in those bloody sins, rebellion, incest, and murder ; and these ri…
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5. It is an erratic spirit, that usually carries men out of their place and calling. I confess there is an keroicits impetus, an impulse which some of the servants of God have had from heaven, to do things extraordinary, as we read in Scripture of Moses, Gideon, Phineas, and others. But it is dangerous to pi'etend to t…
867 wordsSECTION 209CHAPTER III.
ledge the ministry a particular office in the church of Christ, — and this I think the word will compel us to do, — then we must also confess it is not any one's work, though never so able, except called to the office. There are many in a kingdom to be found, that could do the prince's errand, it is like, as well as hi…
837 wordsSECTION 210CHAPTER III.
such scandalous practices, that others may question whether thei'e be any life of grace indeed in him. And therefore it behoves the Christian to stand wake- fully ; sleep steals as insensibly on the soul, as it doth on the body. The wise virgins fell asleep as well as the foolish, though not so soundly ; take heed thou…
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blushest *o see, and pitiest to find in another, take heed it befall not thyself; if thou sufferest a spiritual slumber to grow upon thee, thou wilt be the man thy- self that all this may come upon, and what not besides? Sleep levels all ; the wise man then is no wiser than a fool, to project for his safety ; nor the s…
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and fearful, as not to venture down their hills, for fear of drowning, now have a design to secure themselves against all future attempts from the God of heaven himself. Thus oft we see God's judgments leave such an impression in men's spirits, that for a while they stand aloof from their sins, as they on their hills, …
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thofse things where tlioii findest thyself weakest and hast been oftenest foiled. The weakest part of the citj- needs the strongest guard, and in our bodies the tenderest part is most observed and kept warmest. And I should think it were strange, if thy fabric of grace stands so strong and even, that thou shouldst not …
800 wordsSECTION 214GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 209
fitly may our spirits and minds be compared to the loins. The loins are the chief seat of bodily strength. Of Behemoth it is said, Job xl. 6, ' His strength is in his loins.' The loins are to tlie body, as carina navi, the keel to the ship; the whole ship is knit to that, and snstained by it ; and the body to the loins…
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Scripture, to satisfy their judgments concerning the doctrine Paxil preached. They did not believe hand over head, })ut their faith was the result of a judg- ment, upon diligent search, convinced by Scripture evidence. Acts xvii. 1 1 : it is said there, ' They searched the Scriptures daily, whether these things were so…
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make as many roads to heaven as the Scripture tells us there are ways to hell? Contrai-y to Christ, who tells us of no other way but by him to life: ' I am the way, the truth, and the life,' John xiv. G. Point l)lank against St. John, who tell us but of one doctrine, and that the doctrine of Christ ; and he that holds …
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hard to make them eat poison for sugar ; they are not swayed hy principles of their own, but hy others ; the child reads, construes, and learns his lesson as his master saith, and thinks it therefore right. Thus poor creatures that have little knowledge of the word themselves, they are easily persuaded this or that way…
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hath powerful effects in the conversation. The gospel, it is said, came to the Thessalonians in much ' assurance,' 1 Thess. i. 6; i. e. evidence of its truth ; and see how prevalent and operative it was, ver. 6 : ' Ye became followers of us, and of the Lord, having received the word in much affliction, with joy in the …
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entertain opinions, as some entertain suitors, not that they mean to marry them, but cast them oft' as soon as new ones come. Never was there a more giddy age than ours. What is said of fashion-mongers, that some men, should they see their pictures in that habit which they wore a few years past, woukl hardly know thems…
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from the guile of their hearts. A stable mind and a double heart seldom meet. That place speaks full to this, 1 Tim. i. 5 : ' The end of the commandment is love out of a pure heart, and of a good conscience, and of faith unfeigned.' Now mark what follows, ver. 6 : ' From which some having swerved,' or as it is in the o…
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Fourthly, Beware of curiosity. He is half gone into error that vainly covets novelties, and listens after every new-fangled opinion. We read of itching ears, 2 Tim. iv. .'} : this itch commonly ends in a scab of error. Tamar lost her chastity by gadding ; castitas mentis est fides incorrupta ; the chastity of the mind …
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ti-iith is on the will, the more fixed in the judgment. Let a thing be never so excellent, yet if a man can make little or no use thereof, it is little worth to him, and may easily be got from him. Thus many rare libraries have been parted with by rude soldiers, into whose hands they have fallen, for little more than t…
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in the world have been acted on the stage of the church ; and the most inhuman massacres and butcheries committed on the liarmless sheep of Clirist. The first man that was slain in the world was a saint, and he for religion. And as Luther said, Cain will kill Abel unto the end of the world. The lire of persecution can …
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to Simplicianus, saying, Eamus in ecclesiam, Christianm volo fieri; 'Let us go to the church, I will now in earnest be a Christian.' And there, though a private profession of his faith might have been accepted, chose to do it openly, saying, That he had openly professed rhetoric, which was not a matter of salvation, an…
888 wordsSECTION 225A DIRECTION OR TWO FOR THE GIRDING OF TRUTH CLOSE TO US IN THE PROFESSION OF IT.
there was but one God; and in liis apology for his life, said, if they would give him his life on condition to keep this truth to himself, and not teach it to others, he woidd not accept it : behold here the powerful workings of a natural conscience ! Have not they then improved the knowledge of the Scripture well, in …
907 wordsSECTION 226A DIRECTION OR TWO FOR THE GIRDING OF TRUTH CLOSE TO US IN THE PROFESSION OF IT.
Answ. First, labour to get a heart inflamed with a sincere love to the truth ; this is only able to match the enemies of truth. The worst they can do is bonds or death, and 'love is stronger than death ;' it kills the very heart of death itself, it makes all easy. Commandments are not grievous to love, nor doth it comp…
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Secondly, Such who commend truth, and cry it up highly ; but if you mark them, they do but compliment with it ; all this while they keep at a distance, and do not sufi'er truth to come within them, so as to give law unto them. Like one that entertains a suitor, speaks well of him, holds discourse witli him, but will no…
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mouth in a prayer for them to God, nor his ear to receive any petition from them, till he had given vent to his zeal in an act of justice upon the offenders. Now such, and such only, are the persons that are likely, when called, to suffer for the truth, who will not let it suffer if they can help it. But as for natural…
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the Spirit new forming him into the likeness thereof, he can bid adieu to the world, life, and all, for these. As that martyr told him that asked whether he did not love his wife and children, and was not loth to part with them, ' Yes,' saith he, ' I love them so dearly, that I would not part with any of them for all t…
922 wordsSECTION 230GIKT ABOUT WVLH TKUTH. 225
Thirdly, Be much in the meditation of the transcendent excellency of truth. The eye affects the fieart; this is the window at which love enters. Never any that had a spiritual eye to see truth in her native beauty, but had a heart to love her. This was the way that David's heart was ravished with the love of the word o…
900 wordsSECTION 231CHAPTER VI.
Christ, SO as to open his heart to it, and close with it, you shall soon hear that the foundations of the prison are shaken, its doors thrown open, and the chains fallen off the poor creature's legs. Truth cannot itself be bound, nor will it dwell in a soul that lies bound in sin's prison ; and therefore when once trut…
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OF THE SECOND KIND OF TRUTH, TRUTH OF HEART, OR SINCERITY, WITH THE KINDS OF it; and IN PARTICULAR OF MORAL UPRIGHTNESS, TOGETHER WITH ITS DEFICIENCY; AND A DOUBLE CAUTION ABOUT THIS; THE ONE TO THE SAINTS, THE OTHER TO THE MORALLY UPRIGHT PERSON. We come now to the second kind of ' tnith' commended to the Christian u…
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First, There is a moral truth and iipriglifness, which we may call a field-flower, because it may he foimd n^rowinjj- in the wild and waste of nature. It cannot be denied, but one that hath not a dram of sanctifying, saving grace, may shew some kind of uprightness and truth in his actions. God himself comes in as a wit…
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fruits of righteousness are said to be by Jesus Christ. What men do by them- selves, they do for themselves; they eat their own fruit, devour the praise of what they do. The Christian only that doth all by Christ, doth all for Christ ; he hath his sap from Christ, into whom he is grafted, that makes him fruitful, and t…
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with you, and by you: for the good name's sake of Christ, which cannot but be dearer to you, if saints, than your lives, look to your walking, and especially your civil converse with the men of the world ; they know not what you do in yoiu- closet, care not what you are in the congregation; they judge you by what you a…
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Section I. — First, It is of God. It is his creatm-e, begot in the heart by his Spirit alone. Paul, in the place aforementioned, 2 Cor. i. 12, doth excellently derive its pedigree for us. What he calls walking in ' godly sincerity' in the first part of the verse, he calls ' having ova* conversation by the grace of God'…
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concerning me, for I see One infinitely more above me than I seem to be above you, and liim I fear, wliich I could not do if I should be false to you. The word, 2 Cor. i. 12, for sincerity, is emphatical, fiUkriiicid, a metaphor from things tried by the light of the sun, as when you are buying cloth, or such-like ware,…
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the world. Well, how base soever the stock and ignoble the birth be, when grace unfeigned comes, it brings arms with it, it clarifies the blood, and makes the house illustrious. * Since thou wast precious in my eye, thou hast been honourable,' Isa. iv. 4. Sincerity sets a mark of honour ; if you see this star shining, …
903 wordsSECTION 239Section IV.— Secondly, To shew positively how sincerity covers the saints' failings.
and made her husband go in fear of his life wherever he came ; nay, than the foul fiend, now a cursed devil in hell, is Jike to the holy angel he was in heaven. This woimd which is given by sin to man's nature, Christ hath under- taken to cure by his grace in his elect : the cure is begun here, but not so per- fected t…
872 wordsSECTION 240Section IV.— Secondly, To shew positively how sincerity covers the saints' failings.
First, Sincerity is that property to which pardoning mercy is annexed. True, indeed, it is Christ that covers all our sins and failings ; but it is only the sincere soul over which he will cast his skirt. Psa. xxxii. 2 : ' Blessed is he whose sin is covered ; blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity.…
887 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.