PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Christian in Complete Armour
William Gurnall, 1617–1679 · 726,331 words · 834 reading sections
2SG HAVING YOUR LOINS
of good men; yea, many more with him, concerning whom we are now put out of doubt, because we find tliem canonized for saints by God himself, would have been cast, if a jury of men, and those holy men too, had gone upon them. Elijah himself, because he saw none have such zeal for God and his worship, as to wear their c…
896 wordsSECTION 242GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 237
of God, even to the least babe that is newly born this day to Christ. The new convert hungers after holiness, and that sincerely. And wherefore all this care so to lay the promises, but to shew that when we go to make use of any pro- mise at the throne of grace, we should not question our welcome for any of our infirmi…
835 wordsSECTION 243^33 ' HAVING YOUR LOINS
to him: but in the gospel covenant tliere is a siiret}', Christ the righteous, who stands responsible to God tor all the defaults and tailings which occur in the Christian's course. The Lurd Jesus doth iu>t only take upon him to discharge the vast sums of those sins which he finds them chai'ged with before conver- sion…
900 wordsSECTION 244^33 ' HAVING YOUR LOINS
in his heart;' that is, he did not for fear or favour accommodate himself, bnt what in his conscience he thought true, that he spake ; and this, because it was sucli an eminent proof of his sincerity, is called by Moses, ver. 9, ' following God fully;' for wliich the Lord erects such a pillar of remembrance over his he…
900 wordsSECTION 245240 HAVING YOUR LOINS
to carry me ft-om this duty to that, whither thou pleasest : may be when tiie sincere soul is aljout a duty, he dotli it weakly, yet tliis very willingness of the heart is wonderful pleasing to God. How doth it affect and take the father when he bids his little child go and bring him such a thing, that may be as much a…
935 wordsSECTION 246GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 241
time coming, (which, ver. 24, is called, ' their month wherein they shall l)e found,') when God's hue and cry will overtake them, his terrors ransack their consciences, and bring forth what they so stiffly denied, making it appear to themselves and others also what juggling and deceit they have used to shift off their …
852 wordsSECTION 2472^2 HAVING YOUR LOINS
a trouble to me, I am weary to bear tbein.' What hateful thing is this that God eries so out u])on ? ] t is nothing but li yjxicrisy. Surely, friends, that must needs be very loathsome, which makes God speak so coarsely of his own ordi- nances, yea, makes them a Nehushtan, prayer no prayer, but a mere idol to be broken…
909 wordsSECTION 248GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. O43
to open their mouth like so many wolves against heaven, as if thej' would teai* God out of his throne by their blasphemies and horrid impieties. The hypo- ci-ite is not thus woaded with impudency, to sin at noon-day, and spread his tent with Absalom on the house-top. If he be naught, it is in a corner ; his maiden-blus…
895 wordsSECTION 249244 HAVING YOUR LOINS
only forgive his sin, but the iniquity of liis sin ; and M'hat was that ? sin^ely the Avorst that can be said of that his complicated sin is, that tliere was so nuich hypocrisy in it, he wofully juggled with God and man in it; this I do not doubt to say, was the iniquity of his sin, and put a colour deeper on it than t…
907 wordsSECTION 250244 HAVING YOUR LOINS
with us, Do you make a fool of me ? I leave it to the hypocrite to think seii- oiisly what he is going to make of God, when he puts up his hypocritical ser- \ices. God's command was, none should 'appear before him empty;' this the hypocrite doth, and therefore mocks God ; he comes indeed full-mouthed, but emjity-hearte…
896 wordsSECTION 25121(5 HAVING YOUR LOINS
Section II. — Secondly, Consider the liypocrite in tlie things lie lays claim to, and they are no small privileges — relation to God, interest in Christ ; who more forward to saint himself, to pretend to the graces and comforts of the Spirit, than the hypocrite ? As we see in the Pharisees, whose great design was to ge…
918 wordsSECTION 252CHAPTER X.
by his error, because he will not readily be suspicious of anything that he brings, whom he hath found really helpful to his grace or comfort ; and thus the good the hypoci-ite doth makes him but able to do the greater hurt in the end. Sisera had better have gone without Jael's butter and milk, than by them to be laid …
835 wordsSECTION 253Section II. — First, For the hypocrite, he will stand upon his defence; his heart is sincere : well, how will he prove it ?
careful, thou niayest easily pass a folse judgment on thyself; they who were sent to search the cellar under the |iarlianient, at first saAV nothing but coals and winter provision, but upon a review, when they came to throw away that stuff, they found all but provision for the devil's kitchen ; then the mystery of iniq…
848 wordsSECTION 254GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. O49
taken out of the way, that the blot which she had brought upon his family might with her be out of sight. Some again find it a thriving trade, and make this advantage of inveighing against others' faults, to hide their own the better, that they may carry on their own designs with less suspicion. Absalom asperseth his f…
865 wordsSECTION 255GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. O49
inwavd rooms, and so doth hypocrisy into closet-duties, as well as public ; indeed, thoujijh the place be secret where such duties are performed, yet tlie matter may be so handled, and is by some hypocrites, that they are not secret ia their closets ; like the hen who goes into a scci-ct place to lay her egg, but, by h…
937 wordsSECTION 256GIHT ABOUT WITH TKUTH. 251
a word, may be thou hast laid down this sinful practice; but didst thou hate it, and love God, and so leave it? Thou art become strange to one, have you not got acquaintance with any other in the room of it ? Thou hast laid down the commission of an evil, but hast thou taken up thy known duty ? He is a bad husbandman t…
927 wordsSECTION 257252 HAVING YOUR LOINS
Secondly, I fear I am a hypocrite, saith the tempted soul ; why else are there such decays and declensions to be found in me .' It is the character of the upright that he goes from strength to strength, but I go backward from strength to weakness. Some Christians are like those that we call close men in the world ; if …
784 wordsSECTION 258GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 253
and trimmed thy room for ? Didst go to duty to meet those friends, or do they unmannerly break in upon thee, and forcibly can-y thee, as Christ foretold of Peter in another case, whither thou wouldst not? If so, why shouldst thou bring thy sincerity into dispute ? Dost thou not know the devil is a bold intruder, and da…
891 wordsSECTION 259GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 253
denial as David did his ; because God would not let him build the hoviseinbis days, bedid nottherefore question the love aiidfuvoin'of God, neitlierdidlie desist from preparing materials for it, but did what he might towards it, tliougli he might not what he would ; far be it from thee also, that thou shouldst for this…
885 wordsSECTION 260GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 255
gross hypocrite, is able to make liim speechless, What promise in all the Bible hast thou on thy side for salvation ? so it is enough to deliver the troubled soul from his fears of being a hypocrite, if he would but, as David, ask his soul a Scripture i-eason for his disquietment : ' Why art thou cast down, O my soul, …
880 wordsSECTION 261256 HAVING YOUR LOINS
Section I. — First, A sincei-e heart is a new heart; hypocrisy is called the * old leaven,' 1 Cor. v. 7: ' Purge out therefore the old leaven, that ye may be a new lump.' Dough once soured with leaven will never lose the. taste of it; neither will corrupt nature cease to be hypocritical, till it cease to be corrupt nat…
878 wordsSECTION 262256 HAVING YOUR LOINS
though much corruption be found in thee still, that is foiling thy stream, and endeavouring to stop the free course of thy soul Godward : this may put thee to some trouble, as the mountains and rocks do the river-water running to the sea, causing some windings and turnings in its course, which else would go the nearest…
922 wordsSECTION 263258 HAVING YOUR LOINS
sniollieriiig the business, or smoothing it over ; but attaches tlie thief, indicts his sin, and confesseth tlie fact, to the justifying of God, whom before he had hard thoughts of: ver. 20, 'And I said. This is my infirmity;' as if he had said, Lord, now I see the Jonah that caused the storm in my bosom, and made me s…
883 wordsSECTION 264GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 259
checks him for this or that, and he perceives by this inward murmur in his bosom, which way the cause will go, if he proceeds fairly on to put himself upon the trial, the court is sure to be broke up, and all put off to another hearing, which is like to be at leisure ; so that as witnesses, with delays and many put-off…
903 wordsSECTION 265GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 259
appear as religious as any ; but no sooner he makes discovery of any hazard it may put him to, but he tacks about, and shapes another course, making no bones of juggling with God and man ; he counts that his right road, which leads to his temporal safety; but quite contrary the upright, Prov. xvi. 17: ' The highway of …
879 wordsSECTION 266GIKT ABOUT WITH TUUTH. «^61
liypociite it is not so ; there one faculty lights against another ; never are they all found to conspire and meet in a friendly vote ; when there is light in the luulerstanding, the man knows this truth and that dutv ; then often conscience is bribed for executing its olhce, it doth not so much as check him for the ne…
900 wordsSECTION 267A WORD OF DIRECTION TO THOSE WHO, UPON TRIAL, ARK FOUND UNSOUND AND FALSE-HEARTED.
Section IV. — Fourthly, The sincere Christian is progressive, never at his journey's end till he gets to heaven ; this keeps him always in motion, ad- vancing in his desires and endeavours forward ; he is thankful for little grace, but not content with great measures of grace : ' When I awake,' saith David, ' I shall b…
810 wordsSECTION 268GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 2(33
from some formalities he performs above others in religion, which fume up from his deceived heart, like so many pleasing vapours, from the stomach to the head, and bind up his spiritual senses into a kind of stupidity, yea, cause many pleasing dreams to entertain him with vain hopes and false joys, which vanish as soon…
906 wordsSECTION 269GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 2(33
saints of God, with whom thou hast may be so much credit as to be admitted to join with them at present, know thee, they would make as much haste from thee as from him on whom they shouUl see the pLigue-tokens ; but should not thy disease be known till thou art dead, and so keep thy reputation with them, yea possibly b…
921 wordsSECTION 270CHAPTER XIV.
conscience, so as to make the guilty sinner thirst for Chi-ist's blood to qtiertch the torment which the wrath of God hath kindled in his bosom ; but it is heaven-fire, and only that, which begets a kindly heat in the heart, that breaks out in longings of soul for Christ and his Spirit, with sweet cooling dews of grace…
920 wordsSECTION 27126Q HAVING YOUR LOINS
Section I. — First, Therefore, if thou wouldest walk in the exercise of thy sincerity, walk in the view of God. That of Luther is most true, Omnia prcc- cepta sunt in prima tanquam capite ; all the commands are wrapt up in the first; for, saith he, all sin is a contempt of God ; and so we cannot break any other command…
800 wordsSECTION 272GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 267
'Curse God, and die,' said he to Job by his wife, Job ii. 9. As if she had said. What! wilt thou yet hold the castle of thy sincerity for God? Captains think they may yield, when no relief comes to them ; and subjects make account, if the prince protect not them, they are not bound to serve him. Thou hast lain thus lon…
913 wordsSECTION 273GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 267
witli him/ Psalm Ixxviii. 34, 35. They feared God, and loved their lusts; and therefore they betrayed his glory at every turn into their hands ; as Herod did John's head, whom he feared, into her hands whom he loved. And truly there is too much of this slavish fear to be found in the saints' bosoms, or else the whip sh…
897 wordsSECTION 274GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 269
charge, and draws out the several indictments that they were guilty of. Now', to add the greater weight to every one, he, in the fore-front of all his speech, shows what a God he is that they have done all this against. He makes way to the declaiming against their sins, by the proclaiming the glory of God against whom…
890 wordsSECTION 275270 HAVING YOUR LOINS
may interpret his mind out of his word to us ; which word answers the heart of God, as face answers face in the glass. There is nothing desirable in a true friend as to this openness of heart, but God performs in a transcendent manner to his people, If any danger hangs over their heads, he cannot conceal it : 'By them,…
892 wordsSECTION 276270 HAVING YOUR LOINS
remember what Balak king of Moab consuked, and what Balaam the son of Beor answered him from Shittim unto Gilgal :' and why should they remember this ? ' That ye may know the righteousness of the Lord ;' that is, that you may know how true and faithful a God I have been to you. Sometimes he makes use of it to provoke t…
886 wordsSECTION 277Section V. — Fifthly, Get above the love and fear of the world. The Christian's sincerity is not eclipsed without the interposition of earth betwixt God and his soul.
SO habitual uprightness is very hardly consistent with habitual presiunption ; if one act of a presumptuous sin, and as I may so say, one sip of this poisonous cup, doth so sadly infect the spirit of a gracious person, and change his com- plexion, that he is not like himself; how deadly must it needs be to all upright-…
877 wordsSECTION 278GIKT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 273
did not foot it right, as became so holy a man to do, but took one step forward, and another back again, as if he had not liked his wa)^ ; now he will eat with the Gentiles, and anon he withdraws. Now what made him dissemble, and his feet thus double in his going ? Nothing but a qualm of fear that came over his heart, …
824 wordsSECTION 279274 HAVING YOUR LOINS
are not without either. The patriarchs hnA their money all day boiind up in their sacks as they travelled, though they did not know this till they came to their inn and opened them. Thus there is a treasure of sincerity hid in many a soul, but the time to open the sack, and let the soul know its riches, is not come. Ma…
907 wordsSECTION 280GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 07 1^
keep the door open to let in another temptation which he much desires to convey into his bosom by the favour, and under the shadow of this, and it is ordinarily this, to scare the Christian from duty, and knock off the wheels of his chariot, which used so often to cai-ry him into the presence of God in his ordinances, …
911 wordsSECTION 281276 HAVING YOUH LOINS
to wash thee ; these can, and will, when the Lord pleases, testify as much for thy grace and sincerity as it doth for theirs. Only as witnesses that are in a court stay till the judge call them forth, then, and not till then, do they give their testimony ; so do these, and God may, and doth use his liberty, when he wil…
918 wordsSECTION 282GIRT AEOUT WITH TRUTH. 277
but his testimony to his uprightness? Gen. xxii. 12 : ' Lay not thy hand upon the lad, for now I know thou fearest me, seeing thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only son, from mc' Why, God knew this before; yes, but he speaks it that Abraham may hear, and take it from God's mouth that he was sincere. May be thou art c…
928 wordsSECTION 283278 HAVING YOUR LOINS
by v.liich ' we know the things that ;>ro IVeoly given us of God,' 1 Cor. ii. 12. Now the Spirit sits in the ordinances, as a minister of state in his ofiice, whither we nuist resort, if we will have the trutli of our graces, that are om* evidences for heaven, sealed to our consciences. Thitlier go, therefore, yea, the…
814 wordsSECTION 284GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. O79
Note, That sincerity doth not only cover all our other infirmities, but is ex- cellent, yea, necessary to establish the soul in, and strengthen it for its whole Christian warfare. * The integrity of the vipright shall guide them, but the perverseness of transgressors shall destroy them,' Prov. xi. 3. The hypocrite fall…
866 wordsSECTION 285230 HAVING YOUR LOINS
with his profession ; there is no more difference betwixt a hypocrite and an apostate, than betwixt a green apple and a ripe one; come a while hence, and vou will see him foil rotten ripe from his profession. Judas, a close hypocrite, iiow soon an open traitor ! And as fruit ripens sooner or later, as the heat of the y…
891 wordsSECTION 286OF A RECOVERING STRENGTH THAT SINCERITY HATH, AND WHENCE.
was hugged for a state saint. Set but hypocrisy upon the stage of power and greatness, and it will not be long before its mask falls off. The prophet meant thus much, when he made only this reply to Hazael's seeming abhorrency of what he had foretold concerning him, 2 Kings viii. 23 : ' The Lord shewed me that thou sha…
861 wordsSECTION 287OF A RECOVERING STRENGTH THAT SINCERITY HATH, AND WHENCE.
speed ; the other falls as a man from the top of a mast, that is engulfed, past all recovering, in the devouring sea. lie falls, as Hanian did bcfbre Mordecai; when he begins, he stays not, but falls till he can fall no lower. This we see in Saiil, whose heart was never right ; when once his naughty heart discovered it…
932 wordsSECTION 288OF A SUPPORTING AND COMFORTING PROPERTY SINCERITY HATH, SHEWN IN SEVERAL PARTICULAR INSTANCES.
upholdeth the righteous.' The righteous man in that psahn is the upright; by the wicked is meant the hypocrite. A little true grace mixed with much corruption in the sincere Christian is better than the hypocrite's riches, great faith, zeal, and devotion he brags so of. The former hath the blessing of the promise to re…
839 wordsSECTION 289284 HAVING YOUR LOINS
liath and cannot eat it ? None so witty and cunning as the hypocrite in prosperity to ward oft' the reproofs, to shift from the counsels of the word ; and in affliction, when conscience awakes, none so skilful to dispute against the comforts of the word. Now he is God's close prisoner no comfort can come at him ; if Go…
903 wordsSECTION 290284 HAVING YOUR LOINS
love and favour to me, notwithstanding the sins tliat are found mingled with my course of obedience. This kept up the holy man's spirit, and makes him end the psalm joyfully, ver. 13: ' Blessed be the Lord God of Israel from everlasting to evei-lasting.' We live, Christians, in reproaching times; he that is so over dai…
883 wordsSECTION 291284 HAVING YOUR LOINS
who mightest have cast me into a bed of dames, instead of mj' bed of sickness ; and therefore I accept tliy correction thankfully. Thus lie catches at the blow, without retorting it back upon (iod, by any cjuarrelling, discontented language. Secondly, Sincerity enables the soul to expect good from God, when his hand pr…
900 wordsSECTION 292GIRT ABOUT WITH TRUTH. 287
and shall triumph over ■ tliem, when he meets them again at the great day at the har of Christ, where to their face he shall witness against them, and vote with Christ for their eternal destruction. Methinks I hear all the faithful ministers of Christ giving an accoimt to him, on whose errand they were sent, in the lan…
872 wordsSECTION 293288 HAVING YOUR LOINS
with for serving of liim, — an affliction, considered in itself, so grievous to a gracious soul, that he knows none he fears more ; he could choose any, might he he liis own carver, before it: to be poor, disgraced, persecuted, anything, rather than be laid aside as a broken instrument, unserviceable to his God. Indeed…
936 wordsSECTION 294A BRIEF APPLICATORY IMPROVEMENT OF THE ' POINT, BOTH IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR BRANCHES ALSO,
Hezekiali knew this, and therefore on his sick bed he doth nob tell God of his great services he had done, though none had done more, but only desires God to take notice of the truth and sincerity of his heart : ' Remember that I have walked before thee in truth, and with a perfect heart, and have done that which is go…
797 wordsSECTION 295A BRIEF APPLICATORY IMPROVEMENT OF THE ' POINT, BOTH IN GENERAL AND PARTICULAR BRANCHES ALSO,
Use 2. Secondly, This shews of what importance it is to labour for sincerity : without it we can neitJier stand against, nor rise wlien we fall into temptation. Whatever thou beggest of God, forget not a sincere heart. David saw need of more of this grace than he had, Psa. li. 10: ' Create in me a clean heart, O God, a…
911 wordsSECTION 296CONTAINS THE EXPLICATION OF THE WORDS.
thy own ground, but in heaven. It is God alone that holds thee and it in life. He that gave it is at cost tp^keep it. ' The Lord is thy strength, let him be thy song.' What can the ax>e, though sharp, do without the workman? Shall the axe say, I have cut down, or the chisel, I have carved ? Is it not the skill and art …
915 wordsSECTION 297292 ^^^ HAVING ON
First, What is the righteousness here meant ? The Scripture speaks of a two- fold righteousness ; the one legal, the other evangelical. First, A legal righteousness ; that whicli God required of man in the cove- nant of works : Rom. x. 5, ' Moses describeth the righteousness which is of the law, That the man which dot…
868 wordsSECTION 298THE BREASTPLATE OF RIGHTEOUSNESS. 293
It is a supernatural principle of a new life, planted in the heart of every child of God by the powerful operation of the Holy Spirit, whereby they endea- vour to approve themselves to God and man in performing what the word of God requires to be performed to both. Briefly let us unfold what is rolled up in this descri…
892 wordsSECTION 2992Q/L AND HAVING ON
Fiftlily, Here is the imperfect nature of this principle ; as it shews its reality by endeavouring, so its imperfection, that it enables but to an endeavour, not a fidl performance. Evangelical holiness rather makes the creature willing than able to give full obedience. The saint's heart leaps, when his legs do but cre…
821 wordsSECTION 300CHAPTER II.
Secondly, The breastplate, by defending this principal part, emboldens the soldier, and makes him fearless of danger, and that is as necessary in fight as the other ; it is almost all one for an army to be killed or cowed. A dead soldier, slain upon the place, will do in a manner as much good as a dead- hearted soldier…
806 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.