Poster | Thread | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Quotes from the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall | | Quotes from the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall
Paul was Nero's prisoner, but Nero was much more God's. (I:9)
No, the Christian must stand fixed to his principles, and not change his habit; but freely show what countryman he is by his holy constancy in the truth. (I:14)
Take heart therefore, O ye saints, and be strong; your cause is good, God himself espouseth your quarrel, who hath appointed you his own Son, General of the field, called 'the Captain of our salvation,' Heb 2:10. (I:16)
Blind zeal is soon put to a shameful retreat, while holy resolution, built on fast principles, lifts up its head like a rock in the midst of the waves. (I:17)
O take heed of this squint eye to our profit, pleasure, honour, or anything beneath Christ and heaven; for they will take away your heart ... that is, our love, and if our love be taken away, there will be little courage left for Christ. (I:18)
We must not confide in the armour of God, but in the God of this armour, because all our weapons are only 'mighty through God,' 2 Cor 10:4 (I:53)
Thus you see it is not armour as armour, but as armour of God, that makes the soul impregnable. (I:54)
I do not bid thee try the truth of thy grace by such a power as is peculiar to stronger grace, but by that power which will distinguish it from false [grace]. (I:57)
Whihle the Christian commits a sin he hates it; whereas the [hypocrite] loves it while he forbears it. (I:57)
If thou beest never so exact in thy morals, and not a worshipper of God, then thou art an atheist. (I:60)
In heaven we shall appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here these are to be worn night and day; we must walk, work, and sleep in them, or else we are not true soldiers of Christ. (I:64)
The longer a soul hath neglected duty, the more ado there is to get it taken up.... (I:65)
Grace is of a stirring nature, and not such a dead thing, like an image, which you may lock up in a chest, and none shall know what God you worship. No, grace will show itself; it will walk with you into all places and companies; it will buy with you, and sell for you; it will have a hand in all your enterprises .... (I:69)
And doth not God deserve the best service thou canst do him in thy generation? (I:70)
Therefore it should be our care, if we would not yield to the sin, not towalk by, or sit at, the door of the occasion. (I:74)
Truth with self-denial [is] a better pennyworth, than error with all its flesh-pleasing. (I:82)
As you love your peace, Christian, be plain-hearted with God and man, and keep the king's highway. (I:83)
The proper seat of sin is the will, of comfort the conscience. (I:85)
It is true, Christian, the debt thou owest to God must be paid in good and lawful money, but, for thy comfort, here Christ is thy paymaster. (I:89)
Love refuseth nothing that love sends. (I:89)
A rent garment is catched by every nail, and the rent made wider. Renew therefore thy repentance speedily, whereby this breach may be made up, and worse prevented... (I:95)
Again, [Satan] will ask the Christian what was the time of his conversion. Art thou a Christian, will he say, and dost thou not know when thou commencedst? Now ... content thyself with this, that thou seest the streams of grace, ....; you may know the sun is up, though you did not observe when it rose. (I:96)
Behold therefore thy God at work, and promise thyself that what he is about, will be an excellent piece. (I:110)
Love cannot think any evil of God, nor endure to hear any speak evil of him, but it must take God's part.... (I:118)
Mercy should make us ashamed, wrath afraid to sin. (I:118)
Few are made better by prosperity, whom afflictions make worse. (I:118)
It is no policy to let thy lusts have arms, which are sure to rise and declare against thee when thine enemy comes. (I:124)
Take heed thou makest not the least child thine enemy by offering wrong to him; God will right the wicked even upon the saint. (I:126)
Thou hast no life to lose, because thou hast given it already to Christ, nor can man take away that without God's leave. (I:127)
Sin disabled man to keep God's law, but it doth not enfranchise or disoblige him that he need not keep it. (I:132)
His subject thou art whom thou crownest in thy heart, and not whom thou flatterest with thy lips. (I:134)
Christ will bear no equal, and Satan no superior; and therefore, hold in with both thou canst not. (I:134)
No, it is some noble enterprise I would have thee think upon, how thou mayst advance the name of Christ higher in thy heart, and [in the] world too, as much as in thee lies. (I:138)
Therefore tremble, O man, at any power thou hast, except thou usest it for God. Art [thou] strong in body; who hath thy strength? God, or thy lusts? (I:144)
When Satan finds the good man asleep, then he finds our good God awake; therefore thou art not consumed, because he changeth not. (I:146)
Bid faith look through the key-hole of the promise, and tell thee what it sees there laid up for him that overcomes; bid it listen and tell thee whether it cannot hear the shout of those crowned saints, as of those that are dividing the spoil, and receiving the reward of all their services and sufferings here on earth. (I:150)
Christ counts it his honour, that he is a king of a willing people, and not of slaves. (I:155)
All his commands are acts of grace, it is a favour to be employed about them. (I:155)
How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? which is more than if he had said, such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at court is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage. (I:161)
O if once our hearts were but filled with zeal for God, and compassion to our people's souls, we would up and be doing, though we could but lay a brick a day, and God would be with us. (I:167)
And when God comes to reckon with his workmen, the ploughman and the sower shall have his penny, as well as the harvest-man and the reaper. (I:167)
_________________ CHRISTIAN
|
| 2007/3/12 15:26 | Profile | PreachParsly Member
Joined: 2005/1/14 Posts: 2164 Arkansas
| Re: Quotes from the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall | | Great quotes. This book is on my list to buy. I have a stack of books at home to read and a list of books to buy... and read later. How sad! _________________ Josh Parsley
|
| 2007/3/12 16:10 | Profile | tjservant Member
Joined: 2006/8/25 Posts: 1658 Indiana USA
| Re: Quotes from the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall | | I have re-read the first five pages of this book several times.
It is much to rich to digest quickly.
This book demands rumination.
As far as posting quotes it would be much easier to post the few sentences that are not quite as rich as the others.
You might as well post the entire book.
_________________ TJ
|
| 2007/3/12 17:30 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | Quote:
tjservant wrote:
You might as well post the entire book.
brother, Ive just started reading this book, Ive only gotten to page 20, i had to stop several times because there are so much to grasp and take hold of, it is truly an amazing book _________________ CHRISTIAN
|
| 2007/3/12 18:19 | Profile | PaulWest Member
Joined: 2006/6/28 Posts: 3405 Dallas, Texas
| Re: | | Quote:
had to stop several times because there are so much to grasp
A few months ago, I started a thread called "The Wisdom of William Gurnall" in which I intended to fill with excerpts from TCICA, but soon realized how daunting this task actually was! Literally [i]every paragraph[/i] had a suggestive gem imbedded in it, and to extract each gem I would basically have to quote the entire book.
When people ask me about book recommendations, I immediately name TCICA, and do so without reserve or hesitancy. There are many, many fine books by the likes of Tozer and Ravenhill and Pink, but none, in my humble opinion can even [i]touch[/i] Gurnall's masterpeice in terms of profundity and wisdom.
The only problem with this is that not everyone is ready for the exposure. I often feel as though I'm not ready for it either, though I've always recommended it to others! It's kind of like stumbling unto a plot of land where you [i]know[/i] diamonds and rubies and platinum lay buried deep beneath the suface, but your digging tools aren't quite up to par. I think it was Tozer that said the Christian's ultimate shortcoming and hinderance to growing in the riches of God's Word is just plain old laziness, and not wanting to dig. If a Christian doesn't like to read Puritanic writings, it's usually because they don't want to be bothered with all the [i]digging[/i] involved. The same goes for our approach to the Word of God. If you knew that justing sitting and perusing scripture for 5 minutes a day could do the trick, most people would gladly peruse for 10! But since digging is such toil and labour, most people will not even opt for the 5.
TCICA is an extraordinary work, and I think Banner of Truth did an awesome job with their three-volume modernized abridgement.
Brother Paul _________________ Paul Frederick West
|
| 2007/3/12 19:50 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: | | i have that banner of truth edition, as i said i haven't come so far into it, but anyone who picks this book up will notice before coming even three pages into it that we have "stumbled" upon something very deep, i use a marker pen when i read, i read this book and stop very often as i said and mark that sentence or that part that really effected me to go back later and meditate on that, i do so before the next time i start read to get into that "deeper" place i was when i had to lay down the book, its a thick book and before i started reading it i was thinking how many pages do i have to read to get through it in a certain time period..... i got rid of away that plan , since i do not know how long it will take me,
but this i know, the "thickness" of it has discouraged me from picking it up, i owned it for almost a year.... and it must be the devil who was working against me picking it up and reading this book...
but now I'm on my way, another thing that almost always enter my mind when reading from men like Gurnall, or Brooks or the other "great" men of God, is what a depth they had! what a "relationship" whit God, how filled whit the spirit they where that it "spilled" over unto their writings, not that i want to be like Gurnall or Brooks, i want to be me...but i pursue a depth of understanding and wisdom they had, i want to know God in like they knew God...
and most certainly this come whit a high price,
but the spirit tells me it is worth every "cost" and we should do everything in our power and strength to pursue this depth, this being filled whit the spirit has recently to me starting to be much more then the "gifts", there is so much more to being filled then usually is spoken of..
I'm not speaking against the gifts, i love the gifts i thank God for them, but i believe to many stop at the gifts... i believe there is so much more....
so before i write my own book here :-)
if you haven't already go get your own copy of TCICA....
God will bless you Christian _________________ CHRISTIAN
|
| 2007/3/13 4:00 | Profile | hmmhmm Member
Joined: 2006/1/31 Posts: 4994 Sweden
| Re: Quotes from the Christian in Complete Armour by William Gurnall | | some more quotes i found
All the plots of hell and commotions on earth have not so much as shaken God's hand to spoil one letter or line he has been drawing. William Gurnall
And while God had work for Paul, he found him friends both in court and prison. Let persecutors send saints to prison, God can provide a keeper for their turn. William Gurnall
Can Christ be in thy heart, and thou not know it? Can one king be dethroned and another crowned in thy soul, and thou hear no scuffle? William Gurnall
Christ bears with the saints' imperfections; well may the saints one with another. William Gurnall
Compare not thyself with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far exceeded thee. William Gurnall
Compare Scripture with Scripture. False doctrines, like false witnesses, agree not among themselves. William Gurnall
God hath made it a debt which one saint owes to another to carry their names to a throne of grace. William Gurnall
God's wounds cure, sin's kisses kill. William Gurnall
Godliness, as well as the doctrine of our faith, is a mystery. William Gurnall
Great comforts do, indeed, bear witness to the truth of thy grace, but not to the degree of it; the weak child is oftener in the lap than the strong one. William Gurnall
Humble souls are fearful of their own strength. William Gurnall
Humility is a necessary veil to all other graces. William Gurnall
In heaven we shall appear, not in armour, but in robes of glory. But here these are to be worn night and day; we must walk, work, and sleep in them, or else we are not true soldiers of Christ. William Gurnall
It is not only our duty to pray for others, but also to desire the prayers of others for ourselves. William Gurnall
Justifying faith is not a naked assent to the truths of the gospel. William Gurnall
Let your hope of heaven master your fear of death. William Gurnall
Mercy should make us ashamed, wrath afraid to sin. William Gurnall
Never was a faithful prayer lost. Some prayers have a longer voyage than others, but then they return with their richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is a gainer by waiting for an answer. William Gurnall
O happy death, that will ease us of all the aches of our bodies and conflicts in our souls! William Gurnall
Of all creatures in this visible world, light is the most glorious; of all light, the light of the sun without compare excels the rest. William Gurnall
The Christian must trust in a withdrawing God. William Gurnall
The devil had as good have let Paul alone, for he no sooner comes into prison but he falls a preaching, at which the gates of Satan's prison fly open, and poor sinners come forth. William Gurnall
The grace thou hast will soon be less, if thou addest not more to it. William Gurnall
The sins of teachers are the teachers of sin. William Gurnall
The soldier is summoned to a life of active duty and so is the Christian. William Gurnall
We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be past the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand. William Gurnall
We may note that the ministers of the gospel are, in an especial manner, to be remembered in the saints' prayers. William Gurnall
_________________ CHRISTIAN
|
| 2007/3/13 4:33 | Profile | enid Member
Joined: 2006/5/22 Posts: 2680 Nottingham, England
| Re: | | Can't help but notice the difference from these quotes compared to those that members of the website have submitted, namely the sermonindex quotes thread.
The fact is, we lack.
I doubt that anyone can argue that the puritan writers had a depth to them, a godly depth, that is greatly missing today.
Like Enoch, they walked with God.
We do too, but...
God bless. |
| 2007/3/13 8:11 | Profile | PaulWest Member
Joined: 2006/6/28 Posts: 3405 Dallas, Texas
| Re: | | Quote:
Like Enoch, they walked with God.
I agree, Enid. As Spurgeon said regarding the Puritans:
"There were giants in the earth in those days..." _________________ Paul Frederick West
|
| 2007/3/13 9:43 | Profile |
|