A85783:272
The Christian in Complete Armour
The Christian in complete armour. Or, A treatise of the saints war against the Devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and his people, in his policies, power, seat of his empire, wickedness, and chief design he hath against the saints. A magazine opened: from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual arms for the battle, helped on with his armour, and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole war. The first part. / By William Gurnall, Minister of the Gospel in Lavenham. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.The Christian in compleat armour. Or, A treatise of the saints war against the Devil, wherein a discovery is made of that grand enemy of God and his people, in his policies, power, seat of his empire, wickednesse, and chiefe designe he hath against the saints. A magazin open'd: from whence the Christian is furnished with spiritual armes for the battel, help't on with his armour, and taught the use of his weapon, together with the happy issue of the whole warre. The first part. / By William Gurnall, Minister of the Gospel in Lavenham. Imprimatur, Edmund Calamy.
London: printed for Ralph Smith, 1655
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
CHAP. IV. Wherein this Point of Satan's subtlety, as a Tempter to sin, is briefly applied.
CHAP. IV. Wherein this Point of Satans subtilty, as a Tempter to sin, is briefly applied.
Use 1 First, affect not sinful policy and subtlety, it makes you but like the devil. There is the wisdom of the Serpent, which is commended, and that is his perfection as a creature, in which both the literal and the mystical excel, the one in an ingenious observing nature above the beasts of the field, and the other in knowledge as an Angel above men; but as the subtlety of the one, and knowledge of the other is degenerate, and makes them more able to do mischief, the one to the bodies, the other to the souls of men, this kind of wisdom and subtlety is to be abhorred by us: The Serpents eye (as one saith) does well only in the Doves head.
Ʋse 1 First, affect not sinful policy and subtilty, it makes you but like the devil. There is the wisdom of the Serpent, which is commended, and that is his perfection as a creature, in which both the literal and the mystical excel, the one in an ingenious observing nature above the beasts of the field, and the other in knowledge as an Angel above men; but as the subtilty of the one, and knowledge of the other is degenerate, and makes them more able to do mischief, the one to the bodies, the other to the soules of men, this kinde of wisdom and subtilty is to be abhorred by us: The Serpents eye (as one saith) does well only in the Doves head.
First, affect not subtlety in contriving any sin. Some are wise to do evil, Jer. 4.22. Masters of this craft, who can as they lie on their beds, cast their wicked designs into an artificial method, showing a kind of devilish wit therein, as the Egyptians who dealt wisely (as they thought) with the Israelites and Jezebel, who had printed her bloody design in so fair a letter, that some might read her Saint while she was playing the devil. This is the black Art indeed, and will make the soul black as hell that practiseth it. It is not hard for any (though a fool) to learn. Be but wicked, and the devil will help thee to be witty; Come but a while to his school, and thou mayest soon be a cunning man. No sins speak a higher attainment in wickedness, then those which are the result of deliberate counsel and deep plottings. Creatures, as they go longer with their young, so their birth is more strong and perfect, as the Elephant above all others. The longer a sin is a forming and forging within, and the oftener