A85783:398
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
A TREATISE Of the whole Armour Of God. › Introduction › Chapter 1 › Section 3
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.
First, when they wrestle against his Spirit. We read of the Spirits striving with the creature, Gen. 6.3. My spirit shall not always strive with man. Where the striving is not in anger and wrath to destroy them, (that God could do without any stir or scuffle) but a loving strife and contest with man. The old world was running with such a carrier headlong into their ruin, he sends his Spirit to interpose, and by his counsels and reproofs to offer, as it were, to stop them and reclaim them. As if one seeing another ready to offer violence on himself, should strive to get the knife out of his hand, with which he would do the mischief. Or one that hath a purse of gold in his hand to give, should follow another by all manner of entreaties, striving with him to ⟨p. 162⟩accept and take it. Such a kind of strife is this of the Spirits with men. They are the lusts of men, (those bloody instruments of death, with which sinners are mischieving themselves) that the holy Spirit strives by his sweet counsels and entreaties to get out of our hands. They are Christs, his grace and eternal life he strives to make us accept at the hands of Gods mercy; and for repulsing the Spirit thus striving with them, sinners are justly counted fighters against God: Ye stiff-necked, and uncircumcised in heart and ears, 1ye do always resist the Holy Ghost. Now there is a twofold striving of the Spirit, and so of our wrestling against it. First, the Spirit strives in his messengers with sinners. They coming on his errand, and not their own, he voucheth the faithful counsels, reproofs and exhortations which they give as his own act. Noah, that Preacher of righteousness, what he said to the old world, is called the Preaching of the Spirit, 1 Pet. 3.19. The pains that Moses, Aaron and other servants of God took in instructing Israel, is called the instruction of the Spirit, Nehem. 9.20. so that when the Word, which Gods Ministers bring in his Name, is rejected, the faithful counsels they give are thrown at sinners heels and made light of; then do they strive with the Spirit, and wrestle against Christ as really, as if he visibly in his own person had been in the Pulpit, and preached the same Sermon to them. When God comes to reckon with sinners, it will prove so; then God will rub up your memories, and mind you of his striving with you, and your unkind resisting him.