A85783:638
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 7 › Section 2
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.
Use 3 Secondly, show your loyalty, O ye Saints, to God by a vigorous resistance of, and wrestling against these spirituals of wickedness. First, consider, Christian, heart-sins are sins as well as any; The thought of foolishness is sin, Prov. 24.9. Mercury is poison in the water distilled, as well as in the gross body. Uncleanness, covetousness, murder, are such in the heart as well as in the outward act; every point of hell, is hell. Secondly, consider thy spirit is the seat of the holy Spirit. He takes up the whole heart for his lodging, and 'tis time for him to be gone when he sees his house let over his head. Defile not thy spirit, till thou art weary of his company. Thirdly, consider, there may be more wickedness in a sin of the heart, then of the hand and outward man; for the aggravation of these is taken from the behaviour of the heart in the act. The more of the heart and spirit is let out, the more malignity is let in to any sinful act. To back-slide in heart, is more then to back-slide; 'tis the comfort of a poor soul when tempted and troubled for his relapses, that though his foot slides back, yet his heart turns not back, but faceth Heaven and Christ at the same time; so to err in the heart, 1is worse then to have an error in the head; therefore God aggravates Israels sin with this, They do always err in their heart. Their hearts run them upon the error, they liked idolatry, and so were soon made to believe what pleased them best. As on the contrary, the more of the heart and spirit is in any holy service, the more real goodness there is in it, though it f•ll short of others in the outward expression. The widows two mites surpassed all the rest, Christ himself being judge; so in sin, though the internal acts of sin in thoughts and affections seem light upon mans balance if compared with outward acts, yet these may be so circumstanciated that they may exceed the other in Gods account; Peter lays the accent of Magus his sin on the wicked thought, which his words betrayed to be in ⟨p. 263⟩his heart, Pray God, if perhaps the thought of thy heart may be forgiven, Act. 8.22. Sauls sin in sparing Agag, and saving the best of the sheep and oxen, which he was commanded to destroy, was materially a far less sin then Davids adultery and murder, yet it is made equal with a greater then both, even witchcraft it self, 1 Sam.