A85783:650
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. VIII. How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians mind with error.
CHAP. VIII. How Satan labours to corrupt the Christians minde with errour.
The second sort of spiritual sins are such as are not only acted in the spirit, but are conversant about spiritual objects proper to the souls nature that is a spirit, and not laid out in carnal passions of fleshly lusts, in which the soul acts but as a Pander for the body, and partakes of their delights only by way of sympathy; for as the soul feels the bodies pains no other way then by sympathy, so neither doth it share in the pleasures of the flesh by any proper taste it hath of them, but only from its near neighbourhood with the body doth sympathize with its joy; but in spiritual wickednesses that corrupt the mind, here the soul moves in its own sphere, with a delight proper to it self; and there are no less of these then the other. There is hardly a fleshly lust, but hath some spiritual sin analogical to it, as they say there is no species of creatures on the land but may be patterned in the sea: Thus the heart of man can produce spiritual sins answering carnal lusts; for whoredom and uncleanness of the flesh, there is idolatry called in Scripture spiritual adultery, from which the seat of Antichrist is called spiritual Sodom; for sensual drunkenness, there is a drunkenness of the mind intoxicating the judgement with error, a drunkenness of the heart in cares and fears; for carnal pride in beauty, riches, honour, there is a spiritual pride of gifts graces, &c. Now Satan in an especial manner assaults the Christian with such as these; it would require a larger discourse then I can allow to run over the several kinds of them; I shall of many pick out two or three. As first, Satan labours to corrupt the mind with erroneous principles, he was at work at the very first plantation of the Gospel, sowing his darnel, as soon almost as Christ his wheat, which sprung up in pernicious errors, even in the Apostles times, which made them take the weeding-hook into their hands, and in all