Five Spiritual Battlefronts
There is something about these Puritan pastors with these giants of Owen and Edwards that knew their Bible, knew their God, knew their salvation, knew their sanctification, and knew their hearts, and knew my heart in a way that they feed me. So when I think about them, I just don’t think about ‘influences’. I think, ‘I love them.’ I love them.
― John Piper, Puritan: All of Life to the Glory of God
William Gurnall (1616-1679) was a scholar, rector, and then priest in England in the 17th century.
Gurnall preached a series on spiritual warfare which was eventually published as a book called The Christian in Complete Armour.
In The Christian in Complete Armour, Gurnall writes,
Finally, my brethren, be strong in the lord and in the power of his might.
Ephesians 6:10
Indeed, there is no duty in a Christian’s whole course of walking with God, or acting for God but is lined with many difficulties, which shoot like enemies through the hedges at him, while he is marching towards heaven: so that he is put to dispute every inch of ground as he goes. They are only a few noble spirits who dare take heaven by force, that are fit for this calling. For the further proof of this point, see some few pieces of service that every Christian engageth in.
The Christian is to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcilable war against his bosom sin
1. The Christian is to proclaim and prosecute an irreconcilable war against his bosom sins; those sins which have lain nearest his heart, must now be trampled under his feet.
2. The Christian is to walk singularly, not after the world’s guise. We are commanded not to be conformed to this world, that is, not to accommodate ourselves to the corrupt customs of this world.
3. The Christian must keep on his way to heaven in the midst of all the scandals that are cast upon the ways of God by the foul falls of false professors…We need to have a holy resolution to bear up against such discouragements, and not to faint; as Joshua, who lived to see the whole camp of Israel, a very few excepted, revolting, and in their hearts turning back to Egypt, and yet with an undaunted spirit maintained his integrity, yea, resolved though not a man beside would bear him company, yet he would serve the Lord.
4. The Christian is to trust in a withdrawing God. Let him that walks in darkness and has no light, trust in the name of the Lord, and stay upon his God. This requires a holy boldness of faith indeed, to venture into God’s presence, as Esther into Ahasuerus’, when no smile is to be seen on His face, no golden scepter of the promise perceived by the soul, as held forth to embolden it to come near, then to press in with this noble resolution, ‘If I perish, I perish.’
5. The believer is to persevere in his Christian course to the end of his life.
Take heart…O ye saints, and be strong.
Take heart…O ye saints, and be strong; your cause is good, God himself espouseth your quarrel, who has appointed you His own Son, general of the field, called ‘the Captain of our salvation,’ He shall lead you on with courage and bring you off with honor…He never lost a battle even when He lost His life: He won the field, carrying the spoils thereof in the triumphant chariot of His ascension, to heaven with Him: where he makes an open show of them to the unspeakable joy of saints and angels.