102+ William Gurnall Quotes On Religion, Freedom And Puritan

William Gurnall was an English Puritan clergyman and author. He is best known for his work The Christian in Complete Armour, a devotional commentary on Ephesians 6. Published in 1655, the work was highly influential in the English-speaking world and has been republished in many editions. Gurnall's writing style is noted for its vivid imagery and passionate defense of Calvinism. Following is our collection on famous quotes by William Gurnall on religion, leadership, love.

Top 10 William Gurnall Quotes

1. We fear men so much, because we fear God so little.
2. Hope fills the afflicted soul with such inward joy and consolation, that it can laugh while tears are in the eye, sigh and sing all in a breath; it is called "the rejoicing of hope" (Hebrews 3:6).
3. It is the image of God reflected in you that so enrages hell; it is this at which the demons hurl their mightiest weapons.
4. We are justified, not by giving anything to God,--what we do,--but by receiving from God, what Christ hath done for us.
5. God would not rub so hard if it were not to fetch out the dirt that is ingrained in our natures. God loves purity so well He had rather see a hole than a spot in His child's garments.
6. Compare Scripture with Scripture. False doctrines, like false witnesses, agree not among themselves.
7. Humble souls are fearful of their own strength.
8. Never was a faithful prayer lost. Some prayers have a longer voyage than others, but then they return with their richer lading at last, so that the praying soul is a gainer by waiting for an answer.
9. God's wounds cure, sin's kisses kill.
10. Weak faith will as surely land the Christian in heaven as strong faith, for it is impossible the least dram of true grace should perish

William Gurnall Short Quotes

• Never venture near the door where sin dwells, lest you are dragged in.
• Godliness, as well as the doctrine of our faith, is a mystery.
• The soldier is summoned to a life of active duty and so is the Christian.
• For a beggar to live at court is not so much as the King to dwell with him in his cottage.
• God hath made it a debt which one saint owes to another to carry their names to a throne of grace.
• Mercy should make us ashamed, wrath afraid to sin.
• Justifying faith is not a naked assent to the truths of the gospel.
• Let thy hope of heaven master thy fear of death.
• Paul was Nero's prisoner, but Nero was much more God's.
• Peace of conscience is nothing but the echo of pardoning mercy.

William Gurnall Quotes About Love

As you love your peace, Christian, be plain-hearted with God and man, and keep the king's highway. — William Gurnall

The chains of love are stronger than the chains of fear. — William Gurnall

He that loves the Word and the purity of its precepts cannot turn traitor. — William Gurnall

God loves the saints as the purchase of his Son's blood. They cost him dear, and that which is so hardly got shall not be easily lost. He that was willing to expend his Son's blood to gain them, will not deny his power to keep them. — William Gurnall

William Gurnall Famous Quotes And Sayings

Satan will be ready to help forward such thoughts as a fit medium to lift thee up , and slacken thy care in duty for the future. Such discoveries do indeed bear witness to the truth of thy grace, but not to the degree and measure of it. The weak child may be, yea, is, oftener in the lap than the strong. — William Gurnall

Cowards never won heaven. Do not claim that you are begotten of God and you have His royal blood running in your veins unless you can prove your lineage by His heroic spirit: to dare to be holy in spite of men and devils. — William Gurnall

Christ is the door that opens into God's presence and lets the soul into His very bosom, faith is the key that unlocks the door; but the Spirit is He that makes this key. — William Gurnall

Of all creatures in this visible world, light is the most glorious; of all light, the light of the sun without compare excels the rest. — William Gurnall

He that is impatient, and cannot wait on God for a mercy, will not easily submit to Him in a denial. — William Gurnall

And while God had work for Paul, he found him friends both in court and prison. Let persecutors send saints to prison, God can provide a keeper for their turn. — William Gurnall

Say not that thou hast royal blood in thy veins; say not that thou art born of God if thou canst not prove thy pedigree by daring to be holy! — William Gurnall

We must not confide in the armour of God, but in the God of this armour, because all our weapons are only mighty through God. — William Gurnall

Blind zeal is soon put to a shameful retreat, while holy resolution, built on fast principles, lifts up its head like a rock in the midst of the waves. — William Gurnall

How can God stoop lower than to come and dwell with a poor humble soul? Which is more than if he had said, such a one should dwell with him; for a beggar to live at court is not so much as the king to dwell with him in his cottage. — William Gurnall

Truly, hope is the saint's covering, wherein he wraps himself, when he lays his body down to sleep in the grave: "My flesh," saith David, "shall rest in hope." — William Gurnall

A minister, without boldness, is like a smooth file, a knife without an edge, a sentinel that is afraid to let off his gun. If men will be bold in sin, ministers must be bold to reprove. — William Gurnall

What is Jordan that I should wash in it? What is the preaching that I should attend on it, while I hear nothing but what I knew before? What are these beggarly elements of water, bread, and wine? Are not these the reasonings of a soul that forgets who appoints the means of grace? — William Gurnall

When people do not mind what God speaks to them in His word, God doth as little mind what they say to Him in prayer. — William Gurnall

Bid faith look through the key-hole of the promise, and tell thee what it sees there laid up for him that overcomes; bid it listen and tell thee whether it cannot hear the shout of those crowned saints, as of those that are dividing the spoil, and receiving the reward of all their services and sufferings here on earth. — William Gurnall

How many, alas, of the precious saints of God must we shut out from being believers, if there is no faith but what amounts to assurance.... shall we say their faith went away in the departure of their assurance? — William Gurnall

Satan cannot deny but that great wonders have been wrought by prayer. As the spirit of prayer goes up, so his kingdom goes down. Satan's strategems against prayer are three. First, if he can, he will keep thee from prayer. If that be not feasible, secondly, he will strive to interrupt thee in prayer. And, thirdly, if that plot takes not, he will labour to hinder the success of thy prayer. — William Gurnall

Prayer is nothing but the promise reversed, or God's Word formed into an argument, and retorted by faith upon God again. — William Gurnall

We have peace with God as soon as we believe, but not always with ourselves. The pardon may be past the prince's hand and seal, and yet not put into the prisoner's hand. — William Gurnall

God Himself underwrites your battle and has appointed His own Son 'the captain of your salvation'. — William Gurnall

Nothing is more contrary to a heavenly hope than an earthly heart. — William Gurnall

The Christian, like a chalice without a base, cannot stand on his own nor hold what he has received any longer that God holds him in His strong hands. — William Gurnall

Sometimes, perhaps, thou hearest another pray with much freedom and fluency, whilst thou canst hardly get out a few broken words. Hence thou art ready to accuse thyself and admire him, as if the gilding of the key made it open the door the better. — William Gurnall

Thou hast no life to lose, because thou hast given it already to Christ, nor can man take away that without God's leave. — William Gurnall

Christ bears with the saints' imperfections; well may the saints one with another. — William Gurnall

God, to prevent all escape, hath sown the seeds of death in our very constitution and nature, so that we can as soon run from ourselves, as run from death. We need no feller to come with a hand of violence and hew us down; there is in the tree a worm, which grows out of its own substance, that will destroy it; so in us, those infirmities of nature that will bring us down to the dust. — William Gurnall

Pride of gifts robs us of God's blessing in the use of them. — William Gurnall

Praying is the same to the new creature as crying is to the natural. The child is not learned by art or example to cry, but instructed by nature; it comes into the world crying. Praying is not a lesson got by forms and rules of art, but flowing from principles of new life itself. — William Gurnall

The Christian must trust in a withdrawing God. — William Gurnall

Christ will bear no equal, and Satan no superior; and therefore, hold in with both thou canst not. — William Gurnall

If thou beest ever so exact in thy morals, and not a worshiper of God, then thou art an atheist. — William Gurnall

To forsake sin, is to leave it without any thought reserved of returning to it again. — William Gurnall

We live by faith, and faith lives by exercise. — William Gurnall

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. — William Gurnall

Oh, it is sad for a poor Christian to stand at the door of the promise, in the dark night of affliction, afraid to draw the latch, whereas he should then come boldly for shelter as a child into his father's house. — William Gurnall

Least doers are the greatest boasters. — William Gurnall

It is not only our duty to pray for others, but also to desire the prayers of others for ourselves. — William Gurnall

There is no such way to be even with the devil and his instruments, for all their spite against us, as by doing what good we can wherever we be come. — William Gurnall

Humility is a necessary veil to all other graces. — William Gurnall

One Almighty is more than all mighties — William Gurnall

The Christian must stand fixed to his principles, and not change his habit; but freely show what countryman he is by his holy constancy in the truth. — William Gurnall

It is the saint's duty, and should be their care, not only to believe that God is Almighty, but also to strongly believe that His almighty power is engaged for our defense and help in all of our straits and temptations. — William Gurnall

The sins of teachers are the teachers of sin. — William Gurnall

It is one thing to know a truth, and another thing to know it by unction. — William Gurnall

Let thy hope of heaven master thy fear of death. Why shouldst thou be afraid to die, who hopest to live by dying! — William Gurnall

The Christian's life should put his minister's sermon in print. — William Gurnall

Furnish thyself with arguments from the promises to enforce thy prayers, and make them prevalent with God. The promises are the ground of faith, and faith, when strengthened, will make thee fervent, and such fervency ever speeds and returns with victory out of the field of prayer. The mightier any is in the Word, the more mighty he will be in prayer. — William Gurnall

Therefore tremble, O man, at any power thou hast, except thou usest it for God. Art thou strong in body; who hath thy strength? God, or thy lusts? — William Gurnall

The regenerating Spirit is compared to the wind. His first attempts on the soul may be so secret that the creature knows not whence they come, or whither they tend; but, before he hath done, the sound will be heard throughout the soul. — William Gurnall

We need not borrow and take up sorrows upon use of the morrow, to make up our present load; as we read of daily bread, so of a daily cross, Luke ix. M, which we are bid to take, not to make. — William Gurnall

God is almighty to pardon, but He will not use His power for a shameless sinner. He is able to save and help in time of need, but if you have not repented, how can you expect His aid? The same power God expends on the believer's salvation will be spent on your damnation, for He has bound Himself under oath to destroy every impenitent soul. — William Gurnall

The storm may be tempestuous, but it is only temporary. — William Gurnall

Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satan's landing places, especially the eye and the ear. — William Gurnall

God is very precise in this point; he will say to such as invent ways to worship him of their own, coin means to mortify corruption, obtain comfort in their own mint: 'Who hath required this at your hands?' This is truly to be 'righteous over-much,' as Solomon speaks, when we will pretend to correct God's law, and add supplements of our own to his rule. — William Gurnall

The devil had as good have let Paul alone, for he no sooner comes into prison but he falls a preaching, at which the gates of Satan's prison fly open, and poor sinners come forth. — William Gurnall

The Word of God is too sacred a thing, and preaching too solemn a work, to be toyed and played with. — William Gurnall

Job's friends chose the right time to visit him, but took not the right course of improving their visit; had they spent the time in praying for him which they did in hot disputes with him, they would have profited him, and pleased God more. — William Gurnall

Pray often rather than very long at a time. It is hard to be very long in prayer, and not slacken in our affections. — William Gurnall

Indeed all the saints are taught the same lesson - to renounce their own strength, and rely on the power of God; their own policy, and cast themselves on the wisdom of God; their own righteousness, and expect all from the pure mercy of God in Christ, which act of faith is so pleasing to God, that such a soul shall never be ashamed. — William Gurnall

CEASE to PRAY and thou will BEGIN to SIN. — William Gurnall

Cease to pray and thou will begin to sin. Prayer is not only a means to prevail for mercy but also to prevent sin. — William Gurnall

The longer a soul hath neglected duty, the more ado there is to get it taken up. — William Gurnall

Godliness is the child of truth, and it must be nursed by its own mother. — William Gurnall

Christ hath told us He will come, but not when, that we might never put off our clothes, or put out the candle. — William Gurnall

Can Christ be in thou heart and thou not know it? Can one king be dethroned and another crowned in thy soul and thou hear no scuffle? — William Gurnall

It is no policy to let thy lusts have arms, which are sure to rise and declare against thee when thine enemy comes. — William Gurnall

Few are made better by prosperity, whom afflictions make worse. — William Gurnall

The Christian is bred by the Word, and he must be fed by it. — William Gurnall

The Christian in prayer comes up close to God, with a humble boldness of faith, and takes hold of him, wrestles with him; yea, will not let him go without a blessing... They are only a few noble-spirited souls, who dare take heaven by force, that are fit for this calling. — William Gurnall

Whoever hath a seed time of grace pass over his soul, shall have his harvest time also of joy. — William Gurnall

Compare not thyself with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far exceeded thee. — William Gurnall

No torment in the world is comparable to an accusing conscience. — William Gurnall

Many lose heaven because they are ashamed to go in a fool's coat thither. — William Gurnall

We must come to good works by faith, and not to faith by good works. — William Gurnall

Our enemies are on every side, so must our armour be. — William Gurnall

The mightier any is in the word, the more mighty he will be in prayer. — William Gurnall

As the eye of the body once put out, can never be restored by the creature's art, so neither can the spiritual eye lost by Adam's sin be restored by the teaching of men or angels. It is one of the diseases which Christ came to cure. — William Gurnall

The grace thou hast will soon be less, if thou addest not more to it. — William Gurnall

Life Lessons by William Gurnall

1. William Gurnall's work emphasizes the importance of perseverance and faith in the face of adversity. He encourages readers to remain steadfast in their faith and trust in God's plan, no matter how difficult the challenge.
2. Gurnall also highlights the importance of self-discipline and self-control, as well as the need to constantly strive to improve oneself and one's spiritual life.
3. Finally, Gurnall's work emphasizes the importance of cultivating a deep relationship with God, which can provide strength and guidance during difficult times.