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Paul was Nero's prisoner, but Nero was much more God's... But how does the great apostle spend his time in prison?... We read of no dispatches sent to court to procure his liberty; but many to the churches, to help them to stand fast in the liberty wherewith Christ had made them free... 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 -
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
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All the plots of hell and commotions on earth have not so much as shaken God's hand to spoil one letter or line he has been drawing.
William Gurnall -
Set a strong guard about thy outward senses: these are Satan's landing places, especially the eye and the ear.
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 -
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 -
Compare not thyself with those that have less than thyself, but look on those that have far exceeded thee.
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
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The mightier any is in the word, the more mighty he will be in prayer.
William Gurnall -
If thou beest ever so exact in thy morals, and not a worshiper of God, then thou art an atheist.
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's wounds cure, sin's kisses kill.
William Gurnall -
And therefore you who think so basely of the gospel and the professors of it, because at present their peace and comfort is not come, know it is on the way to them, and comes to stay everlastingly with them; whereas your peace is going from you every moment, and is sure to leave you without any hope of returning to you again. Look not how the Christian begins, but ends. The Spirit of God by his convictions comes into the soul with some terrors, but it closeth with peace and joy.
William Gurnall -
Paul was Nero's prisoner, but Nero was much more God's.
William Gurnall
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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 -
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 -
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 -
Justifying faith is not a naked assent to the truths of the gospel.
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 hath told us He will come, but not when, that we might never put off our clothes, or put out the candle.
William Gurnall
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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 grace thou hast will soon be less, if thou addest not more to it.
William Gurnall -
The soldier is summoned to a life of active duty and so is the Christian.
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