Paul was now in bonds, yet not so close kept as to be denied pen and paper; God, it seems, gave him some favour in the sight of his enemies: Paul was Nero's prisoner, but Nero was much more God's.  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.
          But how does this great apostle spend his time in prison?  Not in publishing invectives against those, though the worst of men, who had laid him in; a piece of zeal which the holy sufferers of those times were little acquainted with: nor in politic counsels, how he might wind himself out of his trouble, by sordid flattery of, or sinful compliance with, the great ones of the times.  Some would have used any picklock to have opened a passage to their liberty and not scrupled, so escape they might, whether they got out at the door or window.  But this holy man was not so fond of liberty or life, as to purchase them at the least hazard to the gospel.  He knew too much of another world, to bid so high for the enjoying of this; and therefore he is regardless what his enemies can do with him, well knowing he should go to heaven whether they would or no. No, the great care which lay upon him, was for the churches of Christ; as a faithful steward he labors to set the house of God in order before his departure.  We read of no despatches 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.  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.
          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.  Happy for Onesimus that Paul was sent to jail; God had an errand for Paul to do to him and others, which the devil never dreamed of.  Nay he doth not only preach in prison, but that he may do the devil all the mischief he can, he sends his epistles to the churches, that tasting his spirit in his afflictions, and reading his faith, now ready to be offered up, they might much more be confirmed; amongst which Ephesus was not least in his thoughts, as you may perceive by his abode with them two years together, Acts 19:10; as also by his sending for the elders of this church as far as Miletus, in his last journey to Jerusalem, Acts 20:17, to take his farewell of them as never to see their faces in this world more.  And surely the sad impression which that heart-breaking departure left on the spirits of these elders, yea, the whole church, by them acquainted with this mournful news, might stir up Paul, now in prison, to write unto this church, that having so much of his spirit, yea, of the spirit of the gospel, left in their hands to converse with, they might more patiently take the news of his death.
          In the former part of this epistle, he soars high in the mysteries of faith.  In the latter, according to his usual method, he descends to application; where we find him contracting all those truths, as beams together, in a powerful exhortation, the more to enkindle their hearts, and powerfully persuade them to 'walk worthy of their vocation,’ Eph. 4:1, which then is done, when the Christian's life is so transparent that the grace of the gospel shines forth in the power of holiness on every side, and from all his relations, as a candle in a crystal glass, not in a dark lantern, lightsome one way and dark another: and therefore he runs over the several relations of husband, wife, parents, children, masters, and servants, and presseth the same in all these.
          Now having set every one in his proper place, about his particular duty; as a wise general after he has ranged his army, and drawn them forth into rank and file, he makes the following speech at the head **

Review

'If I might read only one book beside the Bible, I would choose The Christian in Complete Armour.' -- *John Newton*

'Gurnall's work is peerless and priceless; every line is full of wisdom; every sentence is suggestive. I have often resorted to it when my own fire has been burning low, and I have seldom failed to find a glowing coal upon Gurnall's hearth.' -- *Charles H. Spurgeon*

'A beautiful feature in Gurnall's book is its richness in pithy, pointed, and epigrammatical sayings. You will often find in a line and a half some great truth, put so concisely, and yet so fully, that you really marvel how so much thought could be got into so few words. Solid scriptural theology, like that contained in these pages, should be valued and studied in the church. Books in which Scripture is reverently regarded as the only rule of faith and practice books in which Christ and the Holy Ghost have their rightful office books in which justification, and sanctification, and regeneration, and faith, and grace, and holiness are clearly, distinctly, and accurately delineated and exhibited these are the only books which do real good. Few things need reviving more than a taste for such books as these among readers.'
--J.C. Ryle
'I believe The Christian in Complete Armour , should be in the library of every man and woman of God. No Christian leader, teacher, pastor, evangelist, or Christian worker should be without it.'
-David Wilkerson
'You could not buy a better work, nor get better value for your money.' -- *Free Presbyterian Magazine*

About the Author

William Gurnall (1616-1679) was born in the coastal town of Lynn, Norfolk, about a hundred miles north of London. His father was first an alderman (town council member), then mayor of Lynn, a chief town of the most thoroughly Protestant district of England in the seventeenth century. The inhabitants of Norfolk and Suffolk counties were famous for their deep attachment to the doctrines of the Reformation.
An excellent scholar, Gurnall was awarded a scholarship from the city of Lynn to attend Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He began his formal training there in his 16th year, shortly after his father's death. He earned a bachelor's degree in 1635 and a master s degree in 1639.
At the age of 28, William Gurnall was appointed curate and then rector on the death of the incumbent of the church at Lavenham, Suffolk, then a town of about 1,800 inhabitants, half of whom were his parishioners. A year later he married a minister's daughter, Sarah Mott, who bore him at least fourteen children, eight of whom survived him. Gurnall spent the rest of his life, dogged by ill-health, in this pastorate.
The years during which Gurnall served the parish at Lavenham were filled with momentous events in English history: a civil war, the beheading of King Charles I, the declaring of a protectorate under Puritan leader Oliver Cromwell, then the death of Cromwell, and the restoration of the monarchy under King Charles II. But the most significant event for Gurnall was the passing of the Act of Uniformity in 1662. He chose to remain in the Church, signed the declaration required by the Act, and was ordained a priest by the evangelical Bishop Reynolds of Norwich. His reputation amongst the Puritans consequently suffered and is probably the reason so little has been written about William Gurnall in the annals of church history.
It was during this time of civil and religious strife and controversy that Gurnall preached to his parishioners his messages on spiritual warfare. With the help of a benefactor, Gurnall published his material in three volumes between 1655 and 1662 The Christian in Complete Armour. He dedicated the first volume to the inhabitants of Lavenham.
Gurnall died on October 12, 1679, in the 63rd year of his life. The fact that a sixth edition of his work was published in the year he died is enough to show that its merits were early recognized.