Review #1

The Christian In Complete Amour

This was the first puritan work I have ever read. I’ve read books about Puritanism. And I’ve read books on sermons by puritans. But this is my first time reading a set by a puritan. And I must say, I’m very pleased.

This set was first published in three volumes in 1655, 1658 and 1662. All three volumes put together make it over 1,000 pages. But don’t let that intimidate you. It took me about two months to finish it (since I’m a slow reader). But I find it best, for me at least, that I can retain more of the book if I kind of read it slow and think about certain parts of the book. I also find it handy if you have someone to discuss it with you as you read it. I think if someone were to have a group study of this set, they could probably spend years within it. It’s one of those books where I felt like I wanted to highlight most of the book. However, I knew I had to be a little more choosey what I wanted to highlight. Or else It would be hard for me to go back and do some quick quotes. I’ve been doing that with my books for a few months now. I like to highlight certain parts. Then, I go back and take some time mediating upon those quotes.
Pros:

1. If you ever have read puritan works before you know they’re not the most easiest books to understand. Some are a little harder to read than others. But William Gurnall was surprisingly easy to understand most of the time. He had a few hard moments to try and wrap my brain around, but for most of the book he was very easy to read. It could just be that I was reading the modernized abridgment of his work. But I doubt it. I think that’s just the way Gurnall wrote.

2. Gurnall was a very gentle puritan. However, he was not squishy. He knew when to be stern. And when to be comforting. This is a pretty good work for those who need spiritual counseling, because they’re doubting whether they’re saved or not.

3. He uses Scripture a lot (of course, I think most of the puritans do). It’s hard to find a page where he doesn’t have a Bible reference.

4. Gurnall is very good with discussing spiritual warfare. It’s simply amazing how long Gurnall can expound upon Satan’s tricks, the evilness of sin (which puritans where good at that), the importance of reading our Bible, praying, etc, etc.

5. Would be very good for devotional reading. In Gurnall’s book he has a lot of really good life application.

6. The last piece of amour he expounds upon is “The Christian’s Sword.” And in my opinion it is the best chapter. It would be worth it to buy the whole set just for this chapter. In one section of the chapter, he explains how the Bible is indeed the holy word of God. And as you’re reading you think you’re reading an apologist. In fact, I think in some parts he did better than some apologists do today.

Cons:

1. It could just be the modernized abridgment of it, but every now and then you kind of wonder whether Gurnall believes in unconditional election and perseverance of the saints. Which you know he does believe in these great doctrines. But every now and then he says certain things that make you wonder if he does or not. So, it’s kind of confusing at certain moments.

2. Sometimes puritan works are a little hard to follow because of how they wrote. They have the main topic, then as they write about the main topic, they go expound upon an other topic, which they categorize into numbers. Then, they may go to letters. Then maybe more numbers. And at the time you’re done reading through all that you forget what they were first talking about. But if you can remember what the topic started with and the points they’re going through, you should be just fine.

3. Not too much mention of the cross. I would have liked Gurnall to take a little more time in talking about Christ and Him crucified.

Conclusion:
I got a lot of jewels from this beautiful puritan work. It may have a few cons. However, the pros outweigh them. Plus, the price is great! This is a great work, for a very affordable price. I would recommend this to every Christian.

You can buy this book in several places.

I tried to find it at Monergism.com. But for some reason I can't find it on there anymore. One of the cheapest places I found to buy it was here: http://www.heritagebooks.org/bookstore/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=5298

Or you can buy it separately at CBD if you wish: http://www.christianbook.com/Christian/Books/easy_find?Ntk=keywords&Ntt=The+Christian+In+Complete+Amour&action=Search&N=0&Ne=0&event=ESRCN&nav_search=1&cms=1&Go.x=19&Go.y=8