William Gurnall
Author of The Christian in Complete Armour, a massive exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20 on spiritual warfare that Spurgeon called the best work on the subject ever written.
Biography
William Gurnall was born in 1617 in King's Lynn, Norfolk. He was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge, graduating BA in 1635 and MA in 1639. He was ordained and became rector of Lavenham, Suffolk, in 1644, where he served for thirty-five years until his death.
Unlike many of his Puritan contemporaries, Gurnall conformed at the Restoration in 1662 and retained his living. This decision was controversial, and some Nonconformists criticized him sharply for it. But Gurnall continued his ministry at Lavenham without interruption, and his preaching and pastoral work were highly regarded.
Gurnall is known almost entirely for a single work: The Christian in Complete Armour, published in three volumes between 1655 and 1662. The work is an exposition of Ephesians 6:10-20, the passage on the whole armor of God. It runs to over 1,200 pages in modern editions and covers every aspect of spiritual warfare with extensive practical application.
Gurnall died in 1679 in Lavenham.
Life & Career
Why Gurnall Matters
Gurnall's contribution was narrowly focused but extraordinarily deep. The Christian in Complete Armour is the most extensive treatment of spiritual warfare in the Puritan tradition, and possibly in all of English Protestant literature.
Gurnall treated each piece of the spiritual armor (truth, righteousness, gospel readiness, faith, salvation, the word, and prayer) as an occasion to explore the entire range of Christian doctrine and experience. The result is a work that functions simultaneously as a doctrinal treatise, a devotional guide, and a manual for pastoral counseling.
Spurgeon recommended the work above all others to ministerial students and said he had read it through multiple times. Its length has limited its readership, but those who engage with it consistently rank it among the finest works of Puritan practical divinity.
