Sincerity supports and comforts the soul under reproaches from men. These are no petty trials; they are reckoned among the saints\u2019 martyrdoms, Heb. 11:36, called there \u2018cruel mockings,\u2019 yea, not unworthy to be recorded among the sufferings of Christ. The matchless patience and magnanimity of his spirit appeared not only in enduring the cross, but in \u2018despising the shame,\u2019 which the foul tongues of his bloody enemies loaded him unmercifully with. Man\u2019s aspiring mind can least brook shame. Credit and applause is the great idol of men that stand at the upper end of the world for parts or place. Give but this, and what will not men do or suffer? One wiser than the rest could see this proud humour in Diogenes, that endured to stand naked, embracing a heap of snow, while he had spectators about him to admire his patience, as they thought it, and therefore was asked, \u2018whether he would do thus, if he had none to see him?\u2019 The hypocrite is the greatest credit-monger in the world; it is all he lives on almost, what the breath of men\u2019s praise sends him in; when that fails, his heart faints; but when it turns to scorn and reproaches, then he dies, and needs must, becuase he has no credit with God while he is scorned by man; whereas sincerity bears up the soul against the wind of man\u2019s vain breath, because it hath conscience, and God himself, to be his compurgator, to whom he dare appeal from man\u2019s bar. O how sweetly do a good conscience, and the Spirit of God witnessing with it, feast the Christian at such a time! and no matter for the hail of man\u2019s reproaches that rattle without, while the Christian is so merry within doors.<\/p>\n
~William Gurnall~<\/p>\n
The Christian in Complete Armour Vol. 1 (Edinburgh, Scotland; Banner of Truth; 1989) p. 395.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sincerity supports and comforts the soul under reproaches from men. These are no petty trials; they are reckoned among the saints\u2019 martyrdoms, Heb. 11:36, called there \u2018cruel mockings,\u2019 yea, not unworthy to be recorded among the sufferings of Christ. The matchless patience and magnanimity of his spirit appeared not only in enduring the cross, but…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"twitterCardType":"","cardImageID":0,"cardImage":"","cardTitle":"","cardDesc":"","cardImageAlt":"","cardPlayer":"","cardPlayerWidth":0,"cardPlayerHeight":0,"cardPlayerStream":"","cardPlayerCodec":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10781","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10781","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/14"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=10781"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10781\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10781"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=10781"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/purposedriven.ca\/wiki\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10781"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}