Selected quad for the lemma: soul_n
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A30834
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The blessed effects of true and saving faith with good counsel, vvholsome advice, and also encouragement to all Friends every where, that suffer for truth and righteousness sake / given forth by a servant of the Lord ... John Banckes.
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Banks, John, 1637-1710.
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1684
(1684)
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Wing B651; ESTC R3552
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9,717
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12
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THE Blessed Effects Of True and Saving FAITH With Good COUNSEL VVholsome ADVICE AND Also Encouragement to all Friends every where that Suffer for Truth and Righteousness Sake Given forth by a Servant of the Lord who is in a Travail for the Prosperity of Sion and that Jerusalem may become the Praise of the whole Earth known by the Name of JOHN BANCKES Let this Epistle be read in the fear of the Lord in all the Meetings of Friends both in Prison and at Liberty thorough England and where it may go or be sent elswhere Faith is the Gift of God and it Purifieth the Heart Blessed are they that suffer for Truth and Righteousness Sake for there 's is the Kingdom of Heaven LONDON Printed in the Year 1684. The Blessed Effects of True and Saving FAITH c. DEAR FRIENDS THE great Work of God in the Sons and Daughters of Men is to purifie the Heart and make clean the inward part which is through Faith in his Son Faith is the Gift of God and the work of it is to purifie the Heart and cleanse the inside from dead workes to serve him the true and living God in the newness thereof this is the great work of God in and through Faith in his Son to work out the old Leaven and mould into a new Lump to make the Heart anew the Mind heavenly and the Soul living Oh! the blessed effects of True and Saving Faith even that Faith which stands in the Power of God which as Man and Woman comes truly to the knowledge of with the Heart such comes truly to believe in God and Confession with the Mouth is made to Salvation and so gradually a casting off and forsaking every thing that is Evil whereby a learning to do well by the Teachings of the Grace thorough Faith comes more and more to be known this is the blessed Effects of true and saving Faith which true faith thorough the power of it works a true tenderness in the Heart instead of hardness and brings to true openness those that have been shut up and into a true nearness with the Lord and one with another even such that have been far seperated from him and that by Wicked Workes this is true Faith that works in the Heart to the overcoming of it which is True and Saving Faith saves them that were lost quickens them that were dead and brings them in and through the Strength and Power thereof to serve the true and living God in the newness of Life The blessed Effects of this true and saving Faith is to make Clean Pure and Holy sanctifies throughout both in Body Soul and Spirit makes a new Creature which brings to a true Knowledge What it is to be in Christ Iesus and so the Heart and Mind with the whole Affections comes to be set on things that are Heavenly Everlasting and Eternal Oh! the pure change and blessed Alteration that comes to be known herein and hereby Man that hath been unclean is made clean and Man and Women that hath been unholy and impure is made holy and pure and so in the Holy Life Holy Men and Holy Women come to worship and serve the pure Holy God in the Newness Livingness and Tenderness thereof and so according to measure whether more or less come with the Blessed Apostle to say by living experience The Life that I now live is by Faith in the Son of God Here Old things are past away and behold all things are become new the old words past away the bad Actions and vain Conversation put off which is for Judgment and Condemnation which being put off the Armour of Light and true and saving Faith comes to be put on through the blessed Effects thereof So in and thorough this true and saving Faith that stands in the Power of God Gods people come to have their Armour on whereby and because of which they are made more then Conquerors made able to withstand all the Fiery Dâ—rts of the Devil and all his Instruments both within and without are made able thorough this same Faith with the Prophet to leap over a Wall run through a Troop and to break that which is as a Bow of Steel Spiritually that otherwise to wit out of the Faith cannot be got over run through nor broken Oh! what is too hard for those that are of and in this true and saving Faith As the Author unto the Hebrews saith the 11th Chap. Vers. 22th having spoken largly of the Fruits and Effects of Faith saith he What shall I more say for the time would fail me to tell of Gideon and of Bariak and of Sampson and of Jephthar of David and also of Samuel and of the Prophets who through Faith subdued Kingdomes wrought Righteousness obtained Promises stopped the Mouths of Lyons quenched the violence of Fire escaped the Edge of the Sword out of weakness were made strong Women received their Dead raised to Life again and others were tortured not accepting of Deliverance that they might obtain a better Resurrection and others had Tryals of Cruel Mockings and Scourgings yea moreover of Bonds and Imprisonment they were stoned they were sawn asunder were Tempted were slain with the Sword they wandered about in Sheep-Skins and Goat-Skins being distitute afflicted tormented of whom the World was not worthy they wandered in Desarts and in Mountaines and in Dens and Caves of the Earth and these all have obtained a good report through Faith So Dear Friends Brethren and Sisters whereever this may come unto whom the Salutation of my Life reacheth try your selves prove your selves for that end you may know whether you be in this Faith or not whereby all these blessed Effects are wrought and brought to pass and many more to the making perfect throughout and none to content or satisfie your selves with the word Faith or with the bare Profession of Faith but carefully mind what Christ Jesus our Lord saith If thou have Faith as a grain of Mustard seed thou shalt say unto this Mountain be thou removed and it shall be so If Faith in this small measure or degree through the blessed effects of it be thus able or those whose Faith is no more thus gain Victory how much more Victory shall those obtain that keep it unto the end for it 's those that finish in that same Faith in which they have begun that shall be saved and that the Crown of Life and of Immortal Glory is laid up for But now some may say that are young in the Truth and that the Enemy may bear hard upon by Temptations I thought I had had Faith in some Measure however in the least degree and yet those things stand in my way like Mountaines that I cannot get over as yet and great Oppositions and Temptations I meet with both within and without that prevail with me Dear Friend in much tenderness doth my Soul breath unto the Lord for thy Deliverance and in order that thou may be delivered from
that great oppression of Tythes and the same day and hour I was to go to Prison were the Spoilers carrying away my Goods for no greater Crime then Worshipping and Serving the Lord my God and oh the Ioy Gladness and Rejoycing that was in my Heart and Soul that same hour and moment of time being I was truly sinsible of the cause wherefore I suffered the same being born up in my Understanding my Joy was unutterable on this wise and under this consideration That the Lord my God should not only count me worthy to believe in his Name but also to suffer for the same and in that that Christ Iesus the Son of the Fathers love suffered all to save and redeem my Soul and therefore should not I willingly offer up all I had and did enjoy in answer to what God through Christ his Son had done for me yea surely I said in my Heart I le offer up all freely I speak to his Praise and Glory and the great Encouragement of all faithful willing Sufferers whose Suffering on this wise will never be wearysome nor tedious unto you no murmuring nor complaining will take place or have room in any such a Heart as to say or think How shall I live Or how shall my Wife and Children be maintained Or my Business carryed on not to be void of an honest care in those things yet not to murmur because of the Suffering What! is not God Almighty All-sufficient for the Soul And must not he be relied upon through Christ his Son our Lord for the Salvation thereof And is not he that is all-sufficient for the Soul sufficient for the Body also yea assuredly by living experience can my Soul say and is not the Earth the Lord's and the fulness thereof And cannot he take and give according to his Good Will and Pleasure Let all remember the Patience of Iob in his still retaining his Integrity in his deep Affliction and Suffering both in Goods and Body whose Wife gave him bad Counsel in saying Wilt thou alwayes retain thine Integrity Curse God and Die but he refused it and reproved her and suffered the loss of all his Thousands of Sheep and Camels and Hundreds of Oxen all his Children and Servants yet the Lord restored him double so that it 's said The latter end of Iob was far more Happy and Blessed than the Beginning Oh! that the care of all called to suffer may be to refuse all Evil Counsel given either by Wife or Husband Kinsfolk or Relations that would perswade any to require the Lord Evil for Good and desert their Testimony in Suffering as such that would give Counsel on this wise Oh! this is but a small matter and the other is but a little thing thou mayest do it well enough or suffer another to do it fâ—r 〈◊〉 Oh! nay saith the honest-hearted and true to God I must 〈◊〉 be faithful in the little and then my Lord and Master will make me Ruler over more and that which I cannot for Conscience do my self I cannot suffer â—â—y coâ—nivingly to do it for me for this is great Hypocrisie and Dissimulation Oh! what Encouragement hath all the Faithful in Suffering to trust the Lord with all they have and do enjoy rightly to consider and mind the Patience of Iob the Faithfulness of Daniel and the Faith Courage and Nobility of Shadrach Meshach and Abednego Daniel could not but open his Window and Pray to his God though a Decree made to the contrary to cast him into the Den of Lyons the Angel of whose Presence shut their Mouths and preserved Daniel the Servant of the Living God as the King was made to call him when he saw his Faithfulness Oh! the great Encouragement that all the Faithful have in Suffering for the Kings and Rulers of the Earth with many People are made to confess We are the People of God indeed when they see us to stand faithful in our Testimony as Nebuchadnezzer was made to call the three Servants of the Lord before named Come forth ye Servants of the Most High God although before as many now will threatned that If they would not fall down and Worship the Image he had set up they should be cast into the Fiery Furnace seven times hotter then ever and who is that God that shall be able to deliver out of my Hand said he yet as the Lord had then so he hath a way now to deliver all whose Trust and Confidence is in him beyond the expectation of the Wickedest and Cruellest of Men notwithstanding their Fury and Decrees made in their Wills for Shadrach Meshach and Abednego said Be it known unto thee O King we will not serve thy Gods for our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the Burning Fiery Furnace and if not we are not careful to answer thee in this matter And so because they could not bow to the Kings Image at the sounding of several sorts of Instruments of Musick they were bound and cast into the Burning Fire with their Coats Hosen and Hatts and the Flame of the Furnace was so great that those Men that cast them in were slain thereby but not so much as one Hair of the Head of the three Faithful Servants of the Lord singed nor the smell of Fire found on their Cloaths Oh! what great Encouragement is here for all that in any measure know God to believe and trust in him in Suffering whether in Body or Goods though never so deep for hereby it 's evident and plain that the Lords always had and hath a true regard to his People who by the Angel of â—is Presence and Arm of his great Power the more need they stood and stand of him so accordingly he appears and works their Deliverance according to that saying The Rod of the Wicked shall not always ly upon the back of the Righteous and not only so but brings Plagues and Judgments upon the Heads of the Persecutors and Afflictors of his faithful Ones One Hair of whose Head saith Christ shall not fall to the ground without your Fathers Providence And although Herod the King the troubler of the Church then killed Iames and because it pleased the Iews he took Peter also and put him in Prison intending to bring him forth to the People with Wicked intents no doubt but the same Night before he so intended although Peter lay bound in Prison with two Chaines betwixt two Soldiers an Angel from God came upon him and loosed his Chains and caused the Iron-gate to open of its own accord and Paul and Silas they were put in the Inward Prison after they had been beat and sore abused and their Feet fastened in the Stocks mark in the Inner Prison where they Prayed and sang Praises unto God at Midnight and such was the wonderful Appearance of the great Power of the Mighty God that caused the Prison Doors to open that it 's said The Foundations of the Prison were shaken and when