the end God may be glorified and our Souls after all Trials and sore Exercises are ended may be everlastingly comforted Dear Friends By this you may see that I do not forget you though so weakly in body that I cannot visit you yet am with you in spirit and as long as we abide in the precious Truth the Spirit of Truth writes us as Epistles in one another's hearts that cannot be forgotten and in the same I dearly salute you and bid you farewel in the Lord Jesus though in this World ye have many besetments yet unto his tender compassionate care I commit our Cause and unto the Protection of his Almighty Power do I commend you with my own Soul henceforth and for evermore Your Sister in the heavenly Relation J. V. Chawlow 1st of the 6th Month. 1683. Concerning her Journey into Ireland Dear Friends BY this the blessed Truth and them that love it may be cleared that have unity with me in my Service for I have a witness in every heart that I may appeal unto but them that take no heed to the Spirit of God the true witness in their own hearts can have no experience of the work of it in others and therefore no marvel if they wonder and perish as said the Apostle though they say daily and weekly and year after year it is their duty to love and fear and obey God with all their hearts with all their souls and with all their strength yet so far are they from doing of it that they are ready to cast Aspersions on those that do and though it 's written in the Liturgy of the Church of England that it is their Duties yet they will not wait upon Jesus to receive power to perform their Duties and therefore they abide in unbelief and disobedience not considering their time is short and the work of Sanctification is great Oh how dangerous a thing will it be to have such a weighty work to do when there is no time to do it Well said the Apostle Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling was that the way then and is it become ridiculous now that so many are so much averse to it Oh where are the Mockers and Scoffers and Persecutors of our Age Who are hearing and reading the Scriptures without Understanding Oh that they would take heed to that which reproves for evil that their Understandings might be opened by it for that is the Spirit that the holy Men were inspired with that gave forth the Scriptures and until the hearts of People be turned to it their understandings are so darkened that they cannot see the state of their own Souls much less understand the holy Scripture and therefore we need not care what such can say or do against us who truly fear the Lord for our reward is from him and we have good cause to serve him and seek to exalt his blessed Truth by preferring it above all things though Relations may be near and dear yet to part with them and natural Life and all is but my reasonable Service if my God require it for I have found him a bountiful Master and no respecter of Persons but them that truly fear him and work righteousness do find acceptance with him and that is more to a Remnant then to find acceptance with all the Potentates of the World for their favour will not procure peace with God neither can those live in God's holy heart-cleansing fear that offends him to please Man and in vain will it be for any to hope to die in favour with God and not live so in his fear as not to offend him and notwithstanding all the talk of loving the Lord Jesus and fearing him yet there 's none doth it but them that leave off doing evil and learn to do well and such keeps his holy Commands which are not grievous but joyous to them when the Lord doth enlarge their hearts then can they run the way of his Commands with great delight but while Man or Woman standeth at a distance from that good Spirit that God hath in his tender love given them to profit withal they cannot be sensible of the Lord's enlarging their hearts nor of his working in them both to will and to do of his own good pleasure therefore let all have regard to the work of God's Holy Spirit in their own hearts that they may come to be sensible of the goodness of the Lord and the mighty works that he does for their Souls and from a living experience invite others to come and tast and see for themselves how good our God is for of a truth he is good unto his Israel that are of an upright heart in his sight and they can say of a truth That one day in his Courts is better than a thousand years in the Kings Palaces and in the presence of the Lord is the fulness of our Soul's joy and at his right hand is durable riches and pleasures for evermore and indeed it is weighty to consider how many are preferring the honour of Man before the honour of God and earthly riches before the heavenly treasure And how eagerly do Mankind press after outward gain and slightly esteems the gain of godliness though with content it is the greatest gain of all But my dear Friends you that can do nothing against the Truth but for the Truth I leave these lines with you that the weak may not be turned out of the way nor the feeble caused to stumble by any false Asperson that the Devil through his Instruments may be permitted to cast upon me for the Truths sake For I have given no just cause to any to speak evil of me but if any should take occasion to speak evil of the Precious Truth because of my serving it let them know that for this cause it was made known unto me that I might truly serve it and not my self and if they that are Carnally minded would do so they would then indeed know that to be Carnally minded is Death but to be Spiritual minded is Life and Peace and true Contentment And this I write as one that has had a woful experience of the enmity that lodges in the carnal mind and a good experience and priviledge that redownds to the Souls of the Spiritual Minded and do earnestly desire that those that are carnal and sold under Sin as the Apostle said may turn unto that which is to say the enmity for it is night unto every one it s the Word of the Lord which is the Sword of his Spirit and as a Hammer to break down the partition-wall of Sin which separates the Soul from the presence of the Lord and it must be known so to be before Men can be fit to receive the things of God and thus may People come to see between things that differ and not call good evil and evil good and put darkness for light and light for darkness as too many do by which
we were very weak and supported when we were very needy Hath not our Heavenly Father's love been sufficient to engage our hearts to faithfulness Oh that it may be as an Obligation to every one of us to keep to the Gospel-light and to live the Gospel-life and to love the Gospel-order for our God is a God of Order and he affords precious Opportunities to wait upon him and if we abide in a good sense of his love we shall not forget our times and hours to wait for the seasons of the Lord for they are so sweet to the thirsty Soul that it cannot be satisfied without them and therefore many times thinks it long ere the Meeting-day come that it might be replenished with the vertue of Christ Jesus the Head and strengthened with the rest of the Members for as we truly gather in his Name praises thereunto he hath made us partakers of his Divine Nature Oh how hath he bedewed our Souls and caused our Cups to overflow when the arisings of his Eternal Power hath been felt among us to rebuke the Enemy and keep him back that would have hindred us from serving the precious Truth and prevented us of the Priviledge of our Women's-Meeting Oh that we may now take heed that we give him no advantage by slighting the Mercies of our tender God or neglecting of our Duties but that in the remembrance of his tender Mercies and Fatherly Love we may double our diligence in our places of Service that our God may be honoured feared and obeyed by us all that we may receive the blessed and sure Reward in the end when time here as to us shall be no more and be in safety from all harms for ever and for evermore So be it saith the Soul of your dear Sister in that which is strength to the weak and help to the helpless that Sea nor Land cannot separate Joan Vokins From the County of Wexford in Ireland the 26 of the seventh Month 1686. POSTSCRIPT SO dear hearts by this you may know that my tender God is still exceeding good unto me and manifests his great Power and it is admirable in my eyes that I am yet alive to tell of his wondrous works but blessed be his worthy Name he preserves me by his Almighty Power and in his tender love provides for me Since I gave up all he is more to me than all Glory to his Name and magnified be his preserving and delivering Power my Soul hath every day cause to say for he hath done great and wonderful things for my Soul and weak Body else I had not been alive at this day but still am I an object of his tender pity and do hope so I shall be the remainder of my little time a Monument to his Praise Many sensible Friends here are tendered in the sense of God's love when they see me travel in so much weakness and I hope that you and I shall praise his Name together and magnifie his Eternal Power though in Person far asunder for it is worthy to be magnified as it hath been manifested for if that had failed we had failed but because that lives our Souls live to speak well of the Name of our God who is above all Gods and there is none like unto him it is honour to us sufficient to serve him for his Reward is sure and blessed be his worthy Name he makes me a partaker daily of the gain of Godliness with contentment which is a continual Feast Your Sister in my measure J. V. To her Children AFter my dear Love to my Husband This is to signifie my tender Love to the precious Truth by my Motherly Care for my Children that whether I live or die you may be careful and take heed that you do not stain the Testimony of Truth that you have received by wearing of Needless Things and following the World's Fashions in your Cloathing and Attire but remember how I have bred you up and consider what manner of persons you ought to be now you are come to years of understanding that you may not grieve the Spirit of the Lord nor Me nor any of his dear Children but that you may walk as becomes the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may be good Examples to others and Patterns of Plainness and Uprightness in your Conversations among all People then will the Blessing of the Lord attend you and it will be well with you in this World and in that which is to come then shall God be honoured and my Soul with yours and with the Souls of all his tender ones that desires the same be comforted and Truth promoted over all and then you will have cause to say with me That its Excellency far transcends all that the World can afford and will endure when that shall pass away And therefore forget not the Spirit of it in your Hearts but take good heed unto it at your Down-lying and at your Up-rising that you with me may have the benefit of that Promise of the Lord who said he would be with his children at their down-lying and commune with them at their up-rising and in this the day of his great love he is nigh unto his Children and delights in them that abides in a watching and a waiting frame and takes councel of his Divine Spirit But woe unto them that takes councel but not of me saith the righteous God and cover with a covering but not of my spirit And dear Hearts the day is come that all false Coverings will be found too short and too narrow to hide from the Wrath of the Almighty and them that are truly the Children of the Lord shall be covered under the Wing of his Eternal Power from the Jaw of the strong Destroyer though he may cast in Floods of Temptations and may try by Subtilty to betray Innocency yet dear Hearts look not at that lest your Faith should fail but look unto the Almighty Power of God and wait to receive it and believe in it and keep to the measure already received that will make way for you to escape the Temptations when you cannot help your selves and have no other to depend upon Oh then how have he appeared for me and manifested his preserving and delivering Power Oh let your Souls with mine magnifie it for is it worthy and that for evermore Truth is the same here as in England and Friends do not suffer the World's Fashions to be followed for both Men and Women here do go plain in their Apparel according to Truth in a comely manner the Women do not attire their Heads setting their Clothes aloft imitating the World's Fashions wearing any needless things nor in a needless manner And some publick Friends from hence are going for England in the service of Truth and more to go and they will be grieved to see Friends Children stain the Truth by attiring themselves not in modest Apparel and it would also be a great grief to
door keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the pleasantest palace of the Wicked For until I through tender mercy had unity with Jesus in his divine Spirit of Light my Soul could have no true satisfaction though never so self-righteous but when the heart-searching Light made manifest my condition my heart was so affected with it that I still desired the operation of the power of it and as I came to watch in the measure of it I became aware of the enemy and through Faith in Christ Jesus obtained a waiting state which could not be obtained by me but as I felt the Almighty Power to rebuke the subtil enemy that lies so nigh but as we are commanded to watch we find great benefit by keeping that command And magnified be that wonderful power that has preserved in dangers deep and difficulties many there is nothing too hard for it to do it has often rebuked the destroyer and helped the helpless and strengthen the weak and supported the needy and as we have waited for it we have been partakers of the arising of it to our comfort when our Souls have been in a desolate condition when we cold not help our selves nor had none to help us Oh! how hath it wrought by Sea and Land among false Brethren it hath so signally preserved and wrought deliverances many somtimes by ways unexpected surely its worthy to be trusted in and depended upon and magnified as it hath been manifested my Soul hath cause to say to the Honour and Renown of it for its perfect strength hath been my support in every great weakness and in its strength I have travelled many thousands of Miles by Land and many thousand Leagues by Sea through many and sore exercises both inwardly and outwardly and it hath raised my Soul from Death and my Body many times from the brink of the Grave oh let it have the honour of its own Works saith my Soul for it is worthy for it will make the strong to bow and the weak to be as David and it is worthy to be extolled in a wonderful manner for no heart can be too much affected with it there is al-sufficiency in it to relieve the poor and to incourage the feble though there be much to be met with in our Heavenly prayers yet here is a sure defence in stormy times wherein glory unto it I have found shelter when many times in a weary condition by reason of exercise of Soul and Spirit and weakness and pain of Body Oh! how many hundred Miles have I travelled in this the Land of my Nativity and thousands elsewhere in such a condition not having many well Days in many Years together but yet have good cause to say to the honour and renown of the sanctifying power of the God of my life blessed be the Lord Jesus his Rod and Staff has comforted me and he is always with me and I have cause to admire the tender dealing of my Heavenly Father for he hath exercised me in the deep and made his wonders known And I have cause to speak well of his worthy Name for it hath been as oyntment powred into my poor wounded Soul and it was also so much comfort and strength to my weak body that I can tenderly invite others to come and tast and see how good that name is that brings salvation that those that desire for it may obtain it for as the heart comes to be bowed unto the powerful Name of Jesus and the Soul and Spirit comes to be gathered into a sense of the great love of God there will then be felt a necessity to serve and obey the God of all our Mercies And this was with me when in great weakness when temptations came in as a flood and the buffetings of the enemy was ready to overcome Oh Blessed and Magnified and Renowned over all be that Everlasting Power that wrought a resignment so effectually and caused me to cast my care upon him that always careth for his children who is the holy one and dwelleth in the highest Heavens and takes regard to them of low degree for he has been more to me then all that this World can produce and hath fulfilled many precious Scriptures and hath not been wanting as a tender Father but his mercies of old and the continuation of his favours and the renewing of his tender dealing have deeply obliged me to glorifie him unto the end and in the end for evermore for he is worthy for he hath redeemed my Soul from out of the grave of Sin and Death and now may I say to the praise and honour and renown of his powerful Name that to live is Christ and to die is so much gain that my soul is deeply affected in a true Consideration of the same oh that my posterity and friends for whom my soul hath so long breathed and travelled may be so concerned that every one may be made partakers of the like precious faith with me while on the stage of this World that we may leave a faithful Testimony behind that the generations to come may be induced thereby to fear and serve the Lord for he is a sure rewarder of all them that are diligent in so doing not only in this Worâ—â— but in that which is to come with Life â—â—â—â—â—â—sting World wtthout end Amen Joan Vokins This was written a few Months before her decease about the 1st Month 1690. To William Cooper and his Wife dwelling in West-Jersey near Delaware-River not far from Burlington These are DEar and tender friends William Cooper and M. my love in the unchangable Truth salutes you and in the same I still desire your welfare as my own with all that holds fast their integrity and retains their first love they are as near and dear unto me as ever and my entire love truly reaches to them all and so I desire thou mayest let them know if they have received my Letters and Epistles for I have sent several but my kindsman dying by the way makes me question whether what I sent did ever come to any of your hands for I sent to you and to S. Spicer and to Lidia Wright as was and to her Husband and to her Sister Mary Andrews and to several others in Pensilvania side as well as on that side and I should be very glad to hear of your welfare in the Lord Jesus for that my soul still travels as truly as when I was amongst you Oh that your faithfulness and living obedience may ingage our Heavenly Father to answer the breathing desires of my Soul for you in those remote places for I cannot forget you but the cry often runs through me for your preservation and prosperity every way and that the honour of Truth and the good one of another may be preferred far more then all other things that our nearness and dearness unto our tender God and one unto another may be felt and witnessed that we may praise his
us it was very Acceptable and Edifying to the Sincere Hearted that Loved the Truth Her Innocent Life and Conversation lives in our Remembrance and the sense of the Loving Kindness of the Lord is worthy to be retained and kept in mind by all his People which was largely and admirably manifested in preserving and upholding of her through many and great Exercises and Tryals in her Service and Travels in the Work of the Lord even when great Pains and Weaknesses of Body were upon her which did very much attend her all along since and sometime before the Lord was pleased to call her forth in his Service but being born up by his Spirit she was given up in his Will to be at his Dispose and did not look at her own Weakness but was preserved in the true Patience having her Faith standing in the Blessed Power of the Lord that failed not her Afflictions being Rightly Sanctified unto her so that she was made able tho in many Pains and Weaknesses of Body to undergo and perform the Service the Lord called her unto with Chearfulness and it was her Joy to see Friends prosper in the Truth and altho her bodily Presence and Speech did seem Weak yet her Testimony and Writing was Weighty and Powerful for the Lord in the riches of his Love had made her a partaker of Heavenly Treasure in her Earthen Vessel which I have heard her often acknowledg taking nothing to her self but Ascribed the Glory and Excellency of the Power to be the free Gift of God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Her care was great concerning the young Generation Exhorting them to be inwardly staid in their Minds that they might grow up in the Love and Life of Truth so as to feel the work of it effected in their own Hearts that they might come up to serve the Lord and succeed their Heavenly minded Parents who had finished their Course and weare at Rest in the Lord. And so now seeing it hath pleased the Lord to take unto himself this our dear Friend who hath done the work of her day in Faithfulness and is entred into everlasting Rest and Peace with the Lord to Sing praise and Hallelujah's to his Holy Name for ever and for ever more So desiring that we who are left a little behind may prize our time so as to walk in the Foot-steps of the Faithful that are gone before who have sought a City as Faithful Abraham did whose Builder and Maker is the Lord. Cirencester the 11th of the 2d Month. 1691. Mary Drewet Concerning our Dear and Tender Mother Joan Vokins who departed this Life the 22 d of the 5th Month 1690. at Reading in the County of Berks at our Friend John Buy 's House SHE being come from London homewards it pleased the Lord to put a stop to her Journey and take her to himself out of all Troubles and from her many sore Pains which her poor Body was afflicted with She was one that did truly fear the Lord and sought the Prosperity of his precious Truth above all the Glory and Honour of this World Whensoever the Lord was pleased to send her forth in his Service she went without murmuring believing the Lord would carry her through it though weak in Body who did enable her to bear a faithful Living Testimony to his Name in this her Native Land and in places remote beyond the Seas as in Barbadoes and in other parts of America and in Ireland through great Exercises in Patience and Chearfulness it being as Meat and Drink to her to do his Will She was one that had a great Care in her Family of us her Children that we might be nurtur'd and brought up in the Fear of the Lord and have a true Regard unto him and his precious Truth above all things in this World This was her earnest Desire and Prayer to the Lord for us That we might be his Children that so we might truly answer the End for which we were created And now though we cannot but sorrow for the loss of so near and dear a Mother as she was to us both inwardly and outwardly in giving us good Counsel to Edification from our Childhood But since it hath pleased the Lord to take her to himself and considering she hath laid down her Head in the Faith and full Assurance of Eternal Happiness it doth out-ballance all she having ceased from her Labours is at rest with the Lord who is worthy of Praises and Honour for evermore Richard Vokins jun. Hopeful Vokins Samuel Burgis Elizabeth Vokins Mary Lockey Sarah Lawrence Hannah Burgis An Account given by Richard Vokins junior of some Words that his dear Mother spoke to him on her Dying Bed Viz. SON MY Weakness is great and my Pains very strong but the Lord is large in his Love to me and good to me he gives me Patience to bear my Pains which are strong Ah Son I have learned a good Lesson Paul's Lesson in all States to be content and now I have nothing to do but to die So putting forth her Hand to take her Leave of me further said Son Remember the Lord and he will remember thee And remember my Love to thy Wife and to all my Children And after a little stop being weak and her Speech low spoke these Words again Remember the Lord and he will remember you and be you faithful to him and he will bless you and you shall be blessed Richard Vokins This is my Testimony concerning my dear Sister Joan Vokins SHE was a True and Faithful Labourer in the Churches of God where it was her Care that all Things might be kept Sweet and Clean Decent and in Order as becomes the Blessed Truth she having chosen the One thing needful which is the better part that shall never be taken away and being given up to follow the Lord faithfully in his Work and Service Her Prayer often in Publick was That the Lord would subdue Death and Darkness out of our Meetings and Families and we might come to witness him to be a Fountain of Life unto us She was very tender-hearted kind and Loving willing to do good unto all and hath left a good Savour behind her who though dead yet liveth Daniel Bunce An Epistle to Friends writ first of all which came to hand after the fore going was thus collected together UPON the Third Day of the Eleventh Month 1669 as I lay very sick in my Bed I felt the everlasting blessed powerful Life to arise and spring up in my Heart which gave Dominion over my bodily weakness and caused me to write these few Lines unto you that so we may consider the large Love of our God and praise his holy Name together Dear Friends the tender Bowels of God's Love dearly yearns towards you all and in his Light hath he made it manifest therefore it greatly concerns you all with the pure Light to make diligent search into the very bottom of your Hearts whether
Friends at and nigh Colebrook and Longford Meeting and thereaway Dear Frinds I Having you often in mind thought it long before I could send a few Lines having kept my Bed this three Months or more and have not been able to write and I am very weak still I could not go from my Bed But hearing of an opportunity have in much weakness written that which lay most upon my Mind which is for the building of you up in the most Holy Faith and encouraging of you in Well-doing Oh my dear and tender Friends feel the tender Love of the God of Love that we may magnifie his Name together though at a distance in Person O the unutterable Loving-Kindness of our God what Tongue can declare it how hath he preserv'd us provided for us hitherto beyond what our hearts could desire Hath he not done that for us which none other could do Hath he not delivered out of Dangers deep and Difficulties many Or hath he been ever wanting to us in doing us good Oh surely no but he hath multiplied his Mercies and encreased Blessings frequently and freely as he in his Wisdom sees what is most convenient for us and if he please to feed us with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Adversity yet let us to his Teachings keep that we may learn to profit thereby Have not the trials and exercises of our Faith and Patience brought us to a good Experience of the Love of our God O let us keep a narrow watch over our Hearts that the Enemy may not subtilly creep in under any pretence for if he be harkened to he will weaken the Faith and Unbelief will enter and then the murmuring Spirit will be ready to charge the Lord foolishly Oh dear Hearts our tender Father is not wanting but is a present help in all our needs therefore let it be the whole and sole bent of our minds to perform our Duties unto him Oh up and be doing for the time is come that none must be idle but all that would have the wages of well-doing must be faithful every one in his place and none to make excuses for Châ—â—st our Head is full of Virtue and Strength and Might and ready to communicate to all his Members a suitable and seasonable supply at all times and if we as diligent Servants wait on him our tender Master he will discover our particular Duties and shew us what is required of us Oh let us go on with Courage unanimously that we may be helpful one unto another and so bring honour to our Head that we may feel his Power supporting of us upon all occasions that we may not doubt nor faint in our Minds by reason of the buffettings of the power of Darkness but through the Faith in Christ Jesus we may obtain Victory over all that would hinder the prosperity of Truth and keep it under for Truth must reign and the Lord will be honoured in the dominion thereof And he will sweep the Nation with the Beesom of his Wrath and the Hypocrites shall be tried and fear shall surprize them and woe will be to them that are at ease in Sion but well will it be with them who think nothing too dear to part with for the Truth sake whose Hearts are singly resigned to serve the Lord with all that he hath given them which is no more but our reasonable Duties which we have good cause diligently to perform unto the end that we may daily feel the vertue of Life continued and renewed to us unto the end and in the end a double reward which our God hath prepared for all that hold out and endure thereunto Blessed be his Holy Name for ever and for evermore Dear Friends feel me in that which thinks no evil and in it receive my Salutation that it may reach unto the same in you that we may breath one for another and be refreshed as Members of one Body We cannot say one unto another I have no need of thee for there is work for us all in the Vineyard Oh let us be diligent while we have time that we may receive our Peny of Life to the comforting of our Souls every day for we do not serve a hard Master So in that which engages to his service do I bid you farewell The 1st of the 6th Month 1678. Your Friend in that which engages our Hearts to serve our God faithfully without any reserve J. V. Some account given forth by Joan Vokins of the great Goodness and Mercy of the Lord towards her and of the wonderful Works that he hath done for her conducing to his Glory and her great Joy and Comfort Written with her own Hand a few Months before her decease as followeth SOmthing of the tender dealing of the Lord with me ever since my Childhood for blessed be his Name he preserved me from many Evils that Youth is often ensnared with and by his Light that I then had no acquaintance with shewed me the vanity and vain Customs of the World when I was very young and all along my youth his Good Spirit did still strive with me to preserve me from Sin and Evil And if I had at any time through persuasion of others gone to that they called Recreation I should be so condemned for passing away my precious time that I could have no peace so that I could take no delight in their Pastime but was still condemned And many times I cried to the Righteous God to reveal his way unto me and I promised to walk therein whatever I endured For the snares of the World the Lord was pleased to discover and in some measure to make known the Cross of Jesus that Crucifies unto the World and as I enclined to take it up and follow Jesus through the many Tribulations he endowed me with his Almighty Power wherein hath been my help blessed be his Worthy Name for ever for his Loving-Kindness never fails but his Mercies endure for ever and his great Compassion and tender Dealing towards my Soul when in Darkness and under the Region of the Shadow of Death is never to be forgotten for it hath been largely extended unto me when in deep distress When my cry was often Lord reveal thy Way unto me that I may walk therein whatever I undergo But when I found the way so strait and narrow I could very willingly have turned aside for ease for Flesh and Blood could not bear that which I had then to undergo but blessed and renowned be the Spirit of Truth my Comforter which leads into all Truth for when I was in a dejected condition about Reprobation and Election neither Priest nor Professor could open the Mystery of Election and Reprobation but the Spirit of Light and Life which is the Spirit of Jesus opened my Understanding and revealed the Mystery of the two Seeds how that the one is for ever blessed and the other cursed And also what Happiness might be received by taking
what Church that was for I had spoken in the true Church many times amongst God's People and they did not hinder me and he said Paul spoke against a Womans speaking in the Church I asked him what Woman that was and what Church that was that she should not speak in and he did not answer me but went away and a Woman Friend that was with me took hold of him and said My Friend answer the Womans question and the Dutch People were coming from their worship the while but the Priest put off his Hat to us and busled away and afterwards endeavoured to send me to Prison but the God of Power who preserved me when much Evil hath been intended prevented him that he could not prevail with the Mayor but he endeavoured to harm the Friends of that place after that I was gone And after the first Day Meeting was over I went the beginning of the Week to some other Meetings and came again a fourth Day and God's Power was over all and Friends had no harm and we had another Heavenly Meeting and so I came away and left Friends peaceable and all was well blessed be the Lord and magnified be his preserving Power over all for evermore Amen saith my Soul J. V. I was informed that the Priest above specified did do his endeavour to stir up Persecution against Friends and put the Mayor to some trouble for not punishing me but therein he did nor could do no more than manifest his own Malice and what Birth he was of The Lord had set his Bounds J. V. IN all this long Journey this I can say to the Honour and Glory of my tender God and to the Praise of his Providential Power and be it known to all That altho' I had none to accompany me of my own or Friends providing yet the Lord so ordered it that I had still some honest Woman or Maiden Friend both by Sea Land In the first Vessel that ever I was in I had an honest ancient maiden Friend namely Sarah Yoaklet who was my Companion from London until I came to Long-Island And then in New-England one Lydia Wright another faithful Friend was willing to travel with me and did accompany me a considerable time and still the Lord so ordered it that when ever one left me that another was ready to take her place to be my Companion And when I returned home there came with me an ancient Maiden Friend who had been out in those Countries in the service of Truth six Years whose name was Margaret Kerby and on the 3d of the 4th Month 1681 I arrived safely at Dover in the County of Kent where I was three Weeks in the service of Truth And after that blessed and renowned be the Holy Name of Jesus I came to London and after a little time spent in visiting Friends at London I came safe home And as I pondered weightily and beheld the Preservation of me and mine and the manifold Mercies that we received when so far remote one from another my Heart was truly tendered in the sense of my Heavenly Father's Love and my Soul magnified the Preserving and Delivering Power and the cry run through me Lord God of my Life let me and mine never forget thy Goodness for it is wonderfully to be admired and thy unexpressible Love to be considered by all those unto whom it hath been so largely extended And as I consider our nothingness and thy tenderness towards us I cannot but abhor self and breath unto thee that I and mine may for ever hold self in no reputation and follow Jesus through the daily cross wherein I through tender Mercy have found power when of my self I could do nothing whereby to fulfil what was required of me but self was very ready to hinder me as the self-seeking Spirit is always those that are not aware of it And therefore I desire above all things that I and mine whom the Lord hath been so good unto may be watchful and in order thereunto I commit all unto that God of Power that hath preserved hitherto and is able to keep and preserve unto the end To whom be all Glory and Praise for evermore Amen J. V. A Letter writen at Gravesend to Friends of the Womens Meeting by J. V. when she was going to Sea for her long Journy The 24th of the 12th Month 1679. DEar and well-beloved Sisters my Love and Life Salutes you even in a sense of the tender Love of my Heavenly Father do I embrace you and greatly encourage you to keep your Womens Meetings and keep up your Testimonies every one in your places for every one hath a Testimony for the Pure God tho' not in Words yet in the Word of Life which hath quickened our Souls and powerfully operated thereon even in our Womens Meeting Hath not the sense of it been sufficient to engage our Hearts to serve him and to bare our faithful Testimony for him in Purity of Life and Conversation that his Name may be honoured and the precious Truth propagated For this you know how long hath been the travail of my Soul amongst you and I hope it will be the travail of yours in my absence that if ever we see one anothers Faces again it may be with Joy and not with Sorrow So let your Breathings be for my Welfare in the Lord Jesus as mine are for you for had it not been to keep Covenant with my God I could not have given up my weak Body to the Sea but in my long and sore Exercises I often promised the Pure God that I would give up my Life as a Sacrifice if he would accept of it and now he hath tried me and if he please to take it it is but my reasonable service to offer it up to him but I did intend you should have had more timely knowledge of it but that I could not tell whether it might have been taken of me therefore I forbore speaking of it publickly till at length I could not come back but now in the universal Love of God do I take my leave of you all not knowing whether I may see you again or not Remember my dear Love to the Brethren whose Labour of Love and Work of Faith is for the Propagating of the precious Truth And the Lord God Eternal keep us all close unto himself in that which neither Sea nor Land can separate for in it my Love doth truly reach unto you all being clear in the sight of my God of all service save only this which my Life lies engaged for Here I stand resigned to live or die in the Will of my God and so I desire him to keep me to the end And dear Friends be Valiant for the Truth that it may not be undervalued through a cowardly creeping Libertine Spirit for that hath done too much hurt already stand over it I beseech you all and quit your selves like faithful Soldiers fighting under the Banner of Love
Hearts let us be singly resigned unto our God for I can truly say his Love is most deeply of an engaging Nature for by it I have been preserved from great Dangers Perils by Sea and Perils by Land and Perils amongst false Brethren but out of them all his mighty Power delivered me and I am yet alive to magnifie it Glory and Honour and Everlasting Praises be unto his Name for evermore saith my Soul for he daily filleth my Heart therewith and makes me able to do his Service beyond Expectation and he is not wanting to communicate to my Soul Glory to his worthy Name but his Reward is in my Bosom which glads my Heart and refreshes my Soul and upholds my weak Body that I am not without hopes of seeing you again for I have cause to say There is nothing impossible unto my God I have been most of this Winter upon the roaring Seas Two Months at a time and saw no Land and my Clothes were not off Two Nights all that time so far as I can remember and there was no conveniency for my weak Body There were French and Dutch and Irish and Barbarians and English and I had fore Exercises amongst them both inwardly and outwardly but yet I had good Service also amongst them and they did confess to the Power of my God And altho they were most of them very wicked yet they were chained by it and the Passengers were kind to me for the Truth 's sake and when it pleased the Lord to bring us to Land we arrived at the Island of Antego in the West Indies and there I found a precious People and had Two Meetings a Day for a Week with White People and Blacks and on the 7th Day is their Childrens Meetings and they have also Mens and Womens Meetings and the Gospel-Order is established and establishing in those remote Islands Glory to God for ever And they teach their Children G. F's Catechism And we went aboard the Ship again designing for Barbadoes but that small Vessel was so heavy laden that we could not get from the West Indies but kept up and down another Month that the Passengers were all weary for Water grew scarce and stinking and I was very weak And when we came to another Island we that were Passengers were willing to go a-shoar but the Vessel did not enter there and then my Exercise was very great for I had great drawings to go there and then the Weight of my Service there remained with me And a few Days after we bore up and went to another Island where there was no Friends and there I went a-shore and some of the other Passengers and I knew no person there the Inhabitants were most part Irish and I was almost spent when I came there but the Lord was exceeding good and comforted me every way and I got a passage back again to Antego and it remained with me to go to the Island of Nevice and I could not be clear of the Weight of it and when I had been sweetly refreshed through the Love of my God amongst them again at Antego way was made for me to go from thence to Nevice and an honest Widow went along with me who was very helpful to me and we had good Service amongst the Blacks and Whites and she remembers her Love to you all and her Prayers are with mine unto the Lord for you And now we are clear of Nevice and going again to Antego and do hope the Lord will make way for me to be at Barbadoes ere long for I do understand it is but a Weeks Sail or Two at most if the Wind sit fair When we came from New York they spoke of but Three or Four Weeks Voyage to Barbadoes and we came out thence about the time called Michaelmas and I have not seen it yet I sent you many Letters from thence when I came away by which you may know my Service in New England and the time when I came away from thence I do not know whether you received any of my Letters but I have taken all opportunities I could both by Sea and Land to send I met with a Vessel upon the Sea the last Letter that I sent and she was bound for London I do long to hear of your Welfare but I do not blame you that I receive no Lines except you could tell whither to direct them I have not seen one of my Native Land that I knew since I came forth But the Lord is with me and unto his preserving Power I commit you with my self and all the tender ones that Amalek's Spirit may not hurt the hinder part of the Flock nor turn the weak out of the way Dear Hearts let 's be single unto God that our Understandings may be opened and kept open that no subtle Spirit may betray our Innocency And let us never forget the Watch and if we fulfil that Command God will be honoured and our Souls comforted for ever and for ever and for evermore Forget not your Family-Meeting on First Days at Evening let not any thing hinder Written in the Island of Nevice the 11th of the 11th Month 1680. J. V. And in the same Letter there were a few Lines added to her Son Thomas Vokins being then an Apprentice with William Gibson in London Dear Son T. V. MY Love salutes thee and thy dear Master and Mistriss and all the faithful in Christ Jesus earnestly desiring your Welfare as my own And dear Heart let thy honest Endeavours answer the Desires of my Heart for my Soul 's breathing is that thou maist be kept low and chaste that thou maist fear at all times that thou maist do as Joseph did that could not sin against his God Oh dear Son it is a precious thing to feel the Awe of the Lord upon thy Heart Oh that this may be thy State that thou maist be found watching unto Prayer and continue in the same that thou maist witness Preservation from all the Enemies Snares and that thy Mind may be stayed in the Light to wait for the Incomes of Life that thou maist live to God and seek his Kingdom and the righteousness thereof and then thou need'st not fear but all things else will be added And I hope thy Diligence and Faithfulness to God and unto thy Master and Mistriss will increase their Love to thee So hoping thou wilt take good Counsel and bring forth the Fruit thereof to the Honour of our precious God and to all our Comforts This is from thy tender Mother J. V. An Epistle to Friends of New York and there-away Dear and well-beloved Friends THese Lines are left to your weighty Consideration in this Season whilst opportunity doth present for Times and Seasons are in our Father's Hand and we know not how soon he may put a period to our days and therefore we are all concerned to seek the propagation of the precious Truth whose Excellency far exceeds the purest Gold and the
Gain thereof far transcendeth all earthly Treasure Oh let it be our greatest care to be affected with it that we may say with the Apostle in a living sense thereof That Godliness with contentment is the greatest Gain for we right well know that no other Gain is profitable for our everlasting welfare neither will any thing else stand us instead when our God calls for an Account of our Talents and therefore let it be the bent of our Hearts and the inclinations of our Minds to improve them that we may give our Account with joy that our God may be honoured and our Souls comforted when this momentary Pilgrimage shall be ended and all our Troubles and Exercises forgotten where the fulness of that which we have already the earnest of being an hundred-fold better than any thing we have parted with for it and if we should be yet tried to part with all even Life and all it 's but our reasonable Service to give it up all to him from whom we have received it for what have we that is good but what we have received of him and what is it that he is not worthy of Is not his Love sufficient to engage our hearts to his Service Have he not delivered us in Dangers deep and Difficulties great and brought us through many and sore Distresses And hath he not made us Partakers of many precious Promises Endless Praises be to his most holy Name saith my Soul The feeling of his sweet refreshing Life that he communicates to my Soul is a hundred-fold better than Husband and Children or any other outward Mercies that he hath made me partaker of though very near and dear unto me And now dear Friends the Scriptures are a fulfilling in us therefore let our earnest that we have received engage our hearts to our Master's work that we may receive the fulness of that which we already have an earnest of for we have not a hard Master to serve but behold he comes and his reward is with him Oh let 's wait for him to enlarge our hearts more and more then shall we love to propagate his Truth and run the way of his Commandments with joy and great delight that we may all witness the fulfilling of that sweet Promise of a hundred-fold in this life and afterwards the great and double reward of the Faithful which is the joy of the Soul in the Life which is everlasting And so dear Friends let us all keep a narrow watch over our hearts that the Spirit of this World do not creep in to draw the Mind from that which did at first convince us for that is as precious as ever and never waxes old and therefore let our zeal for it never wax cold but let us prize all opportunities to assemble together that we may feel our hearts enclin'd singly to wait that we may receive a further dispensation of life that a growing People we may be that love unto our God and unto one another may abound amongst us that the Way of our God may not seem unpleasant nor his Commands grievous unto any of us neither that given way unto which would lead into the liberty of the flesh again for that is a dividing Spirit that will separate from God and uncement and break the Unity of the Body it is of a creeping nature and enmity lodges in it whatever it may pretend and because it hath already wrought in a Mistery and brought dishonour to the worthy Name of our God and reproach upon the precious Truth Therefore it doth deeply concern us to double our diligence in doing our Duties to honour him in the propagating of the Truth Oh Friends let us for ever have this before the view of our Minds let no other beloved hinder for if we love any thing more than this it will not go well with us for our God will search the Camp and if there be a Babylonish Garment or a Wedge of never so precious Gold yet if the Work of the Lord be hindered thereby his Wrath will surely come upon it and consume it for a clean Camp the Lord will make that his Truth may be renowned and the day of purifying is come and coming more in which the Hypocrites shall be tryed and the upright in heart comforted although there may be many that were first come to be last and some Judas-like betray their Master yet the Lord will spread his Truth in the Nations and magnifie his own Power by staining the glory of all flesh and by laying Self low before him that it may be had in no reputation for he will not give his glory unto another the Adulterer nor the Idolater shall not be decked with his Jewels for where Self is decked the Lord is provoked but where Self is denied and the daily Cross taken up there the low appearance of the Son of God is bowed unto which seems contemptible unto them who causes the offence of the Cross to cease and settles upon their Lees and sits down in a state of carelesness thinking themselves secure without the performance of their Duty in Obedience to the measure of Truth received that should bring into a Disciple's state Oh Friends we all know that rest is polluted let us all up and be doing that our Lamps may be trimmed and we all may be ready to meet the Bridegroom of our Souls that we may enter in while the Door is open but if we delay until the Door is shut then it will be in vain to seek we shall not be able to enter when the Door is shut against us then what will the profession of Truth do for us Therefore let us with one heart and mind labour together and let our breathings be one for another that the possession of Life may be more and more inherited amongst us that we may be refreshed one in another when together or asunder that a sympathizing one with another we may have as Members of one Body to the honour of Christ our holy Head from whom we receive nourishment to keep us from withering and to make us to grow and be useful all in our measures that one cannot say unto another I have no need of thee for if we are cemented together as Members of one Body we must needs be all concerned for the honour of our Head and the comfort of one another I remain Your unfeigned Friend in the precious unchangeable Truth JOAN VOKINS This to be read amongst Friends at New York or else-where as in the Wisdom of God it may be seen meet Written in the Island of Antegua in the Movings of the Spirit of Truth and in the sence which that gave me of the state of Friends there J. V. Here follows a LETTER that she wrote on Board the first Vessel going for America directed and sent to some Women-Friends in London Dear Friends I Cannot forget your labour of love and sisterly care concerning me and do return the acknowledgment
thereof with kind acceptance and this is to certifie you that after I left old England I had no cause of doubt or fear but the roaring Sea is to me as the dry Land because of my heavenly Father's presence and power which do make hard things easie and bitter things sweet in whose Arms we are preserved hitherto and we have great cause to hope we shall unto the end for he is with us and have done for me already more then I did expect from his tender hand I have not had one fit since I came aboard but Sarah and I are both Sea-sick but we have good encouragement in our Voyage and here is some Friends and some other sober People and I have good Service amongst them and the Peace of my God flows in as a River and his Love and Life as a mighty Stream which I would not be separated from for all that is in Old England and let all Friends know that ask concerning me that its very well with my Soul Glory everlasting be unto my tender God for ever Though my Body is weak yet he that made it is worthy to have the disposing of it and unto him it is resigned for he hath often brought it down and rais'd it up and can do with it as he pleases And let my dear Husband and Friends thereaway know that I am at home with my God though absent from my outward and he that cloaths the Lillies and feeds the Ravens takes care of me as well here as at home and as to my bodily weakness I am not worse than I was at home but much easier in my Mind Blessed and magnified be the Name of the Lord for ever It is troublesome for me to write the Vessel doth so wave I desire that Susan Dew and Mary Elson may see this or have a Copy of it and also my dear Husband and Children to whom my indeared Love is recommended and to all our Friends there-away that loves the Truth and walks in it for they can sympathize with me and are partakers of the reward of life with me in our own Bosoms which is and hath been more to me since I have been aboard the Vessel than my natural Life and it 's the best Cordial that I can ever have for healing vertue is in it by which my Soul and weak Body is strengthened and comforted in times of great weakness fore tryals and exercises in the sense of which my Soul is tendered before the God of my life not questioning but that we may see one anothers faces again with joy and not with sorrow and yet if we do not see face to face yet if we abide together in Spirit in the work and service of our God then shall he be honoured and our Souls comforted and so shall I have the desire of my Soul answered who am a Traveller for the tender Seed sake in the service of Truth wherein I greet you all in the salutation of my dear love and therein do take my leave and bid you farewel in the Lord JESUS remaining Your true and unfeigned Friend and Sister in the precious Truth J. V. From on Ship-board in the Downs 27th of the 12th Month 1679. An Epistle to Friends in Rhode-Island and there-away Dear Friends MY Love and Life salutes you all that loves the precious Truth and lives in it for they are very dear and near one unto another even as Epistles written in one anothers Hearts that cannot be forgotten not written with Ink or Pen but with the uniting and healing Spirit that unites us unto our God and endears us one unto another in which I am one with you in Tryals and Exercises and the breathing of my Soul is unto the God of our lives that all may be cut off that troubles you and that Love and Life and all other Spiritual Graces and Gifts may be multiplied and increased in and amongst you that you may persevere as the Worthies of the Lord that through renewings of the right Spirit you may be more and more Conquerours over all that is wrong for our God is on his way Glory to his Name for ever and he hath regard to the very hindermost of the Flock therefore let all put on Valour and Courage to follow the Lamb for he is on his way Triumphantly and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory though we may meet with much by the way yet we have great encouragement still to look to him who have hitherto preserved in dangers deep and difficult and though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet our Helper is nigh yea a God at hand to deliver out of them all Surely his love is sufficient to engage our Hearts to his Service for we have every one a Service for our tender God in our places and purity of Life and Conversation is that which will answer to the establishing and confirming of all that keeps thereunto though the outward appearance of things may make some weak ones to reason and question and be ready to stumble yet the Gospel-light and life and the good order thereof is very comfortable and as it is kept unto will resolve all doubts and stop the dark reasoner and put a period to all unprofitable Controversies which things the Lord grant may be brought to pass amongst you and in all the Churches to the Honour and Exaltation of his Holy Name and Precious Truth and the comforting and building up and establishing of every breathing tender Babe that he over all may have the praise and our Souls the comfort for evermore Amen Saith your Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. From Barbadoes 6th of the first Month 1681. Let this be read among Friends in Rhode-Island as the Wisdom of God shall direct Here are at the West-India Islands a very good President concerning Children and I could wish that it were so among the Lord's People every where Friends Children meet together once a week and sit together with their Parents and wait upon the Lord and are Instructed and they learn dear G. F's Catechism at home and then they say it at the Meeting once a week and I do believe that it do produce a good Effect and I can truly say that the Power of the Almighty is amongst them for many of them was tendered and let Tears when I was at their Meeting and Friends were refreshed Here in Barbadoes are Family Meetings very frequently and comfortable An Epistle to Friends in East-Jersey Dear Friends BE of believing Hearts and keep to the measure of Light already received that none may be vailed in their Understandings and so come to loss but that all may have the benefit of their own measures that we may Magnifie our God together for in the feeling of that Spirit that helpeth our Infirmities and teaches us we are greatly encouraged to travel on though there is much to be met with by the way Oh therefore let none be weary in well-doing
but all to be diligent that God's Plantation may flourish in every Heart that he may have the Fruit to his Glory for he is making manifest his great love to his tender Seed in those remote corners of the Earth and he will make his Power known and his Gospel-light is shining and he will multiply his Mercies and increase his Blessings both Spiritually and Temporally unto those who live the Gospel-life and keep to its blessed Order Oh the great love and tender dealings of our God that he is visiting those Islands which causes my Soul often to rejoyce for he have heard the Cry of the poor and is arisen for the help of the needy and have made many willing to leave their Native Land that are as Instruments in his hand for to build up in the pure victorious Faith which have long been the breathing of my Soul for you and for the Seed sake I have been concerned close with the God of my Life and the cry in me hath often been unto him to send forth more faithful Labourers amongst you that his Vineyard may be dressed and cleansed from all that hindreth its growth and he hath heard and answered in measure blessed be his Name Oh Friends let every one be concerned and none to be idle but all to the work of the Day lest Night come and prevent you For now is the day springing from on High visiting you and the affliction of Joseph and the troubles of Jacob the Lord have removed and for his Seed sake will yet more appear and work its deliverance in the hearts of all that are truly tender of it although the Serpent is very subtil and busie and always trying to betray Innocency yet the Watch being kept he is prevented and our Souls preserved Therefore dear Friends let us not forget that Command lest the Enemy should prevail Oh feel a necessity of watchfulness that we may keep our hearts diligently that we may feel the issues of Life that the inward Man may grow and be capable to act for God for we have every one both Male and Female a Service in our proper places and them that are diligent in doing their Duty shall be sure of a blessed Reward of Life and Peace therefore let all be encouraged that are poor and needy and feeble-minded Oh let them put on Courage yea the very hindermost of the Flock for our Captain is couragious he goes on Conquering and to Conquer victoriously and by his Power he brings great things to pass and is working deliverance for his suffering Seed that have breathed to him in secret and could not be satisfied but was without all hope of help until the ancient Power was brought to light and the Spirit of Truth revealed to help our Infirmities and to teach us to depart from Iniquity and to do the things that is well pleasing unto our God Oh the day of our convincement in which our hearts and souls were tendered and we made sensible of our states is never to be forgotten but the Ancient Power that tendered us then to be kept unto that we may do the work of the day for the Gospel-day calls for purity of Life to adorn it Oh that we may be as John said fearing God and giving glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come and we and ours ought to fear him and stand in his awe and not sin against him Oh that we above all things may endeavour that our Families may be of his Family and our Assemblies crown'd with life that living Sacrifices may be offered in our Spiritual Worship for broken hearts and contrite spirits our tender God will never despise And therefore dear Friends let us keep low in the Valley of our Father's love where the Well springs of Life do flow that a living People we may be to the praise of our God and the promoting of Truth in Generations to come that our Off-spring may be encouraged by our good Examples successively to honour Truth when we are gone to our Rest that our Posterity may be blessed of the Lord and be to his praise and our everlasting comfort for ever and for evermore Amen Written in Barbadoes in the first Month 1681. An Epistle to some Friends in New England but it hath respect to the general state of Friends there T. and Ann Potter DEar Friends my Love do truly reach to you and your Children desiring your welfare every way even as for my own not forgetting your love to me when I was there but in a sense of that love that our God have shed abroad in our hearts do I salute you earnestly desiring that our Children may be his Children and that they and we may magnifie his power together though outwardly far asunder Oh that we and ours may truly endeavour after this for its the breathing of my Soul that we may feel one another in harmless hearts that we may breath one for another and be refreshed one in another though absent in body yet present in spirit serving our God and eying him that he may direct our hearts and keep our minds staid that when the winds do blow and the storms do beat we may be upon a sure foundation for all foundations shall be tried and the sandy buildings will not stand in the trying times and therefore we had need be builders up of one another in our most holy faith that we may be firmly established and as good souldiers enduring hardships unto the end for our Captain is on his way Glory to his worthy Name and he goes on triumphantly conquering and to conquer and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory and his love is sufficient to encourage the feeble ones for by his power we have been preserved in dangers many and very great and difficult and he hath been a present help in the times of our greatest need and though we have in our travel here met with many troubles yet he who is our God at hand delivers out of all Everlasting Praises be unto his Name for ever he hath made known the spiritual Armour Oh that we may rightly prove it that the Strong-holds of Sin and Satan may be pulled down and Righteousness and Holiness set up in the place thereof that our God may be honoured and his Truth exalted and his Children comforted for ever and for evermore Amen Mind my dear love to Elizabeth Hooten and to the Friend and her Husband that went with me to West Jersey and to William Aston and his Wife and Tho. Leeds and his Wife and let them know that I should be glad to hear that a Meeting were setled at Middleton and mind my love to S. Cooper and his Wife and Family and let them and other Friends know that I believe there would be great Service in establishing a Meeting there my love to R. Lippingcot William Shaddock and the Friend Warner and to all the rest of Friends for my love is truly
me if my Children should be some of them And therefore look to it I charge you in God's holy fear that you may be warned and escape the dangers that do attend Youth and be preserved out of all the Snares of the Evil One for they are many And by this you may see that I do remember you and the breathing of my Soul is daily for you and for all my Relations and to them at Farringdon and Charney and Goosey and all the rest of Friends there-abouts mind my Love to them all as opportunity is and let them know that the Lord God of my Life and the length of my Days is still exceeding good unto me and enables me by his Power to do his Service and blessed be his holy Name his precious Reward is with me and that causes my Soul to rejoyce and makes my Heart more glad than the greatest increase of all outward things Oh that it may be so with you that your delight may be to serve him according to your measures that you may clearly see by the bright shining of the Light the vanity and folly of needless things in Apparel and to lean after the World 's vain unsetled Fashions is so far from being comely or an Ornament to any professing Truth that it is great cause of shame for any such to wear it and I am certain that if you keep to the Gift of Christ's Spirit that is given you to teach you to profit and to lead you into all truth and plainness I say that I am sure that if you hearken to the Spirit of Christ in your own Hearts that then these needless things aforenamed and foolish Fashions of the World will become a burden to you as they are to me and then you would be soon weary of them and of all that is needless round Attire upon the Head set up aloft nor long Ears to Linnen Dressings I desire that the Lord may lay it home to your consideration And you may also hereby know that I have had not one well Day nor Night since I came here but I am not worse than I was at home I have travelled Three hundred Miles and upwards in this Nation of Ireland and am now going for the North I have been often very like for death but have not lain by it yet blessed be the Lord. I am uncertain when I shall be clear to re-return but I intend to go no further than I have a necessity because of the weakness of my Body and the Winter drawing on it 's hard for me to travel but the Lord is exceeding good unto me beyond what I am able to express My dear love to all Relations and Friends I rest Your dear Mother J. V. From Dublin 18. 9 Mo. 86. An Epistle to Friends Dear Friends IN the Covenant of Life unto whom the Lord in his unspeakable love hath done so bountifully by as to reveal his Son in us visiting our Souls when in a lost condition and could find no comfort Oh let his Mercies never be forgotten and the consideration of his tender dealing abide with us and let the renewings of his tender Mercies both Spiritual and Temporal give us fresh occasions to renew our obedience for if we abide in the consideration of his love we cannot but be tendered in the sense of the same and brought thereby into true subjection to the sanctifying Power by which we have been and are preserved notwithstanding all the dangers that hath or do attend Oh the Excellency of the Power it is so precious unto a Remnant that we have continual cause to glorifie our heavenly Father with all and over all for he is worthy and if it be with Life and all it 's but our reasonable service and those that will save that alive that is to die do thereby deprive â—â—emselves of Life eternal and therefore we have all need to dwell low in the self-denying Spirit and the daily Cross that weÌ„ may still enjoy the convincing Power that we may travel on in our heavenly Progress with Valour and Courage those few days that are to come in which we may expect many Troubles But living Praises to the God of our Lives and Length of our Days in him we find that Peace that Man cannot give nor take from us and in Christ Jesus our Life is hid from all that are in darkness and under the shadow of death and because the Son of God lives our Souls lives to praise his worthy renowned Name his Eternal Power that has been manifested to tender our Hearts and to bring us into subjection to so good a Master daily nourishes and enriches our Souls with the reward of Life in our Bosoms which causes us to say with the Prophet One day in his Courts is better than a thousand elsewhere And surely it is better to be a Door-keeper in the House of God than to dwell in the chiefest Palaces of the wicked Oh how goodly are the Tents of Jacob where we find safety in times of need as we abide in Covenant with Jacob's God we have cause to rejoyce as Israel did when the Rock that followed them was Christ Jesus the Rock of Ages the sure Foundation of the Faithful the Hiding-place as the shadow of a mighty Rock in a weary Land to shelter the weary Travellers by the way the streams of Shilo that runs so sweetly to comfort the comfortless and to strengthen the weak and relieve the thirsty Souls Oh how sweet are Shilo's Brooks where no Gally with Oars can pass where the Water of Life flows softly but sweetly without any thing that flesh and blood can do for that avails nothing in our heavenly Journey and therefore to be had in no reputation but to be daily denied and the Cross taken up and following of Jesus faithfully and fully towards the Crown which is the blessed Recompence for us to look unto that we may run the Race that is set before us in patience that in the end we may obtain the Mark of the Prize of the High-Calling that is in Christ Jesus which is a Mystery to those that do not obey him but a sweet benefit to them that do obey his Call for they are chosen ones a peculiar People zealous of good Works glorifying our heavenly Father And here we come to know that Scripture fulfilled where it is said You shall call upon me in times of trouble and I will deliver and you shall glorifie me Oh that all the convinced ones for whom I am so often concerned would but consider that all that are amongst us might be of us in glorifying God by answering the Divine Requirings of his Love for we all know sufficient but all do not obey but yet the unfaithfulness of some do not make void the Reward of the Faithful God forbid but the Reward encourages them to invite all to taste and see for themselves how good the Lord is for he is communicating of fresh supplies of his
tender Love and Soul-refreshing Life undeclarably unto them that fear him and dare not offend him and so loves him as to keep his Commands them he will make partakers of his precious Promises for he promised never to leave nor forsake his and to be with them at their down-lying and up-rising and at all times both day and night and as we keep covenant with him he will be with us and we shall be with him that lives for ever to give Life to us who waits upon him and that we may have it more abundantly that we may live to his praise though amongst a crooked Generation who do daily provoke the righteous God surely the crying sins of the ungodly have long cryed for vengeance in the ears of the mighty God of Heaven and Earth and his just Judgments will suddenly find them out and then if Daniel Noah and Lot were there they shall deliver none but their own Souls And therefore we have cause to be concerned as Lot was in Sodom that we may be Preachers of Righteousness in our Lives and Conversations that as the wicked do dishonour and grieve the Lord we may be the more careful to honour and glorifie him by bringing forth much Fruit for his delight is in such and if we abide in Christ Jesus the true Vine then shall we be fruitful in every good Work for he is the Root from whence we receive Vertue else we should wither and soon decay but blessed be the Root from whence we receive Sap and Daily Relief Oh that it may lye always upon our Branches that we may bring forth Fruit in due season and blossom as the Rose of Sharon and grow as the Lilly of the Vally yielding a good savour in our words and actions that whether together or asunder we may be one anothers joy and crown of rejoycing in the Lord Jesus in whom our fresh Springs are who is the Fountain of all our Mercies whose Streams makes glad his whole City who relieves and replenishes our Souls and gives us many fruitful Seasons and makes our Souls partakers of the early and latter Rain and of his eternal Spirit wherein is the Bond of Peace in which the Lord God of all our Mercies keep us all neer unto himself and one unto another that through the enjoyment of the same we may magnifie his eternal Power and Praise his most holy Name for it is worthy to be honoured and renowned over all and that for ever more Amen saith the Soul of your dear Sister in that which reaches over Sea and Land Joan Vokins Written at Droghedah in Ireland the 27. 9 Mo 86. Friends here are well and in the enjoyment of Peace and Plenty blessed be the Lord and Meetings large for the most part and Friends unanimously concerned in the Service of Truth as in the beginning and keep their Zeal for Truth and delights to live in it Here follows a Paper that was printed in 1687 Entituled A Tender Invitation unto all those that want Peace with God by reason of the burden of Sin that keeps them from acceptance with the Lord Jesus and from an assurance of Salvation though it be very desirable to them OH it 's the weary and heavy laden that he tenders rest unto and they that take heed to his good Spirit which is light and leaves off that which it condemns and follows its Instructions they obtain the way of Life and he becomes their Shepherd and they hear his Voice and a Stranger they will not hear but they follow him and he feeds them with that which the Strangers to his Voice and hireling Shepherds cannot attain unto by all their arts or parts external but it comes to be enjoyed by Faith in Christ Jesus that gives Victory over Sin and therefore it 's time for all People to consider and as the Apostle said To try and examine themselves whether they be in the true Faith or no for there is no true Faith but that which stands in the Almighty Power and that gives Victory over the Powers of Darkness and without this Faith it is impossible to please God as it is left upon Record in the Scriptures of Truth So all is to believe in the Son of God who is the light of the World and hath enlightned every one that comes into the World as saith the Scripture and in the universal love of God he gave his Son for a Light to enlighten the Gentiles and to be Salvation unto the ends of the earth and he died for all and his Love so far extended unto all both Male and Female that he would have none to perish but that all by turning to his good Spirit may be saved from all that the evil Spirit leads into for whosoever follows the leadings of the Spirit of Jesus who is given for a Leader of his People he leads them in the Path of Righteousness and as they come to be Servants of Righteousness they come to be free from Sin but it s written in the Scriptures of Truth that the Servants of Sin are free from Righteousness and they that commit Sin are of the Devil for he is the Original of Sin but Jesus Christ is the Original of the pure and holy undefiled Religion that keeps from the Evil of the World which is Pride Adultery Lying Cheating and Idolatry and Superstition and other Spots that those are stained with who are not acquainted with him that said I Wisdom leads in the midst of the Paths of Judgment to cause them that love me to inherit Substance there is much talking of loving him but few inclined to keep his Commands and much talking of his fear but little standing in awe so as not to offend him but so far are many from taking heed unto the measure of his Spirit of Light as he hath placed in their Hearts that they do not know it leading them to the heart-cleansing fear For if they did how could they plead for Sin so long as they remain in these Bodies whereas it hath been said by the Spirit of the Lord and left upon Scripture Record that the fear of the Lord is as a Fountain of Life to depart from the Snares of Death and the beginning of the true Wisdom and a good Understanding have all they that follow after it for they depart from iniquity and it cleanses the heart and keeps it clean according to the Testimonies the Scriptures bears Record of and therefore unto it I recommend all People that all may have the priviledge of it that their Hearts may be cleansed for it is well known there is no Repentance in the Grave but as Death leaves righteous Judgment will find and therefore let the long suffering and patience of the Lord lead to Repentance such a Repentance that needs no repenting of a changing of the heart abstaining and retraining from every appearance of evil this is that which the Lord hath long waited for and doth yet wait to be