would you not think it very hard to be so dealt by Oh come and be tryed by your own Rule and read from the beginning to the end and see whether the Persecutors were not the false Worshippers in all Generations and the true Ones the Sufferers and were not they as high in their Wisdom and Learning as you are who crucified Christ and set your Original over his Head of Greek Hebrew and Latine and they counted him of too low a Degree for them to receive and they mocked and scoffed and derided him and thereby manifested their Enmity against him and his Followers then as you do yours now against us Come down you High-minded Persecutors and bow before the Lord and turn to his Witness in your Hearts which reprove you in secret and testifie for us and it hath made many of you to confess to our innocency and harmlesness notwithstanding the many false Aspersions that the Wicked have cast upon us and although we have a Witness in your Hearts for us yet your Mercies are still Cruelties towards us Oh do not think to hide your selves from the All-seeing Eye of the Lord for assuredly his righteous Judgments will find you out and then all false Coverings will be too narrow Do you think your Law will plead for you then or them who set it forth excuse you Oh no! then the righteous Law of God which you have violated and broken and disobeyed now will then rise up in Judgment and bear Witness against you therefore leave off all your false Coverings for your Persecution for they are but deceit and will deceive you and stand you in no stead when you come to account for your deeds done in the body And now you of my Neighbours and Country who resist the Spirit of the Lord and follow the Imaginations of your own dark Hearts and boast your selves in Wickedness As your Fore-fathers did so do you they boasted and said They had the Law and the Prophets and were Abraham 's Seed and had one Father even God and yet Christ told them plainly They were of their Father the Devil and his works they were doing and so are you now who are a striving against those who worship in the Spirit and in the Truth Oh do not strive to limit the Holy Spirit of the Lord which is but one in the Male and in the Female Were not the Scripture's Testimonies to be fulfill'd Oh! when will you witness that Saying fulfill'd which saith on this wise I will pour forth of my Spirit upon all Flesh and my Sons and my Daughters shall prophesie Mark It 's the Sons and Daughters of the Lord that are led by his Spirit and not the Persecutors Whilst I walk'd with you in the broad way which leadeth to Destruction you did not persecute me but when it pleas'd the Lord to turn me from Darkness unto Light and from Satan's power unto his own then your Enmity began But when I went along with you to your Worship I had what this World could afford of the Fatness and Fulness thereof but I must needs tell you I had Leanness in my Soul Oh search and try whether it be not so with you who have gone this many years For I went with as much Zeal as any of you therefore let not your blind Zeal deceive you I turn'd not from you through Enmity against you but because that dead Worship deceiv'd my Soul for when Christ Jesus through his Love unto my Soul did make known his Light in my Heart which shew'd me the narrow Way which leadeth unto Life then I chose rather to suffer with the People of God than to enjoy your Favour or all the Pleasures or Profits or Honour this World can afford And all you that think ye are a doing as you should do turn unto the Light that you may see what you are a doing and may become from Persecutors to be Sufferers even as Paul was through his obedience unto the Light and he thought when he was in Darkness and blind Zeal that he did as he should do Oh! therefore take you heed and be no longer deceiv'd but turn unto the Light before it be too late for the Time hasteneth and passeth away and there is nothing else that will stand you in stead when Time shall be no more O therefore be awakened and arise from the Dead that Christ Jesus may be your Light and your Leader as he was David's For what doth it profit you to read the Scriptures or to hear of the Promises or Mercies of the Lord unto the Children of Light This will stand you in no stead whilst you your selves are in Darkness and under the shadow of Death Oh do not heap up that unto your selves which you have no right unto for you are in the Darkness in the Persecuting state which was and is always blind And how dare you in such a state to appear before the Lord Do you think his all-seeing Eye doth not behold your Doings Yes verily and his Righteous Judgments assuredly will find you out and then all your talking of that you live not in will do you no good How often have you and your Teachers been reading and talking of loving Enemies and of walking in the Light as Christ is in the Light and many such like things and yet are found hating of your Souls Friends who are telling you the Truth and reproving you for Evil and you are so far from walking in the Light that you remain in your Sins and plead for so doing until the last Do you think that the Lord will be limited by you until the last Hour Oh turn to the Reproofs of his Light in your hearts which maketh manifest the evil of your ways whil'st the Day of God's Love lasteth unto you that through his precious Judgments your Souls may come to be redeemed for it 's through Judgment that Sion witnesseth Redemption and the honest heart loveth Judgment and if you will obey the Light it will lead you into Judgment and when you come to witness your Souls redeem'd thereby then you will witness David's state who said O Lord how I love thy judgments and he desir'd the Lord to send forth his Truth and his Light to lead him and it was his Law and he walk'd in it And if you would do so you would have the Royal Law of Love in your hearts and then you would have Fellowship with Jesus and feel the Effects of his Blood to cleanse you from all sin on this the Grave and then you will plead no longer to strengthen the Devil's Kingdom for if you die in your sins you will add greatly to his Kingdom for those that live and die in their sins do never inherit the Kingdom of Heaven for no unclean thing can come there but they are for the Lake that burneth for ever Written the 9 th Day of the 11 th Month 1670. By one that wishes well to all Souls Joan Vokins To
after them in my Absence that we may have comfort of their Growth in the Truth if ever we are present again and if they grow in the Truth and Knowledge and Love of God then will the Desire of your tender Sister be answered And so in that which satisfies our Breathings I remain Your Tender Sister J. V. The 1st of the Eighth Month 1680. For Friends at Gravesend in Long-Island and else-where Dear Friends MY Love and Life salutes you and in that which unites unto our God and endears us in the Heavenly Relation you are often in my Remembrance and my Souls desire is that we may feel each other in a living growth in that Life and Love of God which reaches over Sea and Land and satisfies our Souls and causes us to rejoyce together in Spirit as present though absent in Body joyning in the God of our sweet Salvation though in this World we meet with many bitter Exercises yet blessed be his holy Name his sweet Salvation out-ballances all and as in the Light we behold it we have great cause to magnifie that Name that bringeth it For there is power to make the Weak strong and to establish the Feeble-minded and we have sufficiently partaken of its Preservation and Deliverance Glory and Honour and Praises over all be returned thereunto our Souls have cause to say for all his Mercies and great Loving Kindness both Spiritual and Temporal for his wonted Favours and renewings of Mercies daily Who can consider it and not be bowed into Tenderness before him The consideration thereof melts my Heart even at this time And the breathing of my Soul is to the God of my Life that we may all keep low in the Valley of our Fathers Love where the Well-spring of Life doth overflow that our Souls through its sweet Refreshings may live unto him that through its arising we may magnifie his Name and celebrate his Praises for Death and Darkness cannot And therefore we had need be all watching in the Light and waiting for the arisings of Life that Death and Darkness may be subdued out of our Families and out of our Assemblies that our Families may be seasoned with the Heart-cleansing and preserving holy Fear that they may be of God's Families and our Assemblies crown'd with Life that Truth may be promoted thereby in our Generation and our Posterity blessed in the Generations to come For this end the Lord hath taken Compassion on us and raised us up of all the Families of the Earth and if we do not answer the requirings of his Love he may lay us by and raise up whom he pleases Oh! dear Hearts feel his Love for it requires Love my Soul can truly say Oh! what manner of Love is this as one said in his day that he hath Loved us with that when we were afar off and Strangers to him he made known his precious Truth unto us and revealed a measure thereof in us to help our Infirmities and to teach us when we could find no comfort of all the Teachings of the Idol Shepherds nor no help for our Infirmities Oh how precious was his voice and comely was his Countenance and how tenderly were our Hearts affected therewith in the day of our Convincement Oh it was a day of Love never to be forgotten And how hath he surrounded us by his Power ever since Surely his Fatherly Love hath been and is sufficient to oblige us to Obedience for he is not wanting to his tender Seed but is appearing for the Affliction of Joseph and to work Deliverance for Jacob and to relieve the travailing Seed in the remote corners of the Earth There are many going and gone out of Old England to Pensilvania and New Jarsey that have been as Instruments in the Hand of the Lord for the promoting his Truth here and I hope they will be so there to the Honour of his great Name and the Comfort of his Children in the Neighbouring Islands for the Lord will exalt his Truth though the Wicked grow worse and worse Therefore let our Hearts magnifie his Name and our Souls and all that is within us return Praises and Thanksgiving unto him for he is worthy who is God blessed for ever and evermore Amen saith my Soul who am a Traveller in Spirit for the tender Seed and a Rejoycer in its Prosperity Joan Vokins This Epistle it s supposed was Written soon after her return home Let this Epistle be Copied and sent to Matinicoke to M. Pryer and Friends thereaway to be read among them Here follows the Copies of some more Letters that she wrote and sent when she was in America To her Husband and Children the 11th of the 11th Month 1680. from Nevice Dear Husband and Children MY endeared Love in the Love of my tender God doth dearly salute you and the breathing of my Soul is unto my tender God that you may be faithful and obedient to your Measures received that you may grow in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Christ Jesus whom to know is Eternal Life which is better than Natural Life or any thing that thereunto belongeth Oh dear Hearts consider of it and forget not the goodness of the Lord for unutterable is his Love towards us My Heart is tendered in the feeling of it and I cannot forget his tender dealing with us and the cry runs often through me to the God of my Life That you may not forget his Goodness nor slight his tender Love nor neglect your Duties to him for dear Hearts he is not an hard Master but his Reward is sufficient to engage our Hearts to his Service Therefore let our Hearts be encouraged to continue in well-doing and to watch against the Enemy that he may not prevail to draw out your Minds from waiting upon the Lord Surely there is great danger does attend you my dear and tender ones Oh let your Hearts be diligent to seek the Honour of God and the Exaltation of his Truth above all things then I shall have the desire of my Soul answered For I am greatly concerned for you and my Prayers are for you Night and Day that your Souls may live to God whatever your Bodies endure But for your comfort I put you in mind of the sweet Promises of him that said First seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof and all things else shall be added And I am truly satisfied he is never failing to fulfil his sweet Promises unto them that keep his Commandments and if we love him let it be manifest by our keeping his Commands for he is worthy to be feared and trusted in and depended upon and had in remembrance continually The Lord God of my Life stay your Minds that you may wait upon him that in his own time and upon his own terms you may partake of the fulfilling of his sweet Promises which are attained unto by loving the Light and living the Life of Truth And so dear
to them all as if I nam'd them and their Wives one by one And my servent desire is that the precious Truth may prosper amongst you and that faith and patience and love and life and all other spiritual graces and gifts may abound amongst you and that all that is wrong may be purged out Oh that all of you would wait to feel the renewings of the right Spirit that there might be no room in the heart to entertain the wrong Spirit to hinder or hurt innocency And the Lord God of my Life discover its subtilty and keep us all upon our watch that none of us may be taken in his snares for they are many and dangerous and therefore I commit you with my self and all that loves the Truth and lives in it to the never-failing God who is worthy to be feared and obeyed trusted in and depended upon by us and all that love him for ever and for evermore You would say that I have great cause so to declare if you did but know what he has brought me through since I left you but blessed be his Name he enabled me to do his Service every-where and Friends are kind and loving to me here at Barbadoes and so they were at the Leeward Islands No more but unfeigned Love and rest Your Friend and Sister in the precious Truth Joan Vokins From Barbadoes 14th of the 1st Month 1681. To Friends in West Jersey Dear Friend WIlliam Peachee after the Salutation of my Love to Thee and thy Wife and Friends This is to let thee and Friends there know that I cannot forget you but the Travel of my Soul is for you and the tender God of my Life has heard the Cry of his oppressed Seed and arrisen and will appear more and more for its deliverance although the Philistine Spirit do strongly strive and Amaleck lay by the way yet Israel is greatly encouraged and have great cause to travel on for the Captain of our Salvation is going on before us conquering and to conquer and he will gather his Sons from far and his Daughthers from the ends of the Earth and for this end he visits the Dark Corners and for his Seed sake he has appeared on your behalf and if you mind the Gospel-light and live the Gospel-life and keep the Gospel-order then will God's Plantation grow and bring forth Fruit to his praise and then you may expect his Blessings and Prosperity upon you and yours but if you slight the great Love of God and let in the Spirit of this World and get you other Lovers that will greatly provoke the Lord and cause him to withhold his Mercies from you and cause you to fail of your expectations This loving Caution sprung in my Heart unto you and in that which thinks no evil I leave it with you hoping that in the same you will receive it that in the reading our Lives may be refreshed together though in Person far asunder for it is exceeding precious to me and my life rejoyces at the feeling of a living Brother or Sisters growth in the truth and it 's that my Soul travels for who am a friend to it and as I feed with you in the Land of the Living we can sing together as the ransomed of the Lord and the breathing of my Soul is that all that are there may be preserved and that many thousands more may be gathered to the Honour of his great and worthy Name and our mutual Comfort for ever and for evermore Amen J. V. From Barbadoes 1st Month 1681. A short Testimony against that Spirit of Division that gave forth W. R 's Book stiled The Christian Quaker distinguished WHereas there is a Libertine Spirit at work very busie to darken the Hearts of them that touch with it I feel a necessity upon me and that from the Lord to bear my Testimony against it and to caution all the tender ones not to meddle with it lest they be tinctured and hurt by it for it is a subtil Spirit and seeks under fair pretences to betray Innocency and some there are that are come to a loss thereby as woful Experience do daily shew and therefore let it be considered how it is with those that are alive to God and how it is with those that are within the bounds of that Spirit which gave forth W. R's wicked Book and those that owns it are they not in a dying condition as to the pure Life of Jesus and let them whose understandings are not clear take heed how they read in it lest they bring a Vail over them again they know not how I may say from a certain sense that it is a dark Spirit and too many are groping therein and that is the cause they do not see wherein the difference lyes Oh that every such a one would keep to that which did at first convince them that they might have their understandings opened and kept open that they might see how far they are on their Spiritual Journey that this self-seeking Spirit might not betray in the Wilderness for there are howling Deserts and dangerous Places where this Spirit have lurking corners and creeps in at every turn if the watch be not duly kept And therefore let all take heed and beware of this destroying Spirit whatever it does pretend it 's no better than the inwardly ravening Woolf though cloathed outwardly like a Sheep and therefore deceives the more but the Lord will lay it open more and more for his own Seed sake that has long suffered and the upright hearted who are true to God shall have great encouragement to travel on but those that are looking out are in great danger of being ensnared by this Spirit which may make their Journey long and tedious by muddlement of mind and sometimes go backwards yet their way may be so hedged up that they cannot get quite back to Egypt again but may die in the Wilderness if they take not heed Oh that all while they have time may come into obedience to the Truth and feed together in the Land of the Living that in the feeling of Life we may sing together as the Ransomed of the Lord dwelling with him out of all strife in purity of Life cemented together in the bounds of his Love with our Affections fixed on things above J V. To Friends in New England and thereaway Dear Friend SAmuel Spicer my Love salutes thee and thy dear Wife and Father and Mother Tilton if yet alive and the rest of Friends of your Meeting and Friends at New York earnestly desiring your welfare in the Lord Jesus and breathing to the God of my Life that above all things Truth may prosper amongst you and that Faith and Love and Peace and Life may be multiplied amongst you that the Work of the Day may go on whatever you meet with to hinder though the Philistine Spirit do strive and Amaleck lye by the way yet good Encouragement have we as faithful Soldiers
not to endow me with the renewing of his precious Power and my Soul hath cause to magnisie it because it enabled me to answer what the Lord required of me and fitted me who was the most unfit and the poorest and most helpless that ever I did see concerned in such a Service But it was the more to the Honour of the Power of my God that so wonderfully wrought in my poor weak and helpless Vessel and many Friends were tendered thereby in many places in the sense of my Weakness Honoured and Renowned be it for ever saith my Soul for its Manifestation made the Hearts of his People glad and we were well refreshed together in all the Meetings that I was at in New England And from thence I returned back to Road Island and Long Island and when I was clear thereabout I took Shipping for East Jersey and the Power of God was greatly manifested and through his special Providence we were preserved being in great peril and danger of being cast away when we were in sight of Land for the Winds being boisterous and the foaming Sea in so great a Rage that we could not cast Anchor to stay the Vessel being near the Shoals but the Lord who hath all Power in his hands delivered us Praises to his holy Name and we safely landed at Shrewsbury and Elizabeth Dean that then travelled with me was very sick and we had very good Meetings in East Jersey where I met with the Lord among his people as at other times blessed be his Name and after some time spent amongst them and that we had been well refreshed with God's holy precious living Power it carried me from thence to West Jersey and into some part of Pensilvania but it had not that Name then and in the sense of God's great Love to his tender Seed I encouraged his Children to suffer and to be careful that they did not cause Truth to suffer for if they tendered it in their own Bosoms and travell'd with it the Lord would bring it over all its Enemies and it shall reign over all in his due time and blessed be his most worthy Name he soon after brought it to pass by his delivering Power and when I had laboured that the Gospel-Life might be lived in and the Gospel-Order established amongst them there remained the heavenly power among the tender ones And the Lord heard the cry of the poor and granted the desire of the needy and visited them with the Gospel-Power for a little time after I came home I had an account that they had Mens Meetings and Womens Meetings in the Gospel-Light Life and Power and were establishing in the Blessed Order that was testified of when I was there with them And when I was clear of West Jersey and those parts I returned to New York in order to take my passage for England but before I came there the Living God whom I served with all my Heart further tryed me and laid it weightily upon me to go to Barbadoes which was no little cross to my Mind but the overcoming Power of the true and living God wrought so strongly with me that I was made willing to take up the Cross and follow Jesus through many Tribulations and he magnified be his Power most wonderfully supported and conducted me all along For I took Shipping at New York and as the Lord put it into my Heart to visit Friends in the Leeward Islands so he carried the Vessel let them that sail'd do what they could and they could not steer their Course Barbadoes-Road altho they endeavoured it with all their might and I had good Service amongst them in the Vessel and they were made to confess to the Almighty Power that I testified of and we laid by Antego a Week before the Owner would let me go a-shore But the All-wise God ordered it so that the Vessel could not go away till I had been there and performed what Service he had appointed for me and blessed be his Name his Reward was precious for we came a-shore on a First Day and I hastened to a Friends Meeting and when I came in I found the Lord's Power was amongst his People and I had a precious time with them There was a little handful of plain hearted Friends and our Hearts were tendered and our Souls comforted and we rejoiced that the Lord Jesus had visited us and caused us in his Love to visit each other So when I returned to the Sea again it came into my Heart to visit Friends at Nevice and when I had taken leave of Friends of Antego that came aboard with me and God's Heavenly Power was with us and sweetly refreshed our Souls as we were aboard the Vessel and remained with us and we were concerned one for another not knowing that we should ever see each others Faces more But see how the Lord ordered it as we were sailing on the Sea it opened in my Heart to visit Friends at Nevice but the Owner of the Vessel being a hypocritical Professer caused my Exercise to be the more but the Power of the Lord was manifest and the Winds and Sea obeyed that we were carried to Nevice against his will but he would not let me go a-shore for he had heard That those should pay a great Fine that carried any Friend thither and hoysted Sail again for Barbadoes and said he would weather the Point of Cordilopa and he laboured Three Weeks but could not do it for the Hand of the Lord was against him else he might have done it in a few Days but he provoked the Lord and trusted in his Vessel and in his own Skill and he locked up the Bread and dealt hardly with his Passengers when he saw he should be longer at Sea than at first he did expect and he knew that for Three Weeks there was stinking Water and we were close by a French Island and they said the French would not let us hâ—ve any if we starved They were Papists and said If we came for water they would take our Ship for a Prey and us for Captives And yet this Owner of the Vessel would not go to any other Island until the Merchants that were aboard threatned him very sorely and then he put in at a mountainous place called Mount serat and they went all away from me as soon as they were landed for I was very weakly being aboard the Vessel so long with such bad Accommodation I went aboard with my Clothes so wet that I could wring Water out of them and so dried them upon my weakly Body which cast me into such a Feverish condition that I was very dry and I sate down on the Shoar and a Girl came to fetch fresh Water near where I sate and I drank till I sweat and then I swooned and lay some time but the arising of the Life of Jesus set me on my Feet again and in the strength and relief thereof I went to enquire for a passage for
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
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
the Lord hath been and is greatly provoked and his precious Truth vilified and his Children daily reproached as evil doers and that by all sorts and Sects it is now as it was in the days past among the twelve Disciples there was one Judas but he did not defile the rest but he went to the High-Priests and Rulers and so sided with them that loved not the appearance of Jesus and so do these now that loves not his spiritual appearance and can no more understand the work of his Power in his Children than they could that said they were Abraham's Seed when Christ told them plainly that they were of their Father the Devil and his works they were a doing though they were very high in the World's esteem at that time and he very low in theirs and he told them the truth and they hated him and we have read what became of them and of Judas when he could not find Repentance though he sought for it O therefore let the harms of those make all the disobedient and gainsayers beware in time and seek to honour God by their subjection to the Spirit of Christ Jesus who is come to save his People from their sins by his spiritual appearance in their hearts that their Souls may have the Heavenly Sentence pronounced at last by the Righteous Judge Well done good and faithful Servants enter into the Joy which is prepared for all them that believes in Christ and suffers with him while on the Stage of this World for theirs is the blessed Reward in the World that is to come and they that suffer with him here shall reign with him for ever And in a living sense of his Almighty Power that hath been already manifested is my heart encouraged to go on in his Service not looking at weakness or any outward thing that might by Natural Reason hinder for who so poor who so simple who so weak who so unworthy as I Surely the Lord God of Love is manifesting his Almighty Power in contemptible Vessels that it may be the more magnified and let all that takes up the daily Cross and follows Jesus magnifie his Power for unto such it is daily manifested to supply all their needs and thereunto do I commit all for ever and evermore Amen Written by one that breathes for the prosperity of Sion and desires the welfare of all People 27. of the fifth Month 1686. J. V. To Friends in Antegua and Nevice-Islands in the West-Indies DEar Friends in the Heavenly Relation which is nearer than that of Blood in which the God of all our Mercies keep us near unto himself and one unto another that as he renews his Mercies we may renew our Obedience unto him and our love one to another that while we remain here we may breath one for another that we may be refreshed together though outwardly far asunder that as Children of one Father we may feed together at one Table and be nourished with the Feast of fat things that our Heavenly Father hath provided for his sincere ones unto whom his love hath been so largely extended as to preserve in dangers deep and made his wonders known even unto a poor despised remnant that he hath daily provided for Glory to his worthy Name and magnified be that Almighty Power that hath been so largely manifested in all our troubles and helped us when we could not help our selves and had none to help Oh how hath it wrought deliverances many unexpectedly Surely we have cause to trust in it and to depend upon it for I have cause to say to the honour of it there is nothing too hard for it to do I have proved it and saw its mighty works to admiration and it is daily marvellous in my eye for it is strength in the midst of my great weakness and a present help in times of my great need and in the blessed enjoyment thereof I am sweetly encouraged to go on in my place of Service though in much weakness of Body and outward Affliction yet by this you may know that since Friends Sufferings in England ceased there was way made for my coming to Ireland I had gone sooner but Sufferings were so great that I could not leave Friends while it was so and as soon as ever Friends came out of Prisons I came for Ireland before I could get strength over my long weakness but least I should not live to come I came forth in great weakness because it remained with me to come and I have had a good experience of the tender dealing of the righteous God who never required me to do any thing but he gave me of his never-failing Power to perform it and in the strength thereof I Travel on in my Heavenlyh Progress wherein the Lord God of all our Comforts and Consolations preserve us all unto the end whatever we have yet to meet with that nothing may be able to separate us from the enjoyment of our Heavenly Father's love nor the seasonedness of his heart-cleansing fear nor the refreshings of his daily supplies of Soul-nourishing Life and supporting Power but through the feeling of the same we may renew our watchfulness and faithfulness and continuation in well-doing for he is a never-failing God and from him all good proceeds and therefore worthy to be waited upon all the days of our appointed time for praises to the Name of Jesus we have good cause to wait and not to be weary for certain it is that he accepts of sincere waiting and he renews the inward strength of them that truly waits and diligently observes the dictates of the right Spirit and joyns not with any thing that is wrong these receive ability to do that which is right in the sight of God and in and through Christ Jesus such comes to partake of the daily renewings of Life whereby the heads of a Remnant have been born up in great Tryals and sore and various Exercises Glory and Honour be unto our God through his Son Christ Jesus our Saviour for he hath saved us when much evil hath been intended against us and hath filled our Cups and caused them to overflow praised and honoured and renowned be his Holy Name for it is worthy and that for evermore Amen J. V. Written in Ireland 7th Month 16â—6 To the Women's Meeting in the Vale of White Horse in Berks. DEar and well beloved Sisters whom I cannot forget but in that love that reacheth over Sea and Land do my Soul dearly salute you hoping that the pure mind will be stirred up in every one of you to consider the matchless Mercies of our tender God which I do here put you in remembrance of Oh how hath he manifested his Almighty Power when we have been together in our Women's Meetings and how have we been relieved and born up over all Oppositions both inwardly and outwardly and in the Gospel-light have seen the great goodness of the Lord and with the Gospel-power been strengthened when
good and gracious unto all those that confess and forsake their evil thoughts words and works and they shall surely find Mercy with him and be acquainted with him and feel acceptance with him and know the work of his sanctifying power to sanctifie throughout in Body Soul and Spirit that the works of sanctification may not be to do when the Messenger of Death will not be denied for then it will be too late to work out our salvation with fear and trembling and therefore it would be good for all to consider how good the Lord is in that he hath considered the frailty of all flesh and hath given unto every one a measure of his good Spirit to help our Infirmities and to teach us But if we neglect this Gift of God we shall be unexcusable in the Day of Account and he will be clear of us all and therefore let all be diligent to hear the Word of Reconciliation that the work thereof may be experienced for it begets again unto God those that were afar off and when the work of Regeneration is witnessed and the Birth of the Water of Life and Spirit of Jesus then the new Creature that avails with God comes to be in unity and peace with him and then the Spirit of Jesus bears witness to the Spirits of such that they are the Children of the Lord but except a being born again there can be no entring into the Kingdom for the first Birth cannot enter into the first Adam's Nature all are dead but they that are begotten again by the Word of God's power as the Scripture testifies they come to be changed into the Nature of the second Adam the Lord from Heaven the quickning Spirit in him all such are made alive and as they live in his fear and do not grieve his Spirit their sufficiency is in the engrafted Word of his Grace that is able to save and in the same do witness preservation as in the days of old it is the same that David hid in his heart that he might not sin against the Lord and it was as a Lanthorn unto his feet and a light unto his paths And so it is now blessed be the Name of the Lord unto them that are truly watchful in it but those that are obeying the power of darkness breaks the Command of Christ Jesus and it 's left upon Scripture-Record that he did not say only unto one but unto all watch and surely it is as needful as ever for us to keep a narrow watch and that in the Light for our Souls Enemy works always in the dark and except we keep a continual watch over our hearts in that which doth discover his Snares we cannot escape and so let all that have any sense that it is their Duty to wait upon the Lord be careful to keep the Command of watchfulness that the Enemy nor any of his Instruments do not prevent from waiting in stilness upon the Lord for he doth renew the strength of them that do truly wait upon him and the Lord by his Servant hath said That they shall run and not be weary and walk and not faint and now he is fulfilling the Scripture wherein it is said The children of the Lord shall be taught of the Lord and they shall be established in righteousness and great shall be their peace Oh let all that want it hearken unto the true Shepherd of the little Flock for whom the Kingdom is prepared who encourages them and bids them fear not tho' the Wolfish destroyer is nigh unto them yet he is the Overseer and in all Tryals and Exercises he is their preservation and them that have been exercised deeply and tryed throughly they can tell of his wonderful works and have cause to speak well of his most worthy Name and to invite others to come and taste and see for themselves how good the Lord is in that he gives all a time of tender Visitation Oh! that all People would but consider it before it be too late that while the good Spirit of Light is striving their hearts may be affected with it and joyned to it for it will not always strive and therefore let such as could not come into Obedience because of Sufferings now consider how good the Lord is in that he hath calmed the storms of Persecution and opened a door for such as are convinced to come into Obedience let them now perform what they promised to the Lord when they were looking to see what the Lord would do with his poor despised People called Quakers for said they it is the Truth that they suffer for but we cannot suffer for it the Sufferings is too hard for us to bear else we should own it Oh! let all such truly consider the wonderful love of God his tender mercy may not be disregarded nor his great love undervalued but let every such a one double their diligence and make no delays for delays in this weighty concern are very dangerous for who knows how little time they have to come or what it may bring forth therefore that the present time be not ill spent but while it is to day if any will hear his voice let them not harden their hearts as it was in the day of provocation For many are the invitations of the great love of God and if it be slighted he will certainly with-hold his Mercies and therefore we have great need to embrace his love that we may not provoke him to wrath for he is just and will render unto all people according to their doings Joan Vokins West-Chawlow 14 of 〈◊〉 third Month 168◠A Testimon◠〈…〉 work of God's Power Because of the marvellous love of God in Christ Jesus I cannot conceal my Testimony for the wonderful work of his Eternal Power that hath been admirably manifested in my poor Soul and weak frail Body and if I should not leave a short Testimony of it to Posterity I should be very ungrateful and I pray God that the sin of Ingratitude may not be laid heavy on any of us professing Truth when the Messenger of Death calls but that while we live we may live in subjection to his Almighty Power that when we die we may seal our Testimonies thereunto in true submission and receive the blessed reward of the faithful OH what tongue can declare the wonderful loving kindness of the Lord as is experienced by those that obey his Commands Surely that is the way to abide in his love and his great love has been so largely manifested to me that it has ingaged me so to love him again as to forsake the Worlds Glory Customs and Fashions Vanities Elements Traditions and Superstitions and to take up my Daily-Cross and follow Jesus through the many Tribulations But blessed be his worthy Name he hath filled my cup with his sweet consolations and caused me to say that one day in his Courts is better then a thousand elsewhere and I had rather be a
God's Mighty Power Magnified AS MANIFESTED and REVEALED IN HIS Faithful Handmaid JOAN VOKINS WHO Departed this Life the 22d of the 5th Month 1690 Having finished her Course and kept the Faith Also some Account of her Exercises Works of Faith Labour of Love and great Travels in the Work of the Ministry for the good of Souls 2 Cor. 4. 7. But we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 12. 9. And he said my Grace is sufficient for thee for my Strength is made perfect in Weakness London Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1691. TO THE READER Friendly Reader THE following Papers and Epistles here Collected together and Printed for thy benefit were not written and given forth by the Will of Man or worldly Wisdom but by the Will and hidden Wisdom of God which is and ever was a Mystery to the Learned Scribes and wise Disputants of this World and as Foolishness to them Therefore if thou wouldst come to receive the comfort that is couched under the Words and Expressions and partake of the Sweetness of that Life from whence they proceeded then thou must turn in thy Mind to the Manifestation of the Spirit of Christ which doth enlighten thee and all Mankind and is in great Mercy freely given thee to profit withal which Gift of God is the only Key that opens the Mysteries of Life and Salvation and reveals the things of God which no Man can know or understand but by the Inspiration of that same Holy Spirit which I desire thou maist in Humility wait to feel to open and enlarge thy Heart by inspiring thee and thereby a good Vnderstanding maist obtain both to discern the things belonging to thy Peace and also to savour and taste thereof to thy Comfort and Satisfaction and so to have the Sense from the Witness in thy own Conscience from whence the following things came So requesting thee to read without Prejudice in the fear of that God that searcheth thy Heart that thou maist receive the Benefit which in true Love is heartily wished thee by Thy Sincere Friend O. SANSOM Note That the following Papers are not exactly placed as to the Dates which the Reader is desired to pass by An Account and Testimony concerning Joan Vokins from the Quarterly Meeting for Berkshire AS concerning our Dear Friend and well-beloved Sister in the Lord Joan Vokins this Account and Testimony Lives in our Hearts to give forth That she was one whom the Lord Called by his Grace and Endued with Power from on High to Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and according to her Measure her Labour and Exercise therein was Effectual to many and her Care and Diligence in her Service very Useful and Profitable in the Churches of Christ where she hath Travelled especially in those parts where her Residence was She was given up to Serve the Lord with her whole Might depending on the Sufficiency of his Power and did not count her Life nor any thing of this World dear unto unto her for the Works sake which the Lord had called her unto but with great Courage and Confidence trusting in him who was her sole support she chearfully exposed her weak Body to Travel enduring great Hardships both by Sea and Land in the Work and Service of the Lord when many Perrils and Dangers divers ways did attend her and tho outwardly Weak she was made Strong through Believing in God's Almighty Power And now having Fought a good Fight and Finished her Course here with Joy and laid down her Head in peace she is Crowned with endless Life and Glory to Sing Praises and Hallelujah's to the Lord for ever and evermore And through her Faithfulness to God in her day and Valour for his Truth and Courage and Constancy unto the End she hath obtained a good Report among all God's People that knew her in her Generation Her Conversation did Adorn her Christian Profession and was such as did become the Gospel so that she Practised what she Preached and was a Lively Pattern and good Example unto others in her day And seeing there are few that are in all things like-minded then surely the loss of such a Member in the Churches is great and her Work and Service wanted and missed much among us But seeing it is her great Gain that she is ceased from her Labours and our God's good pleasure to Receive her into everlasting Rest It is our Duty humbly to submit and say Thy will O God be done And O Lord do thou by thy own Power raise up more such Faithful Labourers and such Nursing Mothers in thy Israel as this was which thou hast now removed So for the Glorifying of our God and Magnifying of his Life and Power which through Christ Jesus was Revealed and Manifested in this our dear Friend and Sister in the Truth aforesaid we were free to give forth this short Account and Testimony with our Names Subscribed Signed at the Quarterly Meeting at Reading the 4th of the 3 d Month 1691. Paul Newman William Austell John Gidden William Cooper Oliver Sansom William Speakman Adam Lawrence John Knowles John May. William Lambole James Potter Edw. Lockey James Mathew John Jagger John Buy John Cotterell Abraham Bonifeild John Brown William Ballard The above-said Testimony being Read at the Womans Half years Meeting for the said County held at Reading on the self same day above Specified and in Witness of their Unity with their Brethren therein and truly owning the same did also set their Hands as followeth Martha Weston Jane Tull. Grace Hutchings Mary Sandilans Marjery Potter Elizabeth Addams Marab Farmborrow Mary Baker Mary Buy Margaret Chandler Damaris Burgis Mary Austell Deborah Mathew Joan Orpwood Rachel Nicholls Mary Cooper Jane Ballard Mary Cotterell Marjery Bunce Alice Glover Jane Sansom Elizab. Wightwick Elizabeth Bullock Ann Ball. Mary Brown Ann Truss Frances Wren Margret Fulbrook A Testimony concerning Joan Vokins by Theophila Townsend I Have a Testimony in my Heart to bear for that faithfull Servant and Hand-Maid of the Lord Joan Vokins That she was a vertuous Woman truly fearing God and one that was full of Zeal and Courage in her Testimony for the Lord and his blessed Truth in her Day and Time and did the Work of the Lord with boldness and holy Confidence and much Chearfulness She stood a Witness for the Truth in faithfulness unto the end of her days against all that did rise up in Opposition or sought to hinder the Prosperity of it where she was concerned I have known her above twenty years and have had a Correspondency with her by Letters and have been at her House and she hath been often with me whereby I had the knowledge of her Affairs relating to the precious Truth and of her godly Care and Diligence in the work of the Lord. She was of a tender Spirit ready to hold forth a Hand
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
or no ye be faithful to what is manifest therein for I write unto you as unto them that know the Truth to stir you up to Faithfulness therein that the Father's drawings ye may more and more feel and through it come to Living Obedience while the Bowels of tender Mercies are open for if you slight his Loving-Kindness unto you is it not just with him to shut up his Bowels of Compassion Oh how largely hath the pure God of Heaven and Earth manifested his Loving-Kindness unto you through his Judgments and Mercies and through the Reproofs of his Instructions hath the way of Life been manifested largely unto you Therefore dear Friends be not forgetful of his large Love Oh let it never slip out of your remembrance for you can never prize it to the worth of it Therefore it concerns you all to be truly watchful the remainder of your Days that so you may see the appearances of his Love and with your whole Hearts joyn thereunto that no Reserve may be left therein to stop the Current of the pure Life from flowing into your Souls And dear Hearts it 's in my Heart to stir you up to feel after the pure Life if haply you may find it Whilst the Fountain is open be ye not negligent nor unfaithful but be faithful and obedient that so through the Faith that purifies the Heart you may draw Water at the Fountain of Life and feel its recourse into your Souls the Vertue whereof makes the Souls of the obedient fruitful and encreasing in God's Love and in their Unity with each other But where the Current is stopped and the Life hath not its free course there Death is over the Soul profess what they will yea though they may live in the very Form of Truth Therefore dear Friends I in God's Fear and in the Bowels of tender Love to your Immortal Souls do exhort you all to be diligent to keep your Meetings and assemble your selves often together let not the gain of the perishing things hinder you of the gain of that which will never perish For verily there 's none can witness a free recourse unto the Fountain of Life but those whose Hearts are gathered out of the perishing things and such do partake of the living Springs which do greatly refresh their immortal Souls and it 's more to me than I can express Therefore dear Hearts think not your time long neither let the World hinder but keep your Meetings frequently there to wait with sincere Hearts for those that so wait never lose their Reward therefore be ye encouraged to wait upon the Lord that in the pure refreshing Life your Souls may come to have an Habitation the which to know a dwelling and abiding in is more precious than words can demonstrate And let Patience have its perfect Work in your Hearts that all Prejudice may be kept out for where Envy and Strife is there is Confusion Therefore dear Friends it concerns you all to dwell in the Patience and in the Wisdom that comes from above which is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And so the God of Peace establish your Hearts in his everlasting Truth and Righteousness for ever Amen I am Your Vnfeigned Friend J. V. The 3 d of the 11th Month 1669. This to be read amongst Friends A Loving Advertisement unto all those who joyn together to Persecute the Innocent PIlate and Herod consulted together in this abominable Work and were made Friends although before they were at enmity as you may see in Luke 23. And in the same Chapter you may read how Pilate called together the High Priests the Rulers and the People who had joyned together and falsly and vehemently accused the Innocent and when those Persecutors were come mark how Pilate's Words run Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people Behold saith he I have examined him before you and I find no fault in him Notwithstanding their many Accusations as you may read of in that Chapter no nor yet Herod neither for Pilate sent him to Herod to be examined and they found no cause for what they did as Pilate himself confesseth no less than three times before them all as you may see in ver 22. and yet for all this those wicked Persecutors Enmity was so great against the Truth and their Love to Christ Jesus so small that they joyned together with Judas their Informer and crucified the Holy One Oh consider this you wicked Persecutors who have set your Hands to the Devil's Work did he not enter into Judas before he informed against Christ O consider whose Work you are a doing and see whether the Scriptures do not testifie against the same ever since Cain and Abel Oh be advised and do not slay God's Witness in your Hearts as Pilate and Herod and the rest of that wicked Crew did for you may see there was something in Pilate and Herod which let them see there was no fault in Jesus they had a Witness for him in their Hearts which if they had loved and obeyed they would not have slain the Lord of Life But they did then as you do now rebelled against it and counted it of no value and chose rather to please wicked Men who did then as you are now doing they brought their Law to cover their Wickedness and said By their Law he ought to die and so they violated the righteous Law of God which is Light which manifested in their Hearts there was no fault in him Oh! consider this you envious Persecutors and turn to the Light of Christ Jesus which shineth in your dark Hearts and read your States there and cease your evil doing before it be too late lest the God of this World blind your Eyes and harden your Hearts and bring you to destruction as he did Judas who was a Resister of the Light I shall appeal to the Witness for God in your Hearts and come let us be tryed by it Have you not done as bad as those before mentioned yea rather worse for you have reproachfully slandered and falsly accused us behind our back and caused many of us to suffer the loss of our Goods without Examination or Accusation to our Faces in this you out-stript the Cruelty of those before-named and the Heathen also for they permitted Paul to be examined and also to speak for himself as you may see in the Scripture which you call your Rule and yet do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God for if you did you would not wrong and persecute your innocent Neighbours who do you no harm but desire the everlasting Good of all even of our greatest Enemies Oh do you do by us as you would have us do by you Would you have us persecute and tear away your Goods because you go to your Worship or because you will not come to ours or
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
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
enduring hardships to travel on and follow our Captain fully for his Reward is sure though it is through many Tryals obtained yet when this momentary Pilgrimage is passed through the greater weight of Glory will out-ballance all and in the sense of it let our Hearts rejoyce and our Souls magnifie that Power that has preserved and is able to preserve unto the end and that in and through it we may be strong in the Lord Jesus and fitly furnished to every good Work that we may never be weary of well doing nor faint in our minds though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet we know him that is able to deliver out of them all and if he feed with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Adversity yet blessed be his living Name he teacheth our Souls to profit thereby and we have cause to say in this Trying Day as the three Children did in Ages past We know that our God is able to deliver us if he please but if he will not we will still trust in him for he has been with us in Six Troubles and we have good cause to depend upon him and to have confidence in him in the Seventh for it is but a little while and Persecution and Affliction shall come to an end but the Word of Patience that preserves in times of great temptation abides for ever and shall never have an end Glory and Honour and Living Praises be returned and ascribed unto the God of all our Mercies and Blessings both Spiritual and Temporal which we daily partake of from his fatherly hand for he is an never-failing God and of his loving-kindness there is no end And unto the Protection of his Almighty Power which reaches over Sea and Land do I commit you with my own Soul henceforth and for evermore Your Sister in the unchangeable precious Truth JOAN VOKINS From London the 3 d of the 1st Month 1682. To Friends of Crambrook in Kent Dear Friends MY Love salutes you and the rest of the Faithful in Christ Jesus who holds fast their Integrity and retains their first Love for such are near and dear unto me and often in my remembrance whatever Exercises they undergo and my Soul do often breath unto the God of my life that we may be kept in a waâ—â—ing frame that if Tryals and Afflictions do abound that his sanctifying Power may superabound that as faithful Soldiers we may endure hardships to the end that in the end we may receive the greater weight of Glory that may out ballance all the momentary Afflictions that we meet with in this short Pilgrimage O Glory to his Name who is the Physician of Value that can cure both Body and Soul he is worthy to be trusted in who never fails them whose confidence is in him and all things are possible for his Power to do therefore let our dependance be on it for ever that we may feel it in all our undertakings that we may have the benefit of it in the use of the Creatures that his Blessing may be upon them then it will go well with us whatever may come Thus the Lord Jesus brings to pass for the honour of his own worthy Name and the comfort of our weak Bodies and everlasting benefit of our immortal Souls is the desire of Your true Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. 4th of the 9 Month 1682. For the Friends of Abingdon Meeting in Berkshire My dear and well beloved Friends IF you will be delivered then keep to Truth and that will set you free from Sin and from Iniquity and if you would wear the Everlasting Crown think not for to sit down at ease but follow the Lamb through the many Tribulations that you may partake of his sweet Consolations For the more Tryals and sore Exercises do abound the more the Love and Life of Jesus will super-abound unto all them that do believe in him and suffer with him they shall assuredly reign with him and be crowned with life that are faithful unto death and what is left upon Record we see fulfilling that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer and the worst Enemies are them of their own house let them read that have experience for they may understand me and such I truly simpathize with in the patience and suffering of the Lamb knowing that he and his Followers are deeply engaged in the spiritual warfare and truly it is a precious and a blessed cause to be concerned in and them that love any thing more than him are not worthy to be concerned in his War neither can such partake of his Government and Peace which shall never have end Therefore them that go this spiritual warfare must not be entangled but must follow their Captain through the many tribulations bearing their faithful Testimonies that their Garments may be made white being washed in the Blood of the Lamb that the precious adorning of his meek and quiet spirit we may be covered with that we may feel Justification by him in our own hearts then we need not fear what Man can do unto us though all Men should rise up against us yet if our God be for us he can take our part and plead our cause and soon subdue our Enemies if he pleases but if he will not so do yet we have cause to do as the Three Children did to trust in him however for he knows what is most convenient for us and he will cause all things to work together for our good and if he gives the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet glory be to his worthy Name he teaches us to profit thereby and what he orders for us is still for the best and let us wait to feel his sanctifying power to strengthen us to follow him which way soever he leads that we may love him above all perishing things and manifest our Love by keeping his Commands and one of his Commands which he gave unto all his is to watch to be aware of their Souls Enemy and to enjoy the sweet benefit of their Souls Friend which far exceeds the Friendship of all the World and for the same we can turn our backs on the glory of the World and do chuse rather to suffer with the Lamb and his Followers then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for that would captivate our Souls though we might have more favour from the wicked and more ease to our bodies but if hardship be our portion and that we must have a sufficient share therein yet our reward is sure if we endure to the end Glory and honour and praises unto the God of all our Mercies and that for evermore his blessed everlasting reward will out-ballance all therefore great encouragement have we to wait upon the Lord Jesus for the renewing of our inward Man that we may continue in well-doing those few days we have to come in this momentary Pilgrimage that in
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