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
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
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
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
thereof with kind acceptance and this is to certifie you that after I left old England I had no cause of doubt or fear but the roaring Sea is to me as the dry Land because of my heavenly Father's presence and power which do make hard things easie and bitter things sweet in whose Arms we are preserved hitherto and we have great cause to hope we shall unto the end for he is with us and have done for me already more then I did expect from his tender hand I have not had one fit since I came aboard but Sarah and I are both Sea-sick but we have good encouragement in our Voyage and here is some Friends and some other sober People and I have good Service amongst them and the Peace of my God flows in as a River and his Love and Life as a mighty Stream which I would not be separated from for all that is in Old England and let all Friends know that ask concerning me that its very well with my Soul Glory everlasting be unto my tender God for ever Though my Body is weak yet he that made it is worthy to have the disposing of it and unto him it is resigned for he hath often brought it down and rais'd it up and can do with it as he pleases And let my dear Husband and Friends thereaway know that I am at home with my God though absent from my outward and he that cloaths the Lillies and feeds the Ravens takes care of me as well here as at home and as to my bodily weakness I am not worse than I was at home but much easier in my Mind Blessed and magnified be the Name of the Lord for ever It is troublesome for me to write the Vessel doth so wave I desire that Susan Dew and Mary Elson may see this or have a Copy of it and also my dear Husband and Children to whom my indeared Love is recommended and to all our Friends there-away that loves the Truth and walks in it for they can sympathize with me and are partakers of the reward of life with me in our own Bosoms which is and hath been more to me since I have been aboard the Vessel than my natural Life and it 's the best Cordial that I can ever have for healing vertue is in it by which my Soul and weak Body is strengthened and comforted in times of great weakness fore tryals and exercises in the sense of which my Soul is tendered before the God of my life not questioning but that we may see one anothers faces again with joy and not with sorrow and yet if we do not see face to face yet if we abide together in Spirit in the work and service of our God then shall he be honoured and our Souls comforted and so shall I have the desire of my Soul answered who am a Traveller for the tender Seed sake in the service of Truth wherein I greet you all in the salutation of my dear love and therein do take my leave and bid you farewel in the Lord JESUS remaining Your true and unfeigned Friend and Sister in the precious Truth J. V. From on Ship-board in the Downs 27th of the 12th Month 1679. An Epistle to Friends in Rhode-Island and there-away Dear Friends MY Love and Life salutes you all that loves the precious Truth and lives in it for they are very dear and near one unto another even as Epistles written in one anothers Hearts that cannot be forgotten not written with Ink or Pen but with the uniting and healing Spirit that unites us unto our God and endears us one unto another in which I am one with you in Tryals and Exercises and the breathing of my Soul is unto the God of our lives that all may be cut off that troubles you and that Love and Life and all other Spiritual Graces and Gifts may be multiplied and increased in and amongst you that you may persevere as the Worthies of the Lord that through renewings of the right Spirit you may be more and more Conquerours over all that is wrong for our God is on his way Glory to his Name for ever and he hath regard to the very hindermost of the Flock therefore let all put on Valour and Courage to follow the Lamb for he is on his way Triumphantly and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory though we may meet with much by the way yet we have great encouragement still to look to him who have hitherto preserved in dangers deep and difficult and though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet our Helper is nigh yea a God at hand to deliver out of them all Surely his love is sufficient to engage our Hearts to his Service for we have every one a Service for our tender God in our places and purity of Life and Conversation is that which will answer to the establishing and confirming of all that keeps thereunto though the outward appearance of things may make some weak ones to reason and question and be ready to stumble yet the Gospel-light and life and the good order thereof is very comfortable and as it is kept unto will resolve all doubts and stop the dark reasoner and put a period to all unprofitable Controversies which things the Lord grant may be brought to pass amongst you and in all the Churches to the Honour and Exaltation of his Holy Name and Precious Truth and the comforting and building up and establishing of every breathing tender Babe that he over all may have the praise and our Souls the comfort for evermore Amen Saith your Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. From Barbadoes 6th of the first Month 1681. Let this be read among Friends in Rhode-Island as the Wisdom of God shall direct Here are at the West-India Islands a very good President concerning Children and I could wish that it were so among the Lord's People every where Friends Children meet together once a week and sit together with their Parents and wait upon the Lord and are Instructed and they learn dear G. F's Catechism at home and then they say it at the Meeting once a week and I do believe that it do produce a good Effect and I can truly say that the Power of the Almighty is amongst them for many of them was tendered and let Tears when I was at their Meeting and Friends were refreshed Here in Barbadoes are Family Meetings very frequently and comfortable An Epistle to Friends in East-Jersey Dear Friends BE of believing Hearts and keep to the measure of Light already received that none may be vailed in their Understandings and so come to loss but that all may have the benefit of their own measures that we may Magnifie our God together for in the feeling of that Spirit that helpeth our Infirmities and teaches us we are greatly encouraged to travel on though there is much to be met with by the way Oh therefore let none be weary in well-doing
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
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
worthy Name and magnifie his preserving and delivering Power for it hath been largely manifested may a little remnant truly say that has known the wonderful works of our God to admiration Oh we have great cause to speak well of his Name and to remember his mercies of old and to hold the continuation of his favours in great esteem and blessed be the Lord Jesus he hath not been wanting to us but his renewed Mercies daily are sufficient to deeply ingage us to renew our faithfulness and obedience that our heavenly Father may be pleased to continue and multiply his tender dealings towards us that whatever is yet to come may never be able to separate us from the sense of his love or from the seasonedness of his holy fear or from that cementing life that joyns us as Members unto Christ our Head that if Tryals should abound we may all feel the Love and Life of Jesus to super-abound that every bitter Cup that is yet to come may be sweetened and all hard things made easie and we encouraged to travel on in our heavenly progress keeping a narrow watch in the precious Light and diligently waiting in the same that we may be filled with heavenly Treasure for all other is very uncertain And we here do meet with a sufficient share of many and variable Exercises neither do I expect that you there do go free but this is that I do desire above all things even your living growth in the precious Truth and that you may indure to the end for they are assuredly happy and a blessed Reward is prepared for them And in a living sense of the same the Lord God of our Lives keep us here and you there that our Breathings may be continued one for another that we may be refreshed one in another and praise the God of Heaven and Earth together in his one Eternal Spirit as with one Heart and Soul for he is worthy to be had in living remembrance and his pure power to be magnified and renowned over all and unto it I commit us all for it is over all and worthy to have the disposing of us all and with it I leave all for there is nothing too hard for it to do and it 's worthy to be exalted over all Heaven and Earth and that for evermore saith the Soul of your loving Sister in the unchangeable Truth Joan Vokins London 28. 4 Mo. 90. POSTSCRIPT HEre have been a very precious time of heavenly Bedewings at our General Meeting at this Season as at many other times blessed be the God of Heaven and Earth his Power has filled the Assemblies of his People and the remembrance of you and other remote Islands is signified by Epistles that were Signed at our Womens Meetings and ordered to be sent to you when opportunity presents that you may rejoyce with us and joy in the God of your and our Salvation in and through Christ Jesus who lives and abides to make intercession for us his poor helpless ones who have had no helper but him Oh glory to his Name for ever he has been with us in many Troubles and gives us cause to believe he will be with us for ever And unto his tender care do I commit all our States and Conditions for fresh and sutable Supplies comes from him the Fountain of all our Mercies to whom be returned the Honour and the Glory over all for he is worthy for evermore The Lord my God in his great goodness to me after a long time of weakness has enabled me by his Power to come once more to this Yearly Meeting to be refreshed among his worthy ones and could do no less then cast my Mite into the Treasury And when the Epistle comes as is directed to West and East-Jersey and Philadelphia I intreat thee and thy Wife to let Copies be sent to York and Long Island J. V. To Antegua and Nevice c. G. W. DEar Friend after the Salutation of my Dear Love which truly reaches to thee thy Wife and Friends This is to let you know That I cannot forget you in those remote Islands but have been often concerned for you in a Travel of Soul before the Lord and now having this opportunity after a long time of bodily Weakness to visit Friends at London I can do no less than let you know that through tender Mercy I am yet alive to tell of the Goodness of the Lord and to admire the Works of his Almighty Power and to speak well of his worthy Name for Glory and Honour and Praises thereunto he is the same as ever and his Mercies and the continuation of his Favours are never to be forgotten and his renewed Goodness and Mercies both Spiritual and Temporal are daily sufficient to engage us to renew our faithfulness and obedience unto our tender God Oh that thus it may be with all that he has been so good unto as to bring near unto himself and one unto another who were once afar off from the Fellowship of the Saints in Light but blessed be the Lord who hath caused his Light to shine in our Tabernacles and shewed us the way that we should walk in and now Christ Jesus is our Life and Salvation and he fills our Cups with sweet Consolation and as many as do walk in the Light have fellowship one with another and the Blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin and purifies and fits the Earthen Vessel for the Heavenly Treasure and the excellency of the power is of the Lord and the Glory over all is his and he is near unto them that seeks his Glory more than their outward Interest and he will fill their Treasuries with this heavenly Treasure and so as we follow him we inherit substance and have no more need to wander as in the days past after Husks and Shadows but to keep to the Shepherd and Bishop of our Souls for blessed be his Name he feeds us in the green Pastures of Life and causes us to lye down by the still Waters when the raging Sea foams out Mire and Dirt Oh this is he that led Israel in the days of old and never said to the Seed of Jacob Seek ye my Face in vain And therefore dear Friends we have cause to say to the praise of his holy Name That goodly are the Tents of Jacob and blessed is his dwelling place for it s within the munition of Rocks where our Bread is ever sure and the Water of Life never fails where the weary finds sweet repose and the thirsty are refreshed and where our Souls feed together when our Bodies are far asunder So therein the Lord preserve us and you unto the end that he may have the Honour and our Souls the Benefit for evermore And by this thou may'st know that we have had a precious time here at London at our Yearly Meeting and many precious Testimonies have been born by Sons and Daughters to the Almighty Power of God that have filled the Assemblies of his People Oh how have the Heavenly Dew distilled upon our Branches and brought forth Fruit that reaches unto you in these Islands and I dearly desire it may be pleasant to your taste that we may be refreshed one in another and be one anothers joy and rejoycing in the Lord Jesus and that the Epistles of Love that were Signed here at our Yearly and Quarterly Meetings may induce you to Write again that you there may have a correspondency with Friends here in the Work and Service that our God hath called us unto that Spiritual Fruits may be brought forth and abound in all the Churches for our heavenly Father who delights in those that brings forth the Fruits of his Spirit and every Member that bringeth forth Fruit to his praise he purges and waters with the Seasons of his early and latter Rain and causes them to bring forth Fruit more and more And so the Dew of the Everlasting Hills rest upon you and us and upon all the Heritage of God every where for evermore Amen saith the Soul of thy true Friend and Sister in that which reaches over Sea and Land as length of time cannot wear out JOAN VOKINS At London I hope to hear from Nevice as opportunity to present my Dear Love is to W. Fifill's Widow if yet alive and to all the rest of those that are alive that loves the Truth and lives in it for they are very precious to me J. V. This was written soon after the Yearly Meeting 1690. about the end of the 4th or the beginning of the 5th Month 1690. THE END A Catalogue of Books Printed for and Sold by Thomas Northcott JOhn Burnyeat's Works Price 2 s. 6 d. G. Keith's Presbyterian and Independant Visible Churches in New-England and elsewhere brought to the Test and examined according to the Holy Scripture Price 1 s. 6 d. His Way to the City of God 1 s. His Fundamental Truths of Christianity Price 8 d. Stephen Crisps Alarum sounded in the Borders of Spiritual Egypt which shall be heard in Babylon Prince 3 d. His Epistle concerning the Present and Succeeding Times Price 2 d. G. Fox the Younger's Works Price 1 s. 8 d. Elizabeth Bathursts Truths Vindication Price 8 d. Sam. Fisher's Works Price 12 s. William Tomlinson's Innovations of Popery Price 6 d. Buds and Blossoms of Piety Price 1 s. G. F's several Treatises worthy of every true Christian's serious Consideration Price 6 d. R. Barclay's Apology for the True Christian Divinity Price 4 s. There is now in the Press Robert Barclay's Works which will be a Book of 12 s.
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
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