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-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
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
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
which our tender God hath spread over us that we may not be asham'd to bear the Cross and take heed lest any cause the Offence of the Cross to cease for such are Enemies to Christ Jesus let them profess what they will for there is no way to the Crown but by and through the Cross So in that which brings us into subjection do I remain present with you in Spirit though absent in Body your tender Sister in the precious Truth J. V. From Gravesend the 24th of the 12th Month 1679. Let this be read in your Womens Meeting or any where as a service is seen A Letter to her Husband Richard Vokins sent from Road Island Dear Husband MY Love and Life salutes thee with my dear Children and my Father and my brother O. S. and his Wife and my Brother D and his Wife and all the rest of my dear Friends and Heavenly Relations dearly desiring your Preservation and Prosperity in the ever blessed Truth and then I doubt not but our God will increase us in our outward store And dear Heart thou art often in my mind and the breathing of my Life is for thee as for my own Soul and I do believe that all our Trials will work for good if we love the Lord Jesus as we ought to do Those Trials that we have had and do now meet with I hope will fit us for greater and I do not know but I may come home again to suffer with you by the strength of the same Power that hath preserved us hitherto Oh magnified be it for ever saith my Soul for it hath done for me great things And dear Heart my service is greater here than it was there and I have pretty well clear'd my self in Long Island but at New-York I am not quite clear but I hope I shall ere long I am now at Road-Island going on to clear my self as fast as I may as the Lord makes way for me I intend to take the Meetings between this and Boston and when I am clear there I hope you may hear further from me or see me in some reasonable time as our tender God shall be pleased to order And by this you may all know that my tender God is with me and carries me through many sore Exercises and his mighty Power enables me to do his Service and his Reward is not wanting blessed be his Name for all his tender Mercies Friends are tender to me and I am better in Health at present than I have been but I have many Ailments attending my weak Body still So dear Heart let us breathe to our God together though outwardly far asunder yet if it stands with the Will of our Heavenly Father we may see one another again to his Honour and our Comfort and let us pray unto him Day and Night that we may be content to be at his dispose in Life or Death together or asunder that he may be honoured and our Souls comforted And dear Heart remember to have an Eye over our dear Children that they lose not the sense of Truth which my Soul hath so deeply travailled for when I was with them for it is my fear now I am from them that if thou do not supply my place in my absence that the Spirit of this World will prevail and hinder the Work of the Lord in their Hearts and in thine too and that will be to all our Sorrow The Lord God Eternal keep us faithful to him unto the end that we bare our Testimonies for his Truth with boldness at all times and in all places that we may not be asham'd to confess him before Men if we should come to be tried for our Lives for it 's a precious advancement to be a worthy Sufferer and if the Mighty God do bring me home again to partake of Suffering in my Native Land I hope those Exercises that I now go through will still sit me for greater and I hope this is the end for which thee and I am tried And so in the Love of that which is able to preserve us do I once more salute thee and remain Thy true and tender Wife J. V. From Road-Island the 14th of the 4th Month 1680. REmember my dear Love to my Children and bid them mind the Lord and to all Friends of our Meeting and let my Son R. tell them that I greatly desire their Faithfulness and I hope he will have an honest Testimony for God and I would have Mary see this Letter that she may be of a believing Heart that if the Lord should bring us together again it may be to his Honour and our great Comfort the Lord is as well able to preserve me home as he was hither and I hope he will in his time I must leave that to him and so I hope will you for if we be not contented with his Will it will not be well with us And therefore let 's learn Paul's Lesson for we have great need in every state to be content No more but dear Love being in haste J. V. To Oliver Sansom and his Wife Dear Brother and Sister WHom I dearly love in the Lord Jesus our Life who makes hard things easie bitter things sweet and bares up in the greatest Trials do I salute you with my Mary my Sister Margery and the rest of them earnestly desiring your Prosperity every way as for my own Soul And by this you may know that tho' fore Exercises and Travels attend on every hand yet I am alive to magnifie that Power that hath preserved in Dangers great and Difficulties many and is able to Preserve unto the end and therefore I desire that we may trust in it and obey it to the honour of it for it hath been manifest in my weak Body to the admiration of many of the upright in Heart and they are very Loving to me where ever I come And my tender Father hath strengthened me to do his Service in Long-Island and New-York and in Road-Island and Boston and New-Jersey and those parts of America and I was in hope to have come home when I was clear of New England but the Lord hath laid it upon me to go to Barbadoes and in his Strength I am going on in a Vessel that one George Fletcher is Owner and Master of who professes Truth Do you not think that a Line from you would be very precious to me I neither heard from nor saw one of my Native Land since I left it but I cannot blame you not knowing whither to direct it Remember my dear Love to all dear Friends of our Mens and Womens Meetings earnestly desiring their Faithfulness therein and in all things else that pertains to the life of Truth that we may bear our Testimonies in Uprightness unto the end that in the end God may be glorified and our Souls comforted for ever and evermore Dear Anne Lawrence's Children be in my Mind as well as my own I hope you will look
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
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
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
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
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.