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
God's Mighty Power Magnified AS MANIFESTED and REVEALED IN HIS Faithful Handmaid JOAN VOKINS WHO Departed this Life the 22d of the 5th Month 1690 Having finished her Course and kept the Faith Also some Account of her Exercises Works of Faith Labour of Love and great Travels in the Work of the Ministry for the good of Souls 2 Cor. 4. 7. But we have this Treasure in Earthen Vessels that the Excellency of the Power may be of God and not of us 2 Cor. 12. 9. And he said my Grace is sufficient for thee for my Strength is made perfect in Weakness London Printed for Thomas Northcott in George-Yard in Lombard-street 1691. TO THE READER Friendly Reader THE following Papers and Epistles here Collected together and Printed for thy benefit were not written and given forth by the Will of Man or worldly Wisdom but by the Will and hidden Wisdom of God which is and ever was a Mystery to the Learned Scribes and wise Disputants of this World and as Foolishness to them Therefore if thou wouldst come to receive the comfort that is couched under the Words and Expressions and partake of the Sweetness of that Life from whence they proceeded then thou must turn in thy Mind to the Manifestation of the Spirit of Christ which doth enlighten thee and all Mankind and is in great Mercy freely given thee to profit withal which Gift of God is the only Key that opens the Mysteries of Life and Salvation and reveals the things of God which no Man can know or understand but by the Inspiration of that same Holy Spirit which I desire thou maist in Humility wait to feel to open and enlarge thy Heart by inspiring thee and thereby a good Vnderstanding maist obtain both to discern the things belonging to thy Peace and also to savour and taste thereof to thy Comfort and Satisfaction and so to have the Sense from the Witness in thy own Conscience from whence the following things came So requesting thee to read without Prejudice in the fear of that God that searcheth thy Heart that thou maist receive the Benefit which in true Love is heartily wished thee by Thy Sincere Friend O. SANSOM Note That the following Papers are not exactly placed as to the Dates which the Reader is desired to pass by An Account and Testimony concerning Joan Vokins from the Quarterly Meeting for Berkshire AS concerning our Dear Friend and well-beloved Sister in the Lord Joan Vokins this Account and Testimony Lives in our Hearts to give forth That she was one whom the Lord Called by his Grace and Endued with Power from on High to Preach the Gospel of the Kingdom of Heaven and according to her Measure her Labour and Exercise therein was Effectual to many and her Care and Diligence in her Service very Useful and Profitable in the Churches of Christ where she hath Travelled especially in those parts where her Residence was She was given up to Serve the Lord with her whole Might depending on the Sufficiency of his Power and did not count her Life nor any thing of this World dear unto unto her for the Works sake which the Lord had called her unto but with great Courage and Confidence trusting in him who was her sole support she chearfully exposed her weak Body to Travel enduring great Hardships both by Sea and Land in the Work and Service of the Lord when many Perrils and Dangers divers ways did attend her and tho outwardly Weak she was made Strong through Believing in God's Almighty Power And now having Fought a good Fight and Finished her Course here with Joy and laid down her Head in peace she is Crowned with endless Life and Glory to Sing Praises and Hallelujah's to the Lord for ever and evermore And through her Faithfulness to God in her day and Valour for his Truth and Courage and Constancy unto the End she hath obtained a good Report among all God's People that knew her in her Generation Her Conversation did Adorn her Christian Profession and was such as did become the Gospel so that she Practised what she Preached and was a Lively Pattern and good Example unto others in her day And seeing there are few that are in all things like-minded then surely the loss of such a Member in the Churches is great and her Work and Service wanted and missed much among us But seeing it is her great Gain that she is ceased from her Labours and our God's good pleasure to Receive her into everlasting Rest It is our Duty humbly to submit and say Thy will O God be done And O Lord do thou by thy own Power raise up more such Faithful Labourers and such Nursing Mothers in thy Israel as this was which thou hast now removed So for the Glorifying of our God and Magnifying of his Life and Power which through Christ Jesus was Revealed and Manifested in this our dear Friend and Sister in the Truth aforesaid we were free to give forth this short Account and Testimony with our Names Subscribed Signed at the Quarterly Meeting at Reading the 4th of the 3 d Month 1691. Paul Newman William Austell John Gidden William Cooper Oliver Sansom William Speakman Adam Lawrence John Knowles John May. William Lambole James Potter Edw. Lockey James Mathew John Jagger John Buy John Cotterell Abraham Bonifeild John Brown William Ballard The above-said Testimony being Read at the Womans Half years Meeting for the said County held at Reading on the self same day above Specified and in Witness of their Unity with their Brethren therein and truly owning the same did also set their Hands as followeth Martha Weston Jane Tull. Grace Hutchings Mary Sandilans Marjery Potter Elizabeth Addams Marab Farmborrow Mary Baker Mary Buy Margaret Chandler Damaris Burgis Mary Austell Deborah Mathew Joan Orpwood Rachel Nicholls Mary Cooper Jane Ballard Mary Cotterell Marjery Bunce Alice Glover Jane Sansom Elizab. Wightwick Elizabeth Bullock Ann Ball. Mary Brown Ann Truss Frances Wren Margret Fulbrook A Testimony concerning Joan Vokins by Theophila Townsend I Have a Testimony in my Heart to bear for that faithfull Servant and Hand-Maid of the Lord Joan Vokins That she was a vertuous Woman truly fearing God and one that was full of Zeal and Courage in her Testimony for the Lord and his blessed Truth in her Day and Time and did the Work of the Lord with boldness and holy Confidence and much Chearfulness She stood a Witness for the Truth in faithfulness unto the end of her days against all that did rise up in Opposition or sought to hinder the Prosperity of it where she was concerned I have known her above twenty years and have had a Correspondency with her by Letters and have been at her House and she hath been often with me whereby I had the knowledge of her Affairs relating to the precious Truth and of her godly Care and Diligence in the work of the Lord. She was of a tender Spirit ready to hold forth a Hand
to the weak to help them on in the way of Peace and to watch over them for good and encourage them in well-doing and much delighted to see those that knew the Truth grow up into the Life and Nature of it to persevere in it in faithfulness but much lamenting the state of the unfaithful She had a godly care upon her for the Church of Christ in general but especially where she had laboured and been conversant Her tender Care was great She was a Nursing Mother over the Young convinced and in her own Family great was her Care and Endeavours for her Husband and Children that they might partake with her of the Everlasting Comfort and Celestial Consolation that is the Portion of the Righteous The Lord was very good unto her and blessed her with a Dispensation of the Gospel and gave her a Word in season to speak to their several states and conditions and the Lord blessed her Endeavours and made it effectual for their Benefit and her great Comfort and Satisfaction For she was a great Sufferer in the time of her first Convincement among her near Relations And she was a good Example among them that by her good Conversation by the blessing of God and assistance of his Grace they were won to the Truth her care was great for her Children that they might come to a sense of Truth that she said when she saw them cumbered and their Minds hurried with their worldly Business that she would call them together to sit down and wait upon the Lord and sit with them that he might compose their Minds into an inward Retiredness and said the Lord was with her in it and often refreshed her Spirit among them And the Lord let her live to see the Fruits of her labour and the desire of her Soul concerning them and the good effect that her Christian Motherly care had brought forth through the blessing of Almighty God among them to him be the Glory for he is worthy for ever Her Father and Husband and Children all came to receive the Truth and her Husband is now a Sufferer for Truth under that cruel Oppression of Tythes a Prisoner at Reading-Goal with her eldest Son for the same And when they were called to suffer she signified to me in a Letter that it rejoyced her Heart to see them willing to suffer in so good a Cause And her zeal and fervency for the holy Truth was such that she rejoyced to see her near and dear Relations suffer for it not that she was glad because they were Sufferers but because they were faithful to the Lord and did chuse rather to suffer than deny their Testimony against Tythes that Antichristian Yoke which the Nation groans under the weight of which the Lord will overturn in his own season and ease his own Heritage of that heavy Burden for he is a never-failing God to his faithful People These things are not written only for her sake that is taken from us but also for the sakes of them that remain in the Body that they may be like-minded with her and be found in the same Practice watching against evil in their Children and Families and encouraging them in a holy Life and judge down Pride and Vanity and all Superfluity and every hurtful thing that they may receive the same Blessing and sweet Satisfaction from the Lord as this our dear Deceased Friend and Sister did to the comfort of her Soul and renewing of her Zeal and Courage in the Work and Service of the Lord who in the Power of God went on to serve the Lord with all her Might offering up all that was near and dear unto her not sparing her weak Body which in appearance was fitter to keep her Chamber than travel as she did who left Husband and Children and all outward Enjoyments for the Truth sake and went over-Sea to answer the Lord and clear herself of the Service he had called her unto and he was with her and did support and uphold her by his mighty Power and made way for her to travel through several Islands and Provinces as may be seen more at large in the following account She came to visit me not long before she went last up to London and told me she had some Papers she desired might be made publick after her Decease expecting her time was not long to remain in the Body being well satisfied that she should lay down her Head in Peace with God let Death come when it would Her Trials and Exercises were many but that which was her greatest Grief and heaviest Burden and most grievous to be born was her suffering by false Brethren and Apostates who under the form and profession of Truth did make War and kick against the Life and Power of it but her Zeal for God was against that Libertine back-sliding Spirit And the Lord bore up her Head and supported her at all times and brought her through it all and now hath taken her to himself out of all their reach where She rests from her Labours and her works do follow her And in her last Letter dated London in the 4th Month 1690. she signified now her Service was finished and said I could gladly have laid down my Body here among the Lord's Worthies yet seeing it is otherwise ordered I submit to the Will of my God and do think to go Homeward in a little time or to this purpose as if she had known her time to be near at Hand and it was very near indeed for she did not reach Home but dyed at Reading in Peace with the Lord and in Unity with all his faithful People And blessed be the worthy Name of the Lord she is now set free from all Sorrow Pain and Weakness of Body she was attended with And now the Lord hath taken her to her Everlasting Rest out of all Trials and her Peace is sure and her Rest Glorious Holy high Praises to the God of all our Mercies and Blessings who knows best what to do with us and in what season to take us out of the World and when it will be most for his Glory and our Good Although we feel the want of her and bewail our loss yet our loss is her great Gain She was very serviceable in the Country where she lived and elsewher they miss her and we all that were acquainted with her know the want of her yet can say in submission to the Will of God Thy Will be done O Lord. This is what was with me in a Testimony for my dear Deceased Friend and Sister in the Truth J. V. with whom my Spirit had true Unity And though her Body is removed yet her Life is with us Cirencester the 10th day of the 2d Month 1691. Theophila Townsend Mary Drewet's Testimony Concerning Joan Vokins COncerning our dear and well-beloved Friend and Sister Joan Vokins who was somtimes Conversant with us and when it pleased the Lord to order her way to Visit
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
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
tender Love and Soul-refreshing Life undeclarably unto them that fear him and dare not offend him and so loves him as to keep his Commands them he will make partakers of his precious Promises for he promised never to leave nor forsake his and to be with them at their down-lying and up-rising and at all times both day and night and as we keep covenant with him he will be with us and we shall be with him that lives for ever to give Life to us who waits upon him and that we may have it more abundantly that we may live to his praise though amongst a crooked Generation who do daily provoke the righteous God surely the crying sins of the ungodly have long cryed for vengeance in the ears of the mighty God of Heaven and Earth and his just Judgments will suddenly find them out and then if Daniel Noah and Lot were there they shall deliver none but their own Souls And therefore we have cause to be concerned as Lot was in Sodom that we may be Preachers of Righteousness in our Lives and Conversations that as the wicked do dishonour and grieve the Lord we may be the more careful to honour and glorifie him by bringing forth much Fruit for his delight is in such and if we abide in Christ Jesus the true Vine then shall we be fruitful in every good Work for he is the Root from whence we receive Vertue else we should wither and soon decay but blessed be the Root from whence we receive Sap and Daily Relief Oh that it may lye always upon our Branches that we may bring forth Fruit in due season and blossom as the Rose of Sharon and grow as the Lilly of the Vally yielding a good savour in our words and actions that whether together or asunder we may be one anothers joy and crown of rejoycing in the Lord Jesus in whom our fresh Springs are who is the Fountain of all our Mercies whose Streams makes glad his whole City who relieves and replenishes our Souls and gives us many fruitful Seasons and makes our Souls partakers of the early and latter Rain and of his eternal Spirit wherein is the Bond of Peace in which the Lord God of all our Mercies keep us all neer unto himself and one unto another that through the enjoyment of the same we may magnifie his eternal Power and Praise his most holy Name for it is worthy to be honoured and renowned over all and that for ever more Amen saith the Soul of your dear Sister in that which reaches over Sea and Land Joan Vokins Written at Droghedah in Ireland the 27. 9 Mo 86. Friends here are well and in the enjoyment of Peace and Plenty blessed be the Lord and Meetings large for the most part and Friends unanimously concerned in the Service of Truth as in the beginning and keep their Zeal for Truth and delights to live in it Here follows a Paper that was printed in 1687 Entituled A Tender Invitation unto all those that want Peace with God by reason of the burden of Sin that keeps them from acceptance with the Lord Jesus and from an assurance of Salvation though it be very desirable to them OH it 's the weary and heavy laden that he tenders rest unto and they that take heed to his good Spirit which is light and leaves off that which it condemns and follows its Instructions they obtain the way of Life and he becomes their Shepherd and they hear his Voice and a Stranger they will not hear but they follow him and he feeds them with that which the Strangers to his Voice and hireling Shepherds cannot attain unto by all their arts or parts external but it comes to be enjoyed by Faith in Christ Jesus that gives Victory over Sin and therefore it 's time for all People to consider and as the Apostle said To try and examine themselves whether they be in the true Faith or no for there is no true Faith but that which stands in the Almighty Power and that gives Victory over the Powers of Darkness and without this Faith it is impossible to please God as it is left upon Record in the Scriptures of Truth So all is to believe in the Son of God who is the light of the World and hath enlightned every one that comes into the World as saith the Scripture and in the universal love of God he gave his Son for a Light to enlighten the Gentiles and to be Salvation unto the ends of the earth and he died for all and his Love so far extended unto all both Male and Female that he would have none to perish but that all by turning to his good Spirit may be saved from all that the evil Spirit leads into for whosoever follows the leadings of the Spirit of Jesus who is given for a Leader of his People he leads them in the Path of Righteousness and as they come to be Servants of Righteousness they come to be free from Sin but it s written in the Scriptures of Truth that the Servants of Sin are free from Righteousness and they that commit Sin are of the Devil for he is the Original of Sin but Jesus Christ is the Original of the pure and holy undefiled Religion that keeps from the Evil of the World which is Pride Adultery Lying Cheating and Idolatry and Superstition and other Spots that those are stained with who are not acquainted with him that said I Wisdom leads in the midst of the Paths of Judgment to cause them that love me to inherit Substance there is much talking of loving him but few inclined to keep his Commands and much talking of his fear but little standing in awe so as not to offend him but so far are many from taking heed unto the measure of his Spirit of Light as he hath placed in their Hearts that they do not know it leading them to the heart-cleansing fear For if they did how could they plead for Sin so long as they remain in these Bodies whereas it hath been said by the Spirit of the Lord and left upon Scripture Record that the fear of the Lord is as a Fountain of Life to depart from the Snares of Death and the beginning of the true Wisdom and a good Understanding have all they that follow after it for they depart from iniquity and it cleanses the heart and keeps it clean according to the Testimonies the Scriptures bears Record of and therefore unto it I recommend all People that all may have the priviledge of it that their Hearts may be cleansed for it is well known there is no Repentance in the Grave but as Death leaves righteous Judgment will find and therefore let the long suffering and patience of the Lord lead to Repentance such a Repentance that needs no repenting of a changing of the heart abstaining and retraining from every appearance of evil this is that which the Lord hath long waited for and doth yet wait to be
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
Friends at and nigh Colebrook and Longford Meeting and thereaway Dear Frinds I Having you often in mind thought it long before I could send a few Lines having kept my Bed this three Months or more and have not been able to write and I am very weak still I could not go from my Bed But hearing of an opportunity have in much weakness written that which lay most upon my Mind which is for the building of you up in the most Holy Faith and encouraging of you in Well-doing Oh my dear and tender Friends feel the tender Love of the God of Love that we may magnifie his Name together though at a distance in Person O the unutterable Loving-Kindness of our God what Tongue can declare it how hath he preserv'd us provided for us hitherto beyond what our hearts could desire Hath he not done that for us which none other could do Hath he not delivered out of Dangers deep and Difficulties many Or hath he been ever wanting to us in doing us good Oh surely no but he hath multiplied his Mercies and encreased Blessings frequently and freely as he in his Wisdom sees what is most convenient for us and if he please to feed us with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Adversity yet let us to his Teachings keep that we may learn to profit thereby Have not the trials and exercises of our Faith and Patience brought us to a good Experience of the Love of our God O let us keep a narrow watch over our Hearts that the Enemy may not subtilly creep in under any pretence for if he be harkened to he will weaken the Faith and Unbelief will enter and then the murmuring Spirit will be ready to charge the Lord foolishly Oh dear Hearts our tender Father is not wanting but is a present help in all our needs therefore let it be the whole and sole bent of our minds to perform our Duties unto him Oh up and be doing for the time is come that none must be idle but all that would have the wages of well-doing must be faithful every one in his place and none to make excuses for Châ—â—st our Head is full of Virtue and Strength and Might and ready to communicate to all his Members a suitable and seasonable supply at all times and if we as diligent Servants wait on him our tender Master he will discover our particular Duties and shew us what is required of us Oh let us go on with Courage unanimously that we may be helpful one unto another and so bring honour to our Head that we may feel his Power supporting of us upon all occasions that we may not doubt nor faint in our Minds by reason of the buffettings of the power of Darkness but through the Faith in Christ Jesus we may obtain Victory over all that would hinder the prosperity of Truth and keep it under for Truth must reign and the Lord will be honoured in the dominion thereof And he will sweep the Nation with the Beesom of his Wrath and the Hypocrites shall be tried and fear shall surprize them and woe will be to them that are at ease in Sion but well will it be with them who think nothing too dear to part with for the Truth sake whose Hearts are singly resigned to serve the Lord with all that he hath given them which is no more but our reasonable Duties which we have good cause diligently to perform unto the end that we may daily feel the vertue of Life continued and renewed to us unto the end and in the end a double reward which our God hath prepared for all that hold out and endure thereunto Blessed be his Holy Name for ever and for evermore Dear Friends feel me in that which thinks no evil and in it receive my Salutation that it may reach unto the same in you that we may breath one for another and be refreshed as Members of one Body We cannot say one unto another I have no need of thee for there is work for us all in the Vineyard Oh let us be diligent while we have time that we may receive our Peny of Life to the comforting of our Souls every day for we do not serve a hard Master So in that which engages to his service do I bid you farewell The 1st of the 6th Month 1678. Your Friend in that which engages our Hearts to serve our God faithfully without any reserve J. V. Some account given forth by Joan Vokins of the great Goodness and Mercy of the Lord towards her and of the wonderful Works that he hath done for her conducing to his Glory and her great Joy and Comfort Written with her own Hand a few Months before her decease as followeth SOmthing of the tender dealing of the Lord with me ever since my Childhood for blessed be his Name he preserved me from many Evils that Youth is often ensnared with and by his Light that I then had no acquaintance with shewed me the vanity and vain Customs of the World when I was very young and all along my youth his Good Spirit did still strive with me to preserve me from Sin and Evil And if I had at any time through persuasion of others gone to that they called Recreation I should be so condemned for passing away my precious time that I could have no peace so that I could take no delight in their Pastime but was still condemned And many times I cried to the Righteous God to reveal his way unto me and I promised to walk therein whatever I endured For the snares of the World the Lord was pleased to discover and in some measure to make known the Cross of Jesus that Crucifies unto the World and as I enclined to take it up and follow Jesus through the many Tribulations he endowed me with his Almighty Power wherein hath been my help blessed be his Worthy Name for ever for his Loving-Kindness never fails but his Mercies endure for ever and his great Compassion and tender Dealing towards my Soul when in Darkness and under the Region of the Shadow of Death is never to be forgotten for it hath been largely extended unto me when in deep distress When my cry was often Lord reveal thy Way unto me that I may walk therein whatever I undergo But when I found the way so strait and narrow I could very willingly have turned aside for ease for Flesh and Blood could not bear that which I had then to undergo but blessed and renowned be the Spirit of Truth my Comforter which leads into all Truth for when I was in a dejected condition about Reprobation and Election neither Priest nor Professor could open the Mystery of Election and Reprobation but the Spirit of Light and Life which is the Spirit of Jesus opened my Understanding and revealed the Mystery of the two Seeds how that the one is for ever blessed and the other cursed And also what Happiness might be received by taking
heed to the Light that shined in my Heart which makes manifest that the way to the Crown of Glory is through the daily cross to my own Will and to take Christ's Yoke upon that Nature that would not be subject Oh how precious is the Counsel of him who said Take my yoke upon you and learn of me for my yoke is easie and my burden is light and ye shall find rest for your souls And that Rest I sorely wanted until I learned of Jesus to be meek and low in Heart and to suffer for well-doing and then glory unto his Holy Name for ever his blessed Reward my Soul was daily made a partaker of though hated by evil doers yet loved by the Lord and that engaged me to give up to his dispose and to answer his requirings not accounting my self nor any thing he hath give me too much to part with that the Truth may be propagated and my tender God honored For blessed be his Worthy Name he hath filled my Cup with the sweet Salvation of his Son Christ Jesus the Light and Saviour of his poor and helpless Ones who have no other to depend upon for Help at all times but wait daily to be furnished upon every occasion to serve him in all Faithfulness for he is Worthy my Soul can truly say for he gave me of his good Spirit and it was with me yet unknown when I rebelled against it and was not willing to be subject to its Leadings nor observing of its Dictates as I ought to have been Oh then did I want power as many do now not knowing the sufficiency of the engrafted Word of God's Grace that is able to save But when I followed its counsel I found it sufficient to bring good to me out of great afflictions beyond my expectation and then could I plead no excuse knowing that unto the Lord Jesus who had brought great things to pass I must give my account for he hath manifested his Power and I have cause to believe it will never fail towards his People if we fail not to obey the manifestation of it but Faithfulness is required to the Talent received for which we must give an account and then what can stand us in stead if we have not an increase This was my concern for many Years and I could not take comfort in Husband or Children House or Land or any visibles for want of the Marriage Union with the Lamb of God that takes away the sins of the Souls of those that cannot be satisfied in them but are weary of the burden of them as I was and God by his Spirit shewed me he abhorred my self-righteousness and let me see that in him was Righteousness Life and Power and then I was sensible that he is the the Light of the World that enlightens every one that comes into the World and that it was striving with me from my Youth which was before ever I heard the name Quaker and then I did believe that there was a People or Church over whom Christ Jesus was Head though I could yet not find them nor be a Member of them yet long sought after it sorrowfully with many strong and fervent cries and desires But the Lord in his own due time answered my weary Soul and made known more and more of the way of his Truth and People and at length sent some of his Messengers as Instruments in his Hand for my Encouragement and Confirmation Then was I and many desolate Ones right glad whose Souls had long languished for the glad Tidings that they brought with them how that we might inherit Substance which we had long sought and been searching for both in the Scriptures and amongst Professors of many sorts of Profession for we would fain have filled our Souls with the Husks but that could not satisfie we knew not the saving Health of him who said I wisdom lead in the midst of the Paths of Judgment to teach them that love and follow me to inherit Substance Oh this is that which did at first convince us and tendered our Hearts in the beginning Then what was too near or dear for us to part with in the Day of our deep Distress when none could cure our wounded Souls Oh how precious was the Heart-searching Light when we first knew it to shine upon our Tabernacles to guide us in the narrow Way wherein is Life and perfect Peace for those whose Minds are staied on the Lord And when I have read that he would keep them in perfect Peace whose Minds are staied on him what would not I have done that it might have been my condition But then I could not watch nor wait but was as a Ship without an Anchor among the merciless Waves but Praises unto the Lord for ever he caused the Living Hope to spring that anchored in trying Times And I was even as Israel at the red Sea compassed all round on every Hand great was the strait that I was then in much hardship the Sea before and the Enemy presenting so much impossibility that his proud Waves of Temptations Buffettings and false Accusations had almost sunk me under Oh then did I cry unto the God of Mercy and tender Compassion that I might but stand still and behold his Salvation and he did arise and rebuke the Enemy and made way for me to travel on in my Heavenly Progress and overturned the Mountains that were on each hand and dismaied Pharaoh and his Host which I may compare my Relations and the Professors unto for they pursued me and made my Suffering great till they had wearied themselves and their Oppression was so sore that I somtimes was ready to faint and even to say Surely I shall one Day fall but Living Praises unto the Almighty he hath made me a partaker of the sure Mercies of David and hath subdued Truth 's Enemies before him and kept and preserved me faithful till several of my Relations were convinced that God's Power was with me and now when my Husband and Chhildren and Relations are with me in a good Meeting and the Powerful Presence of the Lord is amongst us it is a blessed Reward for all for one Soul is more worth than all the World as saith the Scripture Therefore Faithfulness is very needful for it doth produce a good effect whatever we may endure for the momentary Affliction that we meet with here doth produce a further weight of Glory hereafter and in the sense of the same my Head was born up to endure hardships when I could willingly have hid or gotten ease but I considered that I could not hide from the Lord who brought to my remembrance my Promise that I made before his Way was revealed to me and if I broke Covenant with the Lord I should never enter into his Rest Oh then a suffering in the Flesh and a ceasing from Sin was the delight of my Soul although the Enemy ceased not but Night and Day as a roaring Lyon
Truth the Comforter helped my Infirmities and taught me I had never known how to pray as I ought but I often read That the Prayers of the Lord's Children avail much with him and in these latter Days according to his Promise his are taught by him and in Righteousness they shall be established and great shall be their Peace and this is the Effect of our Heavenly Father's great unspeakable Love to those that watch unto Prayer and continue in the same for I know not how any can expect a Child's Portion that breaks his Father's Commands and does not repent and who is it but knows that watching and waiting is generally commanded Surely it is a Duty that ought to be performed by every one that is come to an Understanding and by believing in Jesus the Light and Power of God all may receive strength to perform it and for want of Understanding how nigh he was to me in Years that are past I was long in a desolate Condition and could not be satisfied without acquaintance with the Teachings of his Spirit which is light But I was then in darkness and under the shadow of Death longing after the countenance of the Lord to shine upon my Tabernacle for if it should be dissolved I was not sensible of a better Building eternal in the Heavens though I read of them that had yet I knew not their Foundation and whatsoever I builded it came to loss till I knew Christ Jesus the Rock and sure Foundation of the Heavenly Building And blessed be his Name the Inspiration of his Spirit is very precious without which none can have a right Understanding and I could not find peace with God while I did err for want of this good Understanding And my Cry was often to the Lord to give me an understanding Heart that I might discern between things that differ for the crooked Serpent who is very subtle in his Workings endeavours by Flattery and Threatnings Temptations Buffetings and false Accusations to darken the Heart and enfeeble the Mind and if he cannot prevail so he can transform himself into the likeness of an Angel of Light to hinder the travelling ones whose Understandings begin to be opened yet watching in the Light they come to see his Snares then he bestirs him as a strong Man armed indeed as by Experience much might be spoken since I was first exercised about going this Voyage but I shall omit as much as I can having nothing in my View but Truth 's Prosperity and preferring it above all because it 's better to me than all I can do no less than bare my Testimony unto all People That it's Excellency far exceeds the choicest Gold and the precious Pearls and the Spirit of Truth comforts the comfortless and strengthens the weak and relieves the needy Oh what can be compared to its Power for it works a change of the Heart and preserves from sinning against the Lord all those that follow the Leadings of the Light thereof unto amendment of Life and honours the Lord by ordering their Conversation aright according to the Dictates of his Spirit Oh I had rather mourn away all my Days than grieve it or walk contrary to it whatever Reproach I suffer for I have had a blessed Reward when I have observed it and obeyed it and I hope I shall never forget how the Power of it brought me into Subjection and made me willing to be disposed of by it and when it had wrought me into a single Resignment then was my weighty Concern touching my Journey to New England taken off and a Service laid upon me to go back and labour for the Settlement of our Womens Meetings in our County of Berks which was no small Cross to take up But as I daily followed Jesus honoured be his worthy Name he endowed me with his eternal encouraging Power and also strengthned the weak and hindermost of the Flock though Amalek lay in wait by the way and the opposite Spirit did strongly strive yet our good Shepherd did visit his Handmaids and blessed be his Name filled us with his overcoming Power when the Mothers in Israel were so dismayed as we were likely to have lost our Womens Meeting but Praises Honour and Renown be ascribed unto that Almighty Power that hath set up and setled this Womens Meeting saith my Soul for it hath been a good Reward to me and fitly furnished me for the Service that was required and wonderfully upheld me therein unto admiration and I can truly say my Reward is sufficient and can give in a true Testimony that the Lord owns our Womens Meetings and hath manifested and magnified his excellent Power therein to the gladding of our Hearts and the refreshing of our Souls wherever I came Glory to his Name and magnified be his preserving Power for ever He is a God of Wisdom unto the Foolish and Strength unto the Weak and honours his Power in contemptible Vessels that it may have its due for all Honour belongs thereunto But those that are in the Wisdom of the World which comes from beneath and have many Arts and Parts and mind not the Wisdom that comes from above they take that to themselves which belongs to God and that provokes him to Wrath and he is angry with such as seek Honour one of another and do not seek his Honour more than their own Interest and Honour to Man for that hath been the overthrow of many for God is jealous of his Glory he will not give it to another nor his praise to graven Images but the secret Arm of his Power is stretched out to overturn them and he is on his way and it 's in vain for Flesh to strive against him before whom all Nations are but as the drop of a Bucket for out of the Mouths of Babes and Sucklings he will perfect his praise both in Males and Females that give up to serve him and he brings great things to pass contrary to Man's Wisdom or Expectation that no Flesh might glory in his Presence For when I was exercised about setling the Womens Meeting I little thought to be concerned again with going for New England but after a short time it was more weighty than ever and my Exercises more than before and this I do write that no one should murmur and say No Exercise is like mine and this followed me until the Hand of the All-wise God was so heavy upon me that I could no longer stay at home although both sick and lame and much to undergo both inwardly and outwardly yet did not dare to plead with the Lord any longer or to make any Excuse but truly gave up all both Life and all that he had given me when he required it and he brought me to be as Clay in the hand of the Potter He filled my Vessel with his Heavenly Treasure and fulfilled that Scripture that testifies that he hath said I honour them that honour me and blessed be the Lord
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
Barbadoes and heard of none but I was not clear of Nevice but hearing of a leaking Vessel to go to Antego took my passage in that hoping that way might be made from thence to go to Nevice and then having got a passage it being Night and rainy I tried to get me a Lodging on the Land and the People were generally Irish Papists but the Lord did so order it that I met with an English Woman and she treated me kindly but she had neither Bread nor Drink but Wine and Sugar and I desired half a Pint of Madary Wine to be boiled and that served me Night and Morning and the Lord blessed it to me and his Holy Power accompanied me and while I staid for the Vessel I had good service there though there was no Friend in all the Island they had banished a Friend out of it as I heard but a little before and the People told me they did not dare to have a Meeting yet I published Truth in the Streets and they confessed to it and so I left Truth honorably amongst them and then came aboard the Vessel where I last took my Passage and sailed to the other Vessel that I had suffered in and called for the Owner and cleared my Conscience to him and told him the Hand of the Lord was against him and warned him to Repent else he should suddenly feel the stroak of it to be heavy upon him and inasmuch as his Heart had been too much set on that Bark he should shortly see that the Lord would destroy it and accordingly his Vessel was split on a Rock in a little time after So when I through tender Mercy came to Antego again the Friends told me how they had been concerned for me and so had Nevice Friends and there was a Passage ready for Nevice and an honest Woman-Friend whose name was Mary Humphery was very ready to go with me and Friends there were very joyful of my coming and we had many good and powerful Meetings in that Island and there was a Judge and his Wife came to Meeting and People of several sorts and we had some Meetings at the Houses of them that were no Friends and Friends were well satisfied and comforted and the mighty Power of God was with us Glory unto it for it is worthy over all and in us all Oh that we may have an Eye to its Glory in our whole Lives and Conversations for it is by it we live move and have our Being and its dealing with us and working for us in that place is worthy to be remembred for this was the place that the Owner of the Vessel aforementioned was afraid to carry me to but the Lord was on my side and prevented much Evil when it was intended and the Governor of that Place was so kind that he gave us his Letter of Recommendation to carry with us and so I came back with M. Humphery to Antego and to Five Islands and there we and some Friends that went with us visited a poor People that complained of their Priest and said he came to them but once a Year and then it was to take that which they had from them and we had a precious opportunity to manifest the Truth and they were very kind to us and seem'd to be well satisfied and affected And then I being clear and a passage presented for Barbadoes as soon as I was ready I went aboard and was there sooner than could have been expected And when I arrived I met with many Friends at Bridg-Town and there took an account of the Monthly Meetings and went to them and other Meetings as brief as I could and most Days I had two or three Meetings of a Day both among the Blacks and also among the White People And the Power of the Lord Jesus was mightily manifested so that my Soul was often melted therewith even in the Meetings of the Negro's or Blacks as well as among Friends And when I had gone through the Island and was clear having been well refreshed with Friends in the feeling of the Heavenly Power and in the strength of the same I came aboard the Ship for my Native Land again Written a board the Ship coming from Barbadoes in the 3 d Month 1681. J. V. BEfore I went to Sea I was two Weeks in the service of Truth in Kent and then it was shewed me being at Sandwich that I should bear my Testimony for God and his Divine Spiritual Worship in a Steeple-House there and coming home the Heavenly Power wrought mightily in my Heart And when I was clear of those Countreys I was better in Health than I had been for many Years And as the Light of Jesus shewed me before I left England as is afore hinted so the Power thereof ordered me when I came back it was so weightily on me before I came ashore that I thought it long ere I came to Kent to clear my Conscience and the God of Sea and Land brought me safely thither and I hastened to Sandwich and on a First-day being the 5th of the 4th Month 1681 I went to the Steeple-House as it was before me and had been of a long time and in the strength of the Almighty Power I delivered that Message which I received of the Lord Jesus saying The Day is come spoken of and foretold by the Prophet of the pouring forth of God's Spirit upon all Flesh Sons and Daughters c. And I exhorted them both Priest and People to take heed to a Measure or Manifestation thereof in their own Hearts and leave off their Idolatry and come to be true Spiritual Worshippers and I laid before them the danger of the one and the benefit of the other till the Priest caused me to be haled out and when I came forth many of his Hearers followed me and I had a good opportunity with them and clear'd my self to them and left them And as I was going away I felt the arising of that Power that is worthy to be obeyed and it was with me to go to them again and when they came from their worship I met them first the Mayor and his Company then the Lawyer and his and after that the Priest with many more and I invited all to come to our Spiritual Worship and I would engage that if any of them young or old male or female had a Message from the Lord to deliver there that they should have liberty and not be abused as the Priest caused me to be for the Man that haled me out hurt my Arm so that it was swelled some time after and I told the Priest that he was not of the Primitive Faith and Church of Christ testified of in Scripture for there if any thing was revealed to the Standers by or Hearers they might speak one by one the first holding his peace and he was silent before I spoke and he said I should not have spoken in the Church and I asked him
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
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
Hearts let us be singly resigned unto our God for I can truly say his Love is most deeply of an engaging Nature for by it I have been preserved from great Dangers Perils by Sea and Perils by Land and Perils amongst false Brethren but out of them all his mighty Power delivered me and I am yet alive to magnifie it Glory and Honour and Everlasting Praises be unto his Name for evermore saith my Soul for he daily filleth my Heart therewith and makes me able to do his Service beyond Expectation and he is not wanting to communicate to my Soul Glory to his worthy Name but his Reward is in my Bosom which glads my Heart and refreshes my Soul and upholds my weak Body that I am not without hopes of seeing you again for I have cause to say There is nothing impossible unto my God I have been most of this Winter upon the roaring Seas Two Months at a time and saw no Land and my Clothes were not off Two Nights all that time so far as I can remember and there was no conveniency for my weak Body There were French and Dutch and Irish and Barbarians and English and I had fore Exercises amongst them both inwardly and outwardly but yet I had good Service also amongst them and they did confess to the Power of my God And altho they were most of them very wicked yet they were chained by it and the Passengers were kind to me for the Truth 's sake and when it pleased the Lord to bring us to Land we arrived at the Island of Antego in the West Indies and there I found a precious People and had Two Meetings a Day for a Week with White People and Blacks and on the 7th Day is their Childrens Meetings and they have also Mens and Womens Meetings and the Gospel-Order is established and establishing in those remote Islands Glory to God for ever And they teach their Children G. F's Catechism And we went aboard the Ship again designing for Barbadoes but that small Vessel was so heavy laden that we could not get from the West Indies but kept up and down another Month that the Passengers were all weary for Water grew scarce and stinking and I was very weak And when we came to another Island we that were Passengers were willing to go a-shoar but the Vessel did not enter there and then my Exercise was very great for I had great drawings to go there and then the Weight of my Service there remained with me And a few Days after we bore up and went to another Island where there was no Friends and there I went a-shore and some of the other Passengers and I knew no person there the Inhabitants were most part Irish and I was almost spent when I came there but the Lord was exceeding good and comforted me every way and I got a passage back again to Antego and it remained with me to go to the Island of Nevice and I could not be clear of the Weight of it and when I had been sweetly refreshed through the Love of my God amongst them again at Antego way was made for me to go from thence to Nevice and an honest Widow went along with me who was very helpful to me and we had good Service amongst the Blacks and Whites and she remembers her Love to you all and her Prayers are with mine unto the Lord for you And now we are clear of Nevice and going again to Antego and do hope the Lord will make way for me to be at Barbadoes ere long for I do understand it is but a Weeks Sail or Two at most if the Wind sit fair When we came from New York they spoke of but Three or Four Weeks Voyage to Barbadoes and we came out thence about the time called Michaelmas and I have not seen it yet I sent you many Letters from thence when I came away by which you may know my Service in New England and the time when I came away from thence I do not know whether you received any of my Letters but I have taken all opportunities I could both by Sea and Land to send I met with a Vessel upon the Sea the last Letter that I sent and she was bound for London I do long to hear of your Welfare but I do not blame you that I receive no Lines except you could tell whither to direct them I have not seen one of my Native Land that I knew since I came forth But the Lord is with me and unto his preserving Power I commit you with my self and all the tender ones that Amalek's Spirit may not hurt the hinder part of the Flock nor turn the weak out of the way Dear Hearts let 's be single unto God that our Understandings may be opened and kept open that no subtle Spirit may betray our Innocency And let us never forget the Watch and if we fulfil that Command God will be honoured and our Souls comforted for ever and for ever and for evermore Forget not your Family-Meeting on First Days at Evening let not any thing hinder Written in the Island of Nevice the 11th of the 11th Month 1680. J. V. And in the same Letter there were a few Lines added to her Son Thomas Vokins being then an Apprentice with William Gibson in London Dear Son T. V. MY Love salutes thee and thy dear Master and Mistriss and all the faithful in Christ Jesus earnestly desiring your Welfare as my own And dear Heart let thy honest Endeavours answer the Desires of my Heart for my Soul 's breathing is that thou maist be kept low and chaste that thou maist fear at all times that thou maist do as Joseph did that could not sin against his God Oh dear Son it is a precious thing to feel the Awe of the Lord upon thy Heart Oh that this may be thy State that thou maist be found watching unto Prayer and continue in the same that thou maist witness Preservation from all the Enemies Snares and that thy Mind may be stayed in the Light to wait for the Incomes of Life that thou maist live to God and seek his Kingdom and the righteousness thereof and then thou need'st not fear but all things else will be added And I hope thy Diligence and Faithfulness to God and unto thy Master and Mistriss will increase their Love to thee So hoping thou wilt take good Counsel and bring forth the Fruit thereof to the Honour of our precious God and to all our Comforts This is from thy tender Mother J. V. An Epistle to Friends of New York and there-away Dear and well-beloved Friends THese Lines are left to your weighty Consideration in this Season whilst opportunity doth present for Times and Seasons are in our Father's Hand and we know not how soon he may put a period to our days and therefore we are all concerned to seek the propagation of the precious Truth whose Excellency far exceeds the purest Gold and the
Gain thereof far transcendeth all earthly Treasure Oh let it be our greatest care to be affected with it that we may say with the Apostle in a living sense thereof That Godliness with contentment is the greatest Gain for we right well know that no other Gain is profitable for our everlasting welfare neither will any thing else stand us instead when our God calls for an Account of our Talents and therefore let it be the bent of our Hearts and the inclinations of our Minds to improve them that we may give our Account with joy that our God may be honoured and our Souls comforted when this momentary Pilgrimage shall be ended and all our Troubles and Exercises forgotten where the fulness of that which we have already the earnest of being an hundred-fold better than any thing we have parted with for it and if we should be yet tried to part with all even Life and all it 's but our reasonable Service to give it up all to him from whom we have received it for what have we that is good but what we have received of him and what is it that he is not worthy of Is not his Love sufficient to engage our hearts to his Service Have he not delivered us in Dangers deep and Difficulties great and brought us through many and sore Distresses And hath he not made us Partakers of many precious Promises Endless Praises be to his most holy Name saith my Soul The feeling of his sweet refreshing Life that he communicates to my Soul is a hundred-fold better than Husband and Children or any other outward Mercies that he hath made me partaker of though very near and dear unto me And now dear Friends the Scriptures are a fulfilling in us therefore let our earnest that we have received engage our hearts to our Master's work that we may receive the fulness of that which we already have an earnest of for we have not a hard Master to serve but behold he comes and his reward is with him Oh let 's wait for him to enlarge our hearts more and more then shall we love to propagate his Truth and run the way of his Commandments with joy and great delight that we may all witness the fulfilling of that sweet Promise of a hundred-fold in this life and afterwards the great and double reward of the Faithful which is the joy of the Soul in the Life which is everlasting And so dear Friends let us all keep a narrow watch over our hearts that the Spirit of this World do not creep in to draw the Mind from that which did at first convince us for that is as precious as ever and never waxes old and therefore let our zeal for it never wax cold but let us prize all opportunities to assemble together that we may feel our hearts enclin'd singly to wait that we may receive a further dispensation of life that a growing People we may be that love unto our God and unto one another may abound amongst us that the Way of our God may not seem unpleasant nor his Commands grievous unto any of us neither that given way unto which would lead into the liberty of the flesh again for that is a dividing Spirit that will separate from God and uncement and break the Unity of the Body it is of a creeping nature and enmity lodges in it whatever it may pretend and because it hath already wrought in a Mistery and brought dishonour to the worthy Name of our God and reproach upon the precious Truth Therefore it doth deeply concern us to double our diligence in doing our Duties to honour him in the propagating of the Truth Oh Friends let us for ever have this before the view of our Minds let no other beloved hinder for if we love any thing more than this it will not go well with us for our God will search the Camp and if there be a Babylonish Garment or a Wedge of never so precious Gold yet if the Work of the Lord be hindered thereby his Wrath will surely come upon it and consume it for a clean Camp the Lord will make that his Truth may be renowned and the day of purifying is come and coming more in which the Hypocrites shall be tryed and the upright in heart comforted although there may be many that were first come to be last and some Judas-like betray their Master yet the Lord will spread his Truth in the Nations and magnifie his own Power by staining the glory of all flesh and by laying Self low before him that it may be had in no reputation for he will not give his glory unto another the Adulterer nor the Idolater shall not be decked with his Jewels for where Self is decked the Lord is provoked but where Self is denied and the daily Cross taken up there the low appearance of the Son of God is bowed unto which seems contemptible unto them who causes the offence of the Cross to cease and settles upon their Lees and sits down in a state of carelesness thinking themselves secure without the performance of their Duty in Obedience to the measure of Truth received that should bring into a Disciple's state Oh Friends we all know that rest is polluted let us all up and be doing that our Lamps may be trimmed and we all may be ready to meet the Bridegroom of our Souls that we may enter in while the Door is open but if we delay until the Door is shut then it will be in vain to seek we shall not be able to enter when the Door is shut against us then what will the profession of Truth do for us Therefore let us with one heart and mind labour together and let our breathings be one for another that the possession of Life may be more and more inherited amongst us that we may be refreshed one in another when together or asunder that a sympathizing one with another we may have as Members of one Body to the honour of Christ our holy Head from whom we receive nourishment to keep us from withering and to make us to grow and be useful all in our measures that one cannot say unto another I have no need of thee for if we are cemented together as Members of one Body we must needs be all concerned for the honour of our Head and the comfort of one another I remain Your unfeigned Friend in the precious unchangeable Truth JOAN VOKINS This to be read amongst Friends at New York or else-where as in the Wisdom of God it may be seen meet Written in the Island of Antegua in the Movings of the Spirit of Truth and in the sence which that gave me of the state of Friends there J. V. Here follows a LETTER that she wrote on Board the first Vessel going for America directed and sent to some Women-Friends in London Dear Friends I Cannot forget your labour of love and sisterly care concerning me and do return the acknowledgment
but all to be diligent that God's Plantation may flourish in every Heart that he may have the Fruit to his Glory for he is making manifest his great love to his tender Seed in those remote corners of the Earth and he will make his Power known and his Gospel-light is shining and he will multiply his Mercies and increase his Blessings both Spiritually and Temporally unto those who live the Gospel-life and keep to its blessed Order Oh the great love and tender dealings of our God that he is visiting those Islands which causes my Soul often to rejoyce for he have heard the Cry of the poor and is arisen for the help of the needy and have made many willing to leave their Native Land that are as Instruments in his hand for to build up in the pure victorious Faith which have long been the breathing of my Soul for you and for the Seed sake I have been concerned close with the God of my Life and the cry in me hath often been unto him to send forth more faithful Labourers amongst you that his Vineyard may be dressed and cleansed from all that hindreth its growth and he hath heard and answered in measure blessed be his Name Oh Friends let every one be concerned and none to be idle but all to the work of the Day lest Night come and prevent you For now is the day springing from on High visiting you and the affliction of Joseph and the troubles of Jacob the Lord have removed and for his Seed sake will yet more appear and work its deliverance in the hearts of all that are truly tender of it although the Serpent is very subtil and busie and always trying to betray Innocency yet the Watch being kept he is prevented and our Souls preserved Therefore dear Friends let us not forget that Command lest the Enemy should prevail Oh feel a necessity of watchfulness that we may keep our hearts diligently that we may feel the issues of Life that the inward Man may grow and be capable to act for God for we have every one both Male and Female a Service in our proper places and them that are diligent in doing their Duty shall be sure of a blessed Reward of Life and Peace therefore let all be encouraged that are poor and needy and feeble-minded Oh let them put on Courage yea the very hindermost of the Flock for our Captain is couragious he goes on Conquering and to Conquer victoriously and by his Power he brings great things to pass and is working deliverance for his suffering Seed that have breathed to him in secret and could not be satisfied but was without all hope of help until the ancient Power was brought to light and the Spirit of Truth revealed to help our Infirmities and to teach us to depart from Iniquity and to do the things that is well pleasing unto our God Oh the day of our convincement in which our hearts and souls were tendered and we made sensible of our states is never to be forgotten but the Ancient Power that tendered us then to be kept unto that we may do the work of the day for the Gospel-day calls for purity of Life to adorn it Oh that we may be as John said fearing God and giving glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come and we and ours ought to fear him and stand in his awe and not sin against him Oh that we above all things may endeavour that our Families may be of his Family and our Assemblies crown'd with life that living Sacrifices may be offered in our Spiritual Worship for broken hearts and contrite spirits our tender God will never despise And therefore dear Friends let us keep low in the Valley of our Father's love where the Well springs of Life do flow that a living People we may be to the praise of our God and the promoting of Truth in Generations to come that our Off-spring may be encouraged by our good Examples successively to honour Truth when we are gone to our Rest that our Posterity may be blessed of the Lord and be to his praise and our everlasting comfort for ever and for evermore Amen Written in Barbadoes in the first Month 1681. An Epistle to some Friends in New England but it hath respect to the general state of Friends there T. and Ann Potter DEar Friends my Love do truly reach to you and your Children desiring your welfare every way even as for my own not forgetting your love to me when I was there but in a sense of that love that our God have shed abroad in our hearts do I salute you earnestly desiring that our Children may be his Children and that they and we may magnifie his power together though outwardly far asunder Oh that we and ours may truly endeavour after this for its the breathing of my Soul that we may feel one another in harmless hearts that we may breath one for another and be refreshed one in another though absent in body yet present in spirit serving our God and eying him that he may direct our hearts and keep our minds staid that when the winds do blow and the storms do beat we may be upon a sure foundation for all foundations shall be tried and the sandy buildings will not stand in the trying times and therefore we had need be builders up of one another in our most holy faith that we may be firmly established and as good souldiers enduring hardships unto the end for our Captain is on his way Glory to his worthy Name and he goes on triumphantly conquering and to conquer and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory and his love is sufficient to encourage the feeble ones for by his power we have been preserved in dangers many and very great and difficult and he hath been a present help in the times of our greatest need and though we have in our travel here met with many troubles yet he who is our God at hand delivers out of all Everlasting Praises be unto his Name for ever he hath made known the spiritual Armour Oh that we may rightly prove it that the Strong-holds of Sin and Satan may be pulled down and Righteousness and Holiness set up in the place thereof that our God may be honoured and his Truth exalted and his Children comforted for ever and for evermore Amen Mind my dear love to Elizabeth Hooten and to the Friend and her Husband that went with me to West Jersey and to William Aston and his Wife and Tho. Leeds and his Wife and let them know that I should be glad to hear that a Meeting were setled at Middleton and mind my love to S. Cooper and his Wife and Family and let them and other Friends know that I believe there would be great Service in establishing a Meeting there my love to R. Lippingcot William Shaddock and the Friend Warner and to all the rest of Friends for my love is truly
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
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.