enduring hardships to travel on and follow our Captain fully for his Reward is sure though it is through many Tryals obtained yet when this momentary Pilgrimage is passed through the greater weight of Glory will out-ballance all and in the sense of it let our Hearts rejoyce and our Souls magnifie that Power that has preserved and is able to preserve unto the end and that in and through it we may be strong in the Lord Jesus and fitly furnished to every good Work that we may never be weary of well doing nor faint in our minds though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet we know him that is able to deliver out of them all and if he feed with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Adversity yet blessed be his living Name he teacheth our Souls to profit thereby and we have cause to say in this Trying Day as the three Children did in Ages past We know that our God is able to deliver us if he please but if he will not we will still trust in him for he has been with us in Six Troubles and we have good cause to depend upon him and to have confidence in him in the Seventh for it is but a little while and Persecution and Affliction shall come to an end but the Word of Patience that preserves in times of great temptation abides for ever and shall never have an end Glory and Honour and Living Praises be returned and ascribed unto the God of all our Mercies and Blessings both Spiritual and Temporal which we daily partake of from his fatherly hand for he is an never-failing God and of his loving-kindness there is no end And unto the Protection of his Almighty Power which reaches over Sea and Land do I commit you with my own Soul henceforth and for evermore Your Sister in the unchangeable precious Truth JOAN VOKINS From London the 3 d of the 1st Month 1682. To Friends of Crambrook in Kent Dear Friends MY Love salutes you and the rest of the Faithful in Christ Jesus who holds fast their Integrity and retains their first Love for such are near and dear unto me and often in my remembrance whatever Exercises they undergo and my Soul do often breath unto the God of my life that we may be kept in a waâ—â—ing frame that if Tryals and Afflictions do abound that his sanctifying Power may superabound that as faithful Soldiers we may endure hardships to the end that in the end we may receive the greater weight of Glory that may out ballance all the momentary Afflictions that we meet with in this short Pilgrimage O Glory to his Name who is the Physician of Value that can cure both Body and Soul he is worthy to be trusted in who never fails them whose confidence is in him and all things are possible for his Power to do therefore let our dependance be on it for ever that we may feel it in all our undertakings that we may have the benefit of it in the use of the Creatures that his Blessing may be upon them then it will go well with us whatever may come Thus the Lord Jesus brings to pass for the honour of his own worthy Name and the comfort of our weak Bodies and everlasting benefit of our immortal Souls is the desire of Your true Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. 4th of the 9 Month 1682. For the Friends of Abingdon Meeting in Berkshire My dear and well beloved Friends IF you will be delivered then keep to Truth and that will set you free from Sin and from Iniquity and if you would wear the Everlasting Crown think not for to sit down at ease but follow the Lamb through the many Tribulations that you may partake of his sweet Consolations For the more Tryals and sore Exercises do abound the more the Love and Life of Jesus will super-abound unto all them that do believe in him and suffer with him they shall assuredly reign with him and be crowned with life that are faithful unto death and what is left upon Record we see fulfilling that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer and the worst Enemies are them of their own house let them read that have experience for they may understand me and such I truly simpathize with in the patience and suffering of the Lamb knowing that he and his Followers are deeply engaged in the spiritual warfare and truly it is a precious and a blessed cause to be concerned in and them that love any thing more than him are not worthy to be concerned in his War neither can such partake of his Government and Peace which shall never have end Therefore them that go this spiritual warfare must not be entangled but must follow their Captain through the many tribulations bearing their faithful Testimonies that their Garments may be made white being washed in the Blood of the Lamb that the precious adorning of his meek and quiet spirit we may be covered with that we may feel Justification by him in our own hearts then we need not fear what Man can do unto us though all Men should rise up against us yet if our God be for us he can take our part and plead our cause and soon subdue our Enemies if he pleases but if he will not so do yet we have cause to do as the Three Children did to trust in him however for he knows what is most convenient for us and he will cause all things to work together for our good and if he gives the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet glory be to his worthy Name he teaches us to profit thereby and what he orders for us is still for the best and let us wait to feel his sanctifying power to strengthen us to follow him which way soever he leads that we may love him above all perishing things and manifest our Love by keeping his Commands and one of his Commands which he gave unto all his is to watch to be aware of their Souls Enemy and to enjoy the sweet benefit of their Souls Friend which far exceeds the Friendship of all the World and for the same we can turn our backs on the glory of the World and do chuse rather to suffer with the Lamb and his Followers then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for that would captivate our Souls though we might have more favour from the wicked and more ease to our bodies but if hardship be our portion and that we must have a sufficient share therein yet our reward is sure if we endure to the end Glory and honour and praises unto the God of all our Mercies and that for evermore his blessed everlasting reward will out-ballance all therefore great encouragement have we to wait upon the Lord Jesus for the renewing of our inward Man that we may continue in well-doing those few days we have to come in this momentary Pilgrimage that in
the Lord hath been and is greatly provoked and his precious Truth vilified and his Children daily reproached as evil doers and that by all sorts and Sects it is now as it was in the days past among the twelve Disciples there was one Judas but he did not defile the rest but he went to the High-Priests and Rulers and so sided with them that loved not the appearance of Jesus and so do these now that loves not his spiritual appearance and can no more understand the work of his Power in his Children than they could that said they were Abraham's Seed when Christ told them plainly that they were of their Father the Devil and his works they were a doing though they were very high in the World's esteem at that time and he very low in theirs and he told them the truth and they hated him and we have read what became of them and of Judas when he could not find Repentance though he sought for it O therefore let the harms of those make all the disobedient and gainsayers beware in time and seek to honour God by their subjection to the Spirit of Christ Jesus who is come to save his People from their sins by his spiritual appearance in their hearts that their Souls may have the Heavenly Sentence pronounced at last by the Righteous Judge Well done good and faithful Servants enter into the Joy which is prepared for all them that believes in Christ and suffers with him while on the Stage of this World for theirs is the blessed Reward in the World that is to come and they that suffer with him here shall reign with him for ever And in a living sense of his Almighty Power that hath been already manifested is my heart encouraged to go on in his Service not looking at weakness or any outward thing that might by Natural Reason hinder for who so poor who so simple who so weak who so unworthy as I Surely the Lord God of Love is manifesting his Almighty Power in contemptible Vessels that it may be the more magnified and let all that takes up the daily Cross and follows Jesus magnifie his Power for unto such it is daily manifested to supply all their needs and thereunto do I commit all for ever and evermore Amen Written by one that breathes for the prosperity of Sion and desires the welfare of all People 27. of the fifth Month 1686. J. V. To Friends in Antegua and Nevice-Islands in the West-Indies DEar Friends in the Heavenly Relation which is nearer than that of Blood in which the God of all our Mercies keep us near unto himself and one unto another that as he renews his Mercies we may renew our Obedience unto him and our love one to another that while we remain here we may breath one for another that we may be refreshed together though outwardly far asunder that as Children of one Father we may feed together at one Table and be nourished with the Feast of fat things that our Heavenly Father hath provided for his sincere ones unto whom his love hath been so largely extended as to preserve in dangers deep and made his wonders known even unto a poor despised remnant that he hath daily provided for Glory to his worthy Name and magnified be that Almighty Power that hath been so largely manifested in all our troubles and helped us when we could not help our selves and had none to help Oh how hath it wrought deliverances many unexpectedly Surely we have cause to trust in it and to depend upon it for I have cause to say to the honour of it there is nothing too hard for it to do I have proved it and saw its mighty works to admiration and it is daily marvellous in my eye for it is strength in the midst of my great weakness and a present help in times of my great need and in the blessed enjoyment thereof I am sweetly encouraged to go on in my place of Service though in much weakness of Body and outward Affliction yet by this you may know that since Friends Sufferings in England ceased there was way made for my coming to Ireland I had gone sooner but Sufferings were so great that I could not leave Friends while it was so and as soon as ever Friends came out of Prisons I came for Ireland before I could get strength over my long weakness but least I should not live to come I came forth in great weakness because it remained with me to come and I have had a good experience of the tender dealing of the righteous God who never required me to do any thing but he gave me of his never-failing Power to perform it and in the strength thereof I Travel on in my Heavenlyh Progress wherein the Lord God of all our Comforts and Consolations preserve us all unto the end whatever we have yet to meet with that nothing may be able to separate us from the enjoyment of our Heavenly Father's love nor the seasonedness of his heart-cleansing fear nor the refreshings of his daily supplies of Soul-nourishing Life and supporting Power but through the feeling of the same we may renew our watchfulness and faithfulness and continuation in well-doing for he is a never-failing God and from him all good proceeds and therefore worthy to be waited upon all the days of our appointed time for praises to the Name of Jesus we have good cause to wait and not to be weary for certain it is that he accepts of sincere waiting and he renews the inward strength of them that truly waits and diligently observes the dictates of the right Spirit and joyns not with any thing that is wrong these receive ability to do that which is right in the sight of God and in and through Christ Jesus such comes to partake of the daily renewings of Life whereby the heads of a Remnant have been born up in great Tryals and sore and various Exercises Glory and Honour be unto our God through his Son Christ Jesus our Saviour for he hath saved us when much evil hath been intended against us and hath filled our Cups and caused them to overflow praised and honoured and renowned be his Holy Name for it is worthy and that for evermore Amen J. V. Written in Ireland 7th Month 16â—6 To the Women's Meeting in the Vale of White Horse in Berks. DEar and well beloved Sisters whom I cannot forget but in that love that reacheth over Sea and Land do my Soul dearly salute you hoping that the pure mind will be stirred up in every one of you to consider the matchless Mercies of our tender God which I do here put you in remembrance of Oh how hath he manifested his Almighty Power when we have been together in our Women's Meetings and how have we been relieved and born up over all Oppositions both inwardly and outwardly and in the Gospel-light have seen the great goodness of the Lord and with the Gospel-power been strengthened when
we were very weak and supported when we were very needy Hath not our Heavenly Father's love been sufficient to engage our hearts to faithfulness Oh that it may be as an Obligation to every one of us to keep to the Gospel-light and to live the Gospel-life and to love the Gospel-order for our God is a God of Order and he affords precious Opportunities to wait upon him and if we abide in a good sense of his love we shall not forget our times and hours to wait for the seasons of the Lord for they are so sweet to the thirsty Soul that it cannot be satisfied without them and therefore many times thinks it long ere the Meeting-day come that it might be replenished with the vertue of Christ Jesus the Head and strengthened with the rest of the Members for as we truly gather in his Name praises thereunto he hath made us partakers of his Divine Nature Oh how hath he bedewed our Souls and caused our Cups to overflow when the arisings of his Eternal Power hath been felt among us to rebuke the Enemy and keep him back that would have hindred us from serving the precious Truth and prevented us of the Priviledge of our Women's-Meeting Oh that we may now take heed that we give him no advantage by slighting the Mercies of our tender God or neglecting of our Duties but that in the remembrance of his tender Mercies and Fatherly Love we may double our diligence in our places of Service that our God may be honoured feared and obeyed by us all that we may receive the blessed and sure Reward in the end when time here as to us shall be no more and be in safety from all harms for ever and for evermore So be it saith the Soul of your dear Sister in that which is strength to the weak and help to the helpless that Sea nor Land cannot separate Joan Vokins From the County of Wexford in Ireland the 26 of the seventh Month 1686. POSTSCRIPT SO dear hearts by this you may know that my tender God is still exceeding good unto me and manifests his great Power and it is admirable in my eyes that I am yet alive to tell of his wondrous works but blessed be his worthy Name he preserves me by his Almighty Power and in his tender love provides for me Since I gave up all he is more to me than all Glory to his Name and magnified be his preserving and delivering Power my Soul hath every day cause to say for he hath done great and wonderful things for my Soul and weak Body else I had not been alive at this day but still am I an object of his tender pity and do hope so I shall be the remainder of my little time a Monument to his Praise Many sensible Friends here are tendered in the sense of God's love when they see me travel in so much weakness and I hope that you and I shall praise his Name together and magnifie his Eternal Power though in Person far asunder for it is worthy to be magnified as it hath been manifested for if that had failed we had failed but because that lives our Souls live to speak well of the Name of our God who is above all Gods and there is none like unto him it is honour to us sufficient to serve him for his Reward is sure and blessed be his worthy Name he makes me a partaker daily of the gain of Godliness with contentment which is a continual Feast Your Sister in my measure J. V. To her Children AFter my dear Love to my Husband This is to signifie my tender Love to the precious Truth by my Motherly Care for my Children that whether I live or die you may be careful and take heed that you do not stain the Testimony of Truth that you have received by wearing of Needless Things and following the World's Fashions in your Cloathing and Attire but remember how I have bred you up and consider what manner of persons you ought to be now you are come to years of understanding that you may not grieve the Spirit of the Lord nor Me nor any of his dear Children but that you may walk as becomes the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may be good Examples to others and Patterns of Plainness and Uprightness in your Conversations among all People then will the Blessing of the Lord attend you and it will be well with you in this World and in that which is to come then shall God be honoured and my Soul with yours and with the Souls of all his tender ones that desires the same be comforted and Truth promoted over all and then you will have cause to say with me That its Excellency far transcends all that the World can afford and will endure when that shall pass away And therefore forget not the Spirit of it in your Hearts but take good heed unto it at your Down-lying and at your Up-rising that you with me may have the benefit of that Promise of the Lord who said he would be with his children at their down-lying and commune with them at their up-rising and in this the day of his great love he is nigh unto his Children and delights in them that abides in a watching and a waiting frame and takes councel of his Divine Spirit But woe unto them that takes councel but not of me saith the righteous God and cover with a covering but not of my spirit And dear Hearts the day is come that all false Coverings will be found too short and too narrow to hide from the Wrath of the Almighty and them that are truly the Children of the Lord shall be covered under the Wing of his Eternal Power from the Jaw of the strong Destroyer though he may cast in Floods of Temptations and may try by Subtilty to betray Innocency yet dear Hearts look not at that lest your Faith should fail but look unto the Almighty Power of God and wait to receive it and believe in it and keep to the measure already received that will make way for you to escape the Temptations when you cannot help your selves and have no other to depend upon Oh then how have he appeared for me and manifested his preserving and delivering Power Oh let your Souls with mine magnifie it for is it worthy and that for evermore Truth is the same here as in England and Friends do not suffer the World's Fashions to be followed for both Men and Women here do go plain in their Apparel according to Truth in a comely manner the Women do not attire their Heads setting their Clothes aloft imitating the World's Fashions wearing any needless things nor in a needless manner And some publick Friends from hence are going for England in the service of Truth and more to go and they will be grieved to see Friends Children stain the Truth by attiring themselves not in modest Apparel and it would also be a great grief to
door keeper in the house of my God then to dwell in the pleasantest palace of the Wicked For until I through tender mercy had unity with Jesus in his divine Spirit of Light my Soul could have no true satisfaction though never so self-righteous but when the heart-searching Light made manifest my condition my heart was so affected with it that I still desired the operation of the power of it and as I came to watch in the measure of it I became aware of the enemy and through Faith in Christ Jesus obtained a waiting state which could not be obtained by me but as I felt the Almighty Power to rebuke the subtil enemy that lies so nigh but as we are commanded to watch we find great benefit by keeping that command And magnified be that wonderful power that has preserved in dangers deep and difficulties many there is nothing too hard for it to do it has often rebuked the destroyer and helped the helpless and strengthen the weak and supported the needy and as we have waited for it we have been partakers of the arising of it to our comfort when our Souls have been in a desolate condition when we cold not help our selves nor had none to help us Oh! how hath it wrought by Sea and Land among false Brethren it hath so signally preserved and wrought deliverances many somtimes by ways unexpected surely its worthy to be trusted in and depended upon and magnified as it hath been manifested my Soul hath cause to say to the Honour and Renown of it for its perfect strength hath been my support in every great weakness and in its strength I have travelled many thousands of Miles by Land and many thousand Leagues by Sea through many and sore exercises both inwardly and outwardly and it hath raised my Soul from Death and my Body many times from the brink of the Grave oh let it have the honour of its own Works saith my Soul for it is worthy for it will make the strong to bow and the weak to be as David and it is worthy to be extolled in a wonderful manner for no heart can be too much affected with it there is al-sufficiency in it to relieve the poor and to incourage the feble though there be much to be met with in our Heavenly prayers yet here is a sure defence in stormy times wherein glory unto it I have found shelter when many times in a weary condition by reason of exercise of Soul and Spirit and weakness and pain of Body Oh! how many hundred Miles have I travelled in this the Land of my Nativity and thousands elsewhere in such a condition not having many well Days in many Years together but yet have good cause to say to the honour and renown of the sanctifying power of the God of my life blessed be the Lord Jesus his Rod and Staff has comforted me and he is always with me and I have cause to admire the tender dealing of my Heavenly Father for he hath exercised me in the deep and made his wonders known And I have cause to speak well of his worthy Name for it hath been as oyntment powred into my poor wounded Soul and it was also so much comfort and strength to my weak body that I can tenderly invite others to come and tast and see how good that name is that brings salvation that those that desire for it may obtain it for as the heart comes to be bowed unto the powerful Name of Jesus and the Soul and Spirit comes to be gathered into a sense of the great love of God there will then be felt a necessity to serve and obey the God of all our Mercies And this was with me when in great weakness when temptations came in as a flood and the buffetings of the enemy was ready to overcome Oh Blessed and Magnified and Renowned over all be that Everlasting Power that wrought a resignment so effectually and caused me to cast my care upon him that always careth for his children who is the holy one and dwelleth in the highest Heavens and takes regard to them of low degree for he has been more to me then all that this World can produce and hath fulfilled many precious Scriptures and hath not been wanting as a tender Father but his mercies of old and the continuation of his favours and the renewing of his tender dealing have deeply obliged me to glorifie him unto the end and in the end for evermore for he is worthy for he hath redeemed my Soul from out of the grave of Sin and Death and now may I say to the praise and honour and renown of his powerful Name that to live is Christ and to die is so much gain that my soul is deeply affected in a true Consideration of the same oh that my posterity and friends for whom my soul hath so long breathed and travelled may be so concerned that every one may be made partakers of the like precious faith with me while on the stage of this World that we may leave a faithful Testimony behind that the generations to come may be induced thereby to fear and serve the Lord for he is a sure rewarder of all them that are diligent in so doing not only in this Worâ—â— but in that which is to come with Life â—â—â—â—â—â—sting World wtthout end Amen Joan Vokins This was written a few Months before her decease about the 1st Month 1690. To William Cooper and his Wife dwelling in West-Jersey near Delaware-River not far from Burlington These are DEar and tender friends William Cooper and M. my love in the unchangable Truth salutes you and in the same I still desire your welfare as my own with all that holds fast their integrity and retains their first love they are as near and dear unto me as ever and my entire love truly reaches to them all and so I desire thou mayest let them know if they have received my Letters and Epistles for I have sent several but my kindsman dying by the way makes me question whether what I sent did ever come to any of your hands for I sent to you and to S. Spicer and to Lidia Wright as was and to her Husband and to her Sister Mary Andrews and to several others in Pensilvania side as well as on that side and I should be very glad to hear of your welfare in the Lord Jesus for that my soul still travels as truly as when I was amongst you Oh that your faithfulness and living obedience may ingage our Heavenly Father to answer the breathing desires of my Soul for you in those remote places for I cannot forget you but the cry often runs through me for your preservation and prosperity every way and that the honour of Truth and the good one of another may be preferred far more then all other things that our nearness and dearness unto our tender God and one unto another may be felt and witnessed that we may praise his
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.
or no ye be faithful to what is manifest therein for I write unto you as unto them that know the Truth to stir you up to Faithfulness therein that the Father's drawings ye may more and more feel and through it come to Living Obedience while the Bowels of tender Mercies are open for if you slight his Loving-Kindness unto you is it not just with him to shut up his Bowels of Compassion Oh how largely hath the pure God of Heaven and Earth manifested his Loving-Kindness unto you through his Judgments and Mercies and through the Reproofs of his Instructions hath the way of Life been manifested largely unto you Therefore dear Friends be not forgetful of his large Love Oh let it never slip out of your remembrance for you can never prize it to the worth of it Therefore it concerns you all to be truly watchful the remainder of your Days that so you may see the appearances of his Love and with your whole Hearts joyn thereunto that no Reserve may be left therein to stop the Current of the pure Life from flowing into your Souls And dear Hearts it 's in my Heart to stir you up to feel after the pure Life if haply you may find it Whilst the Fountain is open be ye not negligent nor unfaithful but be faithful and obedient that so through the Faith that purifies the Heart you may draw Water at the Fountain of Life and feel its recourse into your Souls the Vertue whereof makes the Souls of the obedient fruitful and encreasing in God's Love and in their Unity with each other But where the Current is stopped and the Life hath not its free course there Death is over the Soul profess what they will yea though they may live in the very Form of Truth Therefore dear Friends I in God's Fear and in the Bowels of tender Love to your Immortal Souls do exhort you all to be diligent to keep your Meetings and assemble your selves often together let not the gain of the perishing things hinder you of the gain of that which will never perish For verily there 's none can witness a free recourse unto the Fountain of Life but those whose Hearts are gathered out of the perishing things and such do partake of the living Springs which do greatly refresh their immortal Souls and it 's more to me than I can express Therefore dear Hearts think not your time long neither let the World hinder but keep your Meetings frequently there to wait with sincere Hearts for those that so wait never lose their Reward therefore be ye encouraged to wait upon the Lord that in the pure refreshing Life your Souls may come to have an Habitation the which to know a dwelling and abiding in is more precious than words can demonstrate And let Patience have its perfect Work in your Hearts that all Prejudice may be kept out for where Envy and Strife is there is Confusion Therefore dear Friends it concerns you all to dwell in the Patience and in the Wisdom that comes from above which is first pure then peaceable gentle easie to be intreated full of Mercy and good Fruits without Partiality and without Hypocrisie And so the God of Peace establish your Hearts in his everlasting Truth and Righteousness for ever Amen I am Your Vnfeigned Friend J. V. The 3 d of the 11th Month 1669. This to be read amongst Friends A Loving Advertisement unto all those who joyn together to Persecute the Innocent PIlate and Herod consulted together in this abominable Work and were made Friends although before they were at enmity as you may see in Luke 23. And in the same Chapter you may read how Pilate called together the High Priests the Rulers and the People who had joyned together and falsly and vehemently accused the Innocent and when those Persecutors were come mark how Pilate's Words run Ye have brought this man unto me as one that perverteth the people Behold saith he I have examined him before you and I find no fault in him Notwithstanding their many Accusations as you may read of in that Chapter no nor yet Herod neither for Pilate sent him to Herod to be examined and they found no cause for what they did as Pilate himself confesseth no less than three times before them all as you may see in ver 22. and yet for all this those wicked Persecutors Enmity was so great against the Truth and their Love to Christ Jesus so small that they joyned together with Judas their Informer and crucified the Holy One Oh consider this you wicked Persecutors who have set your Hands to the Devil's Work did he not enter into Judas before he informed against Christ O consider whose Work you are a doing and see whether the Scriptures do not testifie against the same ever since Cain and Abel Oh be advised and do not slay God's Witness in your Hearts as Pilate and Herod and the rest of that wicked Crew did for you may see there was something in Pilate and Herod which let them see there was no fault in Jesus they had a Witness for him in their Hearts which if they had loved and obeyed they would not have slain the Lord of Life But they did then as you do now rebelled against it and counted it of no value and chose rather to please wicked Men who did then as you are now doing they brought their Law to cover their Wickedness and said By their Law he ought to die and so they violated the righteous Law of God which is Light which manifested in their Hearts there was no fault in him Oh! consider this you envious Persecutors and turn to the Light of Christ Jesus which shineth in your dark Hearts and read your States there and cease your evil doing before it be too late lest the God of this World blind your Eyes and harden your Hearts and bring you to destruction as he did Judas who was a Resister of the Light I shall appeal to the Witness for God in your Hearts and come let us be tryed by it Have you not done as bad as those before mentioned yea rather worse for you have reproachfully slandered and falsly accused us behind our back and caused many of us to suffer the loss of our Goods without Examination or Accusation to our Faces in this you out-stript the Cruelty of those before-named and the Heathen also for they permitted Paul to be examined and also to speak for himself as you may see in the Scripture which you call your Rule and yet do err not knowing the Scriptures nor the Power of God for if you did you would not wrong and persecute your innocent Neighbours who do you no harm but desire the everlasting Good of all even of our greatest Enemies Oh do you do by us as you would have us do by you Would you have us persecute and tear away your Goods because you go to your Worship or because you will not come to ours or
and a cunning Hunter seeking for the precious Life and chased my poor Soul as a Partridge on the Mountains but my God had shewed me that the way to Rest was through many Troubles and that he would be at hand to Deliver out of them all by his Almighty Power but I could hardly trust it then but yet turning to it I found Preservation by it when the backsliding of some had like to have caused me to stumble but the unerring Spirit of Jesus shewed me that if thousands fall on the one hand and tens of thousands on the other that should not defile me and if all the rest were Righteous that should not justifie me if I did not obey the Truth now he had made known his Covenant of Life which I so deeply engaged to be faithful unto and then I turned my back on the World and all the friendship and glory of it that I might obtain the favour of Jesus who condemned me for my Self-righteousness as for my known Sins for I was cautious of Sinning against the Lord ever since my Youth and desired after the best Religion and Company and when I was very young in years I greatly delighted to go to Professors Meetings and could bring home the Text and repeat much of their Sermons but yet that brought no benefit to my poor hungry Soul And when I was in secret before the all-seeing Eye of the Lord he administred Condemnation upon it all and I had no Peace inwardly although none could condemn me for any misdemeanor as outwardly but when my own Righteousness became loathsome to me then was I made willing to part with all that had been near and dear unto me that I might feel and witness the Robe of Christ's Righteousness revealed and be cloathed therewith And as for my Husband and Children my true and tender Love was so great that I could have done or suffered much for them But if I had disobeyed the Lord to please them I might have provoked him to have withholden his Mercies from us all and to bring his Judgments upon us And then who shall excuse in the Day of Accompt Then if a Man as the Scripture says should give the Fruit of his Body for the Sin of his Soul it will not be accepted Then Husbands and Wives and Parents and Children and Servants shall all receive according to their doings and none that disobeys the Lord can be excused no more than Adam was when he said That the Woman gave him the forbidden Fruit and he did eat and so provoked the Lord that the Curse came upon himself and could not be excused And although Man and Wife should be helpful one to another in Righteousness yet too many there are since the fall that hinder and hurt each other for which an account must be given anavoidably And this did I consider many a time and earnestly endeavour to avoid notwithstanding the false Aspersions that might arise yet I still endeavoured to keep my Conscience clear in the sight of my tender God and none can lay any thing to my Charge except it be for serving the Living and True God though in that way that many may call Heresie yet I do worship him in Spirit and in Truth For as Christ Jesus hath said it is come to pass that our Heavenly Father seeketh such and always sought such to worship him in his own Spiritual way of Worship which shall stand when all Idolatry and invented Worships shall fall Written aboard the first Ship The 1st month 1680. as I went to New-England when none that saw me expected my life but the Lord was with me and relieved me and his blessed Power raised me as at many other times And I arrived at New York the 4th Day of the 3d Month 80 and a Maiden Friend whose Name was Sarah Yoklet went with me from England and travelled with me until I came to Oyster-Bay in Long-Island and the Lord so ordered it that when she left me another Woman-Friend that had a Testimony was my Companion several Months whose name was Lydia Wright Oh matchless Mercies of the Lord who can rightly consider them as they have been manifested and not be tendered as I am Oh how long did his tender Spirit strive with me before I gave up to go to Sea How did his long Patience wait and suffer Surely it 's worthy to be remembred for he might have cut me off in a disobedient Condition But blessed and magnified be his Heart-tendering Power it bowed me from Year to Year and brought me into Subjection when in a low Condition I could not help my self nor had no other to help me Oh then did it support me in Exercises sore both in Body and Spirit when my Mind hath been so dejected that my Faith almost failed then did my tender Father through the Son of his Love Christ Jesus yeild me sweet relief though in a weary Land and sweetly encouraged me to travel on and many sweet Promises which before he gave me as I stood singly resigned to obey his Commands and be at his dispose he was never wanting to fulfil but by Sea and Land hath multiplied his Mercies and renewed a right Spirit in me to the resolving of Doubts and casting out of false Fears everlasting Praises to his most holy Name for often did that cause Torment when the dark Reasoner was very busie Then did I cry unto the Lord and say Surely thou knowest all and I have none but thee to help and many Eyes are over me and great Difficulties surround me on every hand and I am the poorest and weakest that I do know and if I should fail by the way how would the Enemy rejoice and the Truth be reproached And much buffeting did I undergo in my long and sore Exercises but as I cast my Care upon him he hath cared for me and blessed be his Name he hath helped in my greatest straits and hath made hard things easie and what he shewed me by his pure Spirit of Light for my encouragement before I came forth he hath brought to pass Glory to his Name for ever may all those say with my Soul that love the Leadings of the Light of Jesus for though it leads through Tribulation yet it brings the Soul sweet Consolation and therefore worthy to be followed through the Self-denial for it 's through the daily Cross to obtain the Reward of the Crown and precious is the feeling of the Life of Jesus to the awakened and illuminated Soul and that made the roaring Sea and dry Land and lonesome Wilderness all one to me by Night and by Day and great was my encouragement to commit all that my Heavenly Father had given me to his keeping and to follow him and in taking up the daily Cross I found Power to preserve me from looking out at my affliction of Body when sorely exercised in Mind ready to sink under the oppression of it had not the Spirit of
after them in my Absence that we may have comfort of their Growth in the Truth if ever we are present again and if they grow in the Truth and Knowledge and Love of God then will the Desire of your tender Sister be answered And so in that which satisfies our Breathings I remain Your Tender Sister J. V. The 1st of the Eighth Month 1680. For Friends at Gravesend in Long-Island and else-where Dear Friends MY Love and Life salutes you and in that which unites unto our God and endears us in the Heavenly Relation you are often in my Remembrance and my Souls desire is that we may feel each other in a living growth in that Life and Love of God which reaches over Sea and Land and satisfies our Souls and causes us to rejoyce together in Spirit as present though absent in Body joyning in the God of our sweet Salvation though in this World we meet with many bitter Exercises yet blessed be his holy Name his sweet Salvation out-ballances all and as in the Light we behold it we have great cause to magnifie that Name that bringeth it For there is power to make the Weak strong and to establish the Feeble-minded and we have sufficiently partaken of its Preservation and Deliverance Glory and Honour and Praises over all be returned thereunto our Souls have cause to say for all his Mercies and great Loving Kindness both Spiritual and Temporal for his wonted Favours and renewings of Mercies daily Who can consider it and not be bowed into Tenderness before him The consideration thereof melts my Heart even at this time And the breathing of my Soul is to the God of my Life that we may all keep low in the Valley of our Fathers Love where the Well-spring of Life doth overflow that our Souls through its sweet Refreshings may live unto him that through its arising we may magnifie his Name and celebrate his Praises for Death and Darkness cannot And therefore we had need be all watching in the Light and waiting for the arisings of Life that Death and Darkness may be subdued out of our Families and out of our Assemblies that our Families may be seasoned with the Heart-cleansing and preserving holy Fear that they may be of God's Families and our Assemblies crown'd with Life that Truth may be promoted thereby in our Generation and our Posterity blessed in the Generations to come For this end the Lord hath taken Compassion on us and raised us up of all the Families of the Earth and if we do not answer the requirings of his Love he may lay us by and raise up whom he pleases Oh! dear Hearts feel his Love for it requires Love my Soul can truly say Oh! what manner of Love is this as one said in his day that he hath Loved us with that when we were afar off and Strangers to him he made known his precious Truth unto us and revealed a measure thereof in us to help our Infirmities and to teach us when we could find no comfort of all the Teachings of the Idol Shepherds nor no help for our Infirmities Oh how precious was his voice and comely was his Countenance and how tenderly were our Hearts affected therewith in the day of our Convincement Oh it was a day of Love never to be forgotten And how hath he surrounded us by his Power ever since Surely his Fatherly Love hath been and is sufficient to oblige us to Obedience for he is not wanting to his tender Seed but is appearing for the Affliction of Joseph and to work Deliverance for Jacob and to relieve the travailing Seed in the remote corners of the Earth There are many going and gone out of Old England to Pensilvania and New Jarsey that have been as Instruments in the Hand of the Lord for the promoting his Truth here and I hope they will be so there to the Honour of his great Name and the Comfort of his Children in the Neighbouring Islands for the Lord will exalt his Truth though the Wicked grow worse and worse Therefore let our Hearts magnifie his Name and our Souls and all that is within us return Praises and Thanksgiving unto him for he is worthy who is God blessed for ever and evermore Amen saith my Soul who am a Traveller in Spirit for the tender Seed and a Rejoycer in its Prosperity Joan Vokins This Epistle it s supposed was Written soon after her return home Let this Epistle be Copied and sent to Matinicoke to M. Pryer and Friends thereaway to be read among them Here follows the Copies of some more Letters that she wrote and sent when she was in America To her Husband and Children the 11th of the 11th Month 1680. from Nevice Dear Husband and Children MY endeared Love in the Love of my tender God doth dearly salute you and the breathing of my Soul is unto my tender God that you may be faithful and obedient to your Measures received that you may grow in the Knowledge and Love of God and of his Son Christ Jesus whom to know is Eternal Life which is better than Natural Life or any thing that thereunto belongeth Oh dear Hearts consider of it and forget not the goodness of the Lord for unutterable is his Love towards us My Heart is tendered in the feeling of it and I cannot forget his tender dealing with us and the cry runs often through me to the God of my Life That you may not forget his Goodness nor slight his tender Love nor neglect your Duties to him for dear Hearts he is not an hard Master but his Reward is sufficient to engage our Hearts to his Service Therefore let our Hearts be encouraged to continue in well-doing and to watch against the Enemy that he may not prevail to draw out your Minds from waiting upon the Lord Surely there is great danger does attend you my dear and tender ones Oh let your Hearts be diligent to seek the Honour of God and the Exaltation of his Truth above all things then I shall have the desire of my Soul answered For I am greatly concerned for you and my Prayers are for you Night and Day that your Souls may live to God whatever your Bodies endure But for your comfort I put you in mind of the sweet Promises of him that said First seek the Kingdom of Heaven and the Righteousness thereof and all things else shall be added And I am truly satisfied he is never failing to fulfil his sweet Promises unto them that keep his Commandments and if we love him let it be manifest by our keeping his Commands for he is worthy to be feared and trusted in and depended upon and had in remembrance continually The Lord God of my Life stay your Minds that you may wait upon him that in his own time and upon his own terms you may partake of the fulfilling of his sweet Promises which are attained unto by loving the Light and living the Life of Truth And so dear
thereof with kind acceptance and this is to certifie you that after I left old England I had no cause of doubt or fear but the roaring Sea is to me as the dry Land because of my heavenly Father's presence and power which do make hard things easie and bitter things sweet in whose Arms we are preserved hitherto and we have great cause to hope we shall unto the end for he is with us and have done for me already more then I did expect from his tender hand I have not had one fit since I came aboard but Sarah and I are both Sea-sick but we have good encouragement in our Voyage and here is some Friends and some other sober People and I have good Service amongst them and the Peace of my God flows in as a River and his Love and Life as a mighty Stream which I would not be separated from for all that is in Old England and let all Friends know that ask concerning me that its very well with my Soul Glory everlasting be unto my tender God for ever Though my Body is weak yet he that made it is worthy to have the disposing of it and unto him it is resigned for he hath often brought it down and rais'd it up and can do with it as he pleases And let my dear Husband and Friends thereaway know that I am at home with my God though absent from my outward and he that cloaths the Lillies and feeds the Ravens takes care of me as well here as at home and as to my bodily weakness I am not worse than I was at home but much easier in my Mind Blessed and magnified be the Name of the Lord for ever It is troublesome for me to write the Vessel doth so wave I desire that Susan Dew and Mary Elson may see this or have a Copy of it and also my dear Husband and Children to whom my indeared Love is recommended and to all our Friends there-away that loves the Truth and walks in it for they can sympathize with me and are partakers of the reward of life with me in our own Bosoms which is and hath been more to me since I have been aboard the Vessel than my natural Life and it 's the best Cordial that I can ever have for healing vertue is in it by which my Soul and weak Body is strengthened and comforted in times of great weakness fore tryals and exercises in the sense of which my Soul is tendered before the God of my life not questioning but that we may see one anothers faces again with joy and not with sorrow and yet if we do not see face to face yet if we abide together in Spirit in the work and service of our God then shall he be honoured and our Souls comforted and so shall I have the desire of my Soul answered who am a Traveller for the tender Seed sake in the service of Truth wherein I greet you all in the salutation of my dear love and therein do take my leave and bid you farewel in the Lord JESUS remaining Your true and unfeigned Friend and Sister in the precious Truth J. V. From on Ship-board in the Downs 27th of the 12th Month 1679. An Epistle to Friends in Rhode-Island and there-away Dear Friends MY Love and Life salutes you all that loves the precious Truth and lives in it for they are very dear and near one unto another even as Epistles written in one anothers Hearts that cannot be forgotten not written with Ink or Pen but with the uniting and healing Spirit that unites us unto our God and endears us one unto another in which I am one with you in Tryals and Exercises and the breathing of my Soul is unto the God of our lives that all may be cut off that troubles you and that Love and Life and all other Spiritual Graces and Gifts may be multiplied and increased in and amongst you that you may persevere as the Worthies of the Lord that through renewings of the right Spirit you may be more and more Conquerours over all that is wrong for our God is on his way Glory to his Name for ever and he hath regard to the very hindermost of the Flock therefore let all put on Valour and Courage to follow the Lamb for he is on his way Triumphantly and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory though we may meet with much by the way yet we have great encouragement still to look to him who have hitherto preserved in dangers deep and difficult and though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet our Helper is nigh yea a God at hand to deliver out of them all Surely his love is sufficient to engage our Hearts to his Service for we have every one a Service for our tender God in our places and purity of Life and Conversation is that which will answer to the establishing and confirming of all that keeps thereunto though the outward appearance of things may make some weak ones to reason and question and be ready to stumble yet the Gospel-light and life and the good order thereof is very comfortable and as it is kept unto will resolve all doubts and stop the dark reasoner and put a period to all unprofitable Controversies which things the Lord grant may be brought to pass amongst you and in all the Churches to the Honour and Exaltation of his Holy Name and Precious Truth and the comforting and building up and establishing of every breathing tender Babe that he over all may have the praise and our Souls the comfort for evermore Amen Saith your Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. From Barbadoes 6th of the first Month 1681. Let this be read among Friends in Rhode-Island as the Wisdom of God shall direct Here are at the West-India Islands a very good President concerning Children and I could wish that it were so among the Lord's People every where Friends Children meet together once a week and sit together with their Parents and wait upon the Lord and are Instructed and they learn dear G. F's Catechism at home and then they say it at the Meeting once a week and I do believe that it do produce a good Effect and I can truly say that the Power of the Almighty is amongst them for many of them was tendered and let Tears when I was at their Meeting and Friends were refreshed Here in Barbadoes are Family Meetings very frequently and comfortable An Epistle to Friends in East-Jersey Dear Friends BE of believing Hearts and keep to the measure of Light already received that none may be vailed in their Understandings and so come to loss but that all may have the benefit of their own measures that we may Magnifie our God together for in the feeling of that Spirit that helpeth our Infirmities and teaches us we are greatly encouraged to travel on though there is much to be met with by the way Oh therefore let none be weary in well-doing