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
but all to be diligent that God's Plantation may flourish in every Heart that he may have the Fruit to his Glory for he is making manifest his great love to his tender Seed in those remote corners of the Earth and he will make his Power known and his Gospel-light is shining and he will multiply his Mercies and increase his Blessings both Spiritually and Temporally unto those who live the Gospel-life and keep to its blessed Order Oh the great love and tender dealings of our God that he is visiting those Islands which causes my Soul often to rejoyce for he have heard the Cry of the poor and is arisen for the help of the needy and have made many willing to leave their Native Land that are as Instruments in his hand for to build up in the pure victorious Faith which have long been the breathing of my Soul for you and for the Seed sake I have been concerned close with the God of my Life and the cry in me hath often been unto him to send forth more faithful Labourers amongst you that his Vineyard may be dressed and cleansed from all that hindreth its growth and he hath heard and answered in measure blessed be his Name Oh Friends let every one be concerned and none to be idle but all to the work of the Day lest Night come and prevent you For now is the day springing from on High visiting you and the affliction of Joseph and the troubles of Jacob the Lord have removed and for his Seed sake will yet more appear and work its deliverance in the hearts of all that are truly tender of it although the Serpent is very subtil and busie and always trying to betray Innocency yet the Watch being kept he is prevented and our Souls preserved Therefore dear Friends let us not forget that Command lest the Enemy should prevail Oh feel a necessity of watchfulness that we may keep our hearts diligently that we may feel the issues of Life that the inward Man may grow and be capable to act for God for we have every one both Male and Female a Service in our proper places and them that are diligent in doing their Duty shall be sure of a blessed Reward of Life and Peace therefore let all be encouraged that are poor and needy and feeble-minded Oh let them put on Courage yea the very hindermost of the Flock for our Captain is couragious he goes on Conquering and to Conquer victoriously and by his Power he brings great things to pass and is working deliverance for his suffering Seed that have breathed to him in secret and could not be satisfied but was without all hope of help until the ancient Power was brought to light and the Spirit of Truth revealed to help our Infirmities and to teach us to depart from Iniquity and to do the things that is well pleasing unto our God Oh the day of our convincement in which our hearts and souls were tendered and we made sensible of our states is never to be forgotten but the Ancient Power that tendered us then to be kept unto that we may do the work of the day for the Gospel-day calls for purity of Life to adorn it Oh that we may be as John said fearing God and giving glory to him for the hour of his Judgment is come and we and ours ought to fear him and stand in his awe and not sin against him Oh that we above all things may endeavour that our Families may be of his Family and our Assemblies crown'd with life that living Sacrifices may be offered in our Spiritual Worship for broken hearts and contrite spirits our tender God will never despise And therefore dear Friends let us keep low in the Valley of our Father's love where the Well springs of Life do flow that a living People we may be to the praise of our God and the promoting of Truth in Generations to come that our Off-spring may be encouraged by our good Examples successively to honour Truth when we are gone to our Rest that our Posterity may be blessed of the Lord and be to his praise and our everlasting comfort for ever and for evermore Amen Written in Barbadoes in the first Month 1681. An Epistle to some Friends in New England but it hath respect to the general state of Friends there T. and Ann Potter DEar Friends my Love do truly reach to you and your Children desiring your welfare every way even as for my own not forgetting your love to me when I was there but in a sense of that love that our God have shed abroad in our hearts do I salute you earnestly desiring that our Children may be his Children and that they and we may magnifie his power together though outwardly far asunder Oh that we and ours may truly endeavour after this for its the breathing of my Soul that we may feel one another in harmless hearts that we may breath one for another and be refreshed one in another though absent in body yet present in spirit serving our God and eying him that he may direct our hearts and keep our minds staid that when the winds do blow and the storms do beat we may be upon a sure foundation for all foundations shall be tried and the sandy buildings will not stand in the trying times and therefore we had need be builders up of one another in our most holy faith that we may be firmly established and as good souldiers enduring hardships unto the end for our Captain is on his way Glory to his worthy Name and he goes on triumphantly conquering and to conquer and he and his faithful Followers shall have the Victory and his love is sufficient to encourage the feeble ones for by his power we have been preserved in dangers many and very great and difficult and he hath been a present help in the times of our greatest need and though we have in our travel here met with many troubles yet he who is our God at hand delivers out of all Everlasting Praises be unto his Name for ever he hath made known the spiritual Armour Oh that we may rightly prove it that the Strong-holds of Sin and Satan may be pulled down and Righteousness and Holiness set up in the place thereof that our God may be honoured and his Truth exalted and his Children comforted for ever and for evermore Amen Mind my dear love to Elizabeth Hooten and to the Friend and her Husband that went with me to West Jersey and to William Aston and his Wife and Tho. Leeds and his Wife and let them know that I should be glad to hear that a Meeting were setled at Middleton and mind my love to S. Cooper and his Wife and Family and let them and other Friends know that I believe there would be great Service in establishing a Meeting there my love to R. Lippingcot William Shaddock and the Friend Warner and to all the rest of Friends for my love is truly
enduring hardships to travel on and follow our Captain fully for his Reward is sure though it is through many Tryals obtained yet when this momentary Pilgrimage is passed through the greater weight of Glory will out-ballance all and in the sense of it let our Hearts rejoyce and our Souls magnifie that Power that has preserved and is able to preserve unto the end and that in and through it we may be strong in the Lord Jesus and fitly furnished to every good Work that we may never be weary of well doing nor faint in our minds though in this World we meet with many Troubles yet we know him that is able to deliver out of them all and if he feed with the Bread of Affliction and the Water of Adversity yet blessed be his living Name he teacheth our Souls to profit thereby and we have cause to say in this Trying Day as the three Children did in Ages past We know that our God is able to deliver us if he please but if he will not we will still trust in him for he has been with us in Six Troubles and we have good cause to depend upon him and to have confidence in him in the Seventh for it is but a little while and Persecution and Affliction shall come to an end but the Word of Patience that preserves in times of great temptation abides for ever and shall never have an end Glory and Honour and Living Praises be returned and ascribed unto the God of all our Mercies and Blessings both Spiritual and Temporal which we daily partake of from his fatherly hand for he is an never-failing God and of his loving-kindness there is no end And unto the Protection of his Almighty Power which reaches over Sea and Land do I commit you with my own Soul henceforth and for evermore Your Sister in the unchangeable precious Truth JOAN VOKINS From London the 3 d of the 1st Month 1682. To Friends of Crambrook in Kent Dear Friends MY Love salutes you and the rest of the Faithful in Christ Jesus who holds fast their Integrity and retains their first Love for such are near and dear unto me and often in my remembrance whatever Exercises they undergo and my Soul do often breath unto the God of my life that we may be kept in a waâ—â—ing frame that if Tryals and Afflictions do abound that his sanctifying Power may superabound that as faithful Soldiers we may endure hardships to the end that in the end we may receive the greater weight of Glory that may out ballance all the momentary Afflictions that we meet with in this short Pilgrimage O Glory to his Name who is the Physician of Value that can cure both Body and Soul he is worthy to be trusted in who never fails them whose confidence is in him and all things are possible for his Power to do therefore let our dependance be on it for ever that we may feel it in all our undertakings that we may have the benefit of it in the use of the Creatures that his Blessing may be upon them then it will go well with us whatever may come Thus the Lord Jesus brings to pass for the honour of his own worthy Name and the comfort of our weak Bodies and everlasting benefit of our immortal Souls is the desire of Your true Friend in the unchangeable Truth J. V. 4th of the 9 Month 1682. For the Friends of Abingdon Meeting in Berkshire My dear and well beloved Friends IF you will be delivered then keep to Truth and that will set you free from Sin and from Iniquity and if you would wear the Everlasting Crown think not for to sit down at ease but follow the Lamb through the many Tribulations that you may partake of his sweet Consolations For the more Tryals and sore Exercises do abound the more the Love and Life of Jesus will super-abound unto all them that do believe in him and suffer with him they shall assuredly reign with him and be crowned with life that are faithful unto death and what is left upon Record we see fulfilling that all that will live godly in Christ Jesus must suffer and the worst Enemies are them of their own house let them read that have experience for they may understand me and such I truly simpathize with in the patience and suffering of the Lamb knowing that he and his Followers are deeply engaged in the spiritual warfare and truly it is a precious and a blessed cause to be concerned in and them that love any thing more than him are not worthy to be concerned in his War neither can such partake of his Government and Peace which shall never have end Therefore them that go this spiritual warfare must not be entangled but must follow their Captain through the many tribulations bearing their faithful Testimonies that their Garments may be made white being washed in the Blood of the Lamb that the precious adorning of his meek and quiet spirit we may be covered with that we may feel Justification by him in our own hearts then we need not fear what Man can do unto us though all Men should rise up against us yet if our God be for us he can take our part and plead our cause and soon subdue our Enemies if he pleases but if he will not so do yet we have cause to do as the Three Children did to trust in him however for he knows what is most convenient for us and he will cause all things to work together for our good and if he gives the Bread of Adversity and the Water of Affliction yet glory be to his worthy Name he teaches us to profit thereby and what he orders for us is still for the best and let us wait to feel his sanctifying power to strengthen us to follow him which way soever he leads that we may love him above all perishing things and manifest our Love by keeping his Commands and one of his Commands which he gave unto all his is to watch to be aware of their Souls Enemy and to enjoy the sweet benefit of their Souls Friend which far exceeds the Friendship of all the World and for the same we can turn our backs on the glory of the World and do chuse rather to suffer with the Lamb and his Followers then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season for that would captivate our Souls though we might have more favour from the wicked and more ease to our bodies but if hardship be our portion and that we must have a sufficient share therein yet our reward is sure if we endure to the end Glory and honour and praises unto the God of all our Mercies and that for evermore his blessed everlasting reward will out-ballance all therefore great encouragement have we to wait upon the Lord Jesus for the renewing of our inward Man that we may continue in well-doing those few days we have to come in this momentary Pilgrimage that in
we were very weak and supported when we were very needy Hath not our Heavenly Father's love been sufficient to engage our hearts to faithfulness Oh that it may be as an Obligation to every one of us to keep to the Gospel-light and to live the Gospel-life and to love the Gospel-order for our God is a God of Order and he affords precious Opportunities to wait upon him and if we abide in a good sense of his love we shall not forget our times and hours to wait for the seasons of the Lord for they are so sweet to the thirsty Soul that it cannot be satisfied without them and therefore many times thinks it long ere the Meeting-day come that it might be replenished with the vertue of Christ Jesus the Head and strengthened with the rest of the Members for as we truly gather in his Name praises thereunto he hath made us partakers of his Divine Nature Oh how hath he bedewed our Souls and caused our Cups to overflow when the arisings of his Eternal Power hath been felt among us to rebuke the Enemy and keep him back that would have hindred us from serving the precious Truth and prevented us of the Priviledge of our Women's-Meeting Oh that we may now take heed that we give him no advantage by slighting the Mercies of our tender God or neglecting of our Duties but that in the remembrance of his tender Mercies and Fatherly Love we may double our diligence in our places of Service that our God may be honoured feared and obeyed by us all that we may receive the blessed and sure Reward in the end when time here as to us shall be no more and be in safety from all harms for ever and for evermore So be it saith the Soul of your dear Sister in that which is strength to the weak and help to the helpless that Sea nor Land cannot separate Joan Vokins From the County of Wexford in Ireland the 26 of the seventh Month 1686. POSTSCRIPT SO dear hearts by this you may know that my tender God is still exceeding good unto me and manifests his great Power and it is admirable in my eyes that I am yet alive to tell of his wondrous works but blessed be his worthy Name he preserves me by his Almighty Power and in his tender love provides for me Since I gave up all he is more to me than all Glory to his Name and magnified be his preserving and delivering Power my Soul hath every day cause to say for he hath done great and wonderful things for my Soul and weak Body else I had not been alive at this day but still am I an object of his tender pity and do hope so I shall be the remainder of my little time a Monument to his Praise Many sensible Friends here are tendered in the sense of God's love when they see me travel in so much weakness and I hope that you and I shall praise his Name together and magnifie his Eternal Power though in Person far asunder for it is worthy to be magnified as it hath been manifested for if that had failed we had failed but because that lives our Souls live to speak well of the Name of our God who is above all Gods and there is none like unto him it is honour to us sufficient to serve him for his Reward is sure and blessed be his worthy Name he makes me a partaker daily of the gain of Godliness with contentment which is a continual Feast Your Sister in my measure J. V. To her Children AFter my dear Love to my Husband This is to signifie my tender Love to the precious Truth by my Motherly Care for my Children that whether I live or die you may be careful and take heed that you do not stain the Testimony of Truth that you have received by wearing of Needless Things and following the World's Fashions in your Cloathing and Attire but remember how I have bred you up and consider what manner of persons you ought to be now you are come to years of understanding that you may not grieve the Spirit of the Lord nor Me nor any of his dear Children but that you may walk as becomes the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ that you may be good Examples to others and Patterns of Plainness and Uprightness in your Conversations among all People then will the Blessing of the Lord attend you and it will be well with you in this World and in that which is to come then shall God be honoured and my Soul with yours and with the Souls of all his tender ones that desires the same be comforted and Truth promoted over all and then you will have cause to say with me That its Excellency far transcends all that the World can afford and will endure when that shall pass away And therefore forget not the Spirit of it in your Hearts but take good heed unto it at your Down-lying and at your Up-rising that you with me may have the benefit of that Promise of the Lord who said he would be with his children at their down-lying and commune with them at their up-rising and in this the day of his great love he is nigh unto his Children and delights in them that abides in a watching and a waiting frame and takes councel of his Divine Spirit But woe unto them that takes councel but not of me saith the righteous God and cover with a covering but not of my spirit And dear Hearts the day is come that all false Coverings will be found too short and too narrow to hide from the Wrath of the Almighty and them that are truly the Children of the Lord shall be covered under the Wing of his Eternal Power from the Jaw of the strong Destroyer though he may cast in Floods of Temptations and may try by Subtilty to betray Innocency yet dear Hearts look not at that lest your Faith should fail but look unto the Almighty Power of God and wait to receive it and believe in it and keep to the measure already received that will make way for you to escape the Temptations when you cannot help your selves and have no other to depend upon Oh then how have he appeared for me and manifested his preserving and delivering Power Oh let your Souls with mine magnifie it for is it worthy and that for evermore Truth is the same here as in England and Friends do not suffer the World's Fashions to be followed for both Men and Women here do go plain in their Apparel according to Truth in a comely manner the Women do not attire their Heads setting their Clothes aloft imitating the World's Fashions wearing any needless things nor in a needless manner And some publick Friends from hence are going for England in the service of Truth and more to go and they will be grieved to see Friends Children stain the Truth by attiring themselves not in modest Apparel and it would also be a great grief to