Transcript for Episode 7: 

Joan Vokins - 1630 -1690

Ann:

Welcome to this podcast series coming courtesy of Silver Wattle Quaker Centre, located in central New South Wales on the edge of Werriwa or Lake George, the largest freshwater lake in Australia. We acknowledge and give thanks for First Nations groups’ care of Country. We commit to its ongoing care.

I’m Ann Zubrick, a member of the Silver Wattle Board.

Here is Introducing Early Quakers: Episode 7 – Joan Vokins, 1630 -1690, narrated by Michael Corbett.

Michael:‍ ‍

Joan Vokins (1630 -1690)

Joan was the wife of a farmer, Richard Vokins, in the Vale of White Horse in Berkshire, and they had 7 children. She became a ‘convinced Quaker’ in 1663 after talking to her brother-in-law Oliver Sansom, who was a leader in the Quaker community that formed in the area. Joan was the first person in the family to be convinced. Her father, husband, and the children all followed her into Quakerism.

Joan and her sister Jane were Oliver’s leading associates, with Jane specialising in administrative matters whilst Joan sought to deepen the faith by preaching. She was an enthusiastic evangelist for Quakers and became known as the ‘nursing mother’ – just as George Fox was referred to as the ‘nursing father’ – the spiritual ‘nurturing’ of their followers.

In 1678, the central Quaker authorities reorganised into separate men’s and women’s meetings, but Joan was in strong opposition to the idea of women’s meetings from Quakers elsewhere in the county.

Joan became a very active preacher and heeded the ‘Call to Travel in the Ministry’. In March 1680, she travelled to Quaker communities in the Americas, accompanied on the journey by her Friend Sarah Yoklet, arriving in New York in May.

Joan wrote: “there had been some hurt done by some, that Friends had lost their 5th day Meeting, and I laboured to settle it again.”

When this was achieved, she continued her journey, accompanied this time by Friend Lydia Wright, to go to Long Island. Local Friends faced a great deal of harassment from the Ranters and Apostates, but:

“God’s Mighty Power was over all… …subduing of the dark Power that raged in the Ranters.”

It was just before the general Meeting that Joan became very ill. She wrote:

“I was near unto death, and many Friends were with me, who did not expect my Life, and I was so weak.”

Friends took her into the Meeting where there were many Friends, and: “in a little time the God of Wisdom, Life and Power, filled me with the Word of his Power.”

Sometime later, when Joan was able, she continued to Rhode Island and went to the General Meeting there, but running into Thomas Case, the so-called ‘Grand Ranter’, who was bawling loudly against Friends.

Before Joan thought of returning to England, she sailed to Boston where some members had suffered both imprisonment and cruelty, for conscience’s sake, with some Friends having been put to death. She continued her mission through Long Island and East Jersey and on to Pennsylvania.

She returned to New York to board a ship back to England, but she felt led to visit Friends in the Leedward Island, Antigua, Nevis, and Barbados. Her arrival at these islands was welcome and she attended many meetings.

In Barbados she noted:

“I met with many Friends at Bridgetown, and there took an account of the Monthly Meetings and other Meetings, sometimes two or three a day, both among the Blacks and also among the White People.”

This was no holiday cruise – leaking ships, storms, their water for drinking turned sour, food was not very nutritious, and she was not in good health.

The journey back to England took her to Dover in Kent, and it was on this journey that she wrote “God’s Mighty Power Magnified.” She arrived on the “First Day” [Sunday] in April 1681.

Joan stayed there for three weeks, preaching and recuperating, and then left to visit Friends in London before returning to her home and family after an absence of almost 14 months.

Her final missionary journey was in 1686. Even with her health declining, she travelled in the Ministry to Ireland, visiting Friends in Dublin, Drogheda, and Wexford, and other Meetings.

Four years later, on her way home from a national Quaker Meeting in London, she became ill and died on the 22nd of the fifth Month, 1690. Her husband was not with her, as he and one son were in Reading jail as ‘A Sufferers for the Truth, under the cruel Oppression of Tithes’. In the ‘’Testimony against Tithes,’ they had refused to pay their tithes.

There was a very strong movement by Quaker women who formed what was called ‘The 7000 Handmaids of Daughters of the Lord’. They joined together and sent several petitions to Parliament in 1659 protesting against the Act that enforced Tithing, which they saw as a source of income, luxury, and avarice for the privileged. The abolition of The Tithe Act was in 1836.

Joan, as well as being a preacher missionary, was a very prolific letter writer. During all of her travels she wrote very long letters to her family and Friends in England. She also maintained contact with the Friends in America and the West Indies, sending epistles and helpful guidance.

Many of her letters, in a printed format, are more than two pages long, so the handwritten letter would have been many pages long. They were just like ‘mini sermons’ – encouraging and nurturing the reader to follow The Light.

Her writings, published in 1691 (which was three years before George Fox’s Journal), were collected by her brother-in-law Oliver under the title:

“God's Mighty Power Magnified: as Manifested and Revealed in His Faithful Handmaid Joan Vokins.”

This book also includes a number of Testimonies to the Life of Joan offered by various Quarterly Meetings of Friends. The one from Reading Quarterly Meeting described her:

“…she was given up to serve the Lord with her whole Might,…and did not count her life, nor anything of this World dear unto her, for the Works sake which the Lord had called her unto; but with great Courage and Confidence…she cheerfully exposed her weak Body to Travel, enduring great hardships both by Sea and Land, in the Work and Service of the Lord.”

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Writings of Joan Vokins

One of the things that Joan wrote was about Simplicity:

“Be careful and take heed that you do not stain the testimony of Truth that you have received, by the wearing of needless things and following the world’s fashions in your clothing and attire.”

In thanks, after her safe return to England:

“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 toward 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 [through tender Mercy] I have found power, when of myself 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 to that God of Power that hath preserved hitherto, and is able to keep and preserve unto the end: to whom be all the Glory and Praise for evermore. Amen.”

Ann:

We hope these stories have sparked reflection and a deeper appreciation for the courage and spiritual depth of early Friends.

If you'd like to explore Quaker spiritual practices or join us for a retreat or course — either in person or online — visitsilverwattle.org.au.

DISCUSSION QUESTIONS

1. What stood out to you most about Joan Vokins’ life and ministry? Why do you think that part was important?

2. Joan became the first person in her family to become a Quaker. What might it have taken for her to follow this leading before others did?

3. Joan travelled widely in the ministry despite illness, hardship, and danger. What do you think sustained her in this work?

4. How do you understand Joan being described as a “nursing mother” among Friends? What might spiritual nurturing look like in a community today?

5. Joan wrote many letters that encouraged Friends to remain faithful to the Light. How might written words still nurture and strengthen faith communities today?

6. Joan spoke about simplicity in clothing and avoiding the world’s fashions. What might the testimony of simplicity mean in our lives today?

7. Friends in Joan’s time faced persecution and imprisonment for their beliefs, including refusing to pay tithes. What does this tell us about the strength of their convictions?

8. After hearing Joan’s story, what do you think her life can teach us about listening for and responding to God’s guidance today?