ABSTRACT
Quaker women produced texts for various purposes and audiences: inspirational letters to their families and communities, prefaces to Friends' books, polemical rebuttals, and personal testimonies of persecution and faith that could be articulated with a prophetic voice. The evangelizing purpose of these texts was often framed in a narration of a strenuous situation that put faith to the test. The women examined here kept strong bonds with a community of belief, Quaker, Separatist, or other, which reinforced their independence and resolution in the harshest of circumstances. In 1658, coinciding with the early years of the Quaker movement, Katherine Evans and Sarah Cheevers arrived in Malta on their way to Alexandria. They were arrested after interrupting a Catholic mass and attempting to distribute pamphlets among the congregation. The Quaker emphasis on engaging in communication with God, on being one with Him "in the Light" was complemented by various other perspectives in A Short Relation.
