united prayers of America may obtain that audience in Heaven, which will ensure salvation to us.

Signed by order of the General Association,

BENJAMIN THROOP, Moderator.

To the Reverend Charles Chauncy, D. D., and the other Ministers of the town of Boston.

COPY OF AN ANSWER TO A LETTER FROM THE GENERAL ASSOCIATION IN CONNECTICUT TO THE ASSOCIATED PASTORS IN BOSTON; PREPARED, BUT NOT SENT, THROUGH THE CONFUSION OF THE TIMES.

Boston, 1774.

REVEREND AND DEAR BRETHREN: Your very affectionate and obliging letter of June 24th, 1774, was communicated to us at a time when we greatly needed the encouragement and support of our Christian friends.

You justly suppose that when Boston is treated with such unprecedented cruelty, and involved in the deepest distress, a heavy load must lie upon the Ministers of Religion in that unhappy town. We have consoled ourselves with the thought, that we are suffering in the common cause of America—in the cause of civil liberty, with which religious liberty hath a very close connection. All circumstances seemed to make it evident that we were not mistaken in this view of things. It gives us the highest satisfaction to find that the sentiments of others are conformable to our own; especially to know that this is the opinion of so wise and venerable a body as the General Association of Connecticut.

We sincerely thank you for your tender sympathy with us under our sufferings, and the very kind and obliging manner in which you express it.

We present our particular acknowledgments for the great consolation you afford in the assurance you give us of your sincere condolence and unremitting prayers in our behalf; and that you will, in every way suitable to your character and station, use your influence with the good people of your Colony to concur in every proper measure calculated to afford relief to America in general, and to the distressed town of Boston in particular. We trust God hath heard your prayers, and the prayers of other friends to religion, and to America, and by his all-powerful influence, hath supported our brethren in this town, under their heavy trials, enabled them to stand firm in the glorious cause of liberty; and hath given some degree of that firmness, unanimity, patience, and prudence, which you so fervently implore for them in this critical day.

We owe much to our brethren in the other Colonies for the very generous assistance we have received. Such were the difficulties to which great numbers were reduced, by the almost total stagnation of our trade, that it must have been impossible for this town to have subsisted to this day, if the inhabitants had not been favoured with such kind and generous relief from abroad.

The Colony of Connecticut distinguished themselves not only by the largeness of their donations, but by the season-ableness of their supplies, which were received and applied for the purpose of supporting those who were suffering by means of the cruel Bill that shut up our port, while the other Colonies, by reason of their distance, were not able to afford such immediate help.

We think ourselves obliged on this occasion to testify, that your charities have been most faithfully applied to the purpose for which they were sent. The gentlemen who have undertaken this trust, are of the first character for probity and universal goodness. They generously employ a very great part of their time in this benevolent work, without the prospect of any reward but what ariseth from the pleasure of doing good, and of the approbation of their great Master and Lord.

While we think we have a right to complain to Heaven and Earth of the cruel oppression we are under, we ascribe righteousness to God. We deserve every thing from him, and he punishes us less than our iniquities deserve. We earnestly entreat the continuance of your addresses to Him who heareth prayer, that He would humble, pardon, and bless us.

Our own distresses by no means employ all our attention. We are more deeply affected with the general danger of our country, than with our own difficulties. We encourage ourselves in that glorious Being, who hath ever been the hope of his Israel, and the Saviour thereof in time of trouble, and who hath so often and so wonderfully appeared for this people. We are sinful and degenerate, but we trust there are many who have not forsaken God, and for whose sake he will not forsake us. If there had been ten righteous found in Sodom, the city had not been destroyed. And will not God have regard to the many thousands in this land, and who walk uprightly before him, and who continually implore his favour to their distressed country?

The surprising union of the Colonies at this day affords the strongest ground of encouragement; and their spirited measures cannot, according to a human view of things, fail of success sooner or later. We are sensible at the same time, that all depends on him who is the great Governour of the world. It is an inexhaustible source of comfort, that the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. To him we refer all, in full confidence that he will do all things well.

We devoutly wish you the presence of the great Head of the Church in all your labours for the honour of God, and the good of men, and are,

With the sincerest gratitude and respect, your brethren, &c.

DEAR SIR: According to your desire, I send you a copy of the Letter which was prepared in answer to that which was so kindly sent from the Association in Connecticut. It was owing to the forgetfulness of our dear brother Howe, that it was not finished and forwarded. It was read by most of the brethren; but as it was not formally voted, it may be not best to take notice of it as an answer to yours. You may use it as you think proper. I send it in compliance with your desire, and it will, at least, show that we are not wholly unmindful of the affectionate regard expressed to us, though we have not made the return we ought to have done. I am sir, your brother and servant,

ANDREW ELLIOT.

ADDRESS OF THE JUSTICES OF THE COUNTY OF WORCESTER IN MASSACHUSETTS, TO GOVERNOUR GAGE, PRESENTED JUNE 22, 1774.

To his Excellency THOMAS GAGE, Captain-General and Governour-in-chief in and over the Province of MASSACHUSETTS BAY, in NEW ENGLAND.

May it please your EXCELLENCY:

The Justices of the Court of General Sessions of the Peace, and Justices of the Inferior Court of Common Pleas, held at Worcester, within and for the County of Worcester, on the second Tuesday of June, 1774, beg leave, at our first session, after your safe arrival, to congratulate your Excellency thereon, and also on your appointment to the most important office of First Magistrate in this Province, in full confidence from the amiable character your Excellency has obtained in your other important departments in America, you will ever delight in promoting the good of this Government.

We find a peculiar difficulty in expressing the distress of our minds relating to the unhappy circumstances of this Province at this time, and can with sincerity say, that we have no doubt, from your well known character, you will do all that is within your power to extricate us out of our distresses, in every way consistent with the true interests of Great Britain and her Colonies, which we hold inseparable. And we do bear our testimony against all riots, combinations, and unwarrantable resolves, which we apprehend have been the unhappy occasion of many of our troubles; and as there are now circulating through this Province certain inflammatory pieces, signed by order of the Committee of Correspondence of the town of Boston; and in this county, by order of certain persons calling themselves a Committee of Correspondence of the town of Worcester, directed to the several towns in the county, stimulating the people to break off all connections with Great Britain, which havestill a tendency to alienate the affections of the people of this Province and county from the mother country, and create discord and confusion, we do assure your Excellency that we will do every thing in our power to discountenance such proceedings, and sup-