TO THE RIGHT HONOURABLE THE COUNTESS DOWAGER OF HUNTINGDON Grace Mercy and peace be Multipl'd from God the Father & from the Lord Jesus Christ thro' the Influences of the Holy Spirit. Madam While I take my Pen in hand and the freedom of Addressing your Ladyship to whom I am so much unknown it fills me with wonder & Surprize and yet when I consider the Account I have recd of your Humility and Condescending goodness to persons of Low degree I ask a thousand pardons and that you will let me depend upon your Ladyships goodness to forgive me indeed I shou'd not have presumd to have troubled your Ladyship with this Letter till I had thro' my Amiable Friend Mr Whitefield askd Your Ladyship leave and the Errand of it is Chiefly to rejoice with your Ladyship in the account I have from many of my Friends in the abundant Measure of Grace with which it pleases God to favour and honour you in the Conduct of your whole life and which renders you so bright an Example and Ornament of the Christian Religion & makes you so ready on all Occasions to espouse & Build up (as much as in you lies) the Kingdom and Interest of the Dear Redeemer This Madam distinguishes you in the best and uncommon light being a Personage of such high Birth and Rank in the World for we are told Not many Mighty not many Noble are Chosen to be the Subjects of the Kingdom of Grace here and Heirs of the Kingdom of Glory hereafterhappy, therefore, thrice happy for your Ladyship that you have I doubt not secur'd the one thing needfull even an Interest in the saving Mercy of God thro' Jesus Christ. Alass most Excellent Lady of how little value are the Riches and pleasures of this Transitory Life when set in Contrast to the durable Riches and the never ending Joys that flow at the right hand of God for ever more. Allow me Honoured Madam to lay before you the Paragraph of a Letter I lately reced from a Serious Religious Friend it being I really believe some description of your Ladyships Case in the Religious World the Words are these "But how much real joy & pleasure is to be Experienced in a Life of Communion with God here, which none relish or form any Idea of but the Soul Sanctyfyd by the Divine Spirit & when he leads the Soul into intimate Converse with the Holy God & clears up the Evidence of its Adoption in the Number of the Child" of God in such Interviews with Heaven how is the Soul elevated & rais'd above every thing here below and the Joys possessing the Soul at such a time is an earnest of that Happiness & Joye into wh the Believer enters at Death to be Compleated in the General Resurrection. This is a real truth, the Life of a Christian is a hidden Life, it is so from a vain World, & it is hid with Christ in God. How secure & happy then is the believer under all the Changes & Trials that can happen to him in this Life for the Covenant of Grace fixes him in this Attitude that Nothing can be otherways than for his best good according to the Divine promise and when we shall enter the Heavenly Mansions where the Immense Volumes of Providence shall be opened to his view he will then perceive the Beauty & Harmony of all the Divine Dispensations and the Necessity thereof in Order to prepare him for that Blessed State and in the enlarged prospect of that Happiness he is now placed in the full possession of he will join the Heavenly Host in Ascriptions of praise to God & Christ for ever and ever. God in His great mercy grant that your Ladyship may live to an extended Age free from pain and Sickness and when in Gods best time the hour of Death Approaches may it be to you only an easy Transition from this vain Transitory Life to the Substantial & never ending Joys of the Paradise of God above & thus I remain Most Hon Lady Your Ladyships Most Obedient ELIZ: TOWN (N. J.) June 24: 1752 Lady Huntington. J. BELCHER. Letter from Governor Belcher to President Burrcomplimenting him on his marriage. Sir [From Belcher Papers in Library of N. J. Hist. Soc.] MR PRESIDENT BURR ELIZ: TOWN June 30 1752 I have just now reced from you the pleasing notice of your entring into the Honourable State of Marriage with the ingenious & virtuous Miss Edwards a Daughter of my Worthy & much esteem Frd Mr. Edwards of Stockbridge in which I wish you all the Joys & Satisfaction which kindred Souls may reasonably hope for in such a Change of Life & may you Sir live long together in much Health & ease & as Heirs of the Grace of Life & in this My Wife heartily joins with me as also in our best Respects to good Mrs. Edwards y' now Mother in Law.' For particulars relating to this marriage see Stearns' First Church in Newark, p. 190, and letters from J. Shippen, Jun., to his father, in Proceedings N. J. Hist. Soc., Vol. V, p. 169. Whenever it Suits your Conveniency we shall be glad to see you at our little Cottage in the mean time if the Season will allow we shall take the pleasure of visiting you at Newark-I am Revd Sir Your very good Frd J. BELCHER Report to the Lords of the Committee of Council upon the draft of a Commision, for inquiring into the grievances in New Jersey. [From P. R. O. B. T. New Jersey, Vol. 15, P. 875.] To the Right Honble the Lords of the Committee of His Majesty's most Honble Privy Council. My Lords WHITEHALL July 23, 1752 Pursuant to your Lordships Order, dated the 7th of May last, We have taken into Our Consideration a Report made to your Lordships by His Majesty's Attorney and Solicitor General upon considering several Papers referr'd to them, relative to the great Riots & Disturbances in His Majesty's Province of New Jersey, and also the Draught of a Commission prepared by them, for making Enquiry into the Causes of the Rise, Progress & Continuance of these Commotions, upon which your Lordships desire Our Opinion, and of the manner in which We conceive the said Commission may be most properly carried into Execution: Whereupon We beg leave to acquaint your Lordships, That We have in Our Report, dated the first of June 1750, fully stated to your Lordships not only the Rise & Progress of the Riots and Disturbances which have been committed in that Province, but also the particular Grievances which are alledged, in the Papers transmitted to Us from the said Province, to have been the causes thereof, with the Nature of the Grievances themselves, and therefore We humbly apprehend that the Object and View of this Commission, which is merely to enquire into the said Grievances independent of any questions which have a relation to Property, is thereby fully answer'd and that our Report contains all the Information which can possibly be derived from it. If however your Lordships should think it adviseable that such a Commission should be issued, We must beg leave to refer your Lordships to a Precedent of the like kind in the Colony of Virginia, upon Occasion of a Rebellion which broke out there in the year 1676, when it was thought advisable that a Commission should be given to three Persons sent from England to enquire into the grievances which had given rise thereto; And altho' the Circumstances of that Case were not all similar to the present, yet the general view & object of the Commission was the same, and upon comparing the Commission for Virginia with the Commission now prepared by the Attorney and Sollicitor General, your Lordships will find the Regulations and Provisions of both to be nearly the same. As to the manner of carrying this Commission into Execution, We are of Opinion it must be by the Appointment of such Persons to be commissioners as shall be men of known Prudence, Temper & Abilities; that these Commissioners should be chosen out of some of the neighbouring Colonies or sent from hence, as your Lordships shall judge most proper, but We are inclined to think that Persons sent from hence would be the least liable to Suspicion of Interest, Prejudice or Partiality. As the Terms however of this Commission are very general, We would humbly propose that proper Instructions should be given to the |