Letters of Delegates to Congress: Volume 5
William Williams to Jonathan Trumbull, Sr.

Hond & Dear Sir

Philadel.

20th Sepr. 1776

It will undoubtedly be needless for me to give You any account of the Evacuation of N York by our army on Sab. Day the 15th, of most of our heavy Cannon falling into the hands of our Enemies &c, as it will be communicated to you by my Bror. Comissa., many ways ee'r this can reach your Hand. This Event unhappy & distressing as it is has been foreseen & known ever since the quitting of Long Island, & had been determined by the Genl. & his Council; Congress had been made fully accquainted with & assented to it as absolutely necessary, & directed that it shod not be destroyed by Us on leaving it. These Events however, & signal advantage gained by our oppressors, & the Distress to which our Army & Country are & must be subjected in Consequence of them, are loud speaking Testimonies of the Displeasure & Anger of almighty God against a sinful People, louder than sevenfold Thunder. Is it possible that the most obdurate & stupid of the Children of America shod not hear & tremble? God has surely a Controversie with this People, & He is most certainly able to manage it & He will accomplish his Designs, & bring Us to Repentance & Reformation, or destroy Us. We must bend or break. The ways of his Providence are dark & deep but they are holy, wise, & just & altogether right, tho our feeble Understandings comprehend them not, & tho his Chastisements are severe & dreadful, They are dictated by unbounded Wisdom & Love. They have a meaning of awful & kind Import. Turn unto me for why will ye die O Sons of America. We have thought God was for Us & had given many & signal Instances of His Power & Mercy in our Favor, & had greatly frowned upon & disappointed our Enemies & verily it has been so, but have we repented & given Him the Glory? Verily no. His Hand seems to be turned & stretched out against Us, & strong is his Hand & high is his right Hand. He can & will accomplish all his Pleasure. It is God who has blunted the Weapons of our warfare, that has turned the Counsels of wise Men into Foolishness, that has thus far blasted & disappointed our Hopes, & made Us flee before our Enemies, & given them Possession of our Strong Holds. Trouble does not spring out of the dust nor rise out of the Ground. I have always thot this was a just & righteous Cause in which We are engaged. I remain unshaken in that firm persuasion, & that God wod sooner or later vindicate & support it, I believe so still, but I believe this People must first be brot to know & Acknowledge the righteousness of his Judgment, & their own exceeding Sinfulness & Guilt, & be deeply humbled under his mighty hand, & look & cry to & trust in Him for all their Help & Salvation but in the Use & Exertion of all the Strength He has given Us. Surely We have seen enough to convince Us of all this, & then why are We not convinced, why is not every Soul humbled under the mighty hand of God, repenting & mourning For its Sins & putting away the evil of his Doings, & looking to Him that smites Us by humble, earnest & fervent Prayer & Supplication day & Night. Why are not the dear Children of God (surely there are many, tho the Scorn & Insult of our Enemies) beseiging the Throne of Grace, sighing & crying for their own Sins & back slidings & for all the abominations that are done in the Land, & saying spare, spare thy People O Lord & give not thine Heritage to Reproach. Let not the Vine which thy right Hand has planted here be rooted up & destroyed, let not thy Churches be wasted & devoured, let not virtue & the remains of Religion be torn down & trampled in the Dust, Let not thy Name be blasphemed, nor our insulting wicked Foes say where is your God, nor the profane world that there is no God that rules the world & regardeth the Right, that vindicateth the just & the righteous Cause. I know that God can vindicate his own Name & Honor without our Help, & out of the Stones raise up Children to Abraham, & it is amazing Folly & Madness to cry the Temple, the Temple of the Lord, & trust in that while We remain an incorrigible People. But Such Things are what God wod have Us learn & practice while his Judgments are abroad in the Land, & with such like Arguments fill our Mouths, & pour out our Souls before Him. Are any? Are not all? in N England especially, who have any Interest in Heaven, crying, beging & intreating for the out pouring of blessed Spirit of God upon the Land, tis a most grievous & distressing Consideration that God is pleased so to withhold the blessed Influences & operations thereof, without which We shall remain stupid forever. Therefore with redoubled fervency of ardent Prayer & Supplication, shod every Soul that has one Sparck of Heavenly Fire kindle it to a fervent Heat & expanded Blaze.

O New England, O my dear native Land, how does my Soul Love thee. Be Instructed therefore lest Gods Soul depart from thee, lest thou be like Corazin & Bethsaida in Condemnation as thou hast been in Privileges, lest He make thee as Admah & set thee as Zeboim. Are the Ministers of the Gospel alive & awake & lifting up their Voices like a trumpet & sounding the Alarm of the Almightys Anger & Wrath ready to burst on the defenseless Heads of a guilty People? Are they warning the wicked of their infinite Danger, animating & arousing them to Consideration? Are they with ardent Zeal & Fervour animating & enlivening the languid Graces of the Godly, exciting & leading them to fervent Prayer, sighing & crying for their own Declensions & Luke warmness in Religion & for the Sins & Iniquities of the Land, praying, beging & intreating with unceasing & as it were resistless Importunity for the copious Effusions of the Blessed Spirit upon all orders & degrees of People & refusing to let God go, without an Answer of Peace, & in the midst of Wrath to remember Mercy, & not give up this his Heritage to Reproach nor blast the blooming Hopes & Prospects of this infant Country, the Asylum of Liberty & Relegion?

Strange that Mankind shod need such alarming Providences to produce such an Effect. It is no more than to act like reasonable Creatures, to possess a Spirit & Temper that will add a thousand fold sweetness & pleasure to all the Enjoyments of this World, to exchange the Slavery of the Devil, that accursed Enemy of our Souls, for the Service of God & the Liberty of his Children, to do justly, to love Mercy & walk humbly with our God, to answer the sole end of our Creation, to secure a Peace here infinitely better than the World can give, & an Eternity of Peace & Happiness in the World to come. But still more strange if possible, & astonishing is it that They Shod disregard the Voice of the most high, remain thoughtless & stupid under the dreadful Tokens of his Anger & the awful Judgments of his Hand, by Sickness & by the Sword of our unnatural & enraged Enemies threatening to depopulate the Land & drench the Plains with the Blood of its Inhabitants, leaving the weeping Widows, helpless Orphans & the all that survive the shocking Carnage & subsequent Masacre to drag out their Lives in Want, Wretchedness & miserable Bondage & all this aggravated with the certain Prospect of leaving this dreadful Curse intailed on all Posterity.

A thorough Repentance & Reformation, without all peradventure will appease the Anger of a holy & just God, avert these amazing Calamities, secure Liberty & Happiness to this & all succeeding Ages & eternal Felicity & Glory to all the Subjects of it. If such Considerations & Motives wont awaken a [11] to serious Thoughfulness & Attention, I know n[ot] what will, but the Voice of the Arch Angel & the Trump[et] of God.

I am hond & dear Sir most affectionately your dutiful Son &
Servant.

Wm Williams

P.S. You will not think proper to communicate this Letter to the Assembly. I am anxious beyond the power of Language to describe, of contributing something to the Good & Salvation, temporal & eternal, of my Countrymen. (Hope I have not been totally useless here.) If you shod think this may have any tendency, to awake our sleepy People & be of no disadvantage, I am willing it shod be printed &, for no other possible reason, leaving out such of the begining as may be a clue to guess the author or where He is, & with the description or Signature of a Letter from a Gent of Connecticut, now in a different Colony.(1)
May God in great Mercy preserve your Health, & long continue your valuable & important Life. With kindest Remembrance to my dear Wife & Friends. W W

RC (Ct).
1 A slightly edited version of the main body of this letter appeared in the October 14, 1776, issue of the Connecticut Courant and Harttord Weekly Intelligencer under the heading: "Extract of a letter from a gentlemen of Connecticut, now in a distant State."

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