To the Earl of Dartmouth, Lord Privy Seal Date: LONDON, December 24, 1775. MY LORD, The corrections made in Mr. Fletcher's papers which your Lordship was so kind as to make, as well as those made by the gentlemen who perused them, will prevent several objections. Having this occasion, I take the liberty to mention to your Lordship a thing of another nature. The nation is already involved in many troubles. And we know not how many more may follow. Are we able to extricate ourselves out of them all If we have so much wisdom and strength that we need no help from man, are we quite sure that we need no help from God I know your Lordship is not of that opinion. But if we need it, why are we ashamed to ask for it to ask for it in the manner our forefathers did, in solemn public fasting and prayer What if others fast for strife and contention! Is that any reason that we should not do it from a better motive Why may not the people of England as well as the people of Nineveh seek His help who hath all power in heaven and in earth

My Lord, my heart is full. Suffer me to speak; and if I speak as a feel, yet as a feel bear with me. Has your Lordship been ashamed (if every one else was) to mention this to His Majesty Who besides your Lordship is likely to do it Did prudence hinder you from doing it Was that Christian or worldly prudence Is it possible for your Lordship quite to avoid this, standing in such a place and with such company Is the God whom you serve able to deliver you from drinking at all into their spirit yea, from sinking a little into their ways doing evil that good may come Now your Lordship has need of the whole armor of God; but, above all, of the shield of faith, that you may not decline, no not for an hour, the exact line marked out for you by the Great King; that you may keep yourself pure, whatever others do; and may answer the design of Him who hath raised you up for this very thing, and placed you so near His Majesty that he might have one counselor at least who dares not flatter but will speak the truth from his heart. And how much depends upon your faithfully using it No less, perhaps, than the temporal prosperity of an whole nation (may not one say of more than one nation) which is just now brought to an awful crisis. May the God of wisdom direct you in all your counsels and arm you with invincible courage and firmness and patience to do and suffer whatever may be for His glory and for the public good. So prays, my Lord, Your Lordship's obedient servant.