By being disappointed of the opportu=
=nity of Conveyance
of the foregoing, I have opportunity
on the same paper thankfully to acknowledge the
receipt
of the favour of the
Honourable Trust of
May 1st 1772
and of yours
of
May 15th
etc.
June 10th
and with the enclosed.
I am much refreshed that my honoured Patrons are satisfied
with my doings
Mr. Occom since his recovery from his last Fall appears with
a
much better Temper than he has ever done since he came
from
London —
the agreeable Letters you transmit for
my perusal speak the
same
I am glad you have dealt so plainly with him, and wish
you had done it earlier — He has appeared exceeding proud
and haughty — his Sail was too high for him in
London. I feared
he would be wholly useless, and nothing better than a Thorn to me
and
this School — he has appeared rather as a
Dictator and
Supervisor to me and my Affairs than a Brother, Companion,
and Helper in them — And I have thought him cruel, uncharitable
and something bitter in his Surmises, Censures and Threats in
Cases and about that which he knew nothing of, nor
used any
proper means to be informed in. And has said (I have been
told) that he
was desired to inspect my conduct before he
came from
England — and this kind of treatment I have had
from him without
the least expression of Brotherly
Sympathy Care pity and
compassion towards me or my
Family, while I was struggling under Floods of Sorrow
and an insupportable weight of Labour Care and Fatigue
and all with a single view to save his poor perishing
Brethren
— How wounding such things have been to me
you cant conceive
unless you had experience of the like.
But I have lately had a Letter from him of
another savor,
and accounts which have much refreshed me. I hope he will
be
be my Helper in Christ Jesus. though God sees it best for me
that I should have
nothing below himself to lean at all upon
blessed be his holy name. I shall rejoice to encourage
Mr. Occom.
I perceive you have given Ear to Representations which
appear to me to be groundless cruel and vile Slanders, respect=
=ing my Government of my
Son, and my having been in
fluenced by him and his false Friends etc. — By the grace of
God I think I have known neither wife, nor Son,
nor
Nephew in these Affairs for many Years, nor may I know them.
I never was quite blind to
my Sons
Imperfections, but on
the contrary my Government of him has been much too
severe, and I continued it 'til too late his Physicians advised
me that if I did not alter my hand it would
kill him.
and yet he neither has, nor ever had that I knew or
heard of, any blot
of moral Scandal upon him. He has
long been sorely broken under Gods holy hand. and his case is now
looked upon as incurable — he lives in
Connecticut
and I am
credibly
told is exemplary for patience and a humble
submission to God under Trials — If he were as much
concerned to vindicate his
Character (whatever may be
the slander you have received of him) as his
Slanderer
has been to blacken it, I make no doubt it would stand
in
another Light whatever the consequences
would be to
others; but he seems fully content to refer
these matters
to the decision of the great day. on the whole it gives
me much uneasiness that I know not what you mean,
nor what I have to amend or mourn for, more than I have done.
You are also my honoured Sir much mistaken as to my
being influenced by
Dr. Whitaker. I have no connection with
him. it is above two years
since I saw him, but I must
in Justice say that I suppose his Characters moral
and
ministerial are good among good people in
New
England—
and what his offence in
England was I never knew —
Mr. Occom would have told me I suppose, but I perceived that his
mind was prejudiced and
soured against him, and therefore dis=
=qualified to give the Relation.
By accounts
and hints from
Mr. Avery of plotting and Machi=
=nations in the Country where he has been against me
and this Cause, you may possibly (when all matters
are ripened) hear something as
shocking as anything
you have yet heard — in which it is said there is a Combination.
but God is my Refuge — I ask your pardon for this
unprofitable Scrawl —
I take this opportunity to renew my thanks to you for the
repeated