Bror: Paine, Boston Novbr. 18th A.D. 1776

As you have, by your good Works manifested, A Singular Regard for the Welfare of this, withall the United States, by denying your self the pleasure even of one visit to yr. nearest & very deservingly dear Wife, Family, & particular Friends: Gratitude demands our particular Thankfulness. Persevere my Worthy good Friend. You well know by experience, that denying our selves, for the good of others, & especially of those who are so evil & unthankfull, as even to oppose as far as they can even the Effects of our benevolence; yields us the most Sublime & even divine pleasure. When I reflect upon that general means off Love which is so prevalent among us, I am persuaded that should our Heavenly Father grant us our seeming reasonable desires against our Enemies; it would be that prosperity which would really injure if not destroy us. How much do all men resemble that worst part of Mankind the Jews? What murmuring Against those who take the most unweary’d pains, to conduct these States thrô this distressing Wilderness of Civil War, from the Land of Slavery to that of plenty, peace, & Liberty & consequently of more happiness to us than ever the Land of Canaan Was to the Seed of Jacob? Some suppose that if GOD Intended our Deliverance he would make us more than we are the fit subjects of so great a blessing. If GOD was like man, & men had no superiour powers to Brutes I might be apt to think so. You will think the rest. It grieves me to Heart to find that the generallity every where, thô they are no Whigs, yet they are no Patriots. Christans if not Moralists. Acknowledge that Self Denyal is a necessary duty; But as a good Christian & a Morallist I boldly Affirm the Contrary. It is impossible that any good Man should have any Such Obligation upon him; it is only the duty of bad men. Whose duty indeed it is, to suppress a mean narrow Selfishness: the generous Noble Self, (which Comprehends Patriotism, at Least) is Natural & most delightfull to all wise & good men. I anticipate & have a share in the unspeakable delight of all true Patriots Living & dying. “Thus let me live / Thus let me die / Steal from the World / And not a Stone / Tell where I lie.” You will do a kind & Just 323Thing if you will take proper Notice of the Appeal of Daniel Hubbard & others to the Continental Congress from a Decree of Nathan Cushing Esq., Judge of the Marine Court for the Southern district in this State.1 Depend upon it the reasons of appeal are the Naked Truth, & nothing but the Truth. I have ventur’d to stile the Congress, Most Honble. because it is not only the plain Truth, but I’m persuaded every True Patriot will gladly Acknowledge it. Brother Hawley told me this day, The General Court now sitting in Boston had determined to form a Plan of such a Constitution for this State as would be agreable to them & then publish it in All our Towns to know the Mind of their Constituents. I am sorry some of Our best men will be absent. I wish Dear Bror. you would for the benefit of Our Province send me at least the Out lines of such a Constitution as you shall Judge the foundations of which like the Pillars of Heaven Ought never to be shaken. And such as all our future representatives shall be holden to support & maintain. Let the Massachusetts never see, An Act, Intitled An Act in Addition to An Act for the Altering & Amending any of the fundamental Principles of Our Constitution. Here your own good sense will suggest to you a hundred things which wou’d be impertinence in me to inumerate. Here is a new thing under the Sun, which King Solomon him self never dream’d of, and calls aloud for all I say for all Our Wisest heads, & best hearts. And may GOD Almighty grant us all needed grace & wisdom. “Help Lord for the godly man faileth” &c.

If agreeable to the Sacred Office & trust repos’d in you as a member of the Continental Congress, you can trust me with any Material Occurrences. You it will oblige me & I will make no bad use of the favour. Pray remember me to all the Bretheren of this State Especially & accept the best Wishes of your Friend & Brother

Benja: Kent

RC ; addressed: “For the Honble: Robert Treat Paine Esq: at Philadelphia”; endorsed.

1.

This case may have related to the schooner Industry, which the schooner Harrison, Capt. William Coit of Washington, had taken as a prize on Nov. 5, 1775, and which contained cargo owned by Daniel Hubbard & Company (Naval Documents of the American Revolution, 6:721). The case appears not to have been appealed to the Continental Congress. It was not mentioned in the published journals nor in the Letters of Delegates to Congress or Naval Documents of the American Revolution. Nathan Cushing (1742–1812), a Scituate lawyer, had recently become a judge of the Maritime Court replacing Timothy Pickering (Boston Gazette, Dec. 30, 1776; Sibley’s Harvard Graduates , 15:376–378).