1814 JOHN COLBY. Exceptional Unpublished Letter by Freewill Baptist Revivalist

A very rare, unpublished letter by Freewill Baptist evangelist and revivalist, John Colby [1787-1817]. One of the most effective of the traveling evangelists among the early Free Willers, he established at least five independent churches and was very effective in preaching to those not yet converted, as well as in converting others to the Free Will Baptist movement.  He developed consumption and died in 1817 at just 20 years old in the home of a Baptist Deacon in Virginia. He was certainly the "David Brainerd" or "Robert Murray M'Cheyne" of the movement. Of great personal piety and ministerial promise, he died, as they did, at just 29 years of age. Immediately afterward, his biography was published, The Life, Experience, and Travels of John Colby, Preacher of the Gospel.   It is unclear whether the below is a holograph in the hand of Colby or that of the church. There is no evidence the present letter having been recorded and it is unpublished or referenced elsewhere. Badly compromise