On 12 June 1775, a few weeks after shots had been fired at Lexington and Concord, the Second Continental Congress published an appeal for a national day of fasting and prayer on 20 July (full text online here). On that day, the Presbyterian Synod of New York and Philadelphia published a 'pastoral letter' to its congregations across the 13 Colonies:
"... The Synod cannot help thinking, that this is a proper time for oppressing all of every rank seriously to consider the things that belong to their eternal peace. Hostilities, long feared, have now taken place; the sword has been drawn, in one Province, and the whole Continent, with hardly any exception, seem determined to defend their rights by force of arms.
... If, at the same time, the British Ministry shall continue to enforce their claims by violence, a lasting and bloody contest must be expected ...
... Surely, then, it becomes those who have taken up arms, and profess a willingness to hazard their lives in the cause of liberty, to be prepared for death, which to many must be the certain, and to every one is a possible or probable event... let every opportunity be taken to express your attachment and respect to our Sovereign King George, and to the (1688) Revolution principles by which his august family was seated on the British throne ..."
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