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does your mother ; very little of physic, more of 
politics ; but most of all, the principles upon which 
Protestants cannot consistently subscribe to the 
Thirty-nine Articles, nor enforce them upon others. 
Next to Dr. Franklin’s, I like Jebb’s style; ’tis 
simple, plain, and persuasive; and the heart that 
dictated, the reader feels was an honest one. 
Your brother Francis has made a most ingenious 
instrument or machine, to show the position of 
the planets, and aspect of the heavens. It is the 
most simple imaginable, yet the most comprehen- 
sive ; it meets the admiration and approbation of the 
few scientific he has shown it to. 
I am ever yours, 
JAMES SMITH. 
of mankind. He, like Mr. Lindsey and Dr. Disney, resigned 
preferments in the Established Church, as incompatible to hold 
with the principles they had espoused; and was one of the most 
active and able amongst the committee at the Feathers Tavern, 
to conduct the petition to Parliament for the abolition of sub- 
scription to the Thirty-nine Articles of the Church of England ; 
which was unsuccessful. He was the foremost in promoting the 
attempts to reform the Commons House of Parliament, and to 
shorten its duration to one year, agreeable to the ancient usage 
of the Constitution. Upon these occasions he made the most 
respectable figure by his speeches and his publications, which 
are now given complete in these volumes. They contain, in 
regard to religion, the truest and clearest principles of Protest- 
antism, independent of any particular sect or opinions; and in 
regard to the English Constitution, the most enlightened and 
soundest maxims upon which its liberties depend. His thoughts 
upon religion and parliaments are admirable ; his style clear and 
nervous in a high degree. I think it very much resembles the 
great, the excellent Dr. Franklin’s ; and like such comprehensive 
and upright minds, their principles were very much the same. 
