I50 LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OP 'J I IP [l/^S 



In the end of the rubric entitled " Prayers and Thanksgivings upon 

 several occasions" — to avoid the words "prayers" and "prayer," 

 occurring in the space of one line, let the word "service" be put for 

 the word "prayer" and read "two final prayers of morning and even- 

 ing service." 



In the prayer for "all sorts and conditions" please to make the cor- 

 rection proposed by the Baltimore Convention, as in my said letter 

 from thence, and read thus : " More especially we pray for thy holy 

 church universal, that it may be so guided," etc. Or, "We pray 

 that thy holy church universal may be so guided." This will agree 

 with the prayer for the church as in the Litany, instead of which this is 

 to be used, and rids us of the exceptionable word too many, viz., 

 "Catholic," and also the awkward words "good estate of the church," 

 by which some will say we mean good Glebes and salaries or estate 

 merely temporal. These little alterations are in our power, and not 

 improper when desired by any respectable number of our brethren. 



Our Convention read over with general approbation the proposed 

 improvements and alterations; but stormy weather and that bay which 

 often renders business precarious, made our meeting thin, and we 

 adjourned to meet at Annapolis in April, or sooner if called by me as 

 President. 



Next week my copy of the Address to the Archbishops, etc., will go 

 by a ship from Baltimore or Annapolis. I wish the sentence, " That 

 these States should become _/r^(?, sovereign," etc., had been expressed 

 "separate Empires, States or Governments." It seems to insult, or at 

 least to rennu old complaints that we were not free before. Can an 

 alteration be made in the other copies? I could yet have it made in 

 mine by a letter to London per patket New York. I beg another copy 

 of said Address, for I was obliged to send mine, on an hour's notice, 

 without taking a copy. Governor Paca and our other friends in 

 Annapolis, except as above, approve the address, and it will be easy to 

 get a certificate from the Executive of the State that granting the 

 prayer of it can give no offence, but is perfectly consonant to the Con- 

 stitution. I shall be at Philadelphia time enough for the Psalms, Les- 

 sons, Calendar, Preface, etc., to save this voluminous writing, for I find 

 I cannot make my letters short. In two or three weeks, perhaps sooner 

 if the bank will assist us, I shall see you. 



Yours, 



W. Smith. 



Rev. Dy. White to Rev. Dr. Smith. 



Philadelphia, November 2, 1785. 

 Dear Sir : I have received yours of the 28th, which I have sent to 

 the press in the manner you approve of, having first r3viewed and com- 



