1786] I?EV. WILLIAM SAIiril, D. D. 165 



day of November for the fruits of the earth : in order that we may be 

 thereby stirred up to a more particular remembrance of the signal mer- 

 cies of God towards us; the neglect of which might otherwise be the 

 occasion of licentiousness, civil miseries and punishments. 



The case of such unhappy persons as may be imprisoned for debt or 

 crimes claimed the attention of this Church ; which hath accordingly 

 adopted into her liturgy the form for the visitation of prisoners in use 

 in the Church of Ireland. 



In the creed commonly called the Apostles' creed, one clause* is 

 omitted, as being of uncertain meaning; and the Articles of Religion 

 have been reduced in number ; yet it is humbly conceived that the 

 doctrines of the Church of England are preserved entire, as being judged 

 perfectly agreeable to the gospel. 



It is far from the intention of this Church to depart from the Church 

 of England any farther than local circumstances require, or to deviate 

 in any thing essential to the true meaning of the Thirty-nine Articles; 

 although the number of them be abridged by some variations in the 

 mode of expression, and the omission of such articles as were more 

 evidently adapted to the times when they were first framed and to the 

 political constitution of England. 



And now, this important work being brought to a conclusion, it is 

 hoped the whole will be received and examined, by every true member 

 of our Church and every sincere Christian, with a meek, candid and 

 charitable frame of mind, without prejudice or prepossessions; seriously 

 considering what Christianity is, and what the truths of the Gospel are; 

 and earnestly beseeching Almighty God to accompany with his blessing 

 every endeavor for promulgating them to mankind in the clearest, 

 plainest, most affecting and majestic manner, for the sake of Jesus 

 Christ, our blessed Lord and Saviour. 



We now resume the correspondence. 



77?^ Rev. Dr. White to the Rev. Dr. Smith. 



Philadelphia, January 4, 17S6. 



Dear Sir : I sc. J you the sheets as far as finished, and have corrected 

 the proofs as far as to the beginning of the Burial Service. 



I have just now delivered to Mr. Hall the offices of the Fourth of July 

 and for November; as they will be gone on with to-morrow. I kept 



* The clause meant is "Christ's descent into hell," which, as Bisliop Burnett, 

 Bishop Pearson, and other writers inform us, is found in no creed, nor mentioned by 

 any writer, until about the beginning of the fifth century; and in the first creeds that 

 have this clause or article, that of Christ's burial not being mentioned in them, it fol- 

 lows that they understood the descent into hell only of his burial or descent into the 

 grave, as the word is otherwise translated in the Bible. The Nicene creed hath only 

 the burial, and the Athanasian only the descent into hell. 



