1785] f^£^V. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 229 



the use of the new book, did it merely on the principles of the want 

 of Episcopal order among them.* 



W-^ thus see the relations of Dr. White to the matter of altera- 

 tions in the liturgy. The only part of the Proposed Book which 

 we know that he actively opposed was, as we have already said, 

 the introduction of a form of Thanksgiving for civil and religious 

 liberty, to be used on the 4th of July. And this apparently on a 

 moral ground, because that service put some of the clergy, who 

 had conscientiously opposed the Revolution, into an attitude which 

 compelled them to utter sentiments which they did not feel. We 

 have quoted in our former volume f what he has recorded on that 

 topic. At the same time we know that he speaks of his "frequent 

 collisions" with Dr. Smith, J which, as their general relations were 

 apparently harmonious and even affectionate, we must rather infer 

 had relation to Dr. Smith's urgency for alterations in the Liturgy, 

 and to his modes of effecting them, and of getting them intro- 

 duced into the churches. 



Mr. Charles Henry W^harton — the committee's third member — 

 so well known now as Dr. Wharton, of Burlington, N. J., was a 

 person different every way from either Dr. Smith or Dr. White. 

 He was born in Maryland, of a family distinguished in the Church 

 of Rome, and was educated at St. Omer's, in France, for the 

 Romish priesthood, into which he was ordained and for some time 

 officiated. He was converted to the Protestant faith, as his Rom- 

 ish enemies -alleged, by a beautiful woman, whom he afterwards 

 married.§ He had no special affinities nor tastes for the liturgy 

 of the Church of England. He says in one letter :|| 



I think the simplifying of the liturgy should be among the first objects 

 of the Convention. Whatever was left with a view of reconcilinar 

 parties at the period of the Reformation, or retained as suitable to 



therefore, be guarded against not only by the vigilance and the discountenance, but 

 also by the moderation of all who take pleasure in the peace and prosperity of our 

 Zion." 



* Perry's " Half Century of Legislation," Vol. I., pages 346, 347. 



t IXi,^e 575. 



X See Wilson's " Life of White," page 20. 



§ This lady, who is buried in the grounds of St. Peter's Church, became insane; 

 a judgment the papists — who dealt damnation round the land, on each they judged their 

 foe — alleged for his apostacy from Rome. His argmnen/s they left unanswered. 



II Perry's " Half Century of Legislation," Vol. L, page 107. 



