378 



LIFE AND CORRESPONDENCE OF THE 



[1793 



with our tears ; and, hoping that they have departed in the Lord, thus 

 supply the solemn rites of Christian interment which the hard necessity 

 of the times then forbade. 



Thus, prepared and humbled by deep meditation, by confession and 

 repentance of our sins, and prayers for forgiveness and amendment — 

 then our praises and thanksgivings to God, for our late deliverance 

 and for stirring up the hearts of so many of our pious and benevolent 

 brethren throughout the United States to intercede for us in their 

 prayers, and to administer so liberally to the relief of our afflicted and 

 suffering poor, will ascend as a sweet incense to heaven, and be a holy 

 and acceptable sacrifice before the throne of grace, through the merits 

 and intercession of our blessed Saviour and Redeemer Jesus Christ. 



Subscribed at Philadelphia, 

 November 18, 1793. 



Wm. White, 

 Wm. Smith, 

 John Andrews, 

 Ashbel Green, 

 Robert Annan, 

 Henry Helmuth, 

 Samuel Magaw, 

 Joseph Pilmore, 

 Wm. Rogers, 



Friedrick Schmidt, 

 John B. Smith, 

 John Dickins, 

 Joseph Turner, 

 Joseph Hutchins, 

 Robert Blackwell, 

 Christ. V. Keating, 

 Thomas Ustick, 

 Nicholas Collin, 



Mathew Mage. 



In the meantime the Governor of the State, General Mifflin, re- 

 quested Dr. Smith to furnish a draft for a proclamation of Thanks 

 to Almighty God for having put an end to the grievous calamity 

 that had recently afflicted the city of Philadelphia. The following 

 is an abstract of the proclamation prepared by Dr. Smith and issued 

 by the Governor on this great occasion : 



Whereas, it hath pleased Almighty God to put an end to the grievous 

 calamity that recently afflicted the city of Philadelphia; and it is the 

 duty of all, who are truly sensible of the Divine Justice and Mercy, to 

 employ the earliest moments of returning health in devout expressions 

 of penitence, submission and gratitude ; I have therefore deemed it 

 proper to appoint Thursday, the Twelfth day of December, to be holden 

 throughout this commonwealth as a day of general Humiliation, Thanks- 

 giving and Prayer ; earnestly exhorting and entreating my fellow-citizens 

 to abstain on that day from all their worldly avocations, and to unite 

 in confessing, with contrite hearts, our manifold sins and transgressions, 

 and in acknowledging, with thankful adoration, the mercy and goodness 

 of the Supreme Ruler and Preserver of the universe, more especially 



