This address was read by Rev. Brother William Smith, one of the most noted Episcopal preachers in Philadelphia, and the first Provost of the College of Philadelphia, now the University of Pennsylvania. Brother William Smith, D.D., had been an active member of the Masonic Fraternity in Pennsylvania for forty years; he was the Chaplain of the Grand Lodge of Moderns for almost a quarter of a century. In winter of 1778 he joined the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons, and for some time served as Grand Secretary.[53] Jonathan Bayard Smith, the Grand Master of Pennsylvania, was one of Philadelphia's prominent citizens. During the Revolutionary period he was an ardent patriot; he was among the earliest of those who espoused the cause of independence. In 1775 he was chosen secretary of the Committee of Safety, and in February, 1777, he was elected by the assembly a delegate to the Continental Congress. He was a second time chosen to this post, serving in the congresses of 1777-8. From April 4, 1777, till Nov. 13, 1778, he was prothonotary of the court of Common Pleas. On December 1, 1777, he presided at the public meeting, in Philadelphia, of "Real Whigs," by whom it was resolved "That it be recommended to the council of safety that in this great emergency ... every person between the age of sixteen and fifty years be ordered out under arms." During this year he was commissioned lieutenant-colonel of a battalion of "Associators." =J B SMITH B. FEB. 21, 1742; D. JUNE 16, 1812. GRAND MASTER OF MASONS IN PENNSYLVANIA, 1789-1794.= In 1778 he was appointed a justice of the court of Common Pleas, Quarter Sessions, and Orphans' Court, which post he held for many years. He was appointed in 1781, one of the auditors of the accounts of Pennsylvania troops in the service of the United States. In 1792, and subsequently, he was chosen an alderman of the city, which was an office of great dignity in his day, and in 1794 he was elected auditor-general of Pennsylvania. Brother Jonathan B. Smith was an active member of the Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania. He was the Senior Grand Warden in 1786, at the time when the Provincial Grand Lodge of Pennsylvania: "_Resolved_, that the Grand Lodge is, and ought to be perfectly independent and free of any such foreign jurisdiction."[54] In the two following years he was appointed Deputy Grand Master by Right Worshipful Grand Master William Adcock; he was elected Right Worshipful Grand Master in 1789 and served in that capacity for six years (1789-1794). In the year 1798 he was again elected to that honorable office, serving five more consecutive years (1798 to 1802), when he declined reelection. The following action was taken by the Grand Lodge:[55]