I /So] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 3/ 



To the Honorable the General Assembly of the State of Maryland : 

 The petition of the Vestry and Church Wardens of the Parish of 



, county, humbly sheweth that it is manifest from reason 



as well as the clear light of revelation, that the worship of the Almighty 

 Creator and Governor of the universe is the indispensable duty of his 

 dependent creatures, and the surest means of preserving their temporal 

 as well as eternal happiness, that where religion is left unsupported, 

 neither laws nor government can be duly administered; and as the ex- 

 l^erience of ages has shown the necessity of providing for supporting the 

 officers and ministers of government in all civil societies, so the like 

 experience shows the necessity of providing a support for the ordinances 

 and ministers of religion, because if either of them were left wholly de- 

 pendent on the benevolence of individuals, such is the frailty of human 

 nature and the averseness of many to tlieir best interests, that the sordid 

 and the selfish, the licentious and profane would avail themselves of 

 such liberty to shrink from their share of labor and expense, and thereby 

 render that which would be easy where borne by all, an intolerable bur- 

 den to the few whose conscience and principles of justice would not 

 permit them in this or in any other case to swerve from their duties, 

 civil or religious. 



That our pious ancestors, the worthy and respectable founders of this 

 State, convinced of the foregoing truths, and declaring that "in every 

 well-grounded commonwealth matters concerning religion ought in the 

 first place to be taken into consideration, countenanced and encouraged 

 as being not only most acceptable to God, but the best way and means 

 of obtaining his mercy and a blessing upon a people and country" 

 (having the promises of this life and of the life to come), did frame and 

 enact sundry laws for erecting churches and places of public worship, the 

 maintenance of an orthodox clergy, the support and advancement of reli- 

 gion, and the orderly administration of its divine and saving ordinances. 

 That the delegates of this State at the great era of our independence 

 in free and full convention assembled for the purpose of establishing a 

 new constitution and form of government upon the authority of the 

 people, appearing in their wisdom to have considered some parts of the 

 said laws as inconsistent with that religious liberty and equality of as- 

 sessment, which they intended of their future government, did by the 

 33d section of the Declaration of Rights abrogate all such laws thereto- 

 fore passed, as enabled any Courts on the application of Vestrymen and 

 Church Wardens to make assessments or levies for the support of the 

 religious establishments, but not with a view of being less attentive than 

 their pious ancestors had been to the interests of religion, learning and 

 good morals. On the contrary, by the very same section, an express 

 recommendation and authority are given to future legislatures, "at their 

 discretion to lay a general and equal tax for the support of the Chris- 

 tian religion" agreeably to the said declaration. 



