178 I ] REV. WILLIAAI SMITH, D. D. 39 



dated May 6, 18 10, from the Rev. Mr. Wilmer to Bishop Claggett, 

 he writes : " I am one of the three who first organized the Episcopal 

 Church during the Revolution, and am consequently one of the 

 primary aids of its consolidation throughout the United States. 

 The Rev. Dr. Smith, Dr. Keene and myself held the first conven- 

 tion at Chestertown, and I acted as secretary." He also states in 

 this letter that " he moved that the Church of England as hereto- 

 fore so known in the province be now called The Protestant Epis- 

 copal Church, and it was so adopted." — See Md. Archives. 



CHAPTER XLI. 



Dr. Smith Freaches a New Year's .Sermon in St. Teter's Church, Philadel- 

 phia — Proposes General Washington as a Member of the American 

 Philosophical Society — General Washington's Lp:tter of Acceptance 

 TO Dr. Smith — Dr. Smith to C^sar Rodney — Dr. Smith Preaches a 

 Funeral Sermon at the Burial of Mrs. Coudon — Preaches, in x^Iay, 

 1781, A Fast Sermon in Chestertown, and in December of the same 

 Year a Thanksgiving Sermon — E.\.tracts from tjiese Two Last — 

 Death of John Wemyss — Extract from the Minutes of the Grand 

 Lodge— The Ahiman Rezon. 



Notwithstanding his new enterprises in Maryland, Dr. Smith 

 maintained, in continuing strength, his old attachments in Phila- 

 delphia, and his diary tells us that on the ist of January, 1781, he 

 was in that city, by appointment, to preach a New Year's sermon 

 in St. Peter's Church, the church of his consecration, as we may 

 call it, and even beyond Christ Church of his special love. His 

 text seems to have had a special suggestion from his own lately 

 eventful history. It was in those striking verses in St. James' 

 Epistle General : 



"Go to now, ye that say to-day or to-morrow we will go into such a 

 city, and continue there a year and buy and get gain ; whereas, ye 

 know not what shall be on the morrow. Fur what is your life? it is 

 even a vapor, which appeareth for a little time, and then vanisheth 

 away. For that ye ought to say, if the Lord will, we shall live and do 

 this or that."* 



* Chapter IV., verses 13, 14, 15. 



