178 1] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 4I 



men. I wish it may ever fall in my way to do any part of that justice 

 to your public character which it so eminently merits. This little quiet 

 town produces no news. 



I have the honour to be 



Your Excellency's Most Obedient Servant, 



William Smith. 

 To His Excellency C^sar Rodney, Esq., New Castle. 



On February 9th he preached a funeral sermon at Chestertown, 

 Maryland, on the burial of Mrs. Rachel Coudon, wife of the Rev. 

 Joseph Coudon, a clergyman of that diocese.* 



A second convention of the church was held April 5th, 1781, 

 at Chestertown. We have no journal of it. It was probably but 

 a small assemblage, and its proceedings were perhaps but few. 

 Its object apparently was to petition the General Assembly of the 

 State to pass an Act for the maintenance of the Gospel agreeably 

 to the new Constitution of Government. 



In the beginning of the year 1781 the Congress of the United 

 States recommended Thursday, May 23d, as a day of general 

 Fasting, humiliation and prayer; and on the day appointed Dr. 

 Smith preached a Fast sermon accordingly in Chester chapel. 

 The text was from — 



Isaiah Iviii. 3: " Wherefore have we Fasted, say they, and thou seest 

 not ? Wherefore have we afflicted our soul, and thou takest no 

 knowledge ! ' ' 



* jfoseph Condon, A. M., a native of Maryl.Tiid, hronqht up in tlie Church — ordained 

 1781 by Bishop White, and became Rector of North Elk, Cecil, where he had been 

 Lay Reader, and in charge of the Academy; in 1789 he added Augustine Parish, 

 Cecil. He was a member of the General Convention and of the Standing Committee. 

 He died in 1792, set. 51. — Alletis History. 



The Rev. Ethan Allen, D. D., to whom I am indebted for the preceding sketch and 

 for those various notices of the Maryland Clergy which I have used in this work, as 

 well as for other most valuable information in every part of what relates to the Church in 

 Maryland, is a native of Massachusetts. He was brought up a Congregationalist, but, 

 coming into the Church, was ordained in 1819 by Bishop Kemp, and became Rector 

 of St. John's Parish, Prince George county, Maryland, and in 1S23 of Washington 

 Parish, Washington City. In 1830 he removed to Ohio, and in 1S47 returned to 

 Maryland and became Rector of St. John's, in the valley — now Western Run Parish — 

 Baltimore county, and in 1S55 of St. Thomas Homestead, in the same county. In 

 1854 he was a member of the Ecclesiastical Court. In 1855 he preached the Conven- 

 tion sermon, and was put into the Standing Committee and became the Agent for 

 Diocesan Missions. He was an editor of the "Theological Repertory," and has pub- 

 lished seven sermons and addresses, "A History of St. Ann's Parish," "The Early 

 History of Maryland," and some sixteen Biographical Memoirs. Pie enjoys deservedly 

 the reputation of a learned and most amiable man. 



