PREFACE. THIS little volume contains the principal articles of a religious character, found among the papers of their lamented author. The letters on the early churches in the Peninsula, were the last labours of his hand. They were undertaken at the request of the Presbytery of Lewes. They were left unfinished; most of them in his first draught, were, since his death, collected on scattered pieces of paper. It is scarcely justice to his memory to publish them, as they are, undoubtedly, far from what they would have been, had he been spared to give them the finishing touch of his own pen. It is, however, the opinion of many competent judges, who have examined these papers, and their accompanying documents, that they embody a history of facts too important to be withheld from the Presbyterian church, from any delicacy of mere individual feeling; and, that although they may not be what they would have been, yet, that even in their present state, they are far from disreputable to their respect JUN 25 1901 150427 (RECAP)} death and eternity, that he could not sympathise in the zeal of those conventionists for mere modes and forms. The few poetical compositions at the end of the volume, were written on various occasions; at one time, for the purpose of giving pious verses to a favourite tune; at another to give vent to the author's own feelings on a particular subject; and at another, perhaps, for the gratification of a friend; but never with the most distant intention of his being known as a poet. One of them, with his own permission, was published anonymously in a religious periodical; another was transcribed by a friend, and published in a newspaper, without his knowledge; and the remainder were found amongst his manuscripts, perhaps unknown to any except his own family. As their publication is demanded by some, whose judgment is not unworthy of regard, they are added as a part of his religious writings. 1* CONTENTS. Introductory remarks—the laws of provincial Virginia into- lerant, &c. The laws of Maryland while under the proprietary, the Ro- The tolerance of Lord Baltimore's government proved from PAGE - 31 38 |