Samuel Davies

Samuel Davies — latest news, discussion & facts — IJR

Virginia Evangelist

After Davies completed his studies with Blair, the Presbytery of New Castle licensed him to preach on July 30, 1746. He joined the New Side synod of New York, and married Sarah Kirkpatrick on October 23, 1746. While he was preaching in Pennsylvania and Delaware, Sarah died from a miscarriage on September 15, 1747, shortly before their first anniversary. Her death inclined Davies to believe that he too was near death, and he therefore threw himself wholeheartedly into his preaching ministry.

Davies was ordained as an evangelist on February. 19, 1747, and was promptly sent to Virginia on evangelical missionary service to minister to religious dissenters against the Anglican Church. Dissenters who broke from the established Church of England were scorned by Church clergy and many Virginians, often incited by clergy, while their ministry efforts were always under persistent surveillance. At the time, when Davies settled in Hanover County, Virginia in 1748 there were already many lawsuits filed against Presbyterians for holding forbidden assemblies and preaching without a license from the General Court. The Church of England as the established Church in colonial Virginia, no colony was more protective of its authority, nor more hostile towards religious dissenters, than Virginia.

George Whitefield, who brought the revivalist movement to a head in Hanover County, had recently departed, and subsequently the enthusiasm behind the revivalist movement in Hanover gradually began to diminish. However, the calm did not last very long, for Whitefield and other such evangelists of the early 1740s had paved the way for an even greater revivalist thrust, and Davies was the leader in that advent. However, this provoked a renewed confrontation which emerged between the New Light Presbyterians and the colonial authorities who stood behind the established Church in Williamsburg. Because of the persistent efforts of William Tennent, Samuel Blair and especially Samuel Davies, Hanover soon became the center of the Great Awakening in the South and the "hotbed" of radical New Light Presbyterianism in Virginia. Their presence and activities was deemed a serious threat to the authority and supremacy of the Church of England in Virginia, whose preeminence had always been unabated.

Virginia's colonial legislature in 1743 had licensed Polegreen reading room and three others in and near Hanover County. Davies eventually led seven congregations in five counties, fulfilling his duties despite frail health from tuberculosis.

Davies eventually recovered his health and continued to preach. Young Patrick Henry attended many of Davies' sermons with his mother and acknowledged that as the source of his own oratorical skills; others called Davies without peer in the pulpit during his lifetime. Davies returned to Virginia in May 1748, and on October 4, 1748, married Jane Holt, from a prominent Williamsburg family. He fathered six children with Jane, including one child who died at birth and William.

As one of the first non-Anglican ministers licensed to preach in Virginia (with the now-dead Francis Makemie), Davies advanced the cause of religious and civil liberty in his era. Davies' strong religious convictions led him to value the "freeborn mind" and the inalienable "liberty of conscience" that the established Anglican Church in Virginia often failed to respect. Davies helped found the Presbytery of Hanover, encompassing all Presbyterian ministers in Virginia and North Carolina. He served as its first moderator and was considered the region's leading voice for religious dissenters. By appealing to British law and notions of British liberty, Davies agitated in an agreeable and effective manner for greater religious tolerance and laid the groundwork for the ultimate separation of church and state in Virginia that was consummated after his departure by the Virginia Declaration of Rights in 1776 and the Statute for Religious Freedom in 1786. Rev. Davies also served as the first minister at Providence Presbyterian Church in Louisa County, Virginia until his departure for New Jersey in 1759.

Evangelism of slaves

Davies advocated educating slaves, including teaching them to read and write. Unlike Baptist and Methodist evangelists, who based conversion solely on an outpouring of the spirit, Davies believed that no one, regardless of race or social status, can have true religion without both hearing and reading the Word of God. To this end he employed the Holy Bible. Although personally not opposed to slavery, Davies believed that slaves deserved humane treatment and direct access to the word of God, the same as their masters. He was a strong believer in the spiritual equality of slaves, although he is known to have owned at least two slaves during his time in Virginia, believing that simply turning them free in an unfamiliar world with no means of self support would be a fate worse than slavery. He justified this activity by functioning as a benevolent master who provided well for their livelihood. Such reasoning was consistent with Presbyterian doctrine at the time, which stated that slavery was a political matter, not a church matter.

During a 1755 sermon Davies made the following statement to the slaves in attendance at the worship service:

You know I have shewn a tender concern for your welfare, ever since I have been in the colony: and you may ask my own negroes whether I treat them kindly or no.

Davies noted that the slaves owned by non-dissenters were often treated poorly in terms of their living situation, while those owned by Presbyterians and other dissenters were not over-worked and well provided for.

Slaves became a particular focus of his ministry, and several contemporaries noted how Davies converted African slaves at unusually high numbers. Davies used the educational materials he received from his sponsors in London to instruct slaves, and also composed his own hymns. The classic spiritual "Lord, I want to be a Christian" reportedly originated at Polegreen. Rev. Davies eventually baptized hundreds of slaves as Christians, and they joined other members of the congregation at the communion table. His congregations allowed slaves to preach in the Church. Davies estimated that he ministered to over a thousand black people during his time in Virginia.

Voyage to Great Britain

As Davies began his ministry in Virginia, six students began studies in Elizabeth, N.J., at the College of New Jersey, which had been established in 1746 to educate "those of every Religious Denomination." In 1753 the college's trustees persuaded Davies, famed for his work in Virginia, to make the dangerous voyage to Great Britain to raise money for the fledgling school. Davies and Tennent reached London on Christmas Day, December 25, 1753. While in Great Britain he met various prominent religious leaders, including George Whitefield, John and Charles Wesley, along with many prominent political figures. Whitefield was an itinerant preacher and a central figure in the Great Awakening in the American colonies. He invited Davies and Tennent to his home for the duration of their stay. Davies was thoroughly impressed with Whitefield and also recorded his encounter in his diary:

"He spoke in the most encouraging manner as to the success of our mission, and in all his conversation discovered so much zeal and candour, that I could not but admire the man as the wonder of the age! When we returned, Mr Tennent's heart was all on fire; and after we had gone to bed, he suggested that we should watch and pray, and we rose and prayed together till about 3 o'clock in the morning". — Davies

While in England Davies and Tennent made efforts to obtain donations for a new college, founded by Governor Jonathan Belcher at Princeton. This college was to train ministers for the Presbyterian Churches of six colonies. Inspired by their effort, Whitefield wholeheartedly used his influence and connections to help Davies and Tennent in their effort, to which Davies entered an account of the affair in his diary, Wednesday, December 26, 1753, where he commended Whitefield for offering his home to them during their stay in England. Davies was also successful in his appeal in getting the [Religious] Toleration Act extended to Virginia, while also securing the appointment of a new and more sympathetic Governor, to which Whitefield was equally influential in achieving.

While the English Act of Toleration provided a good measure of relief to dissenters in England, contentions were levied in Virginia by the established Anglican authorities over whether such freedoms fully applied in that colony. Davies adamantly disputed the matter, always maintaining a civil and even a congenial tone, and then appealed to Virginia Attorney General Peyton Randolph, who, while defending the application of the Act in its essence, did so while asserting strict legal limits. Other measures were stipulated, including the requirement that dissenters pay taxes to the Anglican Church, regardless if they already made offerings to their own church and pastor. As the colony's Attorney General, he took the position that the act protected dissenting Protestants to worship freely, but maintained that dissenting preachers could not receive multiple licenses to preach across unlimited parishes.

Davies disagreed, arguing that dissenting congregations were so dispersed that their ministers should "have a plurality of places licensed" as a measure of practicality. Peyton, however, maintained that such limitations also applied to Anglican priests, and therefore he could not offer preferential treatment for dissenters, which would, among other things, evoke the ire of Anglican clergy. After much deliberation from the General Court and the Governor's Council in Williamsburg, in April 1747, Davies secured an expanded license for additional meeting houses in 1748, but after further legalities and continued resistance from colonial officials, still had contentions over full applicability of the Act in Virginia. Undeterred, Davies, in 1752, appealed to British Attorney General Sir Dudley Ryder who confirmed the applicability of the Act in Virginia, which became the source of great controversy among colonial officials who made efforts to narrow its interpretation in an effort to stem the rate of dissent, requiring dissenting ministers to swear an oath to the King, and obtain licenses to preach and for places of worship, which required an substantial fee.

Davies confided the sometimes harrowing journey to his diary, writing "To be instrumental of laying a foundation of extensive benefit to mankind, not only in the present but in future generations, is a most animating prospect." Rev. Davies and a fellow Presbyterian minister, Gilbert Tennent spent eleven months in Great Britain, with Davies preaching sixty times. The two raised substantial sums, mainly through church collections. The grandson of Oliver Cromwell gave three guineas to support their efforts. Davies and Tennent eventually raised a total of four thousand pounds on behalf of the College of New Jersey ($237,559 in 2025), enough to build Nassau Hall as the first permanent building on the new campus in Princeton.

After his return from Great Britain, Davies's prominence in Virginia grew during the French and Indian War. Lieutenant Governor Dinwiddie declared Davies to be the colony's best recruiter, as he implored men to do their part "to secure the inestimable blessings of liberty.".

In 1759, four years after Davies returned from his British fundraising tour, the College's trustees called on him again, this time asking him to become the school's fourth president. Davies initially declined their offer, thinking that trustee Samuel Finley was better qualified. Eventually Davies accepted the job, and succeeded Jonathan Edwards, who had died just six weeks after his inauguration. David Cowell, a Princeton trustee who had served as acting president of the college from 1757-1758, conducted the negotiations that led to Davies accepting the position. Davies held Cowell in high regard, saying that he performed his duties with a great deal of "zeal, diligence and alacrity."

French and Indian War

When the French and Indian War broke out England was concerned that the French would gain control of the Ohio River Valley, while the colonists were fearful of losing many of their liberties, including Religious Liberty. Given the way the French, in the midst of religious fervor, were currently hanging Huguenot ministers and imprisoning many others in France, the colonists, many of whom were Huguenots, i.e. French Calvinists, who had a long history of fleeing from France, had little reason not to assume that there was a threat to religion in the colonies overall.

Upon his return to Virginia, Davies resumed his missionary duties and used his oratory ability on behalf of the British in an effort to muster volunteers among the colonists, many of whom were reluctant to commit to the war effort. To this end he preached a series of sermons that emphasized patriotism as an essential aspect of Christian behavior. During the Battle of the Monongahela, on July 9, 1755 in Pennsylvania, the British suffered a disastrous defeat with heavy losses, including the death of General Braddock. The experienced Washington, stepped in as acting commander, organized the retreat, and thereafter conducted a hasty funeral for General Braddock, reading from the Book of Common Prayer over his unmarked grave.The British defeat left the colonists in the general area completely undefended, and subsequently they were compelled to organize into militia forces for their own defense. Davies' preaching greatly helped to recruit volunteers for that cause.

Before the war the English Crown and the Anglican Church of England held a dim view over the dissenters who broke with the England's official church to form their own religion. Davies' recruiting efforts, however, won the appeal of the Crown and its governing body towards the dissenting movement, who now shared a common enemy, and who were subsequently regarded as badly needed allies in the war effort. Davies' enthusiasm in support of the war, as well as his recruitment efforts, were greatly appreciated by colonial authorities during that uncertain period. Their gratitude was evidenced when the acting Governor of Virginia, in 1758, gave his assurance to the Hanover Presbytery that he would use his influence to secure the provisions of the Act of Toleration. Historian Rhys Isaac submits that this may have been one of the reasons why "The House of Burgesses was largely inactive on the question of dissent in these years."

Two years into the War Davies delivered his famous sermon, "The Curse of Cowardice", on May 8, 1758, to the militia of Hanover County, Virginia, at a general muster. In addition Davies published inflammatory essays in the Virginia Gazette under the pseudonym The Virginia Centinel. His essays were reprinted in newspapers throughout the colonies, fueling the resentment against the French and their Indian allies, while sharply criticizing the lack of public support in Virginia during the first years of the war.

Davies stressed the seriousness of the threat to the progress of evangelism in the Middle Colonies, and to Religious Freedom, and that ultimately that freedom could be lost if the enemy were to prevail over the colonies. Davies' great success in the recruiting effort ultimately accounted for much of the success he had in Virginia after the war had ended.

Preacher and orator

Davies accomplished much despite his relatively short life, and lived the creed to which he exhorted the Princeton Class of 1760, in his baccalaureate address, which has been echoed by the presidents of Princeton throughout its history: "Whatever be your place, imbibe and cherish a public spirit. Serve your generation." Samuel Davies was one of the major contributors to the Great Awakening, a series of religious revivals which eventually caused America to break away from the Church of England. Davies' rhetorical gifts were renowned, and among the many people influenced by him was the orator and future Founding Father Patrick Henry. Henry was taken to listen to many of Davies' sermons as a young boy, often reciting portions of them aloud at his mother's request. He would later claim that Davies had taught him "what an orator should be”, and considered Davies to be the greatest speaker he had ever heard.

Davies took his preaching very seriously, and believed that sermons should be delivered "with a grave and affectionate solemnity."

A contemporary and friend, minister David Bostwick said that Davies' sermons were "adapted to pierce the conscience and affect the heart," while William Buell Sprague noted that "he spoke with a glowing zeal...and an eloquence more impressive and effective than had then ever graced the American pulpit." Davies' sermons went through several editions in the United States and England, and for fifty years after his death they were among the most widely read in the English language. The first five volumes of sermons were printed in London from 1767 to 1771, and the best known American edition is three-volume set, which appeared in New York in 1851. Davies' sermons were more widely read than those of any of his contemporaries and as such has been noted by various revivalist historians for being the most influential revivalist of his time".

Though Davies did not pursue the idea of total separation of Church and State, his zeal and adore for religious toleration in Virginia gave much impetus for the statesmen of the Revolutionary period to establish complete religious liberty in the newly established America nation.

Samuel Davies

Samuel Davies

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Early life

Ministry

Virginia Evangelist

Evangelism of slaves

Voyage to Great Britain

French and Indian War

Final days

Legacy

Preacher and orator

Hymn writer and poet

Educator author and evangelist

Archival collections

Related journals

About Samuel Davies

About Samuel Davies

Article

Related journals

Live room · 1 here

Article

Early life

Ministry

Virginia Evangelist

Evangelism of slaves

Voyage to Great Britain

French and Indian War

Final days

Legacy

Preacher and orator

Hymn writer and poet

Educator author and evangelist

Archival collections

Related journals