Now the ordinances of the gospel are, as it were, the places of interview, where God and his people meet, and where they indulge those sacred freedoms [of communion]. It is in prayer, in meditation, in reading or hearing his word, in communicating at his table; it is in these and like exercises that God communicates, and, as it were, unbosoms himself to those that love him. [1]In the tradition of Reformed piety, genuine Christian spirituality is rooted in a monergistic work of God who graciously rescues sinners. Yet the Christian life after conversion also involves various means of grace in the pursuit of personal holiness and divine communion. This article considers the thinking of a prominent Presbyterian, Samuel Davies (1723-1761), of Virginia, on the exercise of the means of grace. Davies is remembered as the reluctant fourth president of the College of New Jersey (later Princeton), a champion for religious toleration and civil rights for dissenters in Virginia, and a poet whose verses constitute some of the earliest North American hymnody. He was also a pioneer missionary to African slaves and a New Side Presbyterian revivalist whom D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones has described as “the greatest preacher” America ever produced. Yet a decade into the twenty-first century, Davies remains relatively unnoticed by American Evangelicals. [2] Davies’s relative absence from contemporary discussions of early Evangelicalism is indeed lamentable, for in his day, and for the better part of a century thereafter, Davies was recalled as a gifted herald of divine truth. This article helps to bring Davies into wider appreciation, especially with regard to his understanding of the vehicles God has designed to enable Christians to live lives to His glory.
The Means Of Grace In The Puritan And Early Evangelical Traditions
Samuel Davies placed himself within the Puritan tradition with regard to his doctrine of conversion, and his insistence upon certain means of grace also indicates his reliance upon this tradition for devotional expressions of Christian spirituality. [3] According to Simon Chan’s excellent work on the discipline of meditation, the Puritan doctrine of the means of grace states that “God does not work directly in the world but chooses to operate at the natural and human level. Thus if he regenerates a soul, it is by a process that could be easily discovered via faculty psychology, namely, from the understanding to the affections and will.” [4] Puritans suggested a variety of means that the believer might use to draw near to God. Such means “consist of those practical duties, the regular performance of which were thought to lead, in some inexplicable way, to an increase in virtues or godliness.” [5] Chan notes that the various means “invariably includes prayer, meditation and conference as private means; ministry of the word, sacraments, and public prayer as public means,” and as these means were divinely ordained, they were to be practiced regularly. [6]
Michael Haykin suggests that “prayer, the Scriptures, and the sacraments or ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper” were key means practiced by Puritans and later Christians who were heirs to their heritage. [7] Charles Hambrick-Stowe’s work on the spirituality of seventeenth-century colonial Puritans shows significant overlap between the various means of grace practiced in England and New England. He includes such disciplines as psalm singing, Scripture reading, the sacraments, conference, family devotions, study, meditation, personal writing, and especially prayer as common means practiced by Davies’s ministerial predecessors. [8] Richard Lovelace, in his treatment of Cotton Mather’s ascetical practices, noted that the disciplines of meditation, prayer, family devotions, Sabbath keeping, and the sacraments remained constant into the second and third generation of New England Puritans. [9] In their respective recent studies of Jonathan Edwards’s piety, Whitney and Strobel indicate that practices such as hearing, reading, or meditating on Scripture, as well as prayer, attending the ordinances, family worship, Sabbath keeping, fasting, and journaling, among other disciplines, marked this evangelical contemporary of Davies. [10] Even closer to Davies was fellow New Side Presbyterian Jonathan Dickinson, who compiled a similar list of religious exercises intended to help one walk closely with God: prayer, biblical and occasional meditation, family worship, public worship, and observing the ordinances. [11] Leonard J. Trinterud has shown that the use of these various means of grace was commonplace among other New Side Presbyterians who were contemporaries of Davies. [12] Davies also inherited a set of devotional practices from his own religious tradition.
The Westminster Confession addressed various means of grace under the heading of religious worship. According to the divines, all people knew that God existed and was worthy of devotion, yet only those patterns of devotion revealed in Scripture were appropriate means to seek fellowship with God. [13] The Confession noted that prayer was required of all and was to be “made in the name of the Son, by the help of His Spirit, according to His will, with understanding, reverence, humility, fervency, faith, love and perseverance; and, if vocal, in a known tongue.” [14] Prayer was restricted for the living or those who were yet to be born, but was never offered for the dead. Nor was prayer’s efficacy strengthened by location, “but God is to be worshipped everywhere, in spirit and truth; as, in private families daily, and in secret, each one by himself; so, more solemnly in the public assemblies.” [15] The Confession also addressed the special use of Sundays as a means of grace. From creation forward, God had appointed Saturday for holy observance, but because of the resurrection of Christ from the dead, Christians were to observe Sunday as the “Christian Sabbath,” marked by rest, worship, and merciful works. [16]
While the confession drafted at Westminster provided doctrinal cohesion for Reformed Christians in Great Britain, the pastor-theologians who framed the statement also produced directories for both public and private worship which encouraged various means of grace for the purpose of godliness. These works both replaced and surpassed the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in their scope of suggesting various disciplines for congregations, families, and individuals.
The Directory for the Publick Worship of God offered ministers directions on praying during the worship service, during the administration of the ordinances, and during pastoral visitations or special ceremonies. [17] It directed congregations on conducting fasts and keeping the Lord’s Day holy. [18] Similarly, the Directory for Family Worship encouraged individual “secret” worship through the means of prayer and meditation, “the unspeakable benefit whereof is best known to them who are most exercised therein; this being the mean whereby, in a special way, communion with God is entertained, and right preparation for all other duties obtained.” [19] For families, the divines suggested that the “ordinary duties” included prayer, praises, reading Scripture, and catechetical instruction. [20] It suggested ways in which families could sanctify the Lord’s Day, namely, through meditation and conference upon the day’s sermon. [21] It also offered specific directions for prayer:
So many as can conceive prayer, ought to make use of that gift of God; albeit those who are rude and weaker may begin at a set form of prayer, but so as they be not sluggish in stirring up in themselves (according to their daily necessities) the spirit of prayer, which is given to all the children of God in some measure: to which effect, they ought to be more fervent and frequent in secret prayer to God, for enabling of their hearts to conceive, and their tongues to express, convenient desires to God for their family. [22]The Means Of Grace In Samuel Davies’s Ministry
Samuel Davies insisted that certain devotional practices were hallmarks that characterized and sustained a vital Christian piety. In a sermon on Acts 11:26, Davies linked the practice of various disciplines such as “prayer,…meditation,…fasting, and every religious duty” to the believer’s imitation of Christ, who Himself “abounded” in these activities as well as in certain virtues. [23] Davies concluded that “this resemblance and imitation of Christ is essential to the very being of a Christian, and without it, it is a vain pretence.” [24] In a sermon on Galatians 4:19-20, Davies identified secret and family prayer as well as public worship, the sacraments, and fasting as the “outward duties of religion.” [25] In a New Year’s sermon preached just a month before he died, Davies encouraged his congregants to hear and read Scripture, meditate “upon divine things,” and have fellowship with wiser Christians “as means instituted for your conversion.” [26] In other sermons Davies reiterated the importance of prayer, hearing and reading Scripture, meditation, the Lord’s Supper. [27] Nothing about Davies’s lists of disciplines is surprising, but it was through these simple, reliable means of grace that Davies believed communion with God was sustained. In what follows, the means of prayer, fasting, conference, the ordinances, and the Lord’s Day are especially explored.
Prayer
Though the means of accessing Davies’s own personal piety are few, those artifacts that do survive indicate that he was a man of prayer. Nowhere was his commitment to prayer more evident than during his fundraising journey to Great Britain, on behalf of the College of New Jersey, from 1753-1755. During this trip, Davies maintained a private diary, which has preserved some of his habits and forms of prayer. [28] Davies had promised his wife, Jane, that he would set apart Saturday evenings for special times of prayer for her during his voyage, and on Saturday, December 7, 1753, Davies noted that he had “[f]ound more Freedom than usual in Intercession for my dear absent Friends, particularly for Mr. Rodgers, and my Chara.” [29] Though the content of these prayers was undoubtedly richer than Davies left in his diary, his brief written prayers show the tenor of his concern for his beloved spouse during their separation: “O! Thou God of our Life, with all the importunity so languid a Soul is capable of exerting, I implore thy gracious Protection for her, that she may be supported in my Absence, and that we may enjoy a happy Interview again.” [30] Two months later, as Davies thought of his wife and children, he prayed, “To thee, O Lord, I then solemnly committed them and now I renew the Dedication. I know not, if ever I shall see them again; but my Life and theirs is in the Hand of divine Providence; and therefore shall be preserved as long as is fit.” [31] Just two weeks later, Davies’s family weighed heavy on his heart: “Lord, I am oppressed; undertake for me.” [32]
The following Saturday, Davies “was much depressed in Spirit at the Prospect of the Voyage, and the Tender Tho’ts of Home,” when he prayed, “May the God of my Life support me!” [33] Just two days later, Davies recorded that his “[t]ho’ts often take a sudden Flight to Hanover, and hover over my Chara, and my other Friends there.” He implored, “O may indulgent Heaven preserve and bless them!” [34] Davies’s ship sailed in the early morning of November 18, and the following evening he asked, “O Lord, bless my dear Family.” [35] During the treacherous voyage home in 1755, Davies recounted that he “often fell upon my Face, praying in a Kind of Agony, sometimes for myself, sometimes for the unhappy Ship’s Company, and sometimes for my dear, destitute Family, whom the nearest Prospect of Death could not erase from my Heart.” [36]
Gilbert Tennent, the renowned Presbyterian pastor from New Jersey, accompanied Davies on the journey to England. During the voyage, the two ministers encouraged one another through prayer. Davies was seasick for about the first ten days of the voyage, yet, on November 26, he and Tennent “prayed in our Room together in the Morning and Afternoon with some Freedom.” [37] They began these meetings a day earlier: “Yesterday and today we prayed together alternately in our Room; and I felt some Tenderness and Importunity in so doing. O that we may in this inactive Season be laying up proper Furniture for active Life upon Shore!” They maintained this pattern of regular prayer during the voyage across the Atlantic: “Since I noted it last, Mr. Tennent and I have prayed each of us twice in our Room, and one of us alternately in the Cabin in the Evening.” [38] Moreover, Davies and Tennent maintained this pattern of praying twice daily once they arrived in Great Britain. [39] One Wednesday night, after spending the evening with the “Wonder of the Age,” George Whitefield, “Mr. Tennent’s heart was all on Fire, and after we had gone to Bed, he suggested we should watch and pray; and we rose, and prayed together ’till about 3 o’clock in the Morning.” [40] Tennent and Davies prayed often during their trip. When they encountered difficulty raising funds, they prayed for God’s direction. [41]
Davies also prayed in the pulpit, sometimes experiencing God’s blessing and at other times feeling confused. [42] When he heard others pray, Davies could not help but noting the impressions they made upon him. When in Northampton, Davies visited the late Philip Doddridge’s congregation, then under the oversight of Robert Gilbert (d. 1760), and was “pleased to find him a weeping Petitioner to Heaven in Prayer.” [43] At Yarmouth, Davies visited Congregationalist pastor Richard Frost (1700-1778), who “[i]n Prayer…has an uncommon Dexterity in descending to particulars.” [44] In Halesworth, Davies stayed with the Congregationalist minister Samuel Wood (d. 1767), and recounted that “His Expressions in Prayer are remarkably striking and solemn.” [45] What do reflections such as these say about the place of prayer in Davies’s personal life?
First, Davies’s own prayers reveal that he was theologically consistent in recognizing God’s sovereign control over every aspect of life and death. Although he loved and missed his family, he expressed confidence in God’s ability to protect and bless them during his absence. Then, when he was fearful, Davies sought consolation in prayer, entrusting his own life to God’s mercy. His mention of praying from the pulpit shows that he recognized his effectiveness as a preacher was linked to God’s blessing and not primarily his own rhetorical abilities. Further, Davies’s reflections on his habit of praying at set times with Gilbert Tennent indicates that he found such discipline helpful and spiritually edifying, not stifling or ritualistic. This sentiment is reinforced by their especially rich time of watching and praying until the early morning. Finally, the fact that Davies recalled the specific gifts or abilities of others in prayer shows that prayer was something that he valued enough to notice, especially when one showed a particular freedom in conversing with God. Davies’s various diary entries have the cumulative force of showing that prayer was a normal and significant part of his Christian experience. With regard to prayer, Davies preached what he practiced.
Samuel Davies’s delight in prayer carried over from the closet to the pulpit. In his sermons, Davies prayed for his hearers, both believers and unbelievers, and exhorted both to draw near to God through prayer. Although Davies never set down a systematic treatment of prayer, frequent references to prayer abound in his sermons. In examining Davies’s theology of prayer and its implications for Christian piety, a key question is that of the relationship between prayer and communion with God.
Those who love God and Jesus delight in prayer, the exercise of which was the believer’s chief experience of communion with God:
Friends, you know, delight to converse together, to unbosom themselves to one another, and to enjoy the freedoms of society. They are fond of interviews, and seize every opportunity for that purpose; and absence is tedious and painful to them…. Now, though God be a spirit, and infinitely above all sensible converse with the sons of men, yet he does not keep himself at a distance from his people. He has access to their spirits, and allows them to carry on a spiritual commerce with him, which is the greatest happiness of their lives. [46]Believers foster such communion through prayer. For Davies, true prayer bespoke of a Trinitarian faith in the Father, Son, and Spirit. Warning his congregants of the danger of Laodicean tepidity in religion, Davies encouraged them to pray, “‘Lord, fire this heart with thy love.’” [47] Prayer was the proper remedy for a lukewarm heart; only God could instill this “sacred fire,” and Davies exhorted believers to “fly to him in agony of importunity, and never desist, never grow weary till you prevail.” [48] The God to whom Davies directed his prayer was omniscient, the “Supreme Majesty of heaven and earth,” and the human petitioner was variously a criminal who sought pardon or a “famished beggar” who sought relief. [49] Davies characterized prayer as the “natural language” of the spiritually poor. [50] For Davies then, prayer was no less than worship, which could be offered fittingly or poorly, and therefore genuine prayer could never become a cool, detached ritual.
At various points in his sermons, Davies emphasized prayer as the pathway of vital spiritual communion between the believer and each member of the Godhead. Davies insisted that the Father was indeed a prayer-hearing God and insisted that Christians ought to approach Him in prayer reverently and confidently (cf. Ps. 65:2). The Bible contained a rich history of God acting upon the prayers of His people: God heard Moses’ cry, “‘Show me, I Pray thee, thy glory’” (cf. Exod. 33:18-19) and revealed His glorious name and character to the aging prophet-leader. [51] God heard Hezekiah’s prayer for deliverance from the Assyrians (cf. 2 Kings 19:14-19) and rescued His people. [52] For Davies, however, the Father was even more willing to hear the prayers of believers.
Christians have been born again, and one of the signal benefits of regeneration is that they are now adopted into God’s family and relate to God as children relate to a father. Just as in human relationships, where a child has freedom to approach a loving father, so Christians enjoy the “peculiar privileges” and a “liberty of access” to their heavenly Father, especially in prayer. [53] “As the children of God have liberty to address their Father, so they have the privilege of having their petitions graciously heard and answered. A human parent is ready to give gifts to his children, and much more is our heavenly Father” (cf. Luke 11:11-13 and Matt. 6:6-9). [54]
With regard to the Son, Davies insisted that Jesus was “precious to believers as a great High Priest.” [55] In His death on the cross, Jesus had atoned for sin; yet through His ongoing heavenly session, Jesus continued to pray for sinners. [56] Though Davies certainly emphasized the centrality of the cross, he also rejoiced in the mediation of Christ. Jesus stands before the Father as a slaughtered lamb (cf. Rev. 5:6), “bearing the memorials of his sacrifice, and putting the Father in remembrance of the blessings purchased for his people.” [57] Just as Jesus had prayed for His followers during His time on earth (cf. John 17:24), so He now prays that the blessing He secured on the cross would be applied to the faithful. Such thoughts moved Davies to exclaim, “Now how precious must Christ appear in the character of Intercessor! That the friendless sinner should have an all-prevailing advocate in the court of heaven to undertake his cause!”
As believers prayed on earth, so Jesus prayed in heaven, offering up “the great incense of his own merit” comingled with the petitions of the saints. Davies appealed to the covenant of grace between the Father and the Son as the believer’s grounds for praying with assurance. Further, he insisted that Christians could pray with the confidence, even in their weakest moments, that Jesus was ever available to hear their petitions and to plead their cause with the Father. [58] Prayer, however, was more than merely asking Jesus for needs and blessings; it was the chief means through which the believer maintained fellowship, or in Davies’s words, “intercourse,” with the ascended Christ. [59] Prayer, for Davies, was a key way in which one looked to Christ for saving relief. In an unforgettable illustration, Davies asked his hearers to picture one of their own dear children kidnapped by a murderer. If the parents were to arrive in time and were to lock eyes with their terrified son or daughter before the death blow was struck, how loud would be the child’s unspoken cry for deliverance in that moment? In the same way, when the sinner came to apprehend his desperate state, she cried out to God in prayer. [60] Such a sinner would not only pray in public but in secret, shaking off the tendency of so many to go through life as in a trance, ever ready to seek help from Christ. [61]
Davies also encouraged his hearers to pray for the work of the Holy Spirit among them. For Davies, the Spirit awakened benighted sinners to see the glory of Christ; therefore he encouraged Christians to pray that the Spirit would communicate God’s love and other “sacred influences” among them and so bring a general reformation to the colonies. [62] By looking at Paul’s frequent prayers for divine assistance, Davies concluded that such prayers were necessary, for who would pray for what they already possess? More particularly, Davies recognized that it was the Holy Spirit Himself who strengthened believers’ weakness in prayer and devotion (cf. Rom. 8:24). [63] Christians also depended on the Spirit’s aid in prayer during times of spiritual adversity: “Sometimes, alas! they fall; but their general lifts them up again, and inspires them with the strength to renew the fight. They fight most successfully upon their knees.” [64] Davies likened Christians to soldiers, engaged in ongoing warfare. This warfare was both internal and external: from without, Christians faced a nearly continuous stream of temptations; from within, they battled sin’s insurrection. Given the unceasing nature of their battle, Christians ought not to be surprised when beset with weakness and fatigue in their fight, yet through prayer they had hope of success. Such prayer was the “most advantageous posture for soldiers of Jesus Christ,” through which their Captain would send reinforcements to assist in battle, enabling even the weakest soldier to “overcome, through the blood of the Lamb.” [65]
Though all Christians were soldiers in God’s “spiritual army,” ministers were especially called to prevail in prayer, arming themselves with the “humble doctrines of the cross” to “rescue enslaved souls from the tyranny of sin and Satan.” [66] For the minister, to pray was to wage an attack against the forces of evil. Davies modeled such attacks in his sermons, especially with regard to the success of the gospel. When Davies considered the universality of spiritual death, he was astonished that “the generality of mankind are habitually careless about the blessed Jesus; they will not seek him, nor give their hearts and their affections, though they must perish for ever by the neglect of him!” [67] This sad state drove him to pray, “Father of spirits, and Lord of life, quicken, oh quicken these dead souls!” [68] He expected his congregants to unite their voices also in prayer: “Oh, Sirs, while we see death all around us, and feel it benumbing our own souls, who can help the most bitter wailing and lamentation? Who can restrain himself from crying out to the great Author of life for a happy resurrection?” [69] As a pastor preaching to spiritually dead hearers, Davies likened himself to the prophet Elijah, praying over the Shunamite widow’s son, “Oh Lord my God, I pray thee, let this sinner’s life come into him again” (cf. 1 Kings 17:21). [70] Davies’s commitment to battling for souls through prayer extended well beyond his own congregations in Virginia; he had a more global perspective. Davies rejoiced that Christians had a benevolent divine king who ruled an “empire of grace,” and asked his hearers to pray that this kingdom would be expanded: “Let us pray that all nations may become the willing subjects of our gracious Sovereign.” [71]
Fasting
Samuel Davies had been back in Virginia less than a month after his trip to England when his Hanover congregation spent Wednesday, March 5, 1755, in fasting and prayer. [72] Though Davies undoubtedly led his congregation in observing this sacred day, aimed at securing God’s gracious intervention on behalf of the British against the French and their Indian allies, he made no mention of his own habits of fasting. As he stood in the pulpit, he declared,
If God dispose the victory as he pleases, then it is most fit, and absolutely necessary, that we should seek to secure his friendship. If we have such an Almighty Ally, we are safe; and if we have provoked his displeasure, and forfeited his friendship, what can we do but prostrate ourselves in the deepest repentance and humiliation before him? for that is the only way to regain his favour. This is the great design of a fast; and from what you have heard, you may see it is not a needless ceremony, but a seasonable and important duty. [73]In his sermons, letters, and diary, Davies has left no record of his own practice of this “important duty.” Perhaps he took Jesus’ admonition to “appear not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which is in secret” (Matt. 6:16-18) seriously, believing that to discuss his own practices would forfeit the discipline’s blessings. Or maybe Davies thought fasting so commonplace as to need no elaboration. One can reasonably assume that Davies would not have been guilty of hypocrisy on this count. His sermons reveal a twofold message on fasting: positively, fasting was a sign of heartfelt repentance; negatively, it could become a form of works-righteousness.
Although not wholly unknown in England, fast-day observances were commonplace in New England and the other American colonies. [74] In New England, ministers relied on a simple pattern of using Sunday sermons as vehicles of primarily spiritual concern and used weekday sermons or lectures for more civil matters. [75] This pattern does not mean that Puritan ministers separated spiritual and civil affairs, but rather serves as a reminder that the coextensive nature of the covenantal relationship of the political fabric of New England with the covenant of grace necessitated careful attention lest eternal salvation and moral obedience be conflated. Puritan New England valued its seasons of fasting from its earliest days forward; yet, by 1755, other colonies held similar days. [76] Though the practice of setting apart fast-days appears to have been less common in Anglican Virginia than in Puritan Massachusetts or Connecticut, Virginians had indeed observed such days. [77] Davies’s sermons recount three fast days during his ministry in Virginia, each occurring during the tumult of the Seven Years’ War. [78]
Stout has well noted the serious nature with which congregations and communities observed fast days. [79] Due to the fact that the regular patterns of life and commerce were interrupted to implore God’s special grace or favor, Davies used such days to remind his hearers of both the blessings and dangers of such religious observances. As already mentioned, Davies described fasting as a “seasonable and important duty” which expressed a believer’s genuine mourning over sin. [80] He based this assessment on Joel 2:12-18, which called God’s people to employ fasting as a sign of repentance. Following General Braddock’s defeat in the summer of 1755, Davies returned to this theme and this text, encouraging his Hanover congregation to “join earnest prayer to your repentance and fasting.” [81]
Yet Davies knew that some of his hearers might take pride in their religious austerity and warned such against trusting ceremonies instead of Christ.
Can you pretend that you have always perfectly obeyed the law? That you have never committed one sin, or neglected one duty? Alas! You must hang down the head, and cry, guilty, guilty…. Set about obedience with ever so much earnestness; repent till you shed rivers of tears; fast, till you have reduced yourselves to skeletons; alas! all this will not do, if you expect life by your own obedience to the law. [82]In another setting, Davies remarked that the message of the cross was “unnatural” to sinners, who were more apt to “submit to the heaviest penances and bodily austerities” and to “afflict themselves with fasting” rather than to trust in the righteousness of Christ alone for salvation. [83] Fasting, then, was an appropriate spiritual practice by which God’s people expressed genuine repentance, but it was a practice which might be easily subverted as a form of self-righteousness.
Baptism And The Lord’s Supper
Samuel Davies was certain that all true Christians used the ordinances of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as means to closer fellowship with God. For Davies, the neglect of these ordinances was an indication of a spiritual malady: “You have not the love of God in you, if you do not delight to converse with him in his ordinances.” [84] He challenged those who had “no pleasure in devotion, no delight in conversing with God in his ordinances” to question the genuineness of their religion. [85] In these ordinances, Christians “do in a more solemn public manner, engage ourselves to the service of God.” [86]
Davies did not address baptism often, yet his reflections emphasized the significance of this rite for the Christian life. Davies understood baptism as “a badge of Christianity, and a mark of our being the disciples, the followers, and servants of Jesus Christ.” [87] Like a soldier who had volunteered to serve in the army, so were Christians who underwent baptism. It was a token of one’s commitment to follow Christ as well as one’s “initiation into the church of Christ.” [88] Of course, many of the congregants whom Davies addressed did not volunteer as soldiers but rather were baptized as infants, having received it most likely in the Anglican Church. Still, Davies believed they had the obligation to honor this covenant. [89]
Baptism was also an outward “sign of regeneration, or of our dying to sin, and entering into a new state of existence, with new principles and views, to walk in newness of life.” [90] Yet Davies knew that some who had undergone the physical rite of baptism lacked a genuinely new heart:
Here then, you that have been baptized, and had the sign, inquire whether you have had the thing signified? Whether you have been so thoroughly renewed, in the spirit of your mind, and so have entered upon a new course of life that you may be justly said to be born again, to be quickened with a new life, and to be new creatures? Have you any evidence of such a change? [91]Perhaps more significantly, Davies understood baptism as “a sign and seal of the covenant of grace, and of our dedication to the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.” [92] Here Davies linked baptism with the gospel and understood baptism as evidence that Christians were “devoted to the sacred Trinity, and each person in the Godhead, under that relation which they respectively sustain in the economy of man’s redemption.” [93]
Davies offered a more thorough reflection on the sacrament of the Lord’s Supper. The ordinance was commemorative, and thoughtful preparation for the Supper was a mark of one’s piety:
In so solemn a posture as at the Lord’s table, in so affecting an act as the commemoration of that death to which we owe all our hopes of life and happiness, and with such solemn emblems as those of bread and wine in our hands, which represent the broken body and flowing blood of Jesus, we are to yield ourselves to God, and seal our indenture to be his. [94]The meal had replaced the Jewish Passover and commemorated God’s might act of delivering people from sin. [95] The Lord’s Supper was a sacrament because “it is intended to represent things spiritual by material emblems or signs which affect our senses, and thereby enlarge our ideas and impress our hearts in the present state of flesh and blood.” [96] Here, Davies described a strong connection between body and mind in one’s spirituality: “God consults our weakness, and… makes our bodily senses helpful to the devotions of our minds.” [97]
In the sacrament, Christians can see Jesus portrayed clearly. Davies described the Lord’s Supper as “a bright ray of evangelical light; and it helps you to see the love and agonies of Jesus, the great atonement he made for sin, and the method of your pardon and salvation. Come then, ye children of light, come and gaze, and wonder at these astonishing sights!” [98] Elsewhere, having described the glories of God and how they are manifest in the suffering of Christ, Davies turned to the table: “these things may endear the institution of the Lord’s supper to you as exhibiting these glories, by sacred emblems, to your senses: therefore you should esteem it, and reverently attend upon it.” [99]
The supper was “a token of love, or memorial left by a friend at parting among his friends, that whenever they see it they may remember him.” [100] Like baptism, the Supper was a “badge” and “seal” of true faith, and as such, believers were to afford it great attention: “this remembrance of a suffering Savior must be attended with suitable affections.” [101] More significantly, God used the ordinance as a means to “[maintain] communion with his people, and they with him.” [102] In the celebration of the meal,
there is a spiritual intercourse carried on between [God] and [believers]. He communicates his love in the influences of his Spirit to them; and they pour out their hearts, their desires, and prayers before him. He draws near to them, and revives their souls; and they draw near to him, and converse with him in prayer, and in other ordinances of his worship. [103]Further, at the table, “[God] favors them with his spiritual presence, and gives them access to him; and they draw near to him with humble boldness, and enjoy a full liberty of speech in conversation with him.” [104]
As the Lord’s Table was indeed such a place of intimate spiritual communion, those who would receive the supper must be reconciled to God, and “delight in communion with him.” [105] The Lord’s Supper was no converting ordinance, but rather a place where the converted experienced spiritual intimacy with God. Here Davies offered his own view of the efficacy of the table, a view that differed significantly from Solomon Stoddard of Northampton: “to what purpose do you communicate? This will not constitute you Christians, nor save your souls. Not all the ordinances that ever God has instituted can do this, without an interest in Christ, and universal holiness of heart and life.” [106]
As Christians prepared to receive the Lord’s Supper, Davies used the occasion to point believers toward the cross, arguing that their daily carriage was to reflect the significance of what was commemorated in communion. They depended upon God: “Alas! if you separate yourselves from him, you are like a stream separated from its fountain, that must run dry; a spark separated from the fire, that must expire; a member cut off from the body, that must die and putrefy.” [107] He took such preparation seriously and encouraged congregants to use other appointed means such as encountering Scripture, meditation, and prayer to prepare themselves to receive the meal: “read, and hear, and meditate upon his word, till you know your danger and remedy. Take this method first, and when you have succeeded, come to this ordinance, and God, angels, and men will be due welcome.” [108]
While the occasion of Holy Communion afforded Davies an opportunity to remind Christians of their devotion to God, he pleaded with them to make this dedication “fixed and habitual”: “it is not a formality to be performed only at a sacramental occasion, not a warm, transient purpose under a sermon, or in a transport of passion; but it must be the steady, uniform, persevering disposition of your souls to be the Lord’s at all times, and in all circumstances, in life, and death, and through all eternity.” [109]
Family Worship
Family worship nowhere appears in Davies’s list of various means of grace, but it was one of the common means that he practiced and enjoined other Christian families to use to promote godliness. No sources survive that describe worship in Davies’s household, yet a few sources illuminate Davies’s thoughts on the discipline. During his trip to Great Britain, Davies observed some families gathering for devotions and recorded their attention to “examining [their] Children, reading a Sermon, Singing and praying” in his diary. [110] As already noted, the Westminster theologians issued a directory that encouraged family worship as part of its program of national reformation. [111] This directory exhorted families to attend to prayer, Bible reading, and catechizing. [112] Perhaps Davies had this directory in mind when he cautioned his congregants against the neglect of gathering their families morning and evening for prayer and worship. [113] It is reasonable to assume that he followed these general guidelines in his own family.
Davies set down his thought on the matter of family worship most fully in a sermon on 1 Timothy 5:8. [114] “The heads of families are obliged,” Davies preached, “not only to exercise their authority over their dependents, but also to provide for them a competency of the necessaries of life.” Such provision did not stop with material provision, which Davies understood to be the primary point of his chosen text, but extended also to their immortal souls. [115] Davies considered those who forsook family worship to be worse than infidels. [116] In keeping with his ecumenical spirit, Davies suggested that family religion “be not the peculiarity of a party,” but was a common expectation of all believers. [117] Davies sought to prove the necessity of family worship from nature and from Scripture, to discuss its frequency, to show heads of households their specific responsibilities to foster such devotion, and to counter various objections to the discipline. Davies contended that “prayer, praise, and instruction” constituted the elements of family worship, going further that the Westminster Directory in his inclusion of psalmody, which he thought “the most proper method of thanksgiving.” [118]
Davies first sought to justify family devotions by appealing to nature. Just as God alone was worthy of private worship from individual humans, so too was He worthy of family worship. If a family was capable of worshipping God, then they were obligated to worship Him. [119] This situation existed in part because God had created people as sociable creatures and instituted the family as the first society. Further, God sustained families and thus they owed Him homage. Morning and evening, Davies’s hearers received God’s blessings “flowing down upon your houses.” Would those who had received such unwarranted blessings fail to return thanks and supplications? Worship, then, was the “principal end” of all families. [120] To those who rejected this design, Davies asked, “Can you expect that godliness shall run on in the line of your posterity, if you habitually neglect it in your houses?” [121] Though such regular devotions could not guarantee a godly lineage, “How can you expect that your children and servants will become worshippers of the God of heaven, if they have been educated in the neglect of family religion? Can prayerless parents expect to have praying children?” [122] Davies was unrelenting:
Their souls, sirs, their immortal souls, are intrusted to your care, and you must give a solemn account of your trust; and can you think you faithfully discharge it, when you neglect to maintain your religion in your families? Will you not be accessory to their perdition, and in your skirts will there not be found the blood of your poor innocent children? What a dreadful meeting may you expect to have with them at last? [123]Regular family devotion was the only reliable help that families could utilize to keep the gospel ever before their precious children and dependable servants; thus Davies pleaded, “I beseech, I entreat, I charge you to begin and continue the worship of God in your families from this day to the close of our lives.” [124]
Family religion was not only an authoritative command of God, it was also a prerogative afforded by grace. What better ways could families spend their days than conversing of heaven and heaven’s God? “To mention our domestic wants before him with the encouraging hope of a supply! To vent the oerflowings of gratitude! To spread the savour of his knowledge, and talk of him whom angels celebrate upon their golden harps in anthems of praise!” [125] Even pagans understood the necessity of family worship. How could Rachel’s theft of a family idol go unnoticed if Laban had not reared his family to worship such things (cf. Gen. 31:34)? If even pagans trained their households for worship, how much more ought God’s people foster true faith under their roofs? [126] Such worship was well attested in Scripture.
Isaac and Jacob were wont to build altars in their various encampments so they might worship God because they had observed this habit in their father, Abraham (cf. Gen. 18:17-18; 26:25; 28:18; and 33:20). Similarly, Job modeled a serious concern for godliness in his rising early to offer sacrifices on behalf of his children (cf. Job 1:5). Even the great King David led his family in worship (cf. Ps. 101:2) and the godly prophet Daniel “always observed a stated course of devotion in his family” (cf. Dan. 6:10). [127] Such biblical examples continued into the New Testament, where Paul mentioned several house churches (cf. Rom. 16:5; 1 Cor. 16:19; and Col. 4:15). Peter was found praying at home (cf. Acts 10:2, 30). Even the pagan Cornelius led his family in devotion. [128]
Scripture also added precepts to its examples. Paul exhorted the Colossians to pray in their families (cf. Col. 4:2). Peter warned husbands to give attention to their relationship with their wife lest their prayers he hindered (cf. 1 Peter 3:7). This last example led Davies to encourage the practice of husbands and wives retiring for secret prayer together:
As there is a peculiar intimacy between them, they ought to be peculiarly intimate in the duties of religion; and when retired together, they may pour out their hearts with more freedom than before all the family, and particularize those things that could not be prudently mentioned before others. [129]Deuteronomy 6:6-7 and 11:19 provided the basis for family worship in Israel as did the special yearly observance of Passover. While Hebrews 3:13 and Colossians 3:16, which instructed daily teaching, applied immediately to the church, they surely also applied to families. Davies added the duty of praise to family worship based on Philippians 4:6, Colossians 4:2, and 1 Thessalonians 5:17-18. [130] The foundation provided, Davies reiterated the vital need for family worship. The choice was simple and tended to affect the entire community:
If the grateful incense of family worship were ascending to heaven every morning and evening, from every family among us, we might expect a rich return of divine blessings upon ourselves and ours. Our houses would become the temples of the Deity, and our congregation feel his gracious influences. [131]Such influences would affect children and servants, ending household strife and vice, and reviving true religion. [132] The neglect of family worship would also have striking consequences, turning homes into “nurseries for hell.” [133]
How frequently ought families to gather for worship? At least daily, answered Davies, preferably morning and evening, for Israel’s sacrifices followed this twice-daily rhythm, and the psalmists often commended this pattern (cf. Ps. 141:2; 145:2; 55:17; and 92:1-2). Even the prophet Amos warned Judah to “Seek him that turneth the shadow of death into the morning, and maketh the day dark with night” (Amos 5:8). [134]
God had given heads of households the particular responsibility to conduct family worship, using gentle means where possible and compulsion when necessary. Though “the consciences of all, bond and free, are subject to God only, and no man ought to compel another to anything, as a duty, that is against his conscience,” family worship proved to be an exception. How else could Joshua speak for his own household when he proclaimed that they would serve the Lord (cf. Josh. 24:15) unless he had authority to compel such service, even if it proved merely external? [135] Davies also anticipated various objections to family worship and defended his case.
To those who complained that their secular business left them no time for family worship, Davies wondered how such incredibly busy people found time to eat, hold idle conversations, or even sleep, which were of far less importance in light of eternity. How did such people view time, and was their business lawful or unlawful? Surely any legitimate business could be ordered to provide time for family devotions. [136] Then, Davies imagined some might plead ignorance of how to pray, which he found a pitiful excuse: just as a beggar was perpetually sensible enough to ask for handouts, so one who knew little of prayer was still conscious of the need to seek God. Yet his congregation had no legitimate excuse at this point, for they had long enjoyed the riches of “preaching, Bibles, and good books” that instructed them in prayer. Further, how could one who claimed ignorance of prayer expect to grow in its performance by neglecting it? Here Davies was even willing to suggest that those unskilled in prayers might use forms of prayer as crutches, for a season, until they grew in strength. [137] As nearly all of Davies’s Virginia congregations had been gathered from the Church of England, presumably these forms include those of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer as well as the more basic forms from the Presbyterian Directory for Publick Worship. To those who were ashamed to worship God in their families, Davies wondered how one could share in the task of angels, who offered unceasing praise, and remain ashamed. All that was needed was practice.
As his sermon closed, Davies offered sympathetic counsel to those whose hearts had been softened by his sermon. Perhaps they were ashamed of long-neglecting family worship and unsure how to begin this practice. Such past failure ought to be confessed and remedied speedily. Some might be afraid that there family would ignore their pleas for worship, or worse, mock their piety. Davies concluded, “Are you more afraid of a laugh or a jeer than the displeasure of God? Would you rather please men than him?” [138] In another context, Davies encouraged parents, especially fathers, to remind children often of the importance of their baptism:
Take your little creatures up in your arms, and with all the powerful oratory which the fond heart of a father and the warm heart of a Christian can make you master of, put them in mind of their early baptism; explain to them the nature of that ordinance; and labour to make them sensible of the obligations that lie upon them in consequence of it. Warn them of the danger of breaking covenant with God, and living a life of perjury. [139]Davies cited the example of Philip Henry (1631-1696), a Nonconformist minister of Welsh ancestry and father to the famed biblical commentator Matthew Henry (1662-1714), who composed a baptismal covenant for his children, reviewed it with them each Sunday evening, and when they were of a certain age, made them write it out and sign it. [140] Elsewhere, Davies described the worshipping families of the righteous as “little churches, in which divine worship is solemnly performed.”141 Given Davies’s reflection on the significance and practice of family worship, including baptismal covenants, we can reasonably assume that his own practice would have been similar to the one he encouraged his congregants to pursue.
Sabbath/Lord’s Day
Hambrick-Stowe has well-noted the Puritan innovation of the Sabbath as a “devotional point of reference,” especially among New England’s Puritans. [142] This weekly cycle pictured the gospel and differed significantly from the yearly Anglican cycles of fast and holy days as well as the Roman Catholic calendar of worship from which the Anglican pattern was derived. [143] Puritans saw the Sabbath as a divine institution given to humans as a means of grace through which they might rest from earthly concerns and draw near to God. Thomas Shepard, Congregationalist minister in Newtown (Cambridge), Massachusetts, defended the Sabbath’s unique and continuing relevance in a series of sermons published as Theses Sabbaticae. [144] Here he argued for maintaining the Sabbath as a holy day, for the Sabbath was the bellwether of true piety:
It is easy to demonstrate by Scripture and argument, as well as by experience, that religion is just as the Sabbath is, and decays and grows as the Sabbath is esteemed: the immediate honor and worship of God, which is brought forth and swaddled in the first three commandments, is nursed up and suckled in the bosom of the Sabbath. [145]Shepard presented hundreds of theses arranged under four headings: the Sabbath’s morality, change, beginning, and sanctification. God had given humans the Sabbath and it was incumbent upon people to observe it, not out of superstition or mere custom, but as an act of obedient worship to the Creator. [146] Lovelace has indicated that for the Puritans, the Sabbath functioned as a “miniature, day-long retreat each week,” which served as a powerful instrument of transformation. [147] The Westminster theologians also addressed the Sabbath in their confession. In Scripture, God had established the Sabbath as “a positive, moral, and perpetual commandment binding all men in all ages.” [148] Like Shepard, the Westminster divines believed that Jesus, by virtue of His resurrection, had changed the Sabbath of creation (Saturday) to the Lord’s Day (Sunday). [149] The Sabbath proved a key issue of division between English Puritans and Anglican authorities, notably Archbishop William Laud, yet the Puritan view prevailed, at least initially, in Anglican Virginia, where strict Sabbath observance was a founding principle at Jamestown. [150] After the 1620s, when James I (1566-1625) and Charles I (1600-1649) exerted more direct rule over the colony, Puritan influence waned. By the 1700s, Sunday in Virginia had become more a day of relaxation and amusement than devoted worship. [151] Though he never offered a statement on precisely how Christians ought to use the Sabbath as a means to draw near to God, Davies shared the Puritan view that the Sabbath was a divine ordinance, a means of grace not to be ignored.
For Samuel Davies, Sunday was the “Christian Sabbath,” a positive law founded upon God’s revealed will. [152] God had consecrated Sunday “for the commemoration both of the birth of this world, and the resurrection of its great Author.” [153] It was a day set aside for prayer and the concerns of eternity. [154] Davies included Sabbath breaking among a list of various other sins which testified to one’s guilt before God and warned those who found the Lord’s Day marked by “tedious hours,” who could not bear to set apart worldly concerns for even a few hours each week, that hell would be a place where they would no more be troubled by such concerns, but rather face the horrible prospect of eternal punishment. [155] He insisted that he had long warned his Hanover congregants not to break the Sabbath; rather, they were to consider it an affecting means of grace. [156]
Personal Writing
On July 2, 1753, Samuel Davies, dipped quill in hand, made his first entry into a travel diary that he kept updated until February 15, 1755, when he returned to Hanover, Virginia. That Davies would keep such a diary is unremarkable; the practice of maintaining a record of one’s spiritual progress was well established by his time. What is surprising is that his diary remained unpublished until fifty-eight years after his death, especially when other Evangelicals’ journals, those of Davies’s peers, enjoyed wide distribution. How did such personal writings fit into the Puritan and early Evangelical means of grace? Why did Davies maintain this diary? What spiritual or other purposes did it serve? Why did this diary remain out of the public view for nearly six decades?
Charles Hambrick-Stowe has well summarized the Puritan tradition of maintaining diaries:
In their personal spiritual writing Puritans practiced self-examination; recorded ordinary events and “remarkable providences,” which taken together could provide clues to God’s plan for the soul; kept track of public worship and private devotional activity; and meditated and prayed. Diary entries also included terse notes of entirely secular transactions, of who visited whom or preached on what text. [157]While the practice of maintaining personal writings to track one’s spiritual growth (or declension) may not have been universal, it was certainly practiced among colonial clergy from the earliest days of settlement. Thomas Shepard maintained such a diary, as did the poet-pastor Michael Wigglesworth (1631-1705) of Malden, Massachusetts. [158] Cotton Mather kept a diary that documented his meticulous and sincere use of various means of grace to pursue holiness. [159] Among Davies’s peers, Jonathan Edwards kept various personal writings including a diary and his resolutions, as well as thousands of miscellaneous thoughts on life, Scripture, and theology. [160] The great revivalists George Whitefield and John Wesley maintained diaries and journals, some intended to foster private devotion and others clearly intended for public promotion. [161] David Brainerd (1718-1747), Presbyterian missionary to the Indians of Delaware and New Jersey, was closer in age to Davies than these other men, and maintained both a private “diary” and a public “ journal” of his mission work. [162] While his Puritan forbearers and Evangelical contemporaries used the medium of personal diaries, Davies’s own diary is at once similar yet distinct from each of these sources mentioned.
While Davies reflected on his own heart and his motives, his diary entries lack the depth of introspection of a Shepard, Wigglesworth, or Brainerd. Davies recorded no list of guiding personal resolutions as did Edwards. He left no record of his fasts, Bible-reading regimen, or numerous days of prayer as did Mather. Davies was not nearly as meticulous as Wesley, sometimes skipping several days’ entries or summarizing large blocks of time with a simple paragraph. Of all those contemporary diary-keepers mentioned, Davies’s diary most closely resembles that of George Whitefield, who maintained a reasonably detailed record of his travels and impressions of his sermons and hearers. Davies’s motivations for keeping his diary and his intentions for its use seem largely idiosyncratic, which indicates that his diary was likely a very personal document. He writes:
And now as Divine Providence, quite contrary to my Expectation seems to call me to a very important Embassy for the Church and for the Public; and as it will tend much to my future Satisfaction, to have the Record of my procedure by me for a Review in an Hour of Perplexity; I think it expedient to state the Affair in Writing and to keep [a Diary of] all the remarkable Occurencies I may [meet with in] my Voyage. [163]By his own admission, Davies was unsure that he was the right person to undertake the fundraising trip to Great Britain; he had suggested other ministers he believed to be better suited for the task, yet “Providence” prevailed. [164] Might Davies’s stated reason for maintaining the diary have been simply pious posturing for later readers, a culturally expected demurral in light of such an honor? Almost certainly not. Although Davies had expressed his desire to live on in “public usefulness” after his death, he never published his diary following his return from Great Britain nor did he leave instructions for it to be published after his death as he did with his sermons. [165]
Davies also appears to have been consistent in his personal humility. When the trustees of the College of New Jersey elected him as president, Davies declined the nomination more than once before reluctantly agreeing to the post. [166] Then, Davies took few steps to mask his interactions with or opinions of numerous Christian leaders in the colonies and Great Britain, which information might have been deemed inappropriate or at least too delicate to commit to print. Of course, he might simply have edited such information out of a print edition, but that he left his original diary unedited in this way makes it less likely that he wanted the material to be public after his demise. Finally, Davies made numerous personal, ministerial, and familial notes in the diary, none of which would be scandalous if published, but most would have been uninteresting for the broader public. Davies’s own explanation for keeping the diary, namely, as a record of God’s dealings and his own travels, seems best taken at face value. [167]
Davies maintained his diary in a way that best suited his own devotional needs. Davies followed no systematic schema in what he chose to include or how he structured his entries. He narrated his travels and the hospitality of his hosts. He listed sermons that he had preached in various pulpits, noting his own sense of anointing [168] or powerlessness. [169] He recorded the sermons he had heard preached by others and his thoughts or reactions to them. [170] He preserved descriptions of times of prayer with his friends [171] and for his family. [172] He mentioned books and sermons he read during his travels. [173] He documented fundraising visits, noting carefully the amounts collected or promised. Davies also used his diary to capture his occasional poems. [174]
Davies’s diary found its way into the possession of John Holt Rice (1777-1831), publisher and professor at Hampden-Sydney College and later Union Theological Seminary in Virginia. [175] Rice was a distant relative of Davies; his mother was a cousin of Samuel Davies’s wife, Jane Holt. [176] By 1818, Rice had acquired some of Davies’s papers and wrote Archibald Alexander (1772-1851) of Princeton seeking additional manuscripts. [177] Davies’s diary was among these papers. Rice published extracts of the diary in 1819 in his Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine. [178] These extracts were reprinted occasionally during the nineteenth century. [179] Pilcher’s 1967 transcription represented the first full publication of the journal. [180] Whether the diary remained private because Davies wished it to be so or whether it simply disappeared among various family artifacts, or more likely through a combination of these reasons, Davies found the discipline of documenting his spiritual life and God’s work through his ministry to be helpful for a season, even if he never required it of other Christians as a mark of true piety.
Christian Friendship
In the fall of 1751, Davies wrote a friend who, though unnamed when the letter was reprinted, must have been close to the pastor indeed:
My very dear friend, I REDEEM a few nocturnal hours to breathe out my benevolent wishes for you, and to assure you of my peculiar regards. Human life is extremely precarious and uncertain; and, perhaps, at your return, I may be above the reach of your correspondence; or, perhaps, your voyage may end on the eternal shore. I, therefore, write to you, dear sir, in the last agonies of friendship, If I may use the expression. [181]Davies’s thoughts on that particular evening seem laden with the near prospect of death. The minister assured his friend that if he were to return to find that Davies had died during his absence, he could forever treasure their friendship, assured that Davies had often prayed for him. If Davies were to outlive this dear brother, he would be comforted by the fact that he had expressed the depth of their friendship. [182] Such thoughts of death stirred Davies to “rest my guilty soul on an all-sufficient redeemer with all the humble confidence of a confirmed faith.” Further, these reflections called to Davies’s mind God’s gracious heart-work of regeneration and earlier seasons of devotion: “when I can recollect the solemn transactions between God and my soul, and renew them in the most voluntary dedication of myself, and all I am and have, to him, through the blessed mediator; then immortality is a glorious prospect.” [183]
Davies indicated that he and his friend had previously discussed “experimental religion,” and he wrote this letter with a particular theological motivation: to insist upon the necessity of the new birth. Apparently his friend remained unconvinced that regeneration was necessary to one’s eternal salvation. Davies sought to persuade him otherwise:
That thorough change of heart, usually denominated regeneration; that distressing conviction of our undone condition by sin, and utter inability to relieve ourselves by virtue of that strength common to mankind in general, that humble acceptance of Christ as our only Saviour and Lord, by a faith of divine operation, that humbling sense of the corruption of human nature, and eager pursuit and practice of universal holiness, which I have, I believe, mentioned in conversation and my letters, appear to me of absolute necessity. [184]Davies directed his friend to the sermons of Philip Doddridge, the Nonconformist polymath of Northampton, England, which provided “a rational account of that important change.” [185] Davies was “inexpressibly anxious…lest you should fatally mistake here,” especially in light of his friend’s favorite authors, who treated experimental religion “very superficially” and tended to “mislead us in sundry things of great importance relating to it” by neglecting the doctrines of the new birth. [186] Davies insisted that “our notions of the substance of vital piety ought to be well examined, and impartially formed; as a mistake here may be of pernicious consequences.” [187] This letter’s focus on heart, or in Davies’s words, “experimental,” religion provides a helpful vantage point from which to evaluate the place of friendship in Samuel Davies’s spirituality. While it is impossible to say precisely how many close friendships Davies might have enjoyed during his lifetime, it is easier to identify several common features of Davies’s various friendships. The artifacts here are few, yet they show that Davies often approached friendship from the standpoint of piety.
First, genuine Christian friendship concerned itself with matters of eternal significance. This emphasis is apparent in the letter just considered, where Davies took the opportunity of an upcoming trans-Atlantic voyage, fraught with danger, to address a friend’s understanding of conversion. Then, true friendship consisted of mutual encouragements to persevere in the faith and in the ministry. Before Davies sailed for Great Britain in 1753, he travelled from Virginia to New York, meeting various colleagues along the journey. During October and November, Davis stayed often with his longtime friend and fellow Presbyterian minister John Rodgers (1727-1811). [188] During this period, Davies was able to comfort Rodgers when John’s wife became ill and delivered a daughter about a month early. [189] For his part, Rodgers’s preaching stirred Davies’s heart, prompting the Virginian to meditate on the love of God and the place of the affections in the believer’s life. [190] The two ministers conversed freely on such matters, opening their hearts to one another “with all the freedom of Xn. Friendship.” [191] When the two friends parted, Davies noted that they “retired, and each of us prayed in the tenderest and most pathetic Manner, giving Thanks to God for that peculiar Friendship which has subsisted between us, and committing each other to the Care of Heaven for the future.” [192] Similarly, Davies and Gilbert Tennent shared many days in prayer and edifying conversation during their journey to and stay in England. [193]
Davies found discretion to be an equally key element of Christian friendship. When writing to Joseph Bellamy, the Congregationalist pastor of Bethlehem, Connecticut, Davies noted, “I must suppress sundry Particulars that might be proper to mention in the Freedom of amicable Conversation, but are not to be trusted to the Candour of a censorious World.” [194] Further, Davies indicated that sharing private information in a public setting to be “pregnant with mischievous Consequences,” insisting that only “intimate Friendship” provided the proper occasion to discuss such matters. [195]
Friendship between Christians was a valuable means of grace; thus it is unsurprising to find that Samuel Davies encouraged his hearers to meet with fellow Christians for encouragement. Davies specifically urged the faithful to join one another in societies for prayer. At this time, informal “societies” were an established and growing method of promoting piety outside of the congregational setting. Philip Jacob Spener (1635-1705), the German Lutheran pastor now regarded as the father of German pietism, had proposed the collegia pietatis, or “holy gatherings” in his 1675 introduction to Johann Arndt’s (1555-1621) classic True Christianity. [196] This introduction, later published separately as Pia Desideria, was widely influential among early Evangelicals. [197] Spener called for Christians to gather in homes and, under the leadership of a minister, to discuss Scripture and perhaps sing, in order to promote spiritual growth. [198] The practice spread among early Evangelicals, notably the Moravians, and especially among Wesleyan Methodists and the Calvinistic Methodists of Wales. [199] While Davies left no discussion on composition or practices of such societies among the Presbyterians of Virginia, he encouraged his hearers to gather in such small groups for the purpose of prayer. [200]
The Means Of Grace And Assurance Of Salvation
Earthly life is fleeting and assurance of how one will spend eternity is essential. [201] Samuel Davies believed that Christians could have such an assurance. Proverbs 14:23 warned the wicked of destruction yet declared that “the righteous hath hope in his death.” What sort of hope could the righteous have? First, the righteous could hope for God’s support in death because God had often promised to support His people in both life and death (cf. 2 Tim. 1:12; Ps. 23:4, and Rom. 8:35-39). The righteous could also hope in the immortality of the soul, because everlasting life was promised in the gospel (cf. 2 Tim. 1:10). Then, Christians had hope because of the promise that their bodies would one day be resurrected from the grave (cf. 1 Cor. 15:53– 55). Finally, the righteous had hope in death because of the promise of eternal fellowship with and worship of God (cf. Ps. 17:15 and Phil. 1:23). [202] Such were the objects of the righteous person’s hopes, but what qualified a person as “righteous”? Though people might disagree over such qualifications as distinguish the righteous and the wicked, surely God was able to establish such criteria, or in Davies’s words, the “characters which he has declared essentially necessary to salvation.” God had indeed established such a foundation in Scripture, and because God’s character is utterly unshakable and His Word completely trustworthy, Christians could have reliable assurance of salvation. [203]
God’s mercy to sinners displayed in the gospel of Jesus Christ was the sinner’s only foundation of assurance. While one could not trust in his own inherent righteousness, he could hold fast to the imputed righteousness of Christ: “It is in the mercy, the mere mercy of God, through Jesus Christ, that he trusts.” [204] Such who had received Christ’s righteousness were empowered to live obedient lives, marked by good works, but these works were no sufficient ground of assurance; one’s only hope was in having been born again, possessing an interest in Christ. Yet how was one to know that they had experienced this saving regeneration? Davies believed that by means of a “thorough trial,” of their character, a person could know if they had truly experienced the new birth and, consequently, trust God’s reliable Word that all who had been born again had the promise of eternal salvation. [205] Part of this “thorough trial” involved examining one’s life in light of Scripture. Those who cherished attitudes or behaviors that God had approbated and rejected personal holiness could have no assurance; even worse, their groundless hope served to undermine Scripture’s authority: if the Bible declared that the impenitent would perish (cf. Luke 13:3-5) and yet held out hope of their ultimate salvation, how could it possibly support the hopes of the saints? People who lived in “willful neglect” of duties God had prescribed had no ground for hope. [206] Yet not all who sought assurance were so hypocritical; surely some were genuinely faithful followers of Christ.
Those who saw evidence of the new birth in their lives had reliable grounds for hope, but these grounds did not mean that the believer’s experience of assurance was always consistent with the reality of their security in Christ:
Now different believers, and even the same persons at different times, have very different degrees of this evidence. And the reason of this difference is, that sundry causes are necessary to make the evidence clear and satisfactory; and, when any of these are wanting, or do not concur in a proper degree, then the evidence is dark and doubtful. [207]Davies’s pastoral concern was evident. Those who have been born from above ought to have hope, not in themselves but rather in the grace of God working in their lives. Yet such people might at various seasons entertain unfounded doubts. How could one maintain a consistent hope of salvation and a steady assurance? They could grow in their certainty, Davies taught, by growing “to some eminence” in their practice of various graces. [208] Christians who were weak in their practice of various disciplines might have hope, but such hope would almost certainly be weak in the face of death. Those saints who had “made great attainments in holiness,” however, maintained a steady assurance, even with joy. [209] Consistent with his emphasis on the ministry of the Holy Spirit, Davies also taught that the Spirit’s work was essential to one’s assurance.
Davies looked to Romans 8:16, which promised that those whom God had adopted could expect the Holy Spirit to provide an internal testimony confirming God’s legal declaration: “The Spirit itself beareth witness with our spirit, that we are the children of God.” [210] Davies explained the Spirit’s ministry further: “He excites our graces to such a lively exercise, as to render them visible by their effects, and distinguishable from all other principles.” [211] Yet Davies believed that such interior confirmation was within God’s purview to grant or to withhold; it did not necessarily accompany regeneration nor was it promised in the same degree to every saint. Where this testimony was absent, the saint might feel confused, doubtful, and buffeted. [212] When God was pleased to give such assurance, however, “it will be like a ray of heavenly light, to point out his way through the dark shades of death, and to open to him the transporting prospects of eternal day.” [213] While the Spirit’s heart-ministry was God’s prerogative, the saint ought to use those means within his control, namely, the discipline of self-examination. Christians who neglected regular introspection were likely to have only meager assurance whereas those believers who diligently looked after their lives abounded in hope. [214] Regardless of a person’s experience of assurance, through the gospel the righteous had hope. While a person might wish for greater assurance, she must remain contented with this objective promise of assurance of salvation through Christ’s merit. “The soldiers of Jesus Christ have generally left this mortal state in triumph; though this is not an universal rule.” [215] In sum, Davies believed that believers could be assured of salvation because of Christ’s objective cross-work, evidences of a changed life, and the Spirit’s interior witness, yet such assurance admitted to degrees.
Samuel Davies’s theology of assurance was consistent with the Westminster divines, who extended cautious optimism to the saints when they declared:
such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of grace, and may rejoice in the hope of the glory of God, which hope shall never make them ashamed. [216]Davies followed the Confession’s insistence on the promises of God, testimony of works, and the Spirit’s witness as the grounds for an “infallible assurance of faith.” [217] Similarly, he adhered to the Confession’s admonition that such assurance was not bound up “to the essence of faith,” and that the Christian might wait long to receive the comfort of this hope, and that such believers ought to use “ordinary means” to foster joyful, thankful assurance. [218] Yet because salvation was based on the objective work of God, even those Christians who lost assurance were “never so utterly destitute of that seed of God, and life of faith, that love of Christ and the brethren, that sincerity of heart, and conscience of duty, out of which, by the operation of the Spirit, this assurance may, in due time, be revived; and by the which, in the mean time, they are supported from utter despair.” [219]
It is right to locate Davies’s treatment of assurance with a discussion of his views on the various means of grace because Davies saw the two concepts as integrally linked. Christians who neglected fellowship with God through God’s ordained means ought not hope of salvation:
Now God has been so condescending, as to represent his ordinances as so many places of interview for his people, where they may meet with him, or, in the Scripture phrase, draw near to him, appear before him, and carry on a spiritual intercourse with him. [220]As God had been so gracious as to establish means through which His people might commune with Him, it followed that true believers delighted in such means as prayer, hearing and meditating on Scripture, and taking the Lord’s Supper. Such means were not only duties but “privileges; exalted and delightful privileges, which sweeten their pilgrimage through this wilderness, and sometimes transform it into a paradise.” [221] Davies believed that one’s disposition toward the means of grace was a necessary indicator of their interest in Christ and their assurance of salvation. Those people who neglected the public assembly, maintained “prayerless closets” and “prayerless families,” and avoided the daily practice of devotion had no basis to claim to love God, nor could they have any assurance of saving faith. [222] Rather, every genuine believer could testify with King David of their soul’s insatiable thirst for God (cf. Ps. 42:1-2) and sought to satisfy this thirst in the ever-flowing fountain of God’s presence through the habitual practice of various means. [223]
Conclusion
For Samuel Davies, Christians maintained communion with God through the diligent spiritual activities such as reading and meditating upon Scripture, prayer, fasting, and Sabbath keeping. Davies stood in a long Christian tradition which emphasized the use of means in pursuing godliness (cf. 1 Tim. 4:7). Though such exercises did not make one a Christian; they were simultaneously preparatory to and essential for the Christian life. Sinners were to read Scripture and pray that they might be converted. Christians used such disciplines to maintain vital communion with God. Some disciplines, such as the Lord’s Supper, were reserved exclusively for believers, while others, like the Sabbath, were intended for all members of society. Davies himself practiced the disciplines he enjoined upon his congregants, believing that through such means he, and they, could draw near to God.
Notes
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Love to God and Christ Opened and Enforced,” in Sermons by the Rev. Samuel Davies, A.M. President of the College of New Jersey, vol. 2 (Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1993), 464. This work will be henceforth cited as Sermons.
- D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones, Knowing the Times: Addresses Delivered on Various Occasions 1942-1977 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1989), 263. The standard biography of Davies is that of George William Pilcher, Samuel Davies: Apostle of Dissent in Colonial Virginia (Knoxville: The University of Tennessee Press, 1971). See also George William Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad: The Diary of a Journey to England and Scotland, 1753-55 (Urbana, Ill.: University of Illinois Press, 1967). Although Pilcher’s work is the standard monograph, the best biography is that of George H. Bost, “Samuel Davies: Colonial Revivalist and Champion of Religious Toleration” (Ph.D. diss., The University of Chicago, 1942). Other noteworthy biographical treatments include Iain H. Murray, Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858 (Edinburgh: The Banner of Truth Trust, 1994), 3-31; John B. Frantz, “Davies, Samuel,” in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography: From the Earliest Times to the Year 2000, ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison, vol. 15 (New York: Oxford University Press, 2004), 405-6; Mark A. Noll, “Davies, Samuel,” in Biographical Dictionary of Evangelicals, ed. Timothy Larsen (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 181-83, and “Davies, Samuel,” in American National Biography, ed. John A. Garraty and Mark C. Carnes, vol. 6 (New York: Oxford University Press, 1999), 159-61; and Ernest Trice Thompson, Presbyterians in the South, Volume One: 1607-1861 (Richmond, Va.: John Knox Press, 1963), 52-61.
- In a letter to Joseph Bellamy, Davies indicated that his pastoral ministry, specifically his work for the conversion of sinners, was grounded in the pattern of his Puritan forbearers. Samuel Davies, The State of Religion among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia; In a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Bellamy, or Bethlehem, in New-England: From the Reverend Mr. Samuel Davies, V. D. M. in Hanover County, Virginia (Boston, Mass.: S. Kneeland, 1751), 25.
- Simon K. H. Chan, “The Puritan Meditative Tradition, 1599-1691: A Study of Ascetical Piety” (Ph.D. diss., Cambridge, 1986), 9.
- Chan, “Puritan Meditative Tradition,” 14.
- Chan, “Puritan Meditative Tradition,” 14.
- Michael A. G. Haykin, “‘Draw Nigh unto My Soul’: English Baptist Piety and the Means of Grace in the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Century,” in The Southern Baptist Journal of Theology 10, no. 4 (2006): 54.
- Charles E. Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety: Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), 136-93.
- Richard F. Lovelace, The American Pietism of Cotton Mather: Origins of American Evangelicalism (Eugene, Ore.: Wipf and Stock, 1979), 110-45.
- Kyle Strobel, Formed for the Glory of God: Learning from the Spiritual Practices of Jonathan Edwards (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2013), 83. See also Donald Stephen Whitney, “Finding God in Solitude: The Personal Piety of Jonathan Edwards (1703-1758) and its Influence on his Pastoral Ministry” (Ph.D. diss., University of the Free State, 2013), 163-207.
- Jonathan Dickinson, Familiar Letters upon a Variety of Religious Subjects, 4th ed. (Glasgow: John Bryce, 1775), 349-68.
- Leonard J. Trinterud, The Forming of an American Tradition: A Re-Examination of Colonial Presbyterianism (Philadelphia: The Westminster Press, 1949), 179.
- Westminster Confession of Faith (WCF), 21.1.
- WCF, 21.3.
- WCF, 21.4 and 6.
- WCF, 21.7-8.
- Directory for the Publick Worship of God (DPW), Of the Publick Prayer before the Sermon, Of Prayer after the Sermon, Of the Administration of the Sacraments, The Solemnization of Marriage, Concerning Visitation of the Sick, and Concerning Burial of the Dead.
- DPW, Concerning Publick Solemn Fasting, and Of the Sanctification of the Lord’s Day.
- Directory for Family Worship (DFW), 1.
- DFW, 2.
- DFW, 8.
- DFW, 9.
- Samuel Davies, “The Sacred Import of the Christian Name,” in Sermons, 1:348.
- Davies, “Sacred Import,” in Sermons, 1:348.
- Samuel Davies, “The Tender Anxieties of Ministers for their People,” in Sermons, 2:413.
- Samuel Davies, “A Sermon on the New Year,” in Sermons, 2:207.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Love to God and Christ Opened and Enforced,” in Sermons, 2:464; and idem., “Christians Solemnly Reminded of their Obligations,” in Sermons, 3:608.
- George William Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad: The Diary of a Journey to England and Scotland, 1753-55 (Urbana: University of Illinois Press, 1967).
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 34. Mr. Rodgers was John Rodgers (1727– 1811), a close ministerial friend of Davies. “Chara,” from the Greek for “ joy,” was Davies’s nickname for his wife.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 7.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 9.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 12.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 15.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 16.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 29.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 144.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 30.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 32.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 48.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 44.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 60.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 83 and 113.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 118.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 123. For Frost’s biography, see John Browne, History of Congregationalism and Memorials of the Churches in Norfolk and Suffolk (London: Jarrold and Sons, 1877), 246.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 125.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Love to God and Christ Opened and Enforced,” in Sermons, 2:463.
- Samuel Davies, “The Danger of Lukewarmness in Religion,” in Sermons, 1:421.
- Davies, “Danger of Lukewarmness,” in Sermons, 1:422.
- Davies, “Danger of Lukewarmness,” in Sermons, 1:415.
- Samuel Davies, “Poor and Contrite Spirits the Objects of Divine Favour,” in Sermons, 1:222.
- Samuel Davies, “The Name of God Proclaimed by Himself,” in Sermons, 1:442.
- Samuel Davies, “Ingratitude to God and Heinous but General Iniquity,” in Sermons, 1:653.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature and Blessedness of Sonship with God,” in Sermons, 2:180-81.
- Davies, “Sonship with God,” in Sermons, 2:181.
- Samuel Davies, “Christ Precious to all True Believers,” in Sermons, 1:386.
- Davies, “Christ Precious,” in Sermons, 1:386.
- Davies, “Christ Precious,” in Sermons, 1:387.
- Davies, “Christ Precious,” in Sermons, 1:387-88.
- Davies, “Christ Precious,” in Sermons, 1:402. See also Samuel Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:154-55.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Looking to Christ Opened and Explained,” in Sermons, 2:344.
- Davies, “Looking to Christ,” in Sermons, 2:345.
- See, for example, Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Love to God and Christ Opened and Enforced,” in Sermons, 2:479-80; “The Crisis, or The Uncertain Doom of Kingdoms at Particular Times,” in Sermons, 3:145; and “Serious Reflections on War,” in Sermons, 3:301.
- Samuel Davies, “The Success of the Ministry Owing to a Divine Influence,” in Sermons, 3:22-23. Elsewhere, describing the seriousness with which Christians were to seek eternal life, Davies appears to have taken Romans 8:26 to apply to Christians, when he stated that Christians are those who “pray with unutterable groans.” In Roman 8:26, it is the Spirit, not believers, who prays with unutterable groans on behalf of believers. See Samuel Davies, “Saints Saved with Difficulty and the Certain Perdition of Sinners,” in Sermons, 1:591.
- Samuel Davies, “The Mediatorial Kingdom and the Glories of Jesus Christ,” in Sermons, 1:303.
- Davies, “Mediatorial Kingdom,” in Sermons, 1:303.
- Davies, “Mediatorial Kingdom,” in Sermons, 1:303-4.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature and Universality of Spiritual Death,” in Sermons, 1:183.
- Davies, “Spiritual Death,” in Sermons, 1:183.
- Davies, “Spiritual Death,” in Sermons, 1:183.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature and Process of Spiritual Life,” in Sermons, 1:208.
- Samuel Davies, “The Divine Government the Joy of our World,” in Sermons, 1:437. The concept of praying for the conversion of the nations is not as frequent in Davies’s published works as it was for his contemporary, Jonathan Edwards. Perhaps this paucity of references indicates that the subject was not often one he considered, or perhaps it is due to the fact that only a fraction of Davies’s sermons have survived.
- Davies appended a note to his sermon that March 5, 1755 was “a day of fasting and prayer.” See Samuel Davies, “God the Sovereign of All Kingdoms,” in Sermons, 3:329.
- Davies, “God the Sovereign,” in Sermons, 3:350-51.
- For an excellent survey of the development of public fasts in New England, the best study is still that of W. DeLoss Love, The Fast and Thanksgiving Days of New England (Boston: The University Press, 1895). See also Harry S. Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial New England, 25th anniv. ed. (New York: Oxford University Press, 2012), 27-31 and 77-78.
- Stout, New England Soul, 27.
- Love, Fast and Thanksgiving Days, 299-304.
- Love, Fast and Thanksgiving Days, 304. With regard to Anglicanism, Davies himself observed that the Anglican calendar included no less than ninety-five stated fast days. See Samuel Davies, “A Christmas-Day Sermon,” in Sermons, 3:570.
- Davies, “God the Sovereign,” in Sermons, 3:329 captured the earliest fast day of this period, occurring in the spring of 1755. See also Samuel Davies, “Serious Reflections on War,” in Sermons, 3:280, which was both a New Year’s sermon and a fast-day sermon for January 1, 1757, called by the Presbytery of Hanover. Finally, see Samuel Davies, “The Crisis, or the Uncertain Doom of Kingdoms at Particular Times,” in Sermons, 3:120, for a fast-day sermon called by the Synod of New York for October 28, 1756. Unlike New England, where government-sponsored fasts were more common, two of the three fasts Davies mentioned were called by Presbyterian leaders rather than civil magistrates.
- Stout, New England Soul, 27-28.
- Davies, “God the Sovereign,” in Sermons, 3:351.
- Samuel Davies, “On the Defeat of General Braddock, Going to Fort Duquesne,” Sermons, 3:320.
- Samuel Davies, “The Law and Gospel,” in Sermons, 2:614-15.
- Samuel Davies, “The Nature of Justification and of Faith in it,” in Sermons, 2:656.
- Samuel Davies, “Evidences of the Want of Love to God,” in Sermons, 3:466.
- Samuel Davies, “The Vessels of Mercy and the Vessels of Wrath Delineated,” in Sermons, 2:372.
- Samuel Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded of their Obligations,” in Sermons, 3:591.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:592.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:592-93.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:593.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:595.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:595.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:597.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:597.
- Samuel Davies, “Dedication to God Argued from Redeeming Mercy,” in Sermons, 2:118.
- Samuel Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:141.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:143.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:144.
- Samuel Davies, “A Sight of Christ the Desire and Delight of Saints in All Ages,” in Sermons, 2:593.
- Samuel Davies, “The Divine Perfections Illustrated in the Method of Salvation through the Sufferings of Christ,” in Sermons, 2:272.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:145.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:145-49.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:153.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:154-55.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:156.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:157.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:166.
- Davies, “Dedication to God,” in Sermons, 2:132.
- Davies, “The Christian Feast,” in Sermons, 2:167-68.
- Davies, “Dedication to God,” in Sermons, 2:138.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 129-30.
- DFW, Preface.
- DFW, 2.
- Samuel Davies, “The Tender Anxieties of Ministers for their People,” in Sermons, 412-13.
- Samuel Davies, “The Necessity and Excellence of Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:74-98.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:75-77.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:77.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:78.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:80.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:81-82.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:83-84.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:84.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:85.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:86.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:86.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:86.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:88.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:88-89.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:89.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:90.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:91.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:92.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:92.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:92.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:93-95.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:95-96.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:96.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:97.
- Davies, “Family Religion,” in Sermons, 2:97-98.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:604.
- Davies, “Christians Solemnly Reminded,” in Sermons, 3:604. On Philip Henry, see Matthew Henry, An Account of the Life and Death of Mr. Philip Henry, Minister of the Gospel, near Whitchurch in Shropshire (London: Angel in the Poultry, 1712).
- Samuel Davies, “Saints Saved with Difficulty, and the Certain Perdition of Sinners,” in Sermons, 1:588.
- Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 96.
- Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 97.
- Thomas Shepard, Theses Sabbaticae: Or, the Doctrine of the Sabbath, in The Works of Thomas Shepard, vol. 3 (Boston: Doctrinal Tract and Book Society, 1853; Repr. New York: AMS Press, 1967), 7-271.
- Shepard, Theses Sabbaticae, in Works, 3:13.
- Shepard, Theses Sabbaticae, in Works, 3:14-15.
- Lovelace, American Pietism, 132.
- WCF, 21:7.
- Shepard, Theses Sabbaticae, in Works, 3:204-05; WCF, 21.7.
- Justo L. González, The Story of Christianity, Vol. 2, The Reformation to the Present Day (San Francisco: Harper San Francisco, 1985), 219.
- Rhys Isaac, The Transformation of Virginia: 1740-1790 (Chapel Hill: University of North Carolina Press, 1982), 68.
- Samuel Davies, “Law and Gospel,” in Sermons, 2:607.
- Davies, “A Christmas-Day Sermon,” in Sermons, 3:564.
- Samuel Davies, “The One Thing Needful,” in Sermons, 1:571.
- Samuel Davies, “Saints Saved with Difficulty, and the Certain Perdition of Sinners,” in Sermons, 1:587 and Samuel Davies, “The Certainty of Death; A Funeral Sermon,” in Sermons, 3:439. See also Samuel Davies, “The Vessels of Mercy and the Vessels of Wrath Delineated,” in Sermons, 2:372-73.
- Samuel Davies, “The Guilt and Doom of Impenitent Hearers,” in Sermons, 3:628-29.
- Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 186.
- Thomas Shepherd, “The Journal,” in God’s Plot: Puritan Spirituality in Thomas Shepard’s Cambridge, rev. ed., ed. Michael McGiffert (Amherst, Mass.: University of Massachusetts Press, 1994), 81-134. See also Michael Wigglesworth, The Diary of Michael Wigglesworth, 1653-1657, ed. Edmund S. Morgan (New York: Harper and Row, 1946).
- Cotton Mather, Diary of Cotton Mather, 1681-1708, vol. 7 of Massachusetts Historical Society Collections (Boston: Massachusetts Historical Society, 1911). On Mather’s use of the genre for tracking his spiritual growth, see Richard Franz Lovelace, “Christian Experience in the Theology of Cotton Mather” (Th.D. diss., Princeton Theological Seminary, 1968), 87, n. 2.
- For the diary and resolutions, see Jonathan Edwards, Letters and Personal Writings, ed. George S. Claghorn, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 16 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1998).
- George Whitefield, George Whitefield’s Journals (London: Banner of Truth, 1960). See also John Wesley, Journal and Diaries, ed. W. Reginald Ward and Richard P. Heitzenrater, vols. 18-24 of The Works of John Wesley (Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1992). Shortly after his conversion in 1736, George Whitefield began keeping a private diary to mark his spiritual progress. According to Thomas Kidd, to whom I am indebted for sharing this information, this diary was clearly not intended for public viewing.
- Jonathan Edwards, The Life of David Brainerd, ed. Norman Pettit, in The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 7 (New Haven: Yale University Press, 19), vii. Donald Whitney has noted that Edwards referred to his own personal account as a “diary,” as well as the private account that Brainerd maintained, using “journal” to refer to an intentionally public document, with some exceptions. See Whitney, “Piety of Jonathan Edwards,” 179-80.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 2.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 2-8.
- See Samuel Davies, Sermons on Important Subjects, By the Late Reverend and Pious Samuel Davies, A. M., Sometime President of the College of New Jersey, 3 vols. (New York: T. Allen, 1792), i (unnumbered). In the preface to the 1792 edition of Davies’s sermons, Thomas Gibbons, dissenting preacher in London and one of Davies’s key correspondents, excerpted a letter Davies had sent in 1757: “I want to live after I am dead, not in name, but in public usefulness: I was therefore about to order in my will that all my notes, which are tolerably full, might be sent to you to correct and publish such of them as you might judge conducive to the public good” (i).
- For the minutes of the trustees and their correspondence with Davies, see John Maclean, History of the College of New Jersey, from its origins in 1746 to the Commencement of 1854, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Penn.: J. B. Lippincott and Company, 1877), 198-218.
- While Davies’s desire to maintain a record of his trip and God’s dealings seems to have been his primary motivation, it is likely that he may have preserved the detailed records of his visits and funds raised as a log for the trustees for the College of New Jersey, should questions have ever been raised about how he spent his time and efforts abroad.
- “Preached a Sermon in the Morning from Isai. 66.1,2. and thro’ the great Mercy of God, my Heart was passionately affected with the Subject.” See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 19.
- “Preached at Mr. Finley’s on Deut. 10, -13. a Sermon which I preached in Hanover with great Satisfaction and Prospect of Success; but alas! I have lost that Spirit with which it was first delivered.” See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 10.
- “Heard Mr. Rodgers preach a very good Sermon…and my Mind was deeply impressed.” See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 25.
- See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 26, 30, and 32 representatively.
- See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 20, 28, 32, 33, among many others.
- See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 21, 31, 33, 39-40, 109, 135, among others. Davies recorded at least twenty books, sermons, or treatises that he read during his travels, mostly during his time at sea, but also during his horseback travels on land (109). His reading tastes varied widely from travel journals (33-36) to sermons (31, 34, 60) to novels by Daniel Defoe (1660-1731) (39) and a biography of Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658) (109).
- See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 24-25, 26-27, 28, and 143, representatively. See also Hambrick-Stowe, Practice of Piety, 186-87, for a discussion of the place of poetic and meditative works in Puritan personal writings.
- See William Maxwell, A Memoir of the Rev. John H. Rice, D.D. (Philadelphia: J. Whetham, 1835).
- Maxwell, Memoir, 2.
- Maxwell, Memoir, 139-40.
- John Holt Rice, ed., “Memoir of the Reverend Samuel Davies,” The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine, 2 (1819): 112-19, 186-88, 201-17, 329-35, 353-63, 474-79, and 560-67. These extracts appeared in volume 2 of the magazine, not volume 1, as Pilcher referenced them. See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, xv.
- See Samuel Davies, Memoir of the Rev. Samuel Davies, Formerly President of the College of New Jersey, rev. ed. (Boston: Massachusetts Sabbath School Union, 1832). This Memoir is simply a reprinting of the material from Rice’s magazine. See also William Henry Foote, Sketches of Virginia: Historical and Biographical, vol. 1 (Philadelphia, Penn.: William S. Martien, 1850), 227-81.
- See Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, xii-iii, for a discussion of the transmission of the journal.
- Samuel Davies, letter to unspecified recipient, in “Letters of Samuel Davies,” The Virginia Evangelical and Literary Magazine, 2 (1819): 539.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 540.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 540-41.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 541.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 541.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 541-42.
- Davies, “Letters of Samuel Davies,” 542.
- For an overview of Rodgers’s life and ministry, see Harris Elwood Starr, “Rodgers, John” in Dictionary of American Biography, vol. 16, ed. Dumas Malone (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1943), 74-75. Samuel Blair had trained both Davies and Rodgers for ministry and they had been ordained less than a year apart and had both sought licensure from the Anglican authorities in Virginia in 1747, but when Rodgers’s request was denied, he settled in Delaware. So close were these friends that Davies named a son John Rodgers Davies.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 21-22.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 25.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 26.
- Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 28.
- See, representatively, Pilcher, Samuel Davies Abroad, 30, 32, and 38.
- Samuel Davies, The State of Religion among the Protestant Dissenters in Virginia; In a Letter to the Rev. Mr. Joseph Bellamy, of Bethlehem, in New-England: from the Reverend Mr. Samuel Davies, V. D. M. in Hanover County, Virginia (Boston: S. Kneeland, 1751), 4.
- Davies, State of Religion, 4.
- For an accessible contemporary edition, see Johann Arndt, True Christianity, trans. Peter Erb (Mahwah, N.J.: Paulist Press, 1979).
- See Philip Jacob Spener, Pia Desideria, trans. Theodore G. Tappert (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 1964), 89-91. Spener’s name is spelled variously as “Philipp” or “Philip.” Regarding Spener’s influence upon early Evangelicalism, see Mark A. Noll, The Rise of Evangelicalism: The Age of Edwards, Whitefield and the Wesleys (Downers Grove, Ill.: InterVarsity Press, 2003), 17-18, 61-63.
- Spener, Pia Desideria, 89-90.
- See Noll, Rise of Evangelicalism, 160. See also William Williams, The Experience Meeting: An Introduction to the Welsh Societies of the Evangelical Awakening, trans. Bethan Lloyd-Jones (London: Evangelical Press, 1973; repr. Vancouver: Regent College Publishing, 2003).
- See Samuel Davies, “The Crisis, or the Uncertain Doom of Kingdoms at Particular Times,” in Sermons, 3:145.; and idem., “The Signs of the Times,” in Sermons, 3:201. In these sermons, Davies urged his hearers to gather in societies specifically for the purpose of praying that God would pour out His Holy Spirit upon Virginia. In 1747, Jonathan Edwards published his An Humble Attempt, a treatise that called Christians to unite in concerts of prayer for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. See Jonathan Edwards, An Humble Attempt to Promote Explicit Agreement and Visible Union of God’s People in Extraordinary Prayer for the Revival of Religion and the Advancement of Christ’s Kingdom on Earth, pursuant to Scripture-Promises and Prophecies concerning the last Time, in Apocalyptic Writings, ed. Stephen J. Stein, vol. 5 of The Works of Jonathan Edwards (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1977), 309-436. Was Davies following Edwards’s advice and call to establish such prayer meetings?
- Samuel Davies, “The Objects, Grounds, and Evidences of the Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:474.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:478-84.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:484-85.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:485.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:486.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:486-88.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:489.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:489.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:490.
- Davies, “Hope of the Righteous,” in Sermons, 3:492.
- WCF, 18.1.
- WCF, 18.2.
- WCF, 18.3.
- WCF, 18.4.
- Davies, “Evidences of Want,” in Sermons, 3:467.
- Davies, “Evidences of Want,” in Sermons, 3:467.
- Davies, “Evidences of Want,” in Sermons, 3:467.
- Davies, “Evidences of Want,” in Sermons, 3:467-68.
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