Davies believed that one’s indispensable duty as a citizen was to, if necessary, “take the field” in defense of his nation. He was not speaking metaphorically, nor was he understood as such: “a company of colonists with rifles at the ready enlisted” on hearing Davies’ exhortation.³ Soon after Davies preached a sermon on the phrase “Be of good courage, and let us play the man for our people” from 2 Samuel 10:12 in order to encourage the men from his congregation to follow through with their duty.⁴

In 1754 George Washington, then a young Lieutenant Colonel in charge of a regiment of troops from Virginia, attacked a small French force at Jumonville Glen, in what is today southwest Pennsylvania. The French contingent was nearly wiped out, being caught unawares by the combined Virginian and Iroquois force. Though tensions between England and France had been increasing for some time, many historians mark this battle as the beginning of the French and Indian War (Seven Years War). Washington was initially blamed for an unjust massacre of French troops, and for igniting the war, but his reputation had improved dramatically by the next year, largely on account of his skill and bravery in the subsequent battles at Fort Necessity and Fort Monongahela. On hearing of Washington’s bravery, Samuel Davies, a Presbyterian minister and fellow Virginian, remarked, in what proved to be an amazingly prescient intuition: “I cannot but hope Providence has hitherto preserved [him] in so signal a manner for some important service to his country.”1

Davies, born in Delaware in 1723, would go on to serve for many years as a minister, and eventually as the fourth president of The College of New Jersey (later renamed Princeton), following the death of Jonathan Edwards, the third president of the college. As a pastor and theological college administrator, Davies was one of the primary influences on early American Presbyterianism, the College of New Jersey being the only training institution for colonial American Presbyterian ministers at that time.²

The details of Davies’ storied life are all worth recounting, but I want to draw attention to one specific aspect, the way in which he combined a robust form of early American patriotism (one might even say nationalism) with an equally robust pastoral ministry, focused with passionate intensity on the centrality of Christ’s saving work, and a heavenly-minded piety centered on the excellencies of the Savior. American Presbyterians of previous generations, along with members of many other denominations, did not find it nearly as difficult to hold these two things together as have many of their more recent theological heirs.

Davies ministered to multiple congregations on the northwestern border of colonial Virginia, preaching as many as five times every Lord’s Day to widely scattered churches. This area was under constant threat from French and Indian attack. What message did Davies think his congregations needed to hear? The answer might surprise many. In a “war sermon” preached in Hanover, VA on July 25^th, 1755 Davies urged his flock:

Let me earnestly recommend to you to furnish yourselves with arms and put yourselves into a position of defense. What is that religion good for that leaves men cowards on the appearance of danger? And permit me to say that I am particularly solicitous that you, my brothers of the dissenters [from the established Anglican church] should act with honor and spirit in this juncture, as it becomes loyal subjects, lovers of your country, and courageous Christians.

One could imagine a form of counsel that would simply urge his flock to trust the Lord and not fear for the future, but Davies is not in the least interested in opposing piety and action in the world. He finds, as he says in his sermon, such an opposition, in the face of grave earthly danger, to amount to cowardice, not heavenly-mindedness.

Read More