the royal family, and many of the nobility of the realm. It is further said, that while Mr. D. was preaching, the King was seen speaking at different times to those around him, who were seen also to smile. Mr. Davies observed it, and was shocked at what he thought was irreverence in the house of God, that was utterly inexcusable in one whose example might have such influence. After pausing and looking sternly in that direction several times, the preacher proceeded in his discourse, when the same offensive behavior was still observed. The American dissenter is said then to have exclaimed, 'When the lion roars, the beasts of the forest all tremble; and when King Jesus speaks, the princes of the earth should keep silence.' The King is said to have given a significant, but courteous bow to the preacher, and sat very composedly and reverently during the rest of the service. If this be a correct statement of the fact that took place, it speaks louder than anything that has yet been said in praise of Mr. Davies' promptness, intrepidity, and solemn self-possession while engaged in delivering God's messages to his perishing fellow-men. Whatever authority Mr. Davies' friends had for narrating this story is not now known, but it was universally be lieved among them to have occurred.

"The explanation given of this strange affair is this. The King is said to have been so enraptured with Mr. Davies' solemn and impressive manner and eloquence, that he was constrained repeatedly to express his astonishment and applause to those around him, and felt anything else but irreverence upon the oc casion. He was so delighted with him, that he sent him an invitation to call upon him at a given time, which interview unquestionably did take place, and was repeated more than once; after which, and the explanations which were given, Mr. Davies was delighted with his Majesty, and not only received a handsome donation from him for the college whose cause he was advocating, but was led to form a most exalted opinion of George II. ever afterwards, as may be learned from a funeral sermon he preached upon his death and character."

The following account by Dr. Hill, will furnish an interesting and useful account of "the style and manner of Mr. Davies'

preaching; the effects produced; and the influence which he acquired.

"Mr. Davies possessed naturally every qualification, both of body and mind, to make him an accomplished orator, and fit him for the pulpit. His frame was tall, well-proportioned, erect, and comely ;-his port and carriage were easy, graceful, manly, and dignified; his voice clear, loud, distinct, melodious, and wellmodulated; and his natural genius was strong and masculine; his understanding clear; his memory retentive; his invention quick; his imagination sprightly and florid, his thoughts sublime; and his language elegant, strong and expressive. His temper or disposition was naturally modest, diffident, and retir ing; but when roused by difficulties, or strongly urged by a sense of duty, he was, from a consciousness of his mental resources, enterprising, bold, and fearless. He was remarkably neat and tasteful in his dress, and dignified and polite in his manners. A distinguished character of the day, in seeing him walk through a court-yard once, said, 'he looked like the ambassador of some great king.'

"Mr. Davies wrote and prepared his sermons with great care; this he was enabled to do, notwithstanding the great and multiplied pastoral duties which he had to perform, from the fact that he had so many places of preaching, and that they were so wide apart, that one sermon could be preached throughout his extensive range, without much danger of any of his hearers having heard the same discourse twice. His common practice was to take his manuscripts with him into the pulpit, and make more or less use of them in delivering his discourses. But his memory was such, and the frequent use he was permitted to make of the same sermon rendered it so familiar, that he was never trammeled in his delivery. Though this was his common practice, yet he would sometimes extemporize to very happy effect. One of his confidential elders once said to him- Mr. Davies, how is it, that you, who are so well informed upon all theological subjects, and can express yourself with so much ease and readiness, upon any subject, and in any company, and have language so at your command, should think it necessary to prepare and write your sermons with so much care, and take your notes into the pulpit, and make such constant use of them? Why do you not,

like many other preachers, oftener preach extempore?' Mr. Davies' reply was this:-'I always thought it to be a most awful thing to go into the pulpit and there speak nonsense in the name of God. Besides, when I have an opportunity of preparing, and neglect to do so, I am afraid to look up to God for assistance, for that would be to ask him to countenance my negligence. But when I am evidently called upon to preach, and have had no opportunity to make suitable preparation, if I see it clearly to be my duty, I am not afraid to try to preach extempore, and I can with confidence look up to God for assistance.'

"No one can be at a loss to know what was the style of Mr. Davies' preaching, who has ever read his printed sermons, for they are verbatim, as he delivered them, and no doubt were printed from the very manuscripts which he used in the pulpit. It should not be thought wonderful, if such sermons, accompanied with his dignified appearance-appropriate gestures-clear, well modulated, and melodious voice, should have interested the people, and insured him overwhelming congregations. His preaching was intelligible and attractive to people of every class and condition-the high and the low, the rich and the poor. He had an unusual popularity among the poor illiterate slaves; took great pains with them, and spent much time in having them taught to read, and furnishing them with Bibles and hymn books, and other suitable books. When he left Virginia, it is probable his colored communicants were more numerous than the white. The writer of this has known many of his black members, and they have always been esteemed by their masters as servants of a superior order; which secured to them not only the friendship and confidence of their owners, but treatment more like Christian brethren than slaves.

"Mr. Davies, in his letters to Mr. Bellamy and others, speaks very discouragingly of his success, especially as contrasted with the effects produced before his arrival, by the four days' preaching of Mr. Robinson; but he evidently does not do himself justice by such remarks and comparisons. Mr. Robinson's labors were all employed at one place, in Hanover, among the same people, and without any intermission. It is natural, therefore, without overlooking the supernatural aids of divine grace, to expect that instrumentalities, thus employed, should produce more

visible effects than if the same means had been spread over as many different counties, among different sets of hearers, and with considerable intervals of time between the sermons. The fruits of Mr. Robinson's labors were visible at once, but upon a very limited scale, compared with the extensive field over which Mr. Davies had not only to scatter the seed, but to prepare the soil by subduing the thoms and noxious weeds. No doubt much of Mr. Davies' work was lost, because he had always to hurry away to some other part of his extensive bounds. Those that came after Mr. Davies, were better able to judge of his usefulness than he was himself at the time. There was no remarkable revival of religion during his ministry, but there was a gradual increase, and a growing and deepening impression of the necessity and importance of religion. If he could have devoted his labors, and concentrated his energies, upon a smaller field, no doubt there would have been more visible fruits seen; but whether he did not perform a greater and better work, by preparing an extensive field for many laborers to come after and gather the fruits, is a question of no easy solution. Mr. Davies was but the pioneer for Presbyterianism and vital piety in Virginia; and his mysterious and speedy removal to another sphere, just as his prospects in Virginia began to brighten, has to many appeared of very questionable propriety."

Mr. Davies continued in the field of labor in Virginia, until he was elected to the Presidency of the College of New Jersey, in the year 1759. He was chosen to succeed President Edwards. President Burr died in September, 1757; President Edwards was elected soon after, but was not inducted into office until February, 1758, and died in the March following. Mr. Davies was inaugurated as President in July, 1759, and continued in the office until his death, on the 4th of February, 1761. He "preached his farewell sermon to his people, June 1st, 1759. The effect produced upon the minds of his people can neither be conceived nor expressed. Despondency and gloom hung over the whole assembly, and the distress and surprise with many were too great to admit of the relief which a flood of tears might afford. The consternation was nearly as great with the Presbytery, for a paralyzing discouragement seemed to have possessed all in Vir

ginia who were concerned in this matter; after which everything of a religious nature seemed to decline. Ichabod seemed to be written, not only on his own congregation, but on the entire Presbytery; from which it has hardly ever recovered since. His congregation in Hanover began at once to dwindle away by death, but more frequently by removals to the upper counties, where the soil and climate were more inviting. Perhaps God saw it was necessary; for if ever a people were guilty of manworship, they were; and sorely did they pay for it."-DR. HILL.

It is as a preacher, particularly, that it is proper to contemplate him in an "Introduction" to his Sermons; and all that is needful, therefore, to say of his character as the President of a College, is, that he equalled the most sanguine expectations of his friends; and that, at his death, he left the College in as high a state of literary merit as it had ever been in since its first institution. A more full account of his efforts to benefit the College, and of his success, may be found in the Appendix to Dr. Green's "Discourses, delivered in the College of New Jersey, addressed chiefly to candidates for the first degree in the arts." Pp. 350-355. He died from an inflammatory fever, after an illness of two days, which was supposed to have been caused mainly by his having been unskilfully bled. His death was probably hastened, as he had been predisposed to disease, by his unremitting application to study, and to the duties of his office. His previous situation had afforded little leisure, and comparatively few means, for the cultivation of general science. To qualify himself for his new station, therefore, his application to study became intense and unremitted. This fact, and the fact that during his residence in Princeton, he had almost wholly neglected the exercise to which he had been accustomed in Virginia, contributed to render the disease incurable. During his brief illness, the violence of the disease was such as almost wholly to deprive him of the exercise of reason.

66

"His faltering tongue was, however, continually uttering some expedient to promote the prosperity of the Church of Christ, and the good of mankind."

His remains lie in the churchyard in Princeton, by the side of Presidents Burr, Edwards, Finley, and Witherspoon. The following inscription is recorded on the stone which marks his

grave:-