THEIR AUTHOES AND ORIGIN. 181
valued that on his departure the people wished to make him a present of money. This he refused to receive, but they were so determined in their expression of gratitude that they put the money in his saddle-bags. At length he accepted the money, and determined to devote it to the training of young Davies ; who, after receiving his education, went to labour in the same district.
He was licensed in 1745, by the Presbytery of Newcastle, as a probationer for the ministry of the Gospel, and in 1747, he went to pursue his work in Virginia. He preached in " Morris Reading Eoom," and in several other licensed places. But the enemies of the good cause tried to stop a course of operations that they deemed irregular ; and the important question whether the "Toleration Act" extended to Virginia had to be tried. Davies maintained his own case so successfully as to astonish his adversaries and to gain his cause. Notwithstanding his feeble state of health, he preached from place to place with great fervour ; and he took a deep interest in the negroes, amongst whom he introduced religious books, and especially "Watts Psalms," which they valued very much.
In 1753, Mr. Davies was appointed by the trustees of the College of New Jersey to visit England with Gilbert Tennent, to solicit donations for the college. He was absent from America about eighteen months, serving the college and making the acquaintance of some of the leading divines of that day in England. In the year 1753 he received the degree of M.A., and in the year 1759 he was appointed to succeed the cele brated President, Jonathan Edwards, as President of New Jersey (Presbyterian) College, Princetown. But he was not long spared to fill this responsible position. He died on the 4th of February, 1761, aged only thirty-six. He had commenced the year by preaching on the words, " This year thou shalt die." He was a very earnest and evangelical divine. His sermons were not only listened to with interest, but in print were exceedingly popular, and had a large sale. Some of them were published during his
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