Greatest Emancipationist? aroina inister

vis much embarrassment,
Idre
ew Bethel in North Carolina.
SERVED AS MISSIONARY
From 1803 to 1807, the Rev. Mr.j
Davis worked as a missionary
among the Catawba Indians but
little information is available on]
this phase of his life.
/
»
1809 his Gospel
printed 111 Pllllaflelphia 29 days!
before Lincoln's birth. He was call
ed
to trial then by the national)
ly
preaching,
too, at North Paco
legend Into historical fact from
By KAYS GARY
General Assembly for his convic
Observer Staff Writer
scattered books more than a cen let.
In 1792 he was dismissed from tions but refused to be tried until!
Abraham Lincoln was not Amen- tury old. He obtained it from sev
eral book* written by the theolo Milford and Nazareth for daring specific charges were drawn. Asl
|ca's greatest enemy of slavery
The greatest emancipationist of gian himself and by collaborating to insist upon the .singing of Watts opinion pressed upon him he beat!
the defrocking by withdrawing!
vith others interested in the same Psalms and Hymns.
[them all was not an Easterner.
He was a Carolinian.
history.
It is recorded that one old from the Presbytery and on Oct.
DIED A LONELY MAN
The obvious reason that the Rev.
church member became so hot 1810, wrote "Davis Declaration
IWilliam Cummins Davis never
Davis wk» born somewhere under the collar about the "sinful" 1 Independence.'*
{achieved national Immortality 30 along the inter-Carolina border singing that he started to leave He set up an Independent Bresyears before Lincoln was born il| Dec. IS, 1760. He died a lonely his pew just as the Rev. Mr, Davisi bytery at Bullock's Creek, con
I that he fought his battle alone.
man Sept. 28, 1S31 while serving opened the hymn with the lines.' tinued his work in low North Car
This Presbyterian minister wal as pastor ef the Beth-Shiloh Church "So drive the old dragon from his olina and upper South Carolina,
lore dedicated to rne proposition located between Charlotte and lair and with him all his crew . . ." organized Bclh. - Shilnh between
This was the first time the Charlotte and York in 1830 and in
{that all men are created free and York. A recent pastor oi Beth
equal than the man who wrote the Sbiloh, the Rev. C. H. Howan, lo young minister was called before 1831 died suddenly after preach
i words.
cated Davis' grave and that of the national General Assembly in ing on the text, "For lo I Stand
The Rev. Mr. Davis. it must be his wife in York's Rose Hill ceme Philadelphia to answer for his sup at the door and knock."
[understood, fought against mem tery just outside the gate on the posed transgression upon accept
But the door upon which the Rev.
jbers of his ongregation, bis com left and the inscription on the ed forms of worship.
Mr. Davis had so long bruised his
munity, his state, his national headstone reads:
The Rev. Mr. Davis also preach knuckles was not to open until .13
church and his entire country when
"I leave the earth without a
ed at Carmel and the Old Stone years later and then it was to a,
slave trading was as popular in the
fear
Church, located near Clemson, at gaunt and bearded man from Illi
[North as in the South.
Save for the friends I hold so
Bullock's Creek and Shiloh on nois who is still called "Th« Great!
While Lincoln's best biographers
Emancipator."
dear
the state lines.
{admit that as a lawyer he attempt
To heal their sorrows, Lord
Wherever
'he
went
he
sooner
or
led to force a Negro back into sla
descend
later got into hot water and con
very, no such inconsistencies marl
And to the friendless prove a
stantly
faced the threat of being
the life of the always persecuted
friend."
"defrocked."
Part of the trouble
(minister of the Carolinas who
At the age of 35, the Rev. Mr. came from his intense campaigning
jlived from 1760 to 1*31.
Davis was reaching the zenith of against slave holding. More came
This was a man who missed his his theological career. A brilliant from the hyper-Calvinistic theories
[finest hour when a famous Phila man whose fame was beginning of his Gospel Plan which included
jdelphia theologian replied in one o: to spread despite certain unpop- 1 the be,je( that even babJM( unti,
lis authoritative sermons denounc- ular metaphysical theories he Di pUj!edf are essentially spiritualling the Rex. Mr. Davis' Gospel was finally c.llec to preach be ,y evil and ol tne devil
IPlan for condemning all dealers ir fore the highest state body of his He was conitant|y
t u ,t , , state and national bodiea onhe
(human flesh and souls, that repl) denominate.
That sermon was to be the final verge
, receiving national approval.
facing trial for oncAhing
testing board. It was to be, if he or the of
HE LIVED TOO SOON?
other. But still be prfached
to any of anti-slavery into the red fares of
Why has this man been reduced chose, his springboardcburch"
to anonymity? Perhaps it was be the coastal plain.
no more and tossed him out?
cause he lived too soon. Perhaps
was April 14, 1795, exactly He preached that alive holde?
|it was because his theories found 70 Ityears
before the assassination were guilty
I no popular theory among histo of Abraham
of sin and particularly
memory
Lincoln.
rians of either North or South if
unforgivable sin in falling to pro
ATTACKS
SLAVERY
Ithat particular time. Perhaps it
vide adequate worship services
The young Mi. Davis rose In and prayer time for them. Here,
was because his inflamed con
science rode into a war before its the pulpit, faced the approving, he was at that time stepping on
subject became a political and so- nodding heads of that sanctimoni the toes of laymen and clergy
ous assembly, and then from his alike since slaves were universal
[cial issue,
Founder of the Independent
But due to the work of Queens lip* poured the most bitter and ly owned and exploited.
[College's Dr. A. L. Pickens the life devastating attack upon slavery]
tit glare fiercely it *Presbyterian Churpb
ilave holder* ever uttered
land worki of the Rev. Mr. Davis and
die
Soul* 'or'fteVTnglanrfToV that
hat UblUhed national leaders of the
will not forever belong to scattered
church ir one Philadelphia hear
matter until that time.
[bits of legend.
ing which charged that he was
It
was
the
^nrt
of
his
acceptance
This biology professor, who ranks
[among the foremost authorities oi as a rising young star on the Pres preaching against government, he
the nation in several fields of bio- byterian scene, but only the be fired this ringing shot:
| logical research, Is also a histo ginning of Davis' dedication and "Against government I have
never preached
Against slav
rian. He is the author of several persecution.
books dealing with odd biu of his
It is not known where Davis, ery I will always preach!"
In many ministries he was suc
|tory. principally of the South, the who may have been born in Cra
Civil War, and the Presbyterian ven County, received his primary ceeded by his students who were
MARK OF PRE-LMCOLN CRUSADES
Church. He is at once a scholar education. But in 1715 and 17M disciples of the same beliefs and
If
a nation had listened to a Carolina Presbyterian minister,
land a native of South Carolina he #11 a student at the Mt. Zion were also sent on their way even
William
^at Cumminsj in 1795, Abraham Lincoln would have
tually.
! whose insatiable curiosity leads Society or college which had been
never
had
the opportunity to become the Great Emancipator.
When
a
Philadelphian
was
Im
him to pursue and arrest the tiniesi founded in 1777. He subsequently
This
Southern
foe of kl a very became the martyr of * national
ported
to
preach
a reply to the
detail which enables completion oi taught there as well and won
denomination
to
fou
this Independent Church at Bullocks*
Rev.
Mr.
Davis'
interpretation
of
a atory of fact.
many young followers.
Creak. His gravest
tan
n York's Roae Hill cemetery
The story of the Rev. William His first pastorate was at Nax ?« . ^"P'""* regarding slave
areth
near
what
is
now
Spartanhol<ll
1*.
""««
wrmona
drawn
in
[Cummins Davis is his and ig no
yet finished. He traced it from burg. He also held pti to rites at ortnodox "^'e from the Old Testa- - ional- ment drew tn* approbation of the
Presbytery and caused'Da-
BEFORE LINCOLN'S TIME
Greatest *yCu±*+c&s
Emancipatio
nist?
J»J
aroina inister
R* VWI;IUAM
a
. DAVI
waa'born, J6 xffccn'1760'