THE

DISINTERESTED AND DEVOTED

CHRISTIAN:

A

SERM ON,

PREACHED AT

NASSAU HALL, PRINCETON,

MAY 28, 1761.

OCCASIONED BY THE DEATH OF THE

REV. SAMUEL DAVIES, A. M.

LATE PRESIDENT OF THE COLLEGE OF NEW-JERSEY,

By SAMUEL FINLEY, D. D.

PRESIDENT OF THE SAID COLLEGE.

TO WHICH ARE ADDED,

SOME MEMOIRS

OF MR. DAVIES.

BY ANOTHER HAND.

Qui confiderat qualis erit in Morte, femperque pavidus erit in operatione, atque inde in Oculis fui Conditoris vivet, nil quod tranfeat, appetit: cunctis vitæ prefentis defideriis contradicit, et pene mortuum fe confiderat, quia moriturum fe minime ignorat. GREGOR. L. 12. Moral.

то

Mrs. MARTHA DAVIES, the Mother,

AND

Mrs. JEAN DAVIES, the Widow,

OF THE LATE

Rev. PRESIDENT DA VIE S, deceased,

The following Sermon,

Preached on Occafion of his lamented Death,

1 S,

With the tenderest Respect,

PRESENTED BY

Their fincere and affectionate Friend,

and humble Servant,

SAMUEL FINLEY.

ROMAN S, xiv. 7, 8.

For none of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himfelf. For whether we live, we live unto the LORD; or whether we die, we die unto the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we are the LORD'S.

S the very dear and reverend man, whofe premature and unexpected death, we, amongst thoufands, this day lament, expreffed his defire, that, upon this mournful event, a Sermon fhould be preached from these words, he plainly intimated his expectation, that the audience fhould be entertained, not with an ornamented funeral Oration, but with fuch an inftructive difcourfe as the text itself naturally fuggefts. The fubject being his own choice, I cannot doubt but this friendly audience will the more clofely and seriously attend, as conceiving him, though dead, yet fpeaking to them the folemn truths it contains. For having been admitted into the full knowledge of his religious principles, I may prefume on fpeaking many of the fentiments he intended from this text, though not in his more fublime and oratorial manner.

When I reflect on the truly chriftian, generous, yet ftritt Catholicifm that diftinguishes this whole chapter, and how deeply it was imprinted on Mr. Davies's own fpirit, and influenced the course of his life, I am ready to conclude, that perhaps no text could be more aptly chofen on the occafion. It expreffes the very temper that fhould be predominant in all, and which actually is fo in every pious breast.

That we may apprehend the fcope and genuine fenfe of the words, it is neceffary to obferve, that warm debates at that time arose between the Jewish and Gentile converts, about the difference of meats and days established by the Mofaic law; and, fo fharp was the contention, that they were mutually difpofed to exclude each other from chriftian communion. The Gentile,

being under no bias from the powerful prejudices of education and custom, was sooner and eafier convinced of his freedom from that yoke of bondage, and defpifed the few as weak to admiration, and fcrupulous to a fault. The Jew, on the other hand, perfuaded that these ancient divine inftitutions were ftill obligatory, cenfured and condemned the Gentile as inconfcientious, and profanely regardless of God's awful authority.

The Apostle, in order to quell the growing ftrife, maturely determines that, though the Gentile held the right fide of the queftion, yet both parties were wrong as to their temper of mind, and the manner in which they managed the controverfy; and that they laid an undue stress on the matters of difference, and carried their cenfures higher than the merits of the cause would at all justify. He therefore recommends moderation to both, and fets before them fufficient reasons why they fhould judge of each other more charitably, fince they agreed in all those principal points that would justly denominate them "the fervants of the LORD." For if they would reckon it a bold intrusion to call before their tribunal, condemn, and punish another man's fervant, over whom they had no legal authority; how much more arrogant and prefumptuous muft it be fo to treat a fervant of the LORD? ver. 4.

Again, let them be fo candid as to perfuade themfelves, that, unless the contrary be evident, they who differ from them, mistaken or not, are influenced by a confcientious regard to the divine glory, ver. 6. This admitted, their perfonal cenfures will neceffarily be milder, even though their judgment of the points in debate continue unaltered; and this must be admitted, if they can charitably judge, that their refpective opponents are real chriftians: for in all fuch the governing principle is," not to live to themselves, but to the "LORD. For none of us liveth to himself, and no "man dieth to himself. For whether we live, we live "unto the LORD; or whether we die, we die unto "the LORD: whether we live therefore, or die, we

are