The Prophetic Faith of Our Fathers, vol. 4

V. Davis-First American to Begin Periods Jointly

In January, 1811, almost simultaneously with the first English writer to begin the 70 weeks and the 2300 years together 1 (from 457 B.C.), Davis of South Carolina wrote his exposition; beginning these periods jointly, 453 years before the birth of I Christ. In this he disregarded the true beginning of the Christian Era, and keying the chronology, like Petri, to the baptism of I Christ at the age of thirty, as 30 A.D. And soon after J. A. B. and Davis a number of treatises appeared following one or the I other of these datings approximately. Here in America such expositions began to spread all the way from the South Carolina frontier to New England and out through the Mississippi 1 Valley. PFF4 212.1

WILLIAM CUMMINS DAVIS (1760-1831), prominent Presbyterian clergyman and teacher of South Carolina, therefore holds a unique place in the line of early nineteenth-century American prophetic expositors. Trained for the ministry at Mount Zion College, ¹⁸ Winnsboro, South Carolina, licensed to preach in 1787, and ordained in 1789, he served the Nazareth and Milford churches, near Spartanburg, until about 1793. Then he went to Olney, North Carolina, and in 1803 was for a time a missionary among the Catawba Indians. ¹⁹ PFF4 212.2

Davis held prominent positions in his denomination. He was a member of a “standing commission” of the Synod of the Carolinas (1791), which acted in a judicial capacity. ²⁰ He was a “commissioner,” or delegate, to the General Assembly in 1804, 1808, and 1810, and was a member of its standing committee on missions from 1805 through 1808. ²¹ Local historians describe him as eloquent, “a notable minister,” and “a brilliant man given to metaphysical speculation,” ²² though some of them naturally called him “erratic,” in view of the fact that he later wandered from the denominational fold. He was also known as a gifted revivalist. ²³ PFF4 213.1

In 1806 Davis became the second pastor of the Bullock’s Creek Church near Sharon, York County, South Carolina. This was the seat of a well-known classical school that had supplied students for Mount Zion and other colleges. ²⁴ At Bullock’s Creek he wrote his first treatise of six hundred pages, The Gospel Plan; or, A Systematical Treatise on the Leading Doctrines of Salvation, printed in 1809, at both Philadelphia and Boston. PFF4 213.2

Dissatisfaction with some of his statements, however, beginning as early as 1807, resulted in charges of unorthodoxy. In 1809 his own presbytery, refusing to place him under censure, requested that the synod dissolve it. He appealed to the 1810 General Assembly, which condemned as contrary to the confession of faith eight doctrines set forth or implied in The Gospel Plan. Accordingly, in April, 1811, he was suspended by his new presbytery, and formally deposed the following October. But Davis, feeling that he was already prejudged, withdrew in 1810 rather than stand trial. ²⁵ PFF4 213.3

A glance over the eight points under censure, as preserved in the Extracts From the Minutes of the 1810 General Assembly, gives the impression that, judged by today’s orthodoxy, Davis was less a heretic than a theological hairsplitter and revivalist contending against some of the implications of strict Calvinism. But he was undeniably out of line with rigid Presbyterian orthodoxy of his time in that region. However, a large part of Davis’ Bullock’s Creek flock followed him, forming an Independent congregation, to whom he ministered, except for a few years in Tennessee, until 1829. About a dozen neighboring congregations split off at the same time, or were established later, together forming the Independent Presbyterian Church, largely congregational in form of government. It lasted until 1863, when it joined the Southern Presbyterians. ²⁶ PFF4 214.1

But it was in January, 1811, before his suspension, that Davis wrote his epochal pamphlet, The Millennium ²⁷ He also wrote A Solemn Appeal to the Impartial Public, and Lectures on Paul’s Epistle to the Romans (published posthumously), as well as producing a Catechism. There is also a copyright record of a seven-volume Lectures on the New Testament, that he was preparing in 1820. ²⁸ At least the first volume seems to have been published. In 1827 he again published A Treatise on the Millennium, this time a full-length book, at Yorkville (now York), South Carolina. PFF4 214.2

Davis is noteworthy as the first American writer, so far as has been ascertained, to begin the 2300 years and the 70 weeks synchronously. Furthermore, his later Treatise on the Millennium (1827) reaffirmed his initial faith in the commencement of the millennium about 1847. His 1818 English reprint influenced certain British prophetic expositors, notably Archibald Mason, Presbyterian minister of Scotland. ²⁹ And Davis later influenced Joshua L. Wilson, prominent Presbyterian clergyman and moderator of Ohio, who preached on prophecy in 1828. Davis was referred to by Samuel M. M’Corkle in 1830. ³⁰ PFF4 215.1

Although it is barely possible (though improbable) that Davis saw J. A. B.’s article before writing his pamphlet in January, 1811, neither his dates nor his reasoning can be attributed to J. A. B., and he covers much more ground. Davis, the Presbyterian, quite probably wrote out his convictions and arranged for their publication in South Carolina before he had any access to Anglican J. A. B.’s article. This would mean that two men-Brown of England and Davis of America-were writing out similar pioneering convictions at approximately the same time. Here is the Davis postulate. It will be given in some detail. PFF4 215.2