Read what they read.
Samuel Davies (1723-1761) 
Davies was one of the greatest preachers/evangelists of the 18th century. Davies was a minister that traveled and pastored throughout Virginia with an incredible gift for calling sinners to repentance.
It is said that if you want to know what makes a great man of God, don’t only look to HIS works, but to the works that HE read.
Davies left us three volumes of Sermons on Important Subjects. Read one of his sermons and tell me what it would have been like to sit under his preaching! How could anyone NOT get saved after hearing such a heart calling out to the lost? He died when he was 38.
Here is a list of the books that Davies would recommend to the people converted under his ministry. They are the books that he considered of greatest value. Nowadays, we give out a little booklet with a few steps on how to grow in ones spiritual life and leave the rest up to Sunday messages and Sunday School. Besides our teaching at church, it is important for you to do personal study. I challenge you to go through a couple of these volumes.
- Watson’s Body of Divinity,
- Boston’s Fourfold State
- Luther on Galatians
- Flavel’s Works
- Alleine’s Alarm to the unconverted
- Baxter’s Call and Saint’s Everlasting Rest
- Isaac Watts’ Psalms
Read all Samuel’s works and his suggested reading on this site.
Great stuff…Samuel Davies and his contemporaries including the writings of others of those and of previous times. Back in the day, without television, Ipods, Ipads, spaceBook, FaceBook, and all the other distractions, people READ!!! What a concept, right? Back in my Bible School days I had a professor who wouldn’t teach a book of the Bible until he had read it fifty times. I’m pretty sure he referred primarily to New Testament books or shorter chapters in the Old Testament…I did it when I taught Romans…what a blessing. But we live in a society that no longer reads, that only reads novels and magazines, and in a culture that relies on electronics for everything. Once you discard your paper bound Bible and replace it with an electronic source that has one hundred versions (that’s also another joke, by the way. Many “versions” are paraphrases and people rely on them as if they were Gospel truth), you no longer know where to find anything because all you have to do is touch a screen. And what happens when the battery dies or you get water on it? It can rain all day on my Bible and the pages will still work. Furthermore I know an old preacher who has memorized five NT books…he challenged me seven years ago to do the same…it’s a life-long project, BUT, the Word will get in you and the Word will prepare you for the streets of the world and for the true Gospel message. Error comes from NOT knowing our Bibles…it’s really that simple.
So thanks, Jacob, for reminding us of these great saints of God who walked the walk. As we follow in their footsteps, as we immerse our minds, hearts, and souls in the Truth, it will set us FREE, we will know what to preach, we will not shrink at repentance, we will preach it from the roof tops, and we will watch sinners cry out for mercy and REALLY get saved. Blessup…Rico in Kingston