The origin and author’s name have been a little muddled, but the sentiment is still clear. The story implies that the author heard a personal appeal from a seeker, someone who really was moved by this speaker and needed hope to transport his outlook to a higher plane. Samuel Davies wanted to help, and so he (or perhaps any of a number of other potential authors) evidently coaxed the seeker and his friends to sing “Lord, I Want to Be a Christian”, an assertion that carried with it some other objectives. What would you do if you were an 18th Century slave in Virginia (see its state seal here)? That was the context, the crucible – or, one might also describe it as a predicament – which formed the words that expressed a simple but powerful yearning of the people at that time.
‘Thus always to tyrants’ -- that is how the Virginia seal’s Latin words ‘sic semper tyrannis’ translate. They would not be on this state flag until years later, but these words and the illustration (showing a goddess of Virtue named Virtus, with her foot holding down a dethroned tyrant) were 18th Century concerns, something that was familiar to the Presbyterian minister Samuel Davies and the negro slaves to whom he spoke. (Other sources have variously indicated that a William Davies or William Davis, or perhaps some of the negro slaves, actually wrote ‘Lord, I Want to Be a Christian’; the evidence for Samuel Davies seems most credible to this blogger.) It’s likely that Davies and his hearers actually perceived different tyrants, given their dissimilar roles in that era, though they each seemed to share a belief in a common deliverer. To Davies, a sense that the Anglican church, in the way that it tried to assert authority over Englishmen and control how they worshipped, was an oppressor. America represented freedom for Davies and other religious and civil dissenters in Virginia. For the slaves, there was no question about who their tyrant was in mid-18th Century Virginia. But, as one or more of them approached their minister, Samuel Davies, their objectives apparently blended. Both thought that being like Christ Jesus was the answer. The oppression of the slaves was very palpable, and could not have escaped Davies’ attention. His resolution for this beleaguered people was that they not just give themselves to Christ, but also that they be more like Him…’more loving’ (v.2) and ‘more holy’ (v.3). Make this a heart thing, Davies urged. Deal with the tyrant by dethroning him, at least internally. It must have helped the slaves to make common bond with a God who had suffered and died Himself at the hands of Roman cruelty eighteen centuries earlier.
Samuel Davies, by himself, could not have altered his culture to fundamentally improve the lot of American slaves. It was an endemic issue that enslaved the African-born millions who would eventually inhabit the new nation. Even a declaration and a constitution, radical in their vision and implementation, did not grant black people equal status among Caucasians. Only a bloody war, and many generations beyond that war, would be needed to hasten more racial harmony in the land where Davies ministered to slaves. And even so, have all hearts been changed? For even casual cultural observers, a heavy sigh might be the most telling answer as we watch today’s daily news. Davies and his hearers had the right approach. ‘In my heart’ is where I need to aim, to change the circumstances for myself and others. We just have to convince more around us to invite Him into their hearts.
See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990.
See here for a very similar story, but attributed to a potential author with a different first name: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lord,_I_Want_to_Be_a_Christian
See here for more information on the potential author: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samuel_Davies_(clergyman)
See for more potential author information: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/d/a/v/i/e/davies_s.htm
See here for details of Virginia’s flag: http://legis.state.va.us/1_cap_class/class_media/4_5_pdfs/factpack-1.pdf
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