Piety

Piety

Michael T. Griffith

2003

@All Rights Reserved

Jefferson Davis was deeply religious. Robert E. Lee's religious faith is well known, but for some reason Davis's piety isn't. Davis was brought up to believe in the Bible. He studied the Bible carefully, in English and in Greek, and he quoted from it repeatedly in his letters.31 He attended church regularly. On two occasions after two of his children had died prematurely, he was heard to say, "Not my will, but thy will be done." When Davis saw the lewdness of French art and the immorality of French society in Paris, he expressed disapproval, saying,

My opinion of Paris as a place for education has not changed for the better, but rather for the worse. The tone cannot be delicate where living objects and inanimate representations so glaringly offend against decency. . . .32

Reverend Charles Minnigerode, who knew more of Davis's "inner life" than "perhaps any other man," said Davis was "always pure," and that his "whole being" loathed "impure thought" or "anything low or corrupting," adding,

He was pure in heart and lived conscientiously in the sight of God. All his habits bore the stamp of that.33

Francis Lubbock said that one reason that he enjoyed speaking with Davis was that Davis's conversation was "so chaste."34

While Davis was away from home fighting in the Mexican War, he wrote to his wife and asked if she had remembered his request "on the subject of prayer" because he wanted to be sure she was being prayerful. He also advised her to "be pious, be calm, be useful, and charitable and temperate in all things."35

As president of the Confederacy, Davis proclaimed national days of prayer and fasting. On more than one occasion, he was seen kneeling in prayer in the presidential mansion.