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GILBERT TENNENT
In 1741, a Colonial minister whose life was changed after
meeting with God during a life threatening illness, confronted
the established clergy with this piercing question; "Do you a
minister of Christ; know Christ in your own heart?" He would go
on to infuse new life into the pulpits of colonial America,
challenging ministers to move from dead orthodoxy to living
reality.
Gilbert Tennent was born on February 5th, 1703, in Northern
Ireland. Gilbert's father, William Tennent, sailed for the New
World with his young family in 1718 and soon gained recognition
as a gifted Presbyterian pastor and teacher. Concerned about the
growing number of Presbyterians and the lack of educated pastors
emigrating from Europe, William Tennent established a small
school for the training of ministers in a log cabin on the farm
he owned in Bucks County. During the following decade, many
Presbyterian ministers were educated in this celebrated ‘Log
College’, which became the forerunner of Princeton University.
Gilbert Tennent attended his fathers ‘Log College’ and went on
to Yale where he earned his masters degree and was licensed to
preach in 1725. He accepted a call in 1726 to establish a new
Presbyterian Church near New Brunswick in central New Jersey.
Although well educated for his pastoral role and influenced by
the Dutch Reformed minister Theodorus Frelinghuysen, it would be
a life-threatening illness that would draw Tennent into a deeper
spirituality. In 1728, the young minister became extremely ill.
Uncertain if he would recover his health, he was confronted with
his own mortality and the realities of eternity. He writes, "I
was .. exceedingly grieved I had done so little for God .. I
therefore prayed to God that He would be pleased to give me
one/half year more. I was determined to promote His kingdom with
all my might .."
Tennent's prayer was answered and with his health restored, he
became a firebrand for revival. He labored as never before to
quote, " .. sound the trumpet of God's judgment and alarm the
secure by the terrors of the Lord." He was a man literally
consumed with a vision of the holiness of God and preached
passionately; warning sinners and hypocrites of a final
judgment. He did this to convict his hearers of the greatness of
their sin and the sufficiency of Christ to rescue them from an
eternal hell.
From 1736 through the 1740's, his ministry would coincide with
others, like Edwards and Whitefield, in the general ‘Great
Awakening’ of the mid-eighteenth century. Whitefield once wrote
of his preaching, “I never heard such a searching sermon .. he
has learned .. to dissect the heart of a natural man. Hypocrites
must either soon be converted or enraged.”
He also developed a strong and public disdain for many colonial
preachers whom he considered were not real Christians and thus,
wolves in sheep’s clothing. This culminated in his famous sermon
given at Nottinham, Pennsylvania, which was later published as
'The Danger of an Unconverted Ministry.' "I am verily
persuaded," he wrote, "that the generality of preachers talk of
an unknown and unfelt Christ; and the reason why congregations
have been so dead is because they have had dead men preaching to
them."
In 2 Tim 4: 3-4 the apostle Paul warns his young disciple that
for many in the church, “the time will come when they will not
endure sound doctrine; but wanting to have their ears tickled,
they will accumulate for themselves teachers in accordance to
their own desires, and will turn away their ears from the truth
and will turn aside to myths.”
As many Christians will attest, it is all to easy to shy away
from the difficult realities revealed in the Holy Scriptures.
However, no disciple of Jesus Christ has the right to water down
the hard truth of impending judgement for the ungodly and the
amazing salvation available to all who run to the grace of God
in Jesus Christ. It takes courage and humility to stand against
the natural tendency to believe what we wish was true about God
and not what God has revealed Himself to be.
Often times, it is during a period of personal crisis, when we
come face to face with the reality of our own lives and with
God’s self revelation. Rather than turning us away from God,
struggles and hardship can actually be used by God to shatter
our illusions and focus our wayward hearts. We can sense His
resurrected power as never before – burning away shallow and
insincere thoughts and experiences – moving us towards
genuineness of heart and giving us an authentic message to share
with others.
As a fellow minister who heard Gilbert Tennent preach once said,
"He convinced me more and more- that we can preach the gospel of
Christ - no further than we have experienced the power of it -
in our own hearts."
Alexander, The Log College
Biography of William Tennent
Gilbert Tennent: American Awakener
Tracy, The Great Awakening
Smithers, Gilbert Tennent
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