" Tlic place wherein the yonng men studj' is a log honse about twenty feet long and nearly ns many broad, and to me it seemed to resemble the school of the old prophets, for their habitations were mean; and lh:it they sought not great thinirs lor tlieinselves is plain from those pas- sages of Scripture wliercin we are told that 'each of them took a beam to build them a house;' and that at a feast of the sons of the prophets 'one of them put on the pot, while the others went to fetch some herbs out of the tield.' All we can say of most of our universities is, that they are glorious without. From this despised place seven or eiirht worthy ministers of Jesus have lately been aent forth ; more are almost ready to be sent, and the fouiida- liou is now laying for the instruction of many others."
Of j\Ir. Tennent, the founder of this college, but little is known outside of his connection with the institution. Whitetield's journal refers to him thus:
"At my return home was much comforted by the com- ing of one Mr. Tennent, an old gray-headed disciple and soldier of Jesus Christ. lie keei)8 an academy about twenty mile? from Philadelphia, and has been blessed with four gracious sons, three of which have been, and still ccnitiinie to be. useful in the Cliurch of Christ. He is a great friend of Mr. Erskine of Scotlaiul, and he and his sons are secretly despised by the synod generally, as Mr. Erskine and his friends are hated by the judicatories of Scotland, and as the Methodist preachers are by the breth- ren in England."
Whitefield further says :
"Set out for Neshaniiny, where old Mr.Tennent lives, and where I was to preach to-day according to aiipointinent. About twelve o'clock we came together and found .SOOO peo- ])le assembled in the meeting-house yard. Mr. Wni. Ten- jient, Jr., as we stayed beyond the time, was preaching to them. When I came up he soon stopped, i:ave out a psalm, whicli was sung, ;iiid then Ibeiian to speak as the Lord irave me utterance. At tirst the people seemed unafiecled^ but in the midst of my discourse the power of the Lord Jesus came upon me, and I felt such a struggling within myself for the people as I scarce ever felt before, -"the hearers be- gan to be melted down immediately and to cry much, and we had ^ood reason to hope the Lord intended good for inauy. After I had finished, Mr. Gilbert Tennent <;ave a word of exhortation to confirm what had been delivered. After our exercises were over, we went to old Mr. Ten- nent'?, who entertained ns like one nf the .inc'ent patri- archs. His wife to me seemed like Elizabeth, and he like Zachary. Both, as far as I can learn, walk in the command of the Lord blameless. Thousjh God was (ileased to hum- ble my soul so that I was obliged to retire for a while, yet we had sweet communion with each other, and spent ihe evening in concerting what measures had best be taken
for promoting our dear Lord's kingdom. It happened very providentially that Mr. Tennent and his brethren aieappointed to be a presbytery by the syinxl, so that lliey intend briuH-iiii; up gracious youths and sending them out from time to time into the Lord's vineyard."
Among Ihe ministers sent out from Log College to ])reach the Cospel were his four sons, (Gilbert, William, J(din, and Charles; Kev. Messrs. Samuel Blair, Samuel J. Finley (afterwards D.D. and president of Princeton College ), W. Kobinson, John Kowland, and Charles Beatty. In 1742 this venerable man became unable to perform his duties as pastor, and his imlpit was supplied by the jiresbytery. In 1743 jNIr. Beatty was ordained as his successor. His work was nearly done, and of him it may be said, in the language of Dr. Alexander, "Tlie Presbyterian Church is probablv not more in- debted for her prosperity, and for the evangelical spirit which has generally pervaded her body, to any indi- vidual than to the eliler Tennent." He died at his loved home in Neshaminy, May 6, 1746. His published works consist mostly of sermons, twenty-three of which appear in one volume, 8vo. Two other discourses were also published. !Maiiy occasional sermons and pam- phlets were published in Philadelphia in 1758. Rev. Samuel Fiidey, D.D., his former pujiil, preached his fu- neral discourse, which was also published. See Sprague, Annals oj' the Amer. Pulpit, iii, 23; Gen. Assemb. Miss, Ma(j. or Evangi'l. IiitM. ii ; Alexander, Hist, of Log Col- lege ; Tennent's F<imUy Record. (W. P. S.)
Tennent, William (2), a Presbyterian minister, and brother of (iilbert Tennent, was born in the County of AntriiTi, Ireland, Jan. 3, 1705. , He emigrated witii his father, the Kev. William Tennent, Sen., to America in 1718, where he received his education under the in- struction of his father, and studied theology by the aid of his brother. He was licensed by the Philadelphia Presbytery, and ordained pastor of the Presbyterian Church at Freehold, N..L, Oct. 25, 1733, where he re- mained until his death, March 8, 1777. About the time that Mr. Tennent completed his theological course, he was the subject of a remarkable trance, which has per- haps given him his greatest celebrity. A full account of this extraordinary incident was published by Elias Boudinot. Mr. Tennent contributed sermons to Ser- mons on Sacramental Occasions (1739), and a Seimon upon Matt, v, 23-24 (1769). See Sprague, Annals of the A mer. Pulpit, iii, 52 ; Allibone, Diet, of Brit, and A mer. A uthors, s. v. ; Steel, Burning and Shining Lights (1864); Gen. Assemb. Miss. Mag. vol. ii ; Alexander, /fist. Log College; Prince, Chi-ist. Hist.; Life of Will- iam Tennent, 7rith an Account of his being Three Dags in a Trance (N. Y. 1847, 18mo); Sei'tnons and Essags by the Tennents and their Contemporaries (1855, 12mo); Blackirood's Mag. iv. 693 ; Storr, Constitution of the Hu- man Soul (1857)'. p. 317. (J. L. S.)