Of the many volumes written on the Great Awakening which changed the course of American history in the 1740s, none is more interesting than Archibald Alexander’s classic account recorded in this volume. Taking as his starting point William Tennent’s unpretentious theological school (contemptuously called the ‘Log College’), Alexander proceeds through a series of rich biographical chapters to trace the ministerial work of the students who entered pastorates at a time when deadness and formality reigned. ‘Never, perhaps, had the expectation of reaching heaven at last been more general or more confident.’
With Alexander we relive the story of their subsequent toil and success – their preaching and spiritual passion, their experiences of the divine energy of the Holy Spirit, their flesh and blood failings are all graphically portrayed.
Whether we read of Gilbert Tennent of whom Whitefield said, ‘hypocrites must either soon be converted or enraged at his preachings’, or of Samuel Blair, ‘a great textuary who studied the sacred oracles above all other things’, or of Samuel Finley who believed that ‘nothing more helped digestion than a hearty laugh’ and whose glorious death makes unforgettable reading, Alexander holds and moves us throughout. And such was his intention. Commenting on the fact that ‘none of the distinguished ministers of that period, except William Tennent, senior reached the age of seventy; and some of the most able and successful among them did not even arrive at the age of forty’, he writes: ‘These men may be said to have lived fast. They did much for their Lord in a short time. Being burning as well as shining lights, they were themselves consumed while they gave light to others. Oh that a race of ministers, like-minded, burning with a consuming zeal, might be raised up among us!