Background
He was born in County Armagh, Ireland, and was brought to America as a boy by his parents. He was the second of the four sons of William and Catharine (Kennedy) Tennent, being about two years younger than his brother Gilbert.
He was born in County Armagh, Ireland, and was brought to America as a boy by his parents. He was the second of the four sons of William and Catharine (Kennedy) Tennent, being about two years younger than his brother Gilbert.
He received his classical education in his father's "Log College" at Neshaminy, Pa. , and then studied theology under Gilbert, who had become pastor of the church in New Brunswick, N. J.
During his residence in New Brunswick, N. J. he narrowly escaped being buried alive. Under the strain of intense mental application his health broke and one day, while conversing in Latin with his brother, he became unconscious. Soon every indication of death was present, the body was laid out, and arrangements made for the funeral. In the meantime, fortunately, a physician, a close friend of Tennent, arrived and thought he detected a faint sign of life. Rather against the judgment of Gilbert, who said it was foolish to try to resuscitate one who was "cold and stiff as a stake, " the funeral was postponed. Efforts to revive him were unsuccessful, however, and people were assembling for the obsequies when suddenly he gave unmistakable evidence of life.
In about a year's time he had entirely recovered, except that memory of his past life was entirely gone and he could not even read or write. Under instruction he was gradually brought back to his former state of mind. During his unconsciousness, he affirmed, he had had the experience of being with a host of happy beings, surrounded by inexpressible glory, engaged in acts of joyous worship. Other extraordinary experiences came to him later, which modern medical science would probably attribute to physical rather than to supernatural causes. The accounts of some of them, as for example that of his "miraculous" escape from being convicted of perjury, will hardly bear critical scrutiny.
As soon as he was sufficiently recovered he was licensed to preach. His brother John died on April 23, 1732, and the following year William was called to succeed him as pastor of the church at Freehold, N. J. , and was ordained by the Philadelphia Presbytery on October 25, 1733. Here he ministered until his death nearly forty-four years later.
Like the other Tennents he was a friend of Whitefield and a promoter of revivals. He probably sympathized in general with his brother Gilbert, but he was free from the disagreeable qualities of the latter and he was a peacemaker rather than a controversialist.
To his many other labors he added teaching, and such men as Alexander MacWhorter profited by his instruction. Upon the establishment of the College of New Jersey he became one of its trustees.
He died in his seventy-second year and was buried beneath his church.
In spite of various peculiarities, Tennent had the character and gifts that made him one of the leading Presbyterian ministers of his day. One in whose home he visited described him as "tall - of large frame, but spare, and of a long thin visage, " adding, "He wore a white wig". His manners were pleasing and he was capable of a facetiousness that was delightful. He was noted for the ingenuousness of his faith, his firmness of character, independence, and courage.
Indifferent to material things, he became somewhat embarrassed financially and a friend, Isaac Noble, a New York merchant, advised him to get a wife "to attend to his temporal affairs, and to comfort his leisure hours by conjugal endearments. " He replied that he did not know how to go about it. Accordingly, his friend told him that he had a sister-in-law to whom he would introduce him Catharine (van Burgh), widow of John Noble. Tennent went to New York to see her and within a week, August 23, 1738, they were married. The union proved a happy one; of their children, three sons grew to maturity.