David Chambers is an ordained minister in the PCA. He is married to Brittany, and they have two wonderful boys. David graduated with his MDiv from Reformed Theological Seminary in Charlotte, NC, and is currently pursuing a ThM in Church History at Calvin Theological Seminary in Grand Rapids, MI. He serves at a PCA church in Lincoln, Nebraska. His focus is the history of the Presbyterian Church in the 18th century, especially the works of Jonathan Dickinson and Gilbert Tennent.<\/em><\/p>

To understand revivalism in the First Great Awakening, one must engage with the preaching and preachers of the day.The giants of the Great Awakening, Whitefield, Wesley, and Edwards, were known for preaching untold thousands of itinerant sermons across the colonial plains and saturating these evangelistic sermons with pietism in light of their views on the holiness of God and the proper human response. However, the rhetoric of the Great Awakening was not only found in the sensational revival sermons and services, it also spread through newspaper articles, denominational meetings, letters, and polemical sermons. In the polemical preaching of the day, one can see the pastoral conflict between pro-revival parties in the church and the anti-revivalism parties. This dynamic is observable in the debates and inevitable schism of the Colonial Presbyterian Church.
At the outset of the Great Awakening, the Colonial Presbyterian Church was still reeling from the near split related to the Adopting Act of 1729. This Act, a compromise about the adoption of subscription to the Westminster Standards as a requirement to ordination in the Colonial Presbyterian Church, was still a sore subject at the outbreak of revivalism. Battle lines had already been drawn between the anti-subscription Presbytery of New York and the pro-subscription Presbytery of Philadelphia and schism was barely avoided through the allowing of acceptable scruples and exceptions to the standards. It is in that context that the revivalism debate began in the Colonial Presbyterian Church, and in which Gilbert Tennent<\/a> preached his infamous sermon, The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry<\/em> on March 8, 1740.<\/p>

The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry<\/em> was a landmark sermon in the history of the Colonial Presbyterian Church that would impact how the Presbyterians engaged during the Great Awakening as a whole, and the polity of the church in the years to come. However, there is no recent study on the body, intention, and overall thrust of the sermon itself and its effect on the young Presbyterian church. In order to fill this gap this paper will examine the context of Gilbert Tennent’s life and ministry, the logical flow of The Danger of An Unconverted Ministry<\/em>, its polemical implications against the anti-revivalist Presbyterians, how it exposes Tennent’s practical theology on revivalism and pastoral ministry in general, and the church-wide reception and consequences of the sermon. To do this, I will engage with the minutes and context of the Synods before and after the sermon, the church split that took place, the polemics employed by both sides in the fallout, and Tennent’s understanding of pastoral ministry and revivalism through engaging with his mentors and his other writings, letters, and sermons.<\/p>

Gilbert Tennent: His Historical Context<\/strong><\/p>

Gilbert Tennent was born to