Tennent, William (2)

a Presbyterian minister, and brother of Gilbert Tennent, was born in the County of Antrim, Ireland, Jan. 3, 1705. He emigrated with his father, the Rev. William Tennent, Sen., to America in 1718, where he received his education under the instruction 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.J., Oct. 25, 1733, where he remained 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 perhaps given him his greatest celebrity. A full account of this extraordinary incident was published by Elias Boudinot. Mr. Tennent contributed sermons to Sermons on Sacramental Occasions (1739), and a Sermon upon Matthew 5:23-24 (1769). See Sprague, Annals of the Amer. Pulpit, 3, 52; Allibone, Dict. of Brit. and Amer. Authors, s.v.; Steel, Burning and Shining Lights (1864); Genesis Assemb. Miss. Mag. vol. 2; Alexander, Hist. Log College; Prince, Christ. Hist.; Life of William Tennent, with an Account of his being Three Days in a Trance (N. Y. 1847, 18mo); Sermons and Essays by the Tennents and their Contemporaries (1855; 12mo); Blackwood's Mag. 4:693; Storr, Constitution of the Human Soul (1857), p. 317. (J.L.S.)