An Account of the Revival in Boston 1740-1743

The Narrated Puritan

One of the most important incidents of this journey was the meeting of Whitefield with Gilbert Tennent. Two powerful preachers could not well resemble each other less; and the great strength of each lay in traits in which the other was deficient. In one point, Whitefield felt and recorded his new friend's superiority. He heard Tennent preach. "Never before heard I such a searching sermon. He went to the bottom indeed, and did not daub with untempered mortar. He convinced me, more and more, that we can preach the Gospel of Christ no further than we have experienced the power of it in our hearts. I found what a babe and novice I was in the things of God." These men, having once met, could not but be friends and allies for life; and their alliance could not fail to be felt by thousands.