Spiritual Problems among the Calvinist Clergy

During the days of William and Gilbert Tennent there were many problems among the Calvinist clergy, especially among the Presbyterians and Congregationalists. The most serious problem was that many weren't saved. Dead orthodoxy reigned everywhere. And there was a derth of converted preachers. Many of the Tennent men "complained of the dead orthodoxy of the churches, of the lack of genuine piety in the ministry, and of the great need of converted ministers."

This same concern was echoed by Charles Finney, who often complained that many of the preachers he met were lost and had no vital testimony for Christ. The Calvinist system had produced an entirely new category of unregenerate elect, those who were waiting for the "day of God's converting power" but hadn't yet received it. The situation was dire.

Interestingly, during the ministries of the Tennents, Whitefield, and Finney, many predestinarian preachers were raised from the coffin of Calvinism into the salvation of Christ. One man noted the spiritual condition of many in those days, "No inconsiderable portion of the ministers, and multitudes of church members, were ignorant of the gospel as an inward and spiritual power"

Such may be a harsh judgment, but the observations of many bear it out. And Calvinism was no cure.