PA Highway 263

Did you know that 63 colleges can trace their roots back to a humble roadside college that was located in rural Pennsylvania? Today, Dr. Stephen Nichols tells us about the seismic impact that Log College had on church history.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are traveling along a rural Pennsylvania highway. PA Highway 263, and somewhere along Warminster, Pennsylvania on the side of this highway is an historical marker and a stone monument. On top of the stone monument, there’s a Latin inscription Lux in tenebris. Now we know post tenebris lux, after darkness light. That’s the motto of Geneva, but this motto is light and darkness, and it is the motto for the Log College. This is a story of a humble, small place that had a huge impact. The historical marker reads, “Log College built by Reverend William Tennent circa 1735.” I need to pause here. The historical marker is not right. It was actually built in 1727. It was the first academy in America for the training of Presbyterian ministers and the first college in Pennsylvania.

A number of notable revivalist preachers and educators graduated from this rustic school before it closed upon Tennent’s death in 1746. Soon after, several Log College graduates helped establish Princeton University in New Jersey. Many other colleges trace their roots to this early institution. Well, let’s talk about its founder, William Tennent. Let’s talk about its illustrious graduates that came from this unassuming Log College, and let’s talk about all those colleges that stemmed from this one. First, William Tennent, he was born in Scotland in 1673. He graduated from the University of Edinburgh, and he was ordained and he came to the 13 colonies in 1718. He settled in what was then called Neshaminy-Warwick, Pennsylvania. It’s now called Warminster, Pennsylvania. He pastored there from 1718 until his death in 1746.

We can say three things about his career. First, he was involved in the Great Awakening and was a significant figure in the Great Awakening in the colonies in the 1740s. Secondly, his two sons, Gilbert Tennent and William Tennent Jr. were also ministers and were also leading lights in the Great Awakening. It was Gilbert Tennent, his son, who preached the sermon “Dangers of an Unconverted Ministry.” And then lastly, let’s talk about this college. He founded the Log College. He built this college in 1727, and he operated as the president and as the primary professor till the time of his death in 1746.

The Log College was actually a term of derision. All of the other state ministers had been educated across the sea in the finest institutions of Europe. And here was this crudely constructed college on the side of a road in Neshaminy, Pennsylvania. But from this college came some rather luminous students. First, there was Samuel Finley. He went on to be the fifth president of Princeton University. There was also Samuel Blair. He went back to Faggs Manor in Chester County, Pennsylvania.

He started his own Log College there, and he had a student named Samuel Davies. Samuel Davies was the missionary, the Presbyterian missionary to Anglican Virginia. And he also was a president of Princeton University. Well, what about the colleges that stemmed from Log College? Well, that stone monument there along the highway lists no fewer than 63 colleges that were started and can trace their roots directly back to the Log College, either to students who were educated there at Log College or to students who were educated there, went on to found colleges, and then students at those colleges went on to found colleges. We call this a flywheel effect. Well, on that stone marker, it further says this about William Tennent, “Here in the life of a pioneer teacher, sound learning indued with spiritual passion wrought to vitalize knowledge, glorify truth, and enrich life, and in due time, call forth to the glory of God and the welfare of American youth, these worthy Christian colleges.” Well, that's an historical marker along Pennsylvania Highway 263, and I'm Steve Nichols, and Thanks for listening to 5 Minutes in Church History.