American Presbyterian Father of the Faith: Rev. Samuel Blair

There are few men in the history of the Christian church who have so influenced a generation of great preachers as much as the Rev. Samuel Blair. Samuel Blair was the principal theological instructor of Samuel Davies, the Presbyterian “Apostle to Virginia.” Martyn Lloyd-Jones is quoted as saying that Samuel Davies was “the greatest preacher you have ever produced in this country” (in Iain Murray, Revival and Revivalism: The Making and Marring of American Evangelicalism 1750-1858, 3). Davies himself said that “he had heard no one, who, in his judgment, was superior to his former teacher, the Rev. Samuel Blair.”  Standing in Fagg’s Manor (where Blair had instructed him) and reflecting on Blair’s preaching, Davies remarked, “Oh, how dreadful is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.”  Blair was very close to Gilbert Tennett, the founder of the Log College–which became the prototype of Princeton Seminary.  A fairly lengthy biography of Rev. Samuel Blair can be found in Archibald Alexander’s Biographical Sketches of the Founder and Principle Alumni of the Log College pp. 254-292. For a long time Blair’s works were nearly impossible to find. You can now download The Works of the Rev. Samuel Blair, here and here; and, his discourse on the Doctrine of Predestination, can be found here. I hope that you’ll take the time to sift through some of the writings of this spiritual father in the faith.