Gilbert Tennent sermons 25, "De spiritus simili ventus & De ecclesia simili hortus" (The holy spirit is like wind and the church is like a garden), 1744

Gilbert Tennent sermons 25, "De spiritus simili ventus & De ecclesia simili hortus" (The holy spirit is like wind and the church is like a garden), 1744

1744/1760

PHS.TennentSermons025

Gilbert Tennent (1703-1764) was an Irish-American Presbyterian clergyman, and one of the leaders of the Great Awakening.

Tennent begins this sermon, which compares the Holy Spirit to wind and the Church to a garden, by citing Canticles (Song of Solomon) 4:16, "Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits."

From dates noted in the manuscript, it appears Tennent wrote this sermon in 1744, and delivered it again in 1746, 1751 and 1760.

Pennsylvania--Philadelphia

Second Presbyterian Church, Philadelphia, PA

Presbyterian Historical Society

16 pages

tiff

http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/mark/1.0/

eng

Text

De spiritus simili ventus (the Holy Spirit like a wind) and De ecclesia simili hortus (the church like a garden) are together a commentary on Song of Solomon 4:16, with the church as the female and God as the male speaker. Discusses properties of wind itself and as a metaphor for the holy spirit and qualities of the garden and plants in themselves and as symbols of the Church, with practical, down-to-earth explanations and examples. The church without the influence of the holy spirit is only a building, subject to depredations, but can accomplish its best work for the improvement of believers under the influence of the holy spirit, and believers should realize that part of this improvement comes in strengthening of the soul through trials and losses like those that the seasons impose and praying for grace and quickening or revival of attention to God.

https://www.philageohistory.org/rdic-images/iiif.cfm/PHS.TennentSermons025/manifest