NameofGod in bearing hiSWORD. 169 Objeif. Youwil fay, Wulf lye plow upour heartf before voe come to hear ? It muff be the Word that muff plow us, the Word zr th (Plow andfo the Tvintifierf of godare compared to (Plow- men in the Word, He that puts his hand to the Plow, and looks back, is not fit for theKingdom of Heaven. .Anfria. It is true, it cannot be expeCted that the heart fliould\ be throughly plowed as it ought, but by the Word, therefore at the fieft coming to hear, there is no, hope that men will fanthfie Gods Name til the Word gets in to plow them, and fo by get-, ring at one time into their hearts they come to be prepared for/ . hearing at another time./ And yet fomwhat may be done before, by that natural knowledg that men have, they may come to know then-ifelves to be finners, and come to underftand them- felves to be very weak and ignorant by fome knowledg that theymay have by the works of God and by conference with others, andby reading, and the like ; and fo they may in Come meafure come to have their hearts to be humble. And it is good to make ufeof thefe tohumble the heart : but now, You that have heard the Word often, and yet have not fantlified Gods Name, there be Truths that you have heard heretofore, that if you had made ufeof in private tohave plowed up your hearts, theywould have prepared your hearts for the next time in hea- ring of theWord ; if therefore youwould hear the Word with a great deal more profit than formerly, your hearts muff be plow- ed by Humiliation. Secondly , The heart mutt be plowed, bylaboring to get out thofe thorns that are in the heart, thofe Tufts that grow deep the heart as thorns grow in theground :,) labor topluck themour, that is, when thou cornett tobear the VVord, get thy heart into that frame, as to' e willing tq profefs againft every known fin that thouhaft found in thy heart, lath co find out thofe WU/ that are in thy heart, and then profefs againft them, that thou art willing to have them to be rooted out of thy heart : if men and women would but do thus when they come to hear, that God might fee this in them, that they have before they come prof& againft every known fin ; this would be an excellent thing indeed. 3/y. Again in the thirdplace, which will follow from hence When
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