A30585:407
Gospel-worship, or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in general and…
Gospel-worship, or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in general and particularly in these three great ordinances, viz. [brace] 1. hearing of the Word, 2. receiving the Lords Supper, 3. prayer / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the second of the seven volumes lately published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]Gospel-worship, or, The right manner of sanctifying the name of God in general and particularly in these three great ordinances, viz. [brace] 1. hearing of the Word, 2. receiving the Lords Supper, 3. prayer / by Jeremiah Burroughs ; being the second of the seven volumns lately published by Thomas Goodwin ... [et al.]
London: printed by Peter Cole, 1653
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
The Second thing that is to be done in way of preparation, it is, To plough up the fallow ground of your hearts, and not to sow amongst thorns; as you have it in Jer. 4. 3. and so in Hosea. 10. The Word of God (you know) is compared to seed, in that Parable of Christ, in Mat, 13. And an Auditory is compared to the ground: I suppose you are all acquainted with that Parable of the sower, that it is to set out the Ministry of the Word, and what fruit it hath upon the hearts of men; a Congregation is like the field, and a Minister preaching is like the Sower that sows the seed in the field; he knows not which Truth, whether that or the other will prosper; the seed being sowed, in some part of the ground is lost, and in another part it grows: so in one Pew the seed of the Word is lost, in another Pew it grows up. But now, if people that are compared to the ground, would so hear the Word, as Gods Name may de sanctified in it, their hearts must be ploughed; as if one should sow seed upon green soil, saw it in the fields upon green grass, What would become of it? The ground must first be ploughed for the preparation of the seed.
The Second thing that is to be done in way of preparation, it is, To plow up the fallow ground of your hearts, and not to sow amongst thorns; as you have it in Jer. 4. 3. and so in Hosea. 10. The Word of God (you know) is compared to seed, in that Parable of Christ, in Mat, 13. And an Auditory is compared to the ground: I suppose you are al acquainted with that Parable of the sower, that it is to set out the Ministry of the Word, and what fruit it hath upon the hearts of men; a Congregation is like the field, and a Minister preaching is like the Sower that sows the seed in the field; he knows not which Truth, whether that or the other will prosper; the seed being sowed, in some part of the ground is lost, and in another part it grows: so in one Pew the seed of the Word is lost, in another Pew it grows up. But now, if people that are compared to the ground, would so hear the Word, as Gods Name may de sanctified in it, their hearts must be plowed; as if one should sow seed upon green soil, saw it in the fields upon green grass, What would become of it? The ground must first be plowed for the preparation of the seed.