Before I enter upon the discussion of the present argument, let me first remove some prejudices.
1. Some men think that to discourse of sobriety will be to give you a moral lecture, not an ev-angelical discourse ; tbey would have us to preach Christ, as if pressing the duties of religion were not a preaching Christ. Certainly we may preach that which grace teacheth ; now gi'ace teacheth to live soberly. The truth is, men would be honeyed and oiled with grace, and cannot endure the strictness of moral duties. Here conviction is easy, and conscience maketh guilt fly in the face, and therefore men cannot endure this kind of preaching. I tell you, to preach sobriety and temperance is to preach Christ. It is said, Acts xxiv. 24, ' After certain days, when Felix came with his wife Drusilla, which was a Jewess, he sent for Paul, and heard him concerning the faith in Christ.' Paul, let us hear somewhat of Christ. Now what doth Paul preach of ? ver. 25, ' And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled.' There is his preaching Christ. To preach Christ is to press whatever the christian religion requireth, and in that manner and upon those terms. And when Paul saith, 1 Cor. ii. 2, ' I have determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified/ it was because that
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was the controverted truth, the truth then in question, and most opposed ; for the doctrine of the cross was ' to the Jews a stumbling-block, and to the Greeks foolishness, ' 1 Cor. i. 23. Now saith the apostle, as foolish a doctrine as it is, ' I have determined to know nothing else among you.' Not to prescribe in other cases, and to confine our medita- tions to" the doctrine of the cross, there are other arguments necessary, and must take their turn and place.
2. Some men think that they are above these directions, to be taught how to eat and drinlf, and that every man hath prudence enough to govern liis appetite. But consider, Christ thought meet to warn his own disciples : Luke xxi. 34, ' Take heed to yourselves, lest at any time your hearts be overcharged with surfeiting and drunkenness, and cares of this life.' A man would think it a needless direction to such holy men ; yet saith Christ, ' Take heed,' and certainly sin is not grown less dangerous, nor we more holy than the apostles. Besides, now if ever is there need of such kind of preaching. Some men profess to live to the height of the creature, and so make lust a wanton, as it is danger- ous always to go near the pit's brink ; and he that doth all that he may will soon do more than he should. It is a character of profane men, Jude 12, ' Feeding themselves without fear.' The throat is a slippery place, and had need be watched and kept with fear. We find that an over-spiritual preaching hath made men loose and careless, and that moral duties need to be pressed.
3. Another prejudice there is against this doctrine ; men shift it off to others. We conceive of gluttony, drunkenness and covetousness otherwise than Christ did, and therefore do not judge such discourses necessary. We conceive drunkenness and gluttony to be an outrageous excess ; when we hear of gluttons and drunkard.s, we think of them vomiting, staggering, reeling, not being able to speak, or able to go, faltering in speech and language ; but the scripture sets out other manner of drunkards ; these are the effects, the punishment, rather than the fault. And so, when we hear of covetousness, then we think of some sordid wretch, or else of some oppressor tliat gets wealth by rapine and extortion, or the apparent use of unlawful means ; and so we wipe our lips, and think we are clean. But now that which is counted surfeiting and drunkenness and covetousness before God is the overcharging the heart : Luke xxi. 34, ' Take heed to yourselves, lest your hearts be overcliarged,' &c. A man's heart may be overcharged, though his stomach is not, when he cannot freely meditate upon heavenly things, though he doth not vomit and give up his luxurious morsels in loathsome ejections. And that is covetousness before God when the care of earthly things hinders us from heavenly-mindedness and heavenly desires ; the heart is then overcharged, and loseth the sense of spiritual things.
These things premised, I come now to the doctrine.
Doct One of the lessons which grace teacheth us is sobriety.
(1.) I shall show you what sobriety is in the general ; (2.) I shall open the particular branches of it.
First, I shall show what sobriety is in the general. Sobriety is the moderation of our affections in the pursuit and use of all earthly thinjis.
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To explain tlie description, it is the moderation. Grace doth not take away the aiFection, but governs it ; it bridles the excess, and then reduceth the affection itself to a just stint and temper. Now the rule according to which this moderation must be made must be either the word, or, where the word interposeth not, then spiritual prudence and conveniency is to be a judge. How the word judgeth I shall show in the branches ; but in matter of conveniency, what is most conven- ient for ourselves, that we be not brought under the power of any creature, spiritual prudence must be the rule : 1 Cor. vi. 12, ' All things are lawful for me, but all things are not expedient ; all things are lawful for me, but I will not be brought under the power of any,' A christian is to see, while he makes use of one part of his liberty, that he doth not forfeit and lose another, yea, the better part. As men go to law for trifles, and spend a real and solid estate, so by an intemperate use of christian liberty we forfeit that which is the best part, freedom from lusts, and from the bondage of sin. As, for instance, a promis- cuous use of meats and drinks is a part of christian liberty, but freedom from lusts is another part ; and therefore, while a man usetli this liberty in the creature, and hereby brings himself in bondage to his lusts, or is enslaved to such a creature, how inconvenient soever the use of it be, he cannot leave it ; he disappoints the main end of Christ's blood, and forfeits the fairest part of that liberty Christ hath purchased for him. God hath given us a large liberty in Christ ; let us not go too far, lest we forfeit the spiritual part of it. Therefore it is a part of sobriety, if it be likely to prove a snare, to moderate and bridle the affections. Yea, in another case, which concerneth others, that may be lawful to one which is not lawful to another. If the thing affected be lawful, yet if it be likely to give offence, or to procure a blot upon ourselves, it is a part of sobriety to moderate ourselves, and abstain from it. In such a case we owe so much to one another's weakness, and to our own credit, which should be preferred before the satisfaction of any appetite whatsoever : Phil. iv. 8, ' Finally, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatso- ever things are of good report ; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think of these things ;' and again, 1 Cor. viii. 13, ' Wherefore, if meat make my brother to offend, I will eat no meat while the world standeth, lest I make my brother to offend.' Kather wholly abstain from this liberty than give offence. So that this moderation is a reducing the affections to the limits of the word, and the rules of conveniency and charity.