A fourth volume containing one hundred and fifty sermons on several texts of Scripture…

1. Some Men think, that to discourse of Sobriety, will be to give you a moral Lecture, not an Evangelical Discourse; they 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 Grace teacheth to live soberly. The Truth is, Men would be hinged 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 24.24. 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. 2.2. I have determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ and him crucified; it was because that 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. 1.23. 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, but to confine our Meditations to the Doctrine of the Cross. There are other Arguments necessary, and must take their turn and place.

1. Some Men think, that to discourse of Sobriety, will be to give you a moral Lecture, not an Evangelical Discourse; they 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 Grace teacheth to live soberly. The Truth is, Men would be hinged 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,