The Wise Man telleth us, that a word fitly spoken, is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, Prov. 25. 11. And our Lord in the Prophet telleth us, that he had the Tongue of the Learned, to speak a word in season, Isai. 50. 4. Paul at Athens disproved the superstition of that Learned City, out of the inscription ⟨p. 2⟩of their own Altar, and the testimony of their own Poet, Acts 17. 23, 28. And before *Felix, a corrupt and intemperate Judge, he Preached of Righteousness and Temperance, Acts 24. 25. In solemn and public meetings, the most needful Doctrines to be pressed, are those which are most suitable to the Auditory. When Timothy is to Preach before rich men, the Apostle here furnisheth him with the materials of his Sermon, to warn them against the sins incident to that condition, and of the duties incumbent upon it; and because hard duties are both to be urged with cogent Arguments, and sweetened with special Comforts, here are Motives of both kinds used, that by the necessity and the utility, they may be persuaded unto the duty; so that my Text is a very fit present for an Assembly of Rich Citizens, a present of Gold and Silver, Apples of Gold in Tables of Silver, a present of Treasures, Stable and abiding Treasures, a good foundation, an eternal life, and all to be had not [Greek or Hebrew], in this present now, but [Greek or Hebrew], in that living God, who is yesterday and to day the same, and for ever, and who never faileth or forsaketh those that trust in him.
THe Wiseman telleth us, that a word fitly spoken, is like Apples of Gold in Pictures of Silver, Prov. 25. 11. And our Lord in the Prophet telleth us, that he had the Tongue of the Learned, to speak a word in season, Isai. 50. 4. Paul at Athens disproved the superstition of that Learned City, out of the inscription ⟨p. 2⟩of their own Altar, and the testimony of their own Poet, Acts 17. 23, 28. And before *Felix, a corrupt and intemperate Judge, he Preached of Righteousness and Temperance, Acts 24. 25. In solemn and publick meetings, the most needful Doctrines to be pressed, are those which are most suitable to the Auditory. When Timothy is to Preach before rich men, the Apostle here furnisheth him with the materials of his Sermon, to warn them against the sins incident to that condition, and of the duties incumbent upon it; and because hard duties are both to be urged with cogent Arguments, and sweetned with special Comforts, here are Motives of both kindes used, that by the necessity and the utility, they may be perswaded unto the duty; so that my Text is a very fit present for an Assembly of Rich Citizens, a present of Gold and Silver, Apples of Gold in Tables of Silver, a present of Treasures, Stable and abiding Treasures, a good foundation, an eternal life, and all to be had not 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, in this present now, but 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, in that living God, who is yesterday and to day the same, and for ever, and who never faileth or forsaketh those that trust in him.
- *Cuncta malefacta sibi impunè ratus, Tacit. Annal. 1. 12. Per omnem saevitiam & libidinem jus Regium servili ingenio exercuit. Hist. lib. 5. Sueton in Claudio, cap. 28.
