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SERM.
XXIII.]
GRAVITY,
DECENCY,
&C.
SS!
my text.
But
the greek
Qaccvos,
more
properly
signifies
grave,
decent, or
venerable; and
so
you find
it
in
the
margin,
which
will
oftentimes help
you, when
the
word in
the English text
is
not
so
expressive
of
the original
sense.
The
same word
öj
vos
is
rendered
grave
in
several
other
places
of
scripture
:
It
is
three
times
so
expressed
in the
third chapter
of
the first
epistle
to
Timothy,
ver.
8.
The
deacons
must
be
grave.
Ver.
11.
Their
wives
also
must
be
grave.
Ver.
4.
A
bishop
must
have his
children
in
subjection
with
all
gravity.
It
is
a
word
that
is
used
in
Greek authors
to
repre-
sent the
character of
an aged
man,
a philosopher, or
a
magistrate, among the heathens.
It
carries
in
it
the idea
of
an
honourable
gravity,
and a venerable
decency
of
behaviour
;
and
this
is
what the apostle recommends to
the
practice
of
christians.
It
is
as
if
he
had
said,
"
The
character
of
every common
christian should
have
some-
thing
in
it
so
honourable,
as may
command a
sort
of
ve-
neration
and respect
from all persons they converse with,
as much as the
character
of
a
wise
old man,
a magistrate,
or a
philosopher, does
in
the
heathen world."
To
improve this subject,
I
shall
shew,
I.
Wherein
this
gravity
consists.
II.
IIow
the light
of
nature
recommends
it.
III.
How the
gospel
enforces
it.
IV.
Lay down
a direction or
two, in
order
to
obtain
it-
First,
This gravity and venerable decency
which
the
apostle
recommends
in
my text, may
he
supposed to
consist
in
these
three
things.
1.
A
moderation
and decency in
our apparel.
2.
A gravity
and sobriety
in
our
speech
and conver-
sation.
3.
Honour,
decency,
and
dignity in
our
whole
deport-
ment and
behaviour.
I.
A
moderation and decency
in
our apparel,
such
as
becomes
the profession
of
persons
whose
chief ornament
is
religion
and
godliness.
This the apostles, both
St.
Peter
and
St.
Paul, each
in
their turn,
insist upon,
as
a
neces-
sary
qualification
of
women who profess
christianity,
and
as an
ornament
to the
doctrine
of
the gospel
of
Christ.
1
Pet.
iii.
2,
3.
Let
your conversation
be
with
fear;
whime.
adorning let
it
not
be
that
outward adorning
of
plaiting
the
hair, and wearing
of
gold
I
Tim.
ii.
9,
10.
The