Gospel: Needs No Meretricious Adornments. When Dionysius, the tyrant, sent Lysander some rich Sicilian garments for his daughters, he refused them, alleging that “He was afraid these fine clothes would make them look more homely.” The truth of God is so comely in itself that the trappings of oratory are far more likely to lessen its glory than to increase it. Paul saith that he preached the gospel “not with wisdom of words, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect.”