[1.] As an accuser, hearken to its voice ; what doth it say to you, good or evil ? Job xxvii. 6, ' My heart shall not reproach me so long as I live.' If it speak not to you, you must speak to it. God com- plaineth, Jer. viii. 6, ' I hearkened and heard, but they spake not aright ; no man repented him of his wickedness, saying, What have I done ? '
[2.] As a witness, consider the evidence it bringeth, that it may be matter of joy or sorrow to you, of confession or thanksgiving. If it reproach you, do not smother the check : Acts xxiv. 25, ' And as he reasoned of righteousness, temperance, and judgment to come, Felix trembled, and answered, Go thy way for this time ; when I have a more convenient season I will call for thee.' If it cheer you, see upon what grounds: Kom. ix. 1, ' I speak the truth in Christ, I lie not, my con- science also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost.' It is no matter what others think, but what conscience thinketh. Nothing is nearer to us tlian ourselves ; it is a domestical tribunal, that we always carry about with us.
[3.] As a judge it passeth sentence ; if it be wrong, there is an appeal from court to court : Ps. cxxx. 3, 4, ' If thou, Lord, shouldst mark iniquities, 0 Lord, who can stand ? but there is forgiveness with thee, that thou may est be feared.' Conscience is a judge, but it is an inferior judge ; there lieth an appeal to a higher: 1 Cor. iv, 4, ' He that judg- eth me is the Lord ; ' Heb. xii. 23, ' And to God the judge of all' But it should be done with great admiration of grace. But if the judgment be right, it is ratified ; its judgment we must yield to : 1 Cor. xi. 32, 'But when we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord.' Tlius should we keep up the force of conscience.
SERMON UPON ZECHARIAH XIV. 20, 21.
In that day there shall he upon the hells of the horses, Holiness unto the Lord ; and the pots in the Lord's house shall he like the hoivls he/ore the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem and in Judah shall he holiness unto the Lord of hosts. — Zech. xiv. 20, 21.
These words describe the purity and holiness of the gospel church in such terms and notions as are proper to the old testament dispensa- tion. In them observe — (1.) The inscription or impress ; (2.) The things on which it is engraven ; (3.) The time when it is done.
1 . The inscription or impress, ' Holiness to the Lord.' This was of old written on the priest's mitre: Exod. xxviii. 36, ' And thou shalt make a plate of pure gold, and grave upon it like the engravings of a signet, Holiness to the Lord ; ' to show that he was a person sacred, and designed for special holy uses : therein he was a type of Christ. Now what was upon the high priest's frontlet was inscribed on every- thing, to show they should consecrate their all to God.
2. The things inscribed, particularly enumerated, first, the horse-bells^ or the ornaments of their horses ; secondly, their bowls or basons ; thirdly, their pots.
1.] What was used in the kitchens of the temple.
2.] The utensils of every ordinary house and family. There were kitchens belonged to the temple, wherein the thank-offerings were dressed for their sacred feasts. The bowls of the altar were for an higher use, namely, to receive the blood of the sacrifices to make the sprinklings, as ' Solomon made an hundred basons of gold ' for that use, 2 Chron, iv. 8.
3. The time, * In that day.' He speaketh not of any peculiar time, but the whole state of things under the gospel, which is as it were but one day. And it is called ' that day ' by way of excellency. Thus the time of the gospel are days indeed full of light and grace, and ' that day' by way of limitation. It should be reserved for this day, and not found in such a degree and measure at any other time ; even then when there should be no sacrifices, no altars, then the bells, pots, and basons should be sanctified or separated from a common, and dedicated to an holy use , that is, there shall be such special universal holiness, as if it were so done upon all these things.
But you will say, When and where is it ? Alas ! considering the
4.42 SERMON UPON ZECHARIAH XIV. 20, 21.
degenerate state of tlie christian world, where is this universal holiness to be found ? How shall we make it good ?
Ans. 1. Prophecies of things belonging to our obedience are to be understood many times quoad qfficium, of our dut)', rather than qucad eventum, of the event ; it is their duty to be thus holy in all their employ- ments and affairs ; that dispensation requireth it as our duty.
2. As to the event, it is to be understood comparatively, not abso- lutely, to show that there shall be a far greater holiness under the gospel than under the law ; both intensive as to the degree of the holiness itself, and extensive as to the persons sanctified. Intensively the holiness itself is greater, because the ordinances of the gospel are rational, and not typical, and the duties of it moral more than cere- monial. God taught them by ceremonies to hate sin by the types of legal uncleanness, to devote themselves to God by offering their beasts in sacrifice. Theirs was like a training, ours a real war, as much as the difference is between shooting at a puppet or painted castle and fighting with an enemy. And because more of the Spirit is poured out ; now grace is not given upon trust, but the price is actually paid. Extensively, more persons are sanctified, as the pale is enlarged, and the gospel prevaileth on them : Eev. v. 9, ' Thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood, out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation ; ' Mark svi. 15, ' Go into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.'