4. As it is a progressive holiness, so it is also a diffusive holiness, that spreadeth itself throughout all actions, civil and sacred ; in things which belong to peace and war. (1.) In things civil and sacred, all the pots of the Lord's house, and all the pots in Jerusalem. (2.) In things of war and peace, for here are horse-bells and pots ; all things should now become holy, and holily used. In every point and ordinary action of the christian life, a christian should devote himself to God. True holiness will extend itself, and shine forth in a man's most com-
444 SERMON UPON ZECHARIAH XIV. 20, 21.
mou things and employments, and the sincere man referreth all to God, even in his ordinary conversation, as if he were about immediate wor- ship : 1 Peter i. 15, ' For as he which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy,' ev irdarj dvaaTpo(f>fj, ' in all manner of conversation.' In every creek and turning of your lives, or in every particular passage of your christian course. Oh ! what a blessed thing is it when godliness run- neth through a man's whole life as the woof through the web ! when our whole conversation savoureth of godliness and true holiness, and our common and civil actions are done in the Lord and for his glory, and upon all occasions you show yourselves haters of sin and lovers of what is good ! Everything that passeth God's hand discovereth the author ; there is not a gnat or a pile of grass but you may see God in it as well as in the more stupendous works of the creation. So should a christian in every condition, prosperous and adverse, in an high or low condition, whether he be abased or do abound, carry himself like a christian : Phil. iv. 12, ' I know both how to be abased, and I know how to abound ; everywhere and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungiy, both to abound and suffer need ; ' Hosea vii. 8, ' Ephraim is a cake not turned,' baked but on one side, and dough on the other. So in every action, civil or sacred, there must not only be a spirit of holiness breathing in our duties, but shining forth in our ordinary employments and recreations. Every action, morally consi- dered, is in itself a step forward to hell or to heaven ; in every relation, in love to our maker, in duty to our fellow creatures : Acts xxiv. 16, ' And herein do I exercise myself, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards men.' To all men, and to our fellow- saints : 2 Peter i. 7, ' And to godliness brotherly kindness, to brotherly kindness charity ; ' injustice and charity. When the web is one thing, and the woof another, the Lord abhor re th it.
II. Of holiness in the general. What it is ? It may be considered relatively or positively.
1. Kelatively ; so that thing or person is holy which is set apart from a common to a holy use.
2. Positively ; so it implieth the renovation of our natures and the rectitude of our actions ; for holiness may be applied to persons or actions. An action is holy by its conformity to the rule ; a person by the prevalency of his principle. Holiness with respect to our actions is an universal endeavour of conformity to the will of God. A person is holy by the prevalency of his principle, when his heart by those divine qualities which we call gi'aces is constantly bent and powerfully inclined to please God in all things.
1. For holiness relatively considered, or with respect to our relation to God. These four things are in it —
[1.] An inclination towards God. There is a new bias upon the heart, which bends it to God, which before bended and tended towards carnal vanities. Conversion is a turning to God, and the holy life is a living to God : Gal. ii. 19, ' For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.' The great work of grace is to set and fix the heart towards him from whom we departed by our folly and sin, that we may serve, please, and glorify him in all things, and finally come to enjoy him as our chief happiness : 1 Chron. xxii. 19, ' Now set your heart and your soul to seek the Lord your God.'
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[2.] From this tendency towards God ariseth a dedication of ourselves and all that we have to the Lord's use and service : 2 Cor. viii. 5, ' But first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God ; ' Eom. vi. 13, ' But yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God ; ' Eom. xii. 1, * I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service.' They are ashamed they have so long kept God out of his right, therefore now they resign themselves to be what he will have them to be, and to do what he will have them to do.