arise from reading this passage in the
Book of Zechariah: 'In that day shall there be upon the bells of the
horses, _Holiness unto the Lord_; and the pots in the Lord's house
shall be like the bowls before the altar. Yea, every pot in Jerusalem
and in Judah shall be holiness unto the Lord of hosts'.

Now, when we look at these things, these pots and pans and horses and
bridles and things of that sort, having to do with our daily toil, our
cooking and eating, our work at home and in the streets, and compare
them with the glories of the Temple, the golden candlesticks, the
golden vessels, the High Priest's wonderful garments, his breastplate,
and, not least, with the Ark of the Covenant, we feel they are very
commonplace things. And yet, you see, according to this statement the
same stamp of holiness is to be put upon them all. Even the most
commonplace of them comes within the scope of this Divine sanctity, and
there is to be in relation to each of them this sacredness, this
sanctification: 'Holiness unto the Lord', is the stamp for all alike.

As an illustration of how _Jesus did great things by the use of the
commonplace_, look at that narrative of the marriage in Cana of
Galilee. We should probably never have heard of this marriage but for
our Lord's miracle; and yet, apart from His Divine power, the process
of turning the water into wine and transforming the character of the
entire feast, that event was, indeed, a very common one.

Look, first of all, at these clay pots--common enough--jars and jugs,
standing in a corner, or perhaps standing out on the veranda, near
where the Saviour was sitting. These pots are easily broken, and no
great value is attached to them. If Christ had intended to do this
great thing you would have imagined that He would have called for the
best vessels in the house; but He did nothing of the kind. He took the
very meanest vessel of the whole household, and He consecrated and
sanctified it to His Divine use.

Look at the water--that is common enough. Wine is costly, but water is
cheap; it is thrown about, slopped about, and the pails containing it
are often upset because easily filled again. Ordinarily speaking, water
is one of the commonest of the commonplace necessaries of life. And yet
that water was sanctified for a display of the Divine power.

Then there are the servants--never a scarcity in the East, where often
there are three to do one man's work. Christ did not call the maste