The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1902-09-24
A SERMON FOR SUNDAY
HELPFUL AND READABLE DISCOURSE
ENTITLED "A LIFE MADE OVER"

Rev. DR.. J.wiibur Chapman. Hss frs-
pared the Following Sermon For the
Prsss-Gaod Has Plan For Evory Lias'
NEW Yozx Crrr.-The Rev. DR.. ]. VIII
bur Chapman, the popular pastor-evansei'
int. who breaches to overlooking congrega.
tions in this city. has furnished the follow.
ing eloquent sermon to the press. II was
preached from the text so he made it
again" Jeremiah Is: 4.
To any one familiar with the prophecy OF
Jeremiah up to this point in the Scripture
il will be- apparent that Israel was rushing
on to destruction, and Jeremiah seems
powerless to stop them in their mad
course. One day a. he passes along the
highway he beholds q potter working IN .
booth, and a. he turns aside he beholds
him with the clay y il his hands n.;, and the 81:
niece Of work Is finished. He looks at It
with disappointment, and then crushing It
into his hands he kneads it over and over
and finally makes it again az the text de-
clares. Jeremiah is interested, and then he
saw the spiritual significance Of it all a.
we read in the fifth and sixth verses OF
this 18th chapter, Then the word OF the
Lord came to me. saying. 0. house OF
Israel, cannot do with you as this pot
ter! Saith the Lord. Behold a. the clay
is in the potter's hands. 80 are ye IN Mine
hand. o house Of Israel" The trouble was
not with the potter; he was evidently a
good workman. nor with the wheel. for
Chat seemed to do its work we'll, but en-
tirely with the clay. Sometimes the clay
was coarse and difficult to mold. other
times it was full Of grits, but there were
two courses that were opened to the pot
ter. First. he could purify the clay by re.
moving the coarser elements: and second;
he could make rude vessel OF the materia!
at hand. This is familiar figure in the
Scriptures, for we read in Isaiah a.: 8,
"But now, O Lord. Thou art our Father; !;
we are the clay and Thou our potter; and
we all arc the work OF Thy hand, ana
Paul's Epissle to the Romans, the 9th
chapter and the 2lst and 22d verses.
Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dishonor? What
II God, willing to show His wrath. and to
make His power known, endured with
much long suffering the vessels OF wrath
fitted to destruction"
We are the clay, God is the potter. Clay
in itself 10 most unattractive, but the art:
isr looks upon it with interest because OF
what he sees in it in the way Of beauty at
ter his hands have touched it.. This makes
the difference in two pieces OF canvas, one
IL touched BY the master hand and Is a
masterpiece. the other is simply canvas IN
its natural state and is not interesting.
A traveller stood watching potter work
in the factory one day and said to him.
"Why is it in these days when such won.
derful mechanical tools are constructed
this work is not done by machinery rather
than by hand" and the potter said,
There are some pieces OF work which can can
only be brought to perfection BY the
touch Of a human hand" and SO it is in
the formation OF character. Whatever
may be ones social position or his financial
wealth he will not be able to please God
nor to be prepared for heaven until the
hand Of God has touched him. This Is a
tion Is the coming into US OF the life OF
God. I stood one day in Venice watching
the glassblowers, and while glass in its
natural state was most uninterestins, just
az soon AZ the workman began to blow the
breath of his own life into it it became a
thing Of beauty. Adam. back in the Old
Testament becoming o living sou! is the
Old Testament story OF Gods inbreathing.
while the child Of God in the New Testa.
ment is the New Testament's story Of that
| same inbreathing.
The day Of our conversion we yielded
ourselves to God: that was the closing ot
ourselves in the hands OF the potter: As
we came into the light with Him God saw
imperfections in our makeup, things that
were not pleasing to Him. and so he put
His finger upon this or that; some OF these
and so our lives have been marred. We
| have had q controversy with Him. and
wherever there is controversy there Is
no peace. We are Christians. il is true,
but we are fruitless and joyless, and many
of us are shorn Of power. The vessels were
marred in the making. but it 10 comfort
ing thing 10 know that we are in the hands
Of the potter still. and although we failed
yesterday we need not fail tomorrow. for
He will fashion US il we will but permit
Him to do 50 in the likeness OF His own
dear Son. We are to be holy, we are to
be pure Of heart, we certainly are to have
fellowship with Christ. we have been in
bondage long enough, now the question is
yield, are we then lost! Certainly not,
Paul says. HE is able to keep that which
| I have committed unto Him." and in the
eighth chapter Of Romans he seems TO ex.
haust language to soar into heaven and to
make his way to the very depths OF the
earth and then to cry aloud, Nothing
shall be able to separate US from the love
of God which Is in Christ Jesus our
Lord" but We shall be shorn OF peace and
OF power and Of blessing. and while certain
kinds Of work will 90 on in our lives an
other kind OF vessel will be made. Ro-
man, 9: q. Hath not the potter power
over the clay. of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto
| in the king's palace. We might have been
| in the throne room of the king, we might
have been used to carry life to the dying
and God would and you would not Il q
sad ntory Of many life.
| III.
God has a plan for every life. Jeremiah
| did not know what was iL the mind Of the
potter. bu. he knew that he was working
according to a plan. but we know what il
in Gods mind. Romans 8: q, "For whom
He did foreknow, He also did predestinate
] to be conformGd to the image of His Son,
that He might be the first born amonS
many brethren" Philippians 3: u, mot
as though | had already attained. either
that may apprehend that for which also
I am apprehended OF Christ Jesus" God
cannot be satisfied with anything less than
this. A workman in factory fashioning q
beautiful design saws an imperfection in
the plan. To carry it on meant ruin, and
| 30 he carried il back to the artist and
found that it Was an error OF the copyist,
! and that Is the difficulty of an inconsistent
life. It misrepresents Jesus Christ There
arc people in this world who would ecorn
| to be hrterdox 50 far as the Scriptures are
concerned. but 80 far a. the manifestation
| Of the Christ life is coucerned they are ex'
ceedingly heretical. It is not part OF God q
| plan that We should fail.