Catoctin clarion. [volume] (Mechanicstown, Md.) 1871-1940, 1902-09-11
"A LIFE MADE OVER"
Sunday Discourse By DR.. Chapman, the
Noted Pastor.Evangelist.
Some Lives Mentioned Ia The Bible Which
Have Really Been Made Over Again
Like the Clay Moulders.

New York ClTf.-The Rev. DR.. j. Will
bur Chapman, the popular pastor-evangei-
list, who breaches to overfiowlng congrega-
tions in this city, has furnished the follow
ing eloquent sermon to the press. 1t was
preached from the text so he made IL
again" Jeremiah Is: 4.
TO any one familiar with the prophecy OF
jeremiah up to this point in the Scripture
10 will be apparent that Israel was rushing
on to destruction, and Jeremiah seems
powerless to stop them in their mad
course. One day as he passes along the
highway he beholds potter working. IN a
booth and as he turns aside he beholds
him with the clay in his hands and the
wheel revolving, toiling away until TINS
piece of work is finished. He looks at It
with disappointment, and then crushing e It
into his hands he kneads it over and over
and finally makes it again rs the text de-
clarcs. jeremiah is interested, and then he
saw the spiritual significance of it all as
we read in the fifth and sixth verses OF
this 18th chapter, "Then the word of the
Lord came to me, saving, o, house oil
Israel cannot | do with you as this pot
ter? Saith the Lord, Behold as the clay
is in the potter's. hands, so are We IN Mine
hand, o house of Israel" Tho trouble was
not with the potter; he was evidently.
good workman. nor with the wheel, tor
that seemed to do its work WELL 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 a rude vessel of the material
at hand This is familiar figure in the
Scriptures, for we read in Isaiah Ga s,
"But now, O Lord. Thou art our Father;
we are the clay and Thou our potter; and
we all are the work Of Thy hand and
then we read in the New Testament in
Paul's Epist,le to the Rom,ansa the 9th
chapter and the Dist and Odd verses,
Hath not the potter power over the clay,
of the same lump to make one vessel unto
honor and another unto dshonor? What
if 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 is most unattractive, but the art.
ist looks upon it with interest because of
what he secs in it in the way of beauty af,
ter his hands have touched it. This makes
the difference III two pieces of canvas, ono
if 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 a potter work
in the factory one day and said to him,
"Why is it in these days when such won.
dcrful mechanical tools are constructed
this work is not done by machinery rather
than by hand" aud the potter said,
"Thcrc are some pieces of work which can
only be brought to perfection by the
touch of human hand" and 50 it is in
the formation of character. Whatever
may he 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
picture of our regeneration, for regenera.
ton is the coming into us of the life of
God. I stood one day in Venice watching
the glassbiowers. and while glass in its
natural state WAS most unintcrcsting, just
as soon as the workman began to blow the
breath of his own life into it it became Y
thing of beauty. ADAM back in the Old
Testament becoming living soul is the
Old Testament story of Gods inhreathing,
while the child Of God in the New Testa-
ment is the New Tcstamcnt's story of that
same mhrcathmg.
The dav Of our conversion we yielded
ourselves to God; that was the closing of
ourselves in the hands of the potter. As
we came into the light with Him God saw
imperfccions in our makeup, things that
were not pleasing to Him, and so He put
His finger upon this or that; some of these
things we have not been willing to give up,
and so our lives have been marred. We
have had controversy with Him, and
wherever Their" is a controversy there Is
no peace. We are Christians. it is true,
but we are fluitcss and joviess, and many
of lis are shorn of power. The vessels were
marrcd in the making, but it is a comfort
ing thing to 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 if we will but permit
Him to do so 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
shall VIC yield or not Suppose we do not
yield, are we then lost? Certainly not
Paul says, "1c is able to keep that which
] have committed unto Him." and in the
eighth chapter of Romans he seems to cx.
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 he 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
mans 8: q. Hath not the potter power
over the clay, of the same lump to make
one vessel unto honor and another unto
dishonor,' We might have been vessel
in the kings 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 is
sad story OF many life.
God has plan for every life. jeremiah
did not know what was in the mind of the
potter, but he knew that he was working
according to plan, but we know what Is
in Gods mind. Romans 8: 20, For whom
He did foreknow, He also did predcstinate
to be conformed to the image of His Son
that He might be the first born among
many brethren" Philippians 3: -, mo,
as though had already attained, either
were already perfect but | follow after, il
that may apprehend that for which also
/ am apprehended OF Christ Jesus" Goo
cannot be satisfied with anything less thar
this. A workman in factory fashioning
beautiful design saws an imperfection in
the plan. To carry it on meant ruin, and
so he carried it back to the artist anc
found that it was an error of the copyst
and that is the difficulty of an inconsistent
life. It misrcpresents Jesus Christ. There
are people in this world who would scorI
to be heterdox so far as the Scriptures are
concerned, but so far as the manifestation
of Tho Christ life is conperne1 thpy arc nv