The Pulpit Commentary — Jeremiah — Volume 1 — Section 439

HOMILETICS. Vers. 1-6.-The potter and the clay. The relations of the potter to his clay afford a familiar and apt illustration of the relations between God and his human family. At first sight this illustration suggests a harsh view of providence and a hopeless prospect for human endeavour. But on closer consideration, while it teaches lessons of humility and reverent submission on our pa.rt, it also throws light on the merciful goodness of God, and encourages us both to hope and to act for that which will lead to our highest blessedness. J. MEN ABE UNDER THE ABSOLUTE POWER OF GoD, LIKE CLAY IN THE HANDS OF THE POTTER. The potter has power to leave the clay untouched or to make out of it either a vessel of honour or a vessel of dishonour, a beautiful vase or an ugly piece of crockery, a dainty cup for a prince's banquet or a coarse culinary utensil. God has absolute power over us. He is the Almighty. No man can eventually succeed in resisting the will of God. No Divine purpose can be eternally frustrated. God bas also absolute authority over ns. He has the ultimate right of supreme sovereignty to do as he will with his subjects. Yet there is nothing alarming in this fact, but rather an infinite consolation. For God is not a heartless, conscienceless despot., displaying arbitrary power by mero caprice; he is holy, and exercises his sovereignty according to principles of strict justice, truth, and right. He is gracious, and rules with purposes of love for the good of his creatures. Our dependence on God is, like that of the infant on its mother, the 8ecurity of our own welfare. Those horrible applications of the doctrine of Divine sovereignty which attribute to it designs that would be accounted cruel in any responsible being are blasphemous insults to the impartial justice and love of God's character. If God's actions are not limited by any physical compulsion or constitu- tional law, they are governed by his regard to eternal righteousness and by the benefi- cence of his nature. !I. MEN CAN NO lllOBE ATTAIN A WORTHY END IN LIFE WITilOUT GoD TIIAN THE CT,A y OAN BECOlllE A SHAPELY VESSEL WITHOUT THE POTTER, There lies the clay- a dead, heavy, amorphous mass, with no possibility of spontaneously generating forms uf beauty, with no secret principle of evolution to work it into something orderly. '\Ve are as clay. Except God wrought in us and upon us, we could simply lie helpless, ouly to waste away with the flux of circumstances. If we are more than clay, it is because God breathes his life into us and sustains us every moment by his )udwelliug Spirit. If we seem to effect anything actively, it is because he first works 1n us both to will and to do. III. Gon HAS A PURPOSE IN EVERY LIFE AB THE POTTER HAS WITB ,IJ.'IIE OLAY. There is a meaning for the strange discipline of providence. God is shaping us int11  UH, .x.vm. 1-23.] 'l'HE BOOK OF THE PROPHET JEREMIAH. 445