Lectionary Calendar
Friday, July 18th, 2025
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
the Week of Proper 10 / Ordinary 15
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Bible Commentaries
The Church Pulpit Commentary Church Pulpit Commentary
Copyright Statement
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
These files are public domain.
Text Courtesy of BibleSupport.com. Used by Permission.
Bibliographical Information
Nisbet, James. "Commentary on Jeremiah 19". The Church Pulpit Commentary. https://studylight.org/commentaries/eng/cpc/jeremiah-19.html. 1876.
Nisbet, James. "Commentary on Jeremiah 19". The Church Pulpit Commentary. https://studylight.org/
Whole Bible (41)Old Testament (1)Individual Books (3)
Verse 11
A BROKEN VESSEL
âA potterâs vessel, that cannot be made whole again.â
Jeremiah 19:11
I. An earthen vessel is a true emblem of human life, so frail, so brittle.âBut there is something frailer yet in our resolutions and efforts after holiness. And when once these have failed us, we can never be again what we were. Always the crack, the rivets, the mark of the join.
II. In Gideonâs days there was a light within the earthen vessels, and when these were broken it shone forth.âThere is, therefore, a breaking of the vessel which is salutary and desirable. And it is of this that Miss Taylor sings:â
âOh to be nothing, nothing!
Only to lie at His feet,
A broken and emptied vessel,
For the Masterâs use made meet.
Broken, that so unhindered
His life through me might flow.â
It reminds me of a piece of pottery I saw in the mountain burn, which was in the water and the water in it. If there be in any one of us a proud and evil disposition, a masterful self-will, which frets for its own way and makes itself strong against God, then indeed we may ask to be so broken as never to be whole again. âTake meâbreak meâmake me!â is a very wholesome prayer for us all.
III. The apostle speaks of the heavenly treasure in the earthen vessel.âHow wonderful it is that God should put so much of His spiritual ointment into such common and ordinary receptacles! No one detects what is in the saints till they are broken by sickness, pain, trouble; then the house is filled with the odour of the ointment.
Illustration
âBut Thou art making me, I thank Thee, sire,
What Thou hast done and doest, Thou knowest well,
And I will help Thee; gently in Thy fire
I will be burning; on Thy potterâs wheel
I will whirl patient, thoâ my brain should reel;
Thy grace shall be enough the grief to quell,
And growing strength perfect through weakness dire.â