"_When I cry unto Thee, then shall mine enemies turn back._"
--PSALM lvi.
But it must be a real "cry"! It must not be an idle recitation which sheds
no blood. It must be a cry like the cry of the drowning, a cry which
cleaves the air like a bullet. Said a man to me some while ago, "Assault
the heavens with cries for me!" That is the cry which takes the kingdom by
storm.
When such a cry rends the heavens, "my enemies turn back." A secret and
irresistible artillery begins to play upon them, and their strength fails.
Yes, believing prayer calls these invisible allies into the field. "The
mountains are full of horses and chariots of fire round about!" And the
enemy flies!
"_This I know._" The psalmist is building upon experience. The miracle
has happened a hundred times. Many a morning has he seen the enemy
vaingloriously tramping the field, and he has cried unto the Lord, and
before nightfall there has been a perfect rout. Blessed is the man who has
had such heartening dealings with the Lord that he can now face a hostile
host in unclouded faith and assurance!
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John Henry Jowett was born in Halifax, England in 1864. Jowett's father had arranged for him to begin working as a clerk for a lawyer in Halifax, but the encouragement of his Sunday school teacher, Mr. Dewhirst, turned Jowett's heart toward the ministry.
After theological training at Edinburgh and Oxford, Jowett assumed the pastorate of the Saint James Congregational Church. His six effective years of ministry brought him to the attention of the Carr's Lane Church in Birmingham, England, on the death of their pastor. For the next fifteen years the church grew and prospered. Their pastor's vision led them to increase their efforts to bring people to Christ. In 1917, the mayor of Birmingham said the church had changed the town with "crime and drunkenness having decreased."
Jowett came to America for the first time in 1909 to address the Northfield Conference founded by D. L. Moody. While in America he preached twice at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. The church immediately asked him to come as its pastor. Jowett refused, having received a petition, signed by more than 1,400 members of his church in England, begging him to stay. The Fifth Avenue Church called him again, and then a third time. Finally Jowett concluded that this was God's leading for his life. He assumed the pastorate in 1911.
Although his preaching style was not dynamic (he read all of his sermons), the depth of his knowledge, the clarity of his language, and the power of his life commanded respect. Attendance at the church which had dropped to 600 on Sunday morning rose to 1,500. Lines up to half a block long formed, waiting for unclaimed seats. Jowett began preparing his Sunday sermons on Tuesday, following a meticulously detailed schedule.
When G. Campbell Morgan resigned the Westminster Chapel in London in 1917, Dr. Jowett once again crossed the ocean to take a new church. This would be his final pastorate. Declining health forced him to give up preaching in 1922, and his death in 1923 took from the world one of its most gifted and dedicated preachers.