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John Henry Jowett

John Henry Jowett

      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.

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John Henry Jowett

A JOURNAL OF MERCIES

NEHEMIAH ix. 6-11. "Thou hast performed Thy words: for Thou art righteous." Frances Ridley Havergal kept a journal of mercies. She had a record book, and she crowded it with her remembrances of God's goodness. She was always on the look-out for tokens of the Lord's grace and bounty, and she found th... Read More
John Henry Jowett

BLESSINGS AND CURSINGS

"_He read all the words of the law, the blessings and the cursings._" --JOSHUA viii. 30-35. We are inclined to read only what pleases us, to hug the blessings and to ignore the warnings. We bask in the light, we close our eyes to the lightning. We recount the promises, we shut our ears to the rebuke... Read More
John Henry Jowett

CLEAN AND UNCLEAN ANGER

EPHESIANS iv. 25-32. "Let all anger be put away from you." And yet only a moment ago the Apostle had written the words, "Be ye angry and sin not." My power of anger is not to be destroyed, it is to be transformed and purified. Anger can be like an unclean bonfire; it can also be like "a sea of glass... Read More
John Henry Jowett

COUNT YOUR BLESSINGS

PSALM cv. 1-15. "Count your blessings!" Yes, but over what area shall I look for them? There is my personal life. Let me search in every corner. I have found forget-me-nots on many a rutty road. I have found wild-roses behind a barricade of nettles. Professor Miall has a lecture on "The Botany of a ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

CROWDING OUT GOD

"_Lest thou forget._" --DEUTERONOMY iv. 5-13. That is surely the worst affront we can put upon anybody. We may oppose a man and hinder him in his work, or we may directly injure him, or we may ignore him, and treat him as nothing. Or we may forget him! Opposition, injury, contempt, neglect, forgetfu... Read More
John Henry Jowett

EVERYWHERE THE GATE OF HEAVEN

"_Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not._" --GENESIS xxviii. 10-22. That is the first time for many a day that Jacob had named the name of God. In all the dark story of his wicked intrigue the name of God is never mentioned. Jacob wanted to forget God! God would be a disturbing presenc... Read More
John Henry Jowett

FALSE SHEPHERDS

EZEKIEL xxxiv. 1-10. This word of the Lord puts before me the unlovely lineaments of the false shepherds. They are self-seeking. They "_feed themselves_," but they "_feed not the flock_." They take up religion for what they can make out of it! It is a carnal ambition, not a holy service. It is used ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

FIRST, MY BROTHER!

MATTHEW v. 17-24. "First be reconciled to thy brother." We are to put first things first. When we bring a gift unto the Lord He looks at the hand that brings it. If the hand is defiled the gift is rejected. "Wash you, make you clean." "First be reconciled to thy brother, and then come and offer thy ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

FORGETTING GOD

DEUTERONOMY viii. 11-20. "Beware ... lest when thou hast eaten and art full ... thine heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God." I was in a little cottage near Warwick. I said to the good man who lived in it, "Can you see the castle?" and he replied, "We can see it best in the winter whe... Read More
John Henry Jowett

GRACE REIGNS!

ROMANS v. 12-21. When old Mr. Honest came to the river, and he entered the cold waters of death, the last words he was heard to utter by those who stood on the shore were these:--"Grace reigns!" All through his pilgrimage old Mr. Honest had been in Emmanuel's land where grace reigned night and day. ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

GRUDGES

"_Thou shalt not bear any grudge._" --LEVITICUS xix. 11-18. How searching is that demand upon the soul! My forgiveness of my brother is to be complete. No sullenness is to remain, no sulky temper which so easily gives birth to thunder and lightning. There is to be no painful aloofness, no assumption... Read More
John Henry Jowett

HE IS FAITHFUL!

1 KINGS viii. 54-61. "There hath not failed one word of all His good promise." Supposing one word had failed, how then? If one golden promise had turned out to be counterfeit, how then? If the ground had yielded anywhere we should have been fearful and suspicious at every part of the road. If the be... Read More
John Henry Jowett

HOW TO APPROACH A CRISIS

"_It shall be given you in that same hour._" --MATTHEW x. 16-28. And so I am not to worry about the coming crisis! "God never is before His time, and never is behind!" When the hour is come, I shall find that the great Host hath made "all things ready." When the crisis comes _He will tell me how to ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

IMPERFECT CONSECRATION

MATTHEW xix. 16-22. The rich young ruler consecrated a part, but was unwilling to consecrate the whole. He hallowed the inch but not the mile. He would go part of the way, but not to the end. And the peril is upon us all. We give ourselves to the Lord, but we reserve some liberties. We offer Him our... Read More
John Henry Jowett

INVINCIBLE RELIANCE

HEBREWS xi. 17-22. "Accounting that God was able." That is the faith that makes moral heroes. That is the faith that prompts mighty ventures and crusades. It is faith in God's willingness and ability to redeem His promises. It is faith that if I do my part He will most assuredly do His. It is faith ... Read More
John Henry Jowett

IRRESISTIBLE ARTILLERY

"_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 heave... Read More
John Henry Jowett

LEAVING ITS MARK

"_Fear not, thou worm Jacob, I will make thee a threshing instrument with teeth._" --ISAIAH xli. 8-14. Could any two things be in greater contrast than a worm and an instrument with teeth? The worm is delicate, bruised by a stone, crushed beneath a passing wheel; an instrument with teeth can break a... Read More
John Henry Jowett

MOVING TOWARDS DAYBREAK

"_He hath brought me into darkness, but not into light._" --LAMENTATIONS iii. 1-9. But a man may be in darkness, and yet in motion toward the light. I was in the darkness of the subway, and it was close and oppressive, but I was moving toward the light and fragrance of the open country. I entered in... Read More
John Henry Jowett

MY OWN SHEPHERD

PSALM xxiii. How shall we touch this lovely psalm and not bruise it? It is exquisite as "a violet by a mossy stone!" Exposition is almost an impertinence, its grace is so simple and winsome. There is the ministry of rest. "_He maketh me to lie down in green pastures._" The Good Shepherd knows when m... Read More
John Henry Jowett

NOBLE REVENGE

"_I have delivered him that without cause is mine enemy._" --PSALM vii. 4. That is the noblest revenge, and in those moments David had intimate knowledge of the spirit of his Lord. "If thine enemy hunger, feed him!" _Evil for good is devil-like._ To receive a favour and to return a blow! To obtain t... Read More

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