PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
Jowett, John Henry · 80,769 words · 191 reading sections
John Henry Jowett
E-text prepared by Juliet Sutherland, Anne Storer, and the Project Gutenberg Online Distributed Proofreading Team (http://www.pgdp.net) Transcriber's Note: In the "April 15" meditation, the author mentions reading from Tennyson's "Palace of Sin", which doesn't appear to exist. Possibly "Vision of Sin" was meant? "…
265 wordsSECTION 2_The Unknown Journey_
The title of this book sufficiently interprets its purpose. I hope it may lead to such practical meditation upon the Word of God as will supply vision to common tasks, and daily nourishment to the conscience and will. And I trust that it may so engage the thoughts upon the wonders of meditation, as will fortify the sou…
278 wordsSECTION 3_The Never-Failing Springs_
GENESIS xv. 5-18. "And He brought him forth abroad, and said, Look now toward heaven!" The tent was changed for the sky! Abraham sat moodily in his tent: God brought him forth beneath the stars. And that is always the line of the Divine leading. He brings us forth out of our small imprisonments and He sets our feet in…
423 wordsSECTION 4_The Flowers That Never Fade_
EXODUS vi. 2-8. "I appeared unto Abraham.... I will be to you a God." The covenant made with the father was renewed to the children. The father's death did not disannul the promise of the Lord. Death has no power in the realms of grace. His moth and his rust can never destroy the ministries of Divine love. Abraham die…
420 wordsSECTION 5_A Journal Of Mercies_
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 Railway Station." H…
414 wordsSECTION 6_The Perils Of Possessions_
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 bell of God's fidelit…
410 wordsSECTION 7_Self-Made Or God-Made_
GENESIS xiii. 10-18. Look at Lot. He was a man of the world, sharp as a needle, having an eye to the main chance. He boasted to himself that he always "took in the whole situation." He said that what he did not know was not worth knowing. But such "knowing" men have always very imperfect sight. Lot saw "all the well-w…
440 wordsSECTION 8_The Miracle In A Dry Place_
"If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him." --1 JOHN ii. 13-17. No man can love two opposites any more than he can walk in contrary directions at the same time. No man can at once be mean and magnanimous, chivalrous and selfish. We cannot at the same moment dress appropriately for the arctic re…
455 wordsSECTION 9_The Ministry Of Praise_
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 when the leaves are of…
437 wordsSECTION 10_Spiritual Discernment_
JOHN x. 1-18. The Good Shepherd knows His sheep, and knows them by name. And that is what I am tempted to forget. I think of myself as one of an innumerable multitude, no one of whom receives personal attention. "My way is overlooked by my God." But here is the evangel--the Saviour would miss me, even me! At a great …
413 wordsSECTION 11_The Lost Sheep_
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 for getting, not f…
425 wordsSECTION 12_The Value Of One Soul_
EZEKIEL xxxiv. 23-31. When the Good Shepherd has charge of His flock "_the wild beasts will cease out of the land_." All beastly passions shall be destroyed. The fair gardens of our souls shall no longer be ravaged by sleek pride, or fierce appetite, or ravenous lust. "Thou shalt tread upon the lion and the adder, the…
428 wordsSECTION 13_The Giver'S Hand_
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 my spirit needs rel…
438 wordsSECTION 14_First, My Brother!_
HEBREWS xi. 1-6. With what voice shall we speak when we are dead? What will men hear when they turn their thoughts toward us? What part of us will remain alive, singing or jarring in men's remembrance? It is the biggest part of us that retains its voice. In some it is wealth, in others it is goodness; some go on speak…
416 wordsSECTION 15_The Confession Of Sin_
"_Where envying and strife is, there is confusion and every evil work!_" --JAMES iii. 13-18. In Milton's "Comus" we read of a certain potion which has the power to pervert all the senses of everyone who drinks it. Nothing is apprehended truly. Sight and hearing and taste are all disordered, and the victim is all unco…
466 wordsSECTION 16_Noble Revenge_
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 mingled with fire.…
465 wordsSECTION 17_Under His Wings_
"_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 m…
388 wordsSECTION 18_How To Approach A Crisis_
"_Bring my soul out of prison!_" --PSALM cxlii. I too, have my prison-house, and only the Lord can deliver me. There is _the prison-house of sin_. It is a dark and suffocating hole, without friendly light or morning air. And it is haunted by such affrighting shapes, as though my iniquities had incarnated themselves i…
419 wordsSECTION 19_Spiritual Buoyancy_
_The Lord "turned the flint into a fountain of waters."_ --PSALM cxiv. What a violent conjunction, the flint becoming the birthplace of a spring! And yet this is happening every day. Men who are as "hard as flint," whose hearts are "like the nether millstone," become springs of gentleness and fountains of exquisite co…
397 wordsSECTION 20_The Home-Bird_
"_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 presence! But here he enco…
422 wordsSECTION 21_Revisiting Old Altars_
"_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 and not be broken, i…
451 wordsSECTION 22_Registering A Verdict_
PSALM lxii. Here are two symbols by which the psalmist describes the confidence of the righteous. "_He only is my rock._" Only yesterday I had the shelter of a great rock on a storm-swept mountain side. The wind tore along the heights, driving the rain like hail, but in the opening of the rock our shelter was complete…
401 wordsSECTION 23_The Bulb And The Soil_
PSALM cxxi. There should be a hill country in every life, some great up-towering peaks which dominate the common plain. There should be an upland district, where springs are born, and where rivers of inspiration have their birth. "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills." The soul that knows no hills is sure to be op…
409 wordsSECTION 24_Imperfect Consecration_
"_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 of a superiority w…
422 wordsSECTION 25_Crowding Out God_
PSALM lxxviii. 1-8. Our yesterdays are to be the teachers of our children. We are to take them over our road, and show them the pitfalls where we stumbled and the snares that lured us away. And we are to show them how we found the springs of grace, and how the Lord made Himself known to us in daily providence and care…
471 wordsSECTION 26_The Subtlety Of Temptation_
"_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 rebukes. We love the pass…
417 wordsSECTION 27_Tampering With The Label_
PSALM cxxxix. 1-12. "Thou knowest my thought afar off." That fills me with awe. I cannot find a hiding-place where I can sin in secrecy. I cannot build an apparent sanctuary and conceal evil within its walls. I cannot with a sheep's skin hide the wolf. I cannot wrap my jealousy up in flattery and keep it unknown. "Tho…
382 wordsSECTION 28_The Three Gardens_
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. It was through grac…
410 wordsSECTION 29_Moving Towards Daybreak_
"_Ye have seen the end of the Lord: that the Lord is very pitiful, and of tender mercy._" --JAMES v. 7-11. And so we are bidden to be patient. "We must wait to the end of the Lord." The Lord's ends are attained through very mysterious means. Sometimes the means are in contrast to the ends. He works toward the harvest …
435 wordsSECTION 30_The Cellars Of Affliction_
"_His compassions fail not: they are new every morning._" --LAMENTATIONS iii. 22-33. We have not to live on yesterday's manna; we can gather it fresh to-day. Compassion becomes stale when it becomes thoughtless. It is new thought that keeps our pity strong. If our perception of need can remain vivid, as vivid as thoug…
472 wordsSECTION 31_The Test Of Fulness_
PSALM cv. 23-36. That is the wonder of wonders, that the Almighty God will use frail humanity as the vehicles of His power, and will make Moses and Aaron shine with reflected glory. Man can send an electric current into a fragile carbon film and make it incandescent. He can send his voice across a continent, and make …
395 wordsSECTION 32_Overcharging The Heart_
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 that He cannot poss…
404 wordsSECTION 33_Preparing For The Bride_
JOHN x. 11-18. "I lay down my life." In that supreme sacrifice all other sacrifices turn pale. In the power of that sacrifice the blackest guilt finds forgiveness. Its energies seek out the ruined and desolate life with glorious offer of renewal. When the Lord laid down His life the entire race found a new beginning. …
385 wordsSECTION 34_The Tent And The Building_
JOHN xiv. 15-31. And so even the road is to have the home-feeling in it. "_I will not leave you orphans._" Yes; there is to be something of home even in the way to it. I find something of Devonshire even in Dorsetshire; Shropshire gives me a taste of Wales. My Lord will not leave me comfortless. Heaven runs over, and …
414 wordsSECTION 35_Things Missing In Heaven_
JOHN xvii. 20-26. The home-life in God is to be a life of perfect union--"_I in them, and Thou in Me._" Home is only another name for union. It is the perfect fusion of life with life, the harmonizing of differences as many different notes combine to form the mystery of choral song. And so will it be in the home-land!…
406 wordsSECTION 36_Nearing Home!_
REVELATION vii. 9-17. The citizen of "the home-land" wears white robes. His habits are perfectly clean. And the purity which he wears is a Divine gift and not a human accomplishment. It cannot be attained by self-sacrifice; it is ours through the sacrifice of our Lord. "They have washed their robes and made them white…
428 wordsSECTION 37_Good And Bad Roads_
2 CORINTHIANS vi. 11-18. When we turn away from the world, and leave it, we ourselves are not left to desolation and orphanhood. When we "come out from among them" the Lord receives us! He is waiting for us. The new companionship is ours the moment the old companionship is ended. "I will not leave you comfortless." Wh…
410 wordsSECTION 38_Sickness Among Christ'S Friends_
LUKE xvii. 22-32. In a certain very real way the Lord is coming every moment. And the great art of Christian living is to be able to discern Him when He arrives. He may appear as the village carpenter; or we may "suppose Him to be one of the gardeners," and we may mistake His appearing! He may meet us in some lowly du…
464 wordsSECTION 39_Jesus At A Grave_
JOHN xi. 17-31. Let me consider this marvellous confession of Martha's faith. "I know that _even now_, whatsoever Thou wilt ask of God, God will give it Thee!" Mark the "even now"! Lazarus was dead, and it was midnight in the desolate home. But "even now"! Beautiful it is when a soul's most awful crises are the season…
440 wordsSECTION 40_The Commonplace Of Death_
JOHN xi. 46-57. A fearful nemesis waits upon the spirit of bigotry. Oliver Wendell Holmes has said that bigotry is like the pupil of the eye, the more light you pour into it the more it contracts. The scribes and Pharisees became smaller men the more the Lord revealed His glory. In the raising of Lazarus they saw noth…
415 wordsSECTION 41_Death As My Servant_
JOB xix. 23-27. Perhaps I am akin to Job in having experienced the pressure of calamity. I have felt the shock of adverse circumstances, and the house of my life has trembled in the convulsion. Or death has been to my door and has returned again and again, and every time he has left me weeping! All God's billows have …
402 wordsSECTION 42_In The Golden City_
"_Ye know not what hour your Lord doth come._" --MATTHEW xxiv. 42-51. Then let me always live as though my Lord were at the gate! Let me arrange my affairs on the assumption that the next to lift the latch will be the King. When I am out with my friend, walking and talking, let me assume that just round the corner I m…
409 wordsSECTION 43_The Dark Betrayal_
PSALM cxix. 33-40. The psalmist prays for an _illumined understanding_. "Teach me, O Lord, the way of Thy statutes." We are so prone to be children of the twilight, and to see things out of their true proportions. Therefore do we need to be daily taught. I must go into the school of the Lord, and in docility of spirit…
456 wordsSECTION 44_The Fear Of Man_
LUKE xxii. 39-46. Surely this is the very Holy of Holies! It were well for us to fall on our knees and "be silent unto the Lord." I would quietly listen to the awful words, "Remove this cup from Me!" and I would listen again and again until never again do I hold a cheap religion. It is in this garden that we learn the…
444 wordsSECTION 45_The Silence Of Jesus_
JOHN xviii. 28-38. What a strange King our Lord appears, claiming mystic sovereignty, and yet betrayed by a false friend! And yet, even in His apparent subjection His majestic kingliness stands revealed. When I watch the demeanours of Pilate and Jesus, I can see very clearly who it is who is on the throne; Pilate wea…
476 wordsSECTION 46_Mystic Alarm-Bells_
LUKE xxiii. 13-24. Barabbas rather than Christ! The destroyer of life rather than the Giver of life! This was the choice of the people; and it is a choice which has often stained and defiled my own life. When I choose revenge rather than forgiveness, I am preferring Barabbas to Christ. For revenge is a murderer, whil…
399 wordsSECTION 47_At The Cross!_
1 PETER ii. 17-25. Then I may be not only the betrayer, but the betrayed. In my inner circle there may be a friend who will play me false, and hand me over to the wolves. What then? Just this--I must imitate the grace of my Lord, and "consider Him." There must be no violent retaliation. "_When He was reviled, He revi…
424 wordsSECTION 48"_On Him!_"
LUKE xxiii. 33-47. Look at our Lord in relation to His foes. "_Father, forgive them; for they know not what they do!_" Their bitterness has not embittered Him. The "milk of human kindness" was still sweet. Nothing could sour our Lord, and convert His goodwill into malice, His serene beneficence into wild revenge. And …
432 wordsSECTION 49_The Resurrection Morning_
MARK xvi. 1-8. I am always wondering who will roll away the stone! There is a great obstacle in the way, and my frailty is incompetent to its removal. And lo! when I arrive at the place I find that the angel has been before me, and the obstacle is gone! And I would that I might learn wisdom to-day from the miracle of …
375 wordsSECTION 50_First-Hand Knowledge Of Christ_
LUKE xxiv. 1-12. That empty tomb means the conquest of death. The Captive proved mightier than the captor. He emerged from the prison as the Lord of the prison, and death reeled at His going. In the risen Saviour death is dethroned; he takes his place at the footstool to do the bidding of his sovereign Lord and King. …
419 wordsSECTION 51_My Inheritance In The Risen Lord_
1 CORINTHIANS xv. 12-26. "_If Christ be not risen!_" That is the most appalling "if" which can be flung into the human mind. If it obtains lodging and entertainment, all the fairest hopes of the soul wither away like tender buds which have been nipped by sharp frost! See how they fade! "_Your faith is vain._" It has …
408 wordsSECTION 52_Resurrection-Light_
REVELATION i. 9-18. Let me take the simple words, and quietly gaze into the wonderful depths of their fathomless simplicity. An old villager used to tell me it would strengthen my eyes if I looked long into deep wells. And it will assuredly strengthen the eyes of my soul to gaze into wells like these. "_I am He that …
431 wordsSECTION 53_The Lamb On The Throne_
ROMANS v. 1-11. The Lord went through death to make a path to life. He descended into shame and suffering, and appalling desolation in order that He might "open the Kingdom of Heaven to all believers." And the way is now open! Therefore, "_let us have peace with God_." Let us reverently and willingly tread the heaven…
449 wordsSECTION 54_Religion As Mere Magic_
"_Thou shalt overlay it with pure gold.... And there I will meet with thee._" --EXODUS xxv. 10-22. I must put my best into my preparations, and then the Lord will honour my work. My part is to be of "pure gold" if my God is to dwell within it. I must not satisfy myself with cheap flimsy and then assume that the Lord w…
427 wordsSECTION 55_Priests Of The Lord_
1 SAMUEL vi. 1-15. I must remember that a holy thing can be the minister of a plague. Things that were purposed to be benedictions can be changed into blights. The very ark of God must be in its appointed place or it becomes the means of sickness and destruction. So it is with all the holy things of God: if I dethrone…
456 wordsSECTION 56Philemon 10-18.
1 CHRONICLES xvi. 7-36. "Great is the Lord!" So many people have such a little God! There is nothing about Him august and sublime. And so He is not greatly praised. The worship is thin, the thanksgivings are scanty, the supplications are indifferent. All great saints have a great God. He fills their universe. Therefo…
433 wordsSECTION 57_The Joy Of The Lover_
"_Be ye all of one mind._" --1 PETER iii. 8-17. But this is not unison: it is harmony. When an orchestra produces some great musical masterpiece, the instruments are all of one mind, but each makes its own individual contribution. There is variety with concordance: each one serves every other, and the result is glorio…
434 wordsSECTION 58_Speech As A Symptom Of Health_
1 JOHN ii. 1-11. A new commandment! And yet it is an old one with a new meaning. It is the old water-pot, but its water has been changed into wine. It is the old letter with a new spirit. It is the old body with a new soul. Love makes all things new! It changes duty into delight, and statutes into songs. What a magic…
424 wordsSECTION 59Limited Forgiveness
COLOSSIANS iii. 12-17. True forgiveness is a very strong and clean and masculine virtue. There is a counterfeit forgiveness which is unworthy of the name. It is full of "buts," and "ifs," and "maybes," and "peradventures." It moves with reluctance, it offers with averted face, it takes back with one hand what it gives…
442 wordsSECTION 60_Goliath Versus God!_
MATTHEW v. 21-26. Our Lord always leads us to the secret, innermost roots of things. He does not concern Himself with symptoms, but with causes. He does not begin with the molten lava flowing down the fair mountain slope and destroying the vineyards. He begins with the central fires in which the lava is born. He does …
429 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.