PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
My Daily Meditation for the Circling Year
Jowett, John Henry · 80,769 words · 191 reading sections
_Preparing For Great Encounters_
1 SAMUEL xvii. 12-27. God's champion is at present feeding sheep! Who would have expected that Goliath's antagonist would emerge from the quiet pastures? "Genius hatches her offspring in strange places." Very humble homes are the birthplaces of mighty emancipations. There was a little farm at St. Ives, and the farmer…
395 wordsSECTION 62_The Test Of Victory_
"_I come to thee in the name of the Lord of Hosts._" --1 SAMUEL xvii. 38-54. The man who comes up to his foes with this assurance will fight and win. Reasonable confidence is one of the most important weapons in the warrior's armoury. Fear is always wasteful. The man who calmly expects to win has already begun to conq…
404 wordsSECTION 63_The Happy Warrior_
PSALM cxxiv. If I would be like the Psalmist, I must _clearly recognize my perils_. He sees the "waters," the "proud waters." He beholds the "enemy," and his "wrath," and his "teeth." He sees "the fowler" with his snare! I must not shut my eyes, and "make my judgment blind." One of the gifts of grace is the spirit of …
448 wordsSECTION 64_A Healthy Palate_
"_Thou shalt have no other gods before Me._" --EXODUS xx. 1-11. If we kept that commandment all the other commandments would be obeyed. If we secure this queen-bee we are given the swarm. To put nothing "before" God! What is left in the circle of obedience? God first, always and everywhere. Nothing allowed to usurp Hi…
499 wordsSECTION 65_The Perfecting Of Love_
"_Be ye doers of the word and not hearers only._" --JAMES i. 21-27. When we hear the word, but do not do it, there has been a defect in our hearing. We may listen to the word for mere entertainment. Or we may attach a virtue to the mere act of listening to the word. We may assume that some magical efficacy belongs to …
460 wordsSECTION 66_How Not To Forget_
PSALM xix. 7-14. Let me listen to the exquisite chimes of this wonderful psalm as they ring out the blessedness of the man whose delight is in the law of the Lord. What shall he find in the ways of obedience? He shall find restoration. "Restoring the soul." He shall find new stores of food along the way. In every eme…
444 wordsSECTION 67_Loving The Lord_
LUKE x. 21-28. The secret of life is to love the Lord our God, and our neighbours as ourselves. But how are we to love the Lord? We cannot manufacture love. We cannot love to order. We cannot by an act of will command its appearing. No, not in these ways is love created. Love is not a work, it is a fruit. It grows in …
255 wordsSECTION 68_But----!_
"_I have surely seen the affliction of My people ... come now, therefore, I will send thee._" --EXODUS iii. 1-14. Does that seem a weak ending to a powerful beginning? The Lord God looks upon terrible affliction and He sends a weak man to deal with it. Could He not have sent fire from heaven? Could He not have rent th…
411 wordsSECTION 69_Commonplace Fidelities_
"_Now therefore go, and I will be with thy mouth._" --EXODUS iv. 10-17. And what a promise that is for anyone who is commissioned to proclaim the King's decrees. Here can teachers and preachers find their strength. God will be with their mouths. He will control their speech, and order their words like troops. He does …
382 wordsSECTION 70_God Is Wide-Awake_
"_In the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord._" --ISAIAH vi. 1-8. He lost a hero, and he found the Lord. He feared because a great pillar had fallen: and he found the Pillar of the universe. He thought everything would topple into disaster, and lo! he felt the strength of the everlasting arms. When Uzziah lived …
438 wordsSECTION 71_My Bodily Infirmities_
"_The very hairs of your head are all numbered._" --MATTHEW x. 24-31. Providence goes into details. Sometimes, in our human intercourse, we cannot see the trees for the wood. We cannot see the individual sheep for the flock. We cannot see the personal soul for the masses. We are blinded by the bigness of things; we ca…
448 wordsSECTION 72_The Rock Of Experience_
JOHN ix. 13-25. Here is a ceremonialism which is blind to the humane. Its scrupulous ritualisms have dried up its philanthropy. It thinks more of etiquette than equity. It esteems genuflexions more than generosity. It values the husk more than the kernel. It is Sabbatarian but not humanitarian. My God, deliver me from…
427 wordsSECTION 73_Human Frailties_
MARK x. 46-52. Our Lord hears the cry of need even when it rises from the midst of the tumultuous crowd. A mother can hear the faint cry of her child in the chamber above, even when the room resounds with the talk and laughter of her guests. And our Lord heard the wail of poor Bartimæus! That lone, sorrowful cry pierc…
427 wordsSECTION 74_Wind And Fire_
MATTHEW xiii. 10-17. The condition of the heart determines the quality of my discernment. If "the heart is waxed gross," the ears will be "dull of hearing," and the eyes will be "closed." My spiritual senses gain their acuteness or obtuseness from my affections. If my love is muddy my sight will be dim. If my love be …
419 wordsSECTION 75_Visions And Dreams_
ACTS ii. 22-36. The Apostle Peter traces the stream of Pentecostal blessing to a tomb. This "river of water of life" has its "rise" in a death of transcendent sacrifice. And I must never forget these dark beginnings of my eternal hope. It is well that I should frequently visit the sources of my blessedness, and kneel …
408 wordsSECTION 76_Receiving The Holy Ghost_
"_On the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost._" --ACTS x. 34-48. And this is ever the issue of a true outpouring of the Spirit: sundered peoples become one. At "low tide" there are multitudes of separated pools along the shore: at "high tide" they flow together, and the little distinctions are lost…
411 wordsSECTION 77_Many Gifts--One Spirit_
"_For as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the sons of God._" --ROMANS viii. 9-17. And how unspeakably wealthy are the implications of the great word! If a son, then what holy freedom is mine! Mine is not "_the spirit of bondage_." The son has "the run of the house." That is the great contrast between lod…
426 wordsSECTION 78_Connection And Concord_
"_The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God._" --1 CORINTHIANS ii. 7-12. The deep things of God cannot be discovered by unaided reason. "_Eye hath not seen:_" they are not to be apprehended by the artistic vision. "_Ear hath not heard:_" they are not unveiled amid the discussion of the philosophic s…
486 wordsSECTION 79_Our Spiritual Guide_
1 CORINTHIANS xii. 20-31. God's glory is expressed through the harmony of variety. We do not need sameness in order to gain union. I am now looking upon a scene of surpassing loveliness. There are mountains, and sea, and grassland, and trees, and a wide-stretching sky, and white pebbles at my feet. And a white bird ha…
409 wordsSECTION 80_Life'S Real Values_
GALATIANS v. 16-25. Two friends were cycling through Worcestershire and Warwickshire to Birmingham. When they arrived in Birmingham I asked them, among other things, if they had seen Warwick Gaol along the road. "No," they said, "we hadn't a glimpse of it." "But it is only a field's length from the road!" "Well, we ne…
434 wordsSECTION 81_Love'S Expenditures_
ACTS xiii. 14-23. Do I sufficiently remember the witness of history? Do I reverently listen to the "great voice behind me"? God has spoken in the speech of events. "Day unto day" has uttered speech. There has been a witness in national life, sometimes quiet as a fragrance, and sometimes "loud as a vale when storms are…
468 wordsSECTION 82_The New Birth_
GALATIANS vi. 1-8. This is a surgical operation in the realm of the soul. A man has been "_overtaken in a fault_," some evil passion has pounced upon him, and he is broken. Some holy relationship has been snapped, and he is crippled in his moral and spiritual goings. Perhaps his affections have been broken, or his con…
440 wordsSECTION 83_Pillars Of Cloud And Fire_
PSALM iii. This tearful little psalm tells me where a sorrowful soul found a place of help and consolation. He resorted to God. "_Thou art a shield about me._" He got the Lord between him and his circumstances. There is nothing else subtle enough to interpose. Our hurtful circumstances are so invasive and so immediat…
402 wordsSECTION 84_Waiting For The Spectacular_
"_Thy way is in the sea._" --PSALM lxxvii. 11-20. And the sea appears to be the most trackless of worlds! The sea is the very symbol of mystery, the grim dwelling-house of innumerable things that have been lost. But God's way moves here and there across this trackless wild. God is never lost among our mysteries. He kn…
452 wordsSECTION 85_The Law In The Heart_
"_Clouds and darkness are round about Him._" --PSALM xcvii. When Lincoln had been assassinated, and word of the tragedy came to New York, "the people were in a state of mind which urges to violence." A man appeared on the balcony of one of the newspaper offices, waving a small flag, and a clear voice rang through the …
458 wordsSECTION 86_Sinai And Calvary_
"_Who shall ascend into the hill of the Lord?_" --PSALM xxiv. Who shall be permitted to pass into the sanctuary of the cloud, and have communion with the Lord in the holy place? "He that hath clean hands." These hands of mine, the symbols of conduct, the expression of the outer life, what are they like? "Your hands ar…
462 wordsSECTION 87_The Benefitted As Benefactors_
"_Show me Thy glory._" --EXODUS xxxiii. 12-23. Moses wist not what he asked. His speech was beyond his knowledge. The answer to his request would have consumed him. He asked for the blazing noon when as yet he could only bear the quiet shining of the dawn. The good Lord lets in the light as our eyes are able to bear i…
487 wordsSECTION 88_The Revealing Presence Of The Lord_
PSALM xc. 1-12. Numbering things is one of the healthful exercises of the spiritual life. Unless we count, memory is apt to be very tricky and to snare us into strange forgetfulness. Unless we count what we have given away, we are very apt to exaggerate our bounty. We often think we have given when we have only listen…
443 wordsSECTION 89_Childlikeness_
"_Children crying in the temple, saying Hosanna!_" --MATTHEW xxi. 1-16. Children's voices mingling in the sounds of holy praise! A little child can share in the consecrated life. Young hearts can offer love pure as a limpid spring. Their sympathy is as responsive as the most sensitive harp, and yields to the touch of …
296 wordsSECTION 90_At Ease In Zion_
MATTHEW x. 29-42. It is a very wonderful thing that the finest services are within the power of the poorest people. The deepest ministries find their symbols in "cups of cold water," which it is in the power of everybody to give. The great benefactors are the great lovers, and their coin is not that of material money,…
381 wordsSECTION 91_Crucifying The Flesh_
"_The Lord hath spoken this word._" --ISAIAH xxiv. 1-12. "The Lord hath spoken this word," and it is a word of judgment. It unveils some of the terrible issues of sin. See the effects of sin upon the spirit of man. "_The merry-hearted do sigh._" Life loses its wings and its song. The buoyancy and the optimism die out…
392 wordsSECTION 92_The Waiting Light_
"_In Him is no darkness at all._" --1 JOHN i. That wonderful mansion of God's Being is gloriously radiant in every room! In the house of my life there are dark chambers, and rooms which are only partially illumined, the other parts being in the possession of night. Some of my faculties and powers are dark ministers, a…
428 wordsSECTION 93_God My Strength And Song_
"_The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much._" --JAMES v. 13-20. Or, as Weymouth translates it, "The heartfelt supplication of a righteous man exerts a mighty influence." Prayer may be empty words, with no more power than those empty shells which have been foisted upon the Turks in their war with t…
424 wordsSECTION 94_Light And Lightning_
"_In Him was life._" --JOHN i. 1-18. Not merely a pool of life, but the well-spring. All rivers of enriching vitality have their source in Him. Nowhere is there a crystal stream which was not born at the Fountain. Let us make our claim for the Lord all-comprehensive and inclusive. Whatever energizes body, mind, or sou…
457 wordsSECTION 95_Emptying Oneself_
HEBREWS ii. 9-18. And doth my Lord call me one of His brethren? Let me leisurely think upon it, until my very soul moves amid my affairs in noble and hallowed dignity. If I steadily remember "who I am," it will assuredly transfigure "what I am." I lose the sense of my high kinship, and then I am quite content to be "s…
384 wordsSECTION 96_Life As A Voice_
"_He that followeth Me._" --JOHN viii. 12-20. Yes, but I must make sure that I follow Him in Spirit and in truth. It is so easy to be self-deceived. I may follow a pleasant emotion, while all the time a bit of grim cross-bearing is being ignored. I may be satisfied to be "out on the ocean sailing," singing of "a home …
463 wordsSECTION 97_What Manner Of Man?_
ISAIAH xl. 1-10. And so these things are to happen when the Lord has come to His own, and His decrees are honoured in our midst. Certain _inequalities_ are to be ended. Valleys are to be exalted, and mountains are to be made low. There is to be a levelling! Men are to be equal in freedom and opportunity. Certain _cr…
408 wordsSECTION 98_The Great Renunciation_
"_He taught His disciples._" --MARK ix. 30-37. And my Lord will teach me. He will lead me into "the deep things" of God. There is only one school for this sort of learning, and an old saint called it the Academy of Love, and it meets in Gethsemane and Calvary, and the Lord Himself is the teacher, and there is room in …
409 wordsSECTION 99_Preparing His Servants_
"_He that hath the bride is the bridegroom._" --JOHN iii. 23-36. We ministers sometimes speak of "my church." I occasionally read of Mr. So-and-So's church! I know that the phrase is colloquially used, but nevertheless, it is unfortunate. Words that are perversely used tend to pervert the spirit. And this phrase tends…
417 wordsSECTION 100_The Possibilities Of The Unlikely_
"_They were fishers._" --MATTHEW iv. 12-22. And so our Lord went first to the fishing-boats and not to the schools. Learning is apt to be proud and aggressive, and hostile to the simplicities of the Spirit. There is nothing like plain glass for letting in the light! And our Lord wanted transparent media, and so He wen…
402 wordsSECTION 101_The Vine And The Branch_
LUKE ix. 18-26. Our Lord never bribes His disciples by promising them ways of sunny ease. He does not buy them with illicit gold. He does not put the glittering crown upon the entrance-gate, and hide the cross behind the wall. No: on the very first stage of the sacred pilgrimage there falls "the shadow of the Cross." …
418 wordsSECTION 102_The Mesmerism Of The World_
JOHN xii. 12-36. "Except a corn of wheat ... die!" Yes, it is through death we pass to life. Discipleship in which there is no death can never be truly alive. The nipping winter is essential to the green and flowery spring. No tomb, no resurrection glory! In every life there must be a grave, and self must be buried wi…
405 wordsSECTION 103_Defiling The Holy Place_
JOHN ii. 13-22. The narrative of the cleansing follows the story of the wedding-feast. In the one the Lord has taken the spirit of the sanctuary into a worldly feast, and thereby illumined and glorified the feast. In the other, the spirit of the world has invaded the sanctuary, and thereby defiled and dishonoured it. …
438 wordsSECTION 104_Visions And Tasks_
2 CHRONICLES xxix. 1-11, 15-19. Worship has vital connections with work. There are nerve-relationships between the heart and the hand. The condition of the sanctuary is reflected in the state of the empire. If there is uncleanness in "the holy place," there will be blight and degeneracy among the people. The fatal see…
437 wordsSECTION 105_Love Of The Sanctuary_
2 CHRONICLES vi. 12-21. Let me reverently study this great prayer in order that, when I go to the house of God, I may be able to enrich its ministry by the wealth of my own supplications. Solomon prayed that the eyes of the Lord might be open toward the house "day and night." Like the eyes of a mother upon her child!…
434 wordsSECTION 106_The Wells Of Salvation_
"_And I saw no temple therein!_" --REVELATION xxi. 22-27. And that because it was all temple! "Every place was hallowed ground." There was no merely localized Presence, because the Presence was universal. God was realized everywhere, and therefore the little meeting-tent had vanished, and in place of the measurable ta…
429 wordsSECTION 107_All Things New!_
1 JOHN v. 1-13. And so by belief _I find life_. I do not obtain the vitalizing air through controversy, or clamour, or idle lamentation, but by opening the window! Faith opens the door and window of the soul to the Son of God. It can be done without tears, it can be done without sensationalism. "If any man will open t…
421 wordsSECTION 108_Sin As Poison_
ROMANS viii. 1-10. Men will recognize my Christianity by the sign of the Spirit of Christ. And they will accept no other witness. I saw a plant-pot the other day, full of soil, bearing no flower, but flaunting a stick on which was printed the word "Mignonette." "Thou hast a name to live and art dead." The world will t…
408 wordsSECTION 109_God As Our Ally!_
1 JOHN iv. 4-14. This aged apostle cannot get away from the counsels of love. All his mental movements circle about this "greatest thing in the world." Once he would "call down fire upon men"; now the only fire he knows is the pure and genial flame of love. Beautiful is it when our fires become cleaner as we get older…
449 wordsSECTION 110_Changing Asking Into Thirsting_
JOHN iv. 1-15. A weary woman and a weary Lord! But the Lord was only weary in body; the woman was dry and exhausted in soul. Her heart was like some charred chamber after a destructive fire. All its furniture was injured, and some of it was almost burnt away. For sin had been blazing in the secret place, and had scorc…
453 wordsSECTION 111_Brooks By The Way_
"_I have meat to eat that ye know not of._" --JOHN iv. 31-42. And what sort of meat is this? The Lord found secret refreshment in feeding other people. In vitalizing the woman of Samaria He restored His own soul. The disciples were amazed when they returned to find that the weariness had gone out of His face, and that…
441 wordsSECTION 112_Rivers From The Snow_
ISAIAH lv. 1-7. The refreshing waters are offered to "everyone" that is thirsty. The evangel is like some clear bugle peal, sounded on some commanding upland, and which is heard alike in palace and cottage, in school and at the mill, by the child of plenty and by the child of want. "Ho, everyone!" The appeal is to the…
459 wordsSECTION 113_God'S Requirements_
ISAIAH i. 10-20. How can we deal with glaring sin, with sin that is "scarlet," that is "red like crimson"? And when the red stain has soaked into the very texture of the character, and every fibre is stupefied, what can we do then? Let me listen. "_Wash you._" But ordinary washings will not suffice. The ministry of e…
390 wordsSECTION 114_The Consecration Of The Will_
LUKE vi. 43-49. My Lord seeks "good fruit." It must be sound. No disease must lurk within it. My virtues are so often touched with defilement. There is a little untruth even in my truth. There is a little jealousy even in my praise. There is a little superciliousness even in my forbearance. There is a little pride eve…
442 wordsSECTION 115_The Inner Rooms_
JOHN v. 19-30. Here is my reservoir. "_The Son hath life in Himself._" All vitality has its source in Him. He is the enemy of death and the deadly. I can paint the dead to look like life; I can use rouge for blood, and make the white lips red, but it all remains clammy and cold. I can galvanize, but I cannot vitalize.…
432 wordsSECTION 116_Withered Limbs_
LUKE v. 17-26. The miracle done in the body is purposed to be a symbol of a grander miracle to be wrought in the soul. "_That ye may know that the Son of Man hath power on earth to forgive sins, then saith He...!_" He heals the paralyzed body that we may know what He can do with a paralyzed soul. He liberates the man …
436 wordsSECTION 117_The Psalm Of Praise_
LUKE xiii. 10-17. What infirmities gather together in the synagogue! What moral and spiritual ailments are congregated in every place of worship! If the veil of the flesh could be removed, and the inward life revealed, how we should pity one another, and how we should pray! In how many lives should we behold a spirit …
405 wordsSECTION 118_In Green Pastures_
"_Pray for the peace of Jerusalem._" --PSALM cxxii. And my Jerusalem is "the church of the living God." Do I carry her on my heart? Do I praise God for her heritage, and for her endowment of spiritual glory? And do I remember her perils, especially those parts of her walls where the defences are very thin, and can be …
448 wordsSECTION 119_Satisfaction_
ISAIAH xl. 1-11. Here is the gracious promise of provision. "_He shall feed His flock like a Shepherd._" He knows the fields where my soul will be best nourished in holiness. I am sometimes amazed at His choice. He takes me into an apparent wilderness, but I find rich herbage on the unpromising plain. And so I would r…
441 wordsSECTION 120_Not Lost In The Flock_
EZEKIEL xxxiv. 11-16. Surely everybody is included in this redemptive purpose of the Lord! He is looking for everybody, for everybody finds a place in His holy quest. He is seeking the "_lost_" sheep. The one that has wandered far away, and now no longer hears the sound of the Shepherd's voice! The one that is carele…
455 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.