G. Campbell Morgan Books: A Guide to All 17 and Where to Start
Bible StudyPrayerDiscipleshipChristian Life
G. Campbell Morgan (1863–1945) was one of the best-known Bible teachers of the twentieth century. He pastored Westminster Chapel in London twice, taught at D. L. Moody's conferences in America, and wrote around eighty books. TheWay Library has seventeen of them, all free to read, mostly from the first half of his ministry: books on prayer and the Christian life, studies of Christ and the cross, a book on the Holy Spirit, Bible studies on Matthew 13, Malachi and the Ten Commandments, lectures on prophecy, and two books on evangelism and missions. For his life story, see who was G. Campbell Morgan.
This guide sorts them so you can find the one you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Morgan, start with The Practice of Prayer. It's short, and it shows his gift: he takes one request, "Lord, teach us to pray," and the prayer Jesus gave in answer, and opens them up step by step.
After that, choose by what you want:
- For a young Christian: The Simple Things of the Christian Life or Discipleship.
- For a long, rich study of Jesus: The Crises of the Christ.
- On the Holy Spirit: The Spirit of God.
- To study a Bible passage: The Parables of the Kingdom (Matthew 13) or Wherein? (Malachi).
- For preachers and church workers: Evangelism.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of G. Campbell Morgan quotes.
Prayer and the Christian life
The Practice of Prayer (1906)
Morgan notes that the disciples didn't ask "teach us how to pray" but "teach us to pray," because many know how and still don't. He answers objections to prayer, grounds it in the Father, Son and Spirit revealed in Christ, walks through the Lord's Prayer as the whole range of prayer, and ends with private prayer and the prayer meeting.
To pray that prayer intelligently is to have nothing else to pray for.
The Practice of Prayer, chapter V, The Plane of Prayer: The Purpose of God
Discipleship (1897)
His first book, a practical guide to following Jesus. It begins with what it means to come under Christ's teaching, takes the Sermon on the Mount as the first lessons, and then follows the disciple at home, at business, at play, as a friend, at work for the Master, in sorrow and joy, in death and in glory. Read Discipleship.
The Simple Things of the Christian Life (1907)
Five plain addresses in a natural order: the new birth, holiness, growth, work and temptation, or life, health, growth and work. Morgan defines holiness as the health of the spiritual life, something possible for the youngest believer. It's short and a good gift for a new Christian. Read The Simple Things of the Christian Life.
The Life of the Christian (1904)
Six addresses on what the name Christian meant at Antioch: Christ living in the believer, how that life is fed, how it shows itself in love, how it knows God, why it is tested, and what it's worth to God and the world. Read The Life of the Christian.
The True Estimate of Life and How to Live (1903)
Nine sermons, starting from Paul's "To me to live is Christ." Others take up Naaman's pride, the man at the pool of Bethesda, the clay in the potter's hand, redeeming the time, and Lot's slow drift as he pitched his tent toward Sodom. Read The True Estimate of Life.
God's Perfect Will (1901)
A short study of the will of God as the great theme of the whole Bible. Morgan argues that God's will is good, not grim: it gives perfection, brings true joy and lasts forever, and new life in Christ makes it possible to do. Read God's Perfect Will.
Life Problems (1899)
Six addresses on problems every life meets: self, environment, heredity, spiritual opposition, influence and destiny. On heredity he says it tells only half the story, because every soul can also inherit the grace of God in Christ. Read Life Problems.
Christ and the cross
The Crises of the Christ (1903)
Morgan's largest book here, and the one many readers count his best. He studies seven turning points in Christ's mission: His birth, baptism, temptation, transfiguration, crucifixion, resurrection and ascension. An opening section shows man ruined by sin; a closing one shows man restored to God in Christ. The chapters on the cross are the longest and deepest.
In all the works of God there is to be discovered an unvarying method of process and crisis.
The Crises of the Christ, Introductory: The Subject and the Scheme
Read The Crises of the Christ.
The Bible and the Cross (1909)
Six addresses on the death of Christ. Three look at the cross itself (an unnatural death, a supernatural death, a reconciling death) and three at what it means for the sinner, for the saint and for the ages to come. Read The Bible and the Cross.
The Christ of To-Day: What? Whence? Whither? (1905)
A single short address. Morgan argues that Christianity, unlike other religions, can never outgrow its Founder, and lays out four facts about Christ's influence that he says no honest person can deny. Read The Christ of To-Day.
The Holy Spirit
The Spirit of God (1900)
A study of the Holy Spirit through the whole Bible: His personality and place in the Trinity, His work in creation and in the life of Jesus, Pentecost, the Spirit in the church and in the world, and then the personal chapters on the baptism and filling of the Spirit and the warnings not to grieve or quench Him. It's one of the fullest books on the Spirit from its time. Read The Spirit of God, and see our list of the best books on the Holy Spirit.
The Spirit is quenched by disloyalty to Christ, or when His gift is used for any other purposes than that upon which the heart of God is set.
The Spirit of God, chapter XX, Resist Not, Grieve Not, Quench Not
Bible studies
The Parables of the Kingdom (1907)
A close study of the eight parables in Matthew 13, from the sower to the householder. Morgan reads them as one planned teaching on the course of the kingdom between Christ's two comings, and he explains carefully why he takes the mustard seed and the leaven as warnings. Read The Parables of the Kingdom.
Wherein? (1898)
Studies in Malachi, first given to students at Moody's Bible school in Chicago. The people answer every rebuke with "Wherein?" and Morgan shows how religion can keep its forms after the heart has gone cold. He traces God's seven complaints, the burden of "I have loved you," and the faithful few who feared the Lord. Read Wherein?.
The Ten Commandments (1901)
One chapter on each commandment, showing what it meant at Sinai, how it applies now, and how Jesus deepened it, with a closing chapter on Christ's new commandment of love. Read The Ten Commandments.
Prophecy
God's Methods with Man (1898)
Lectures given with a chart on God's dealings with mankind from creation to eternity: the ages before Christ, the present age of the Spirit, Christ's coming for His people, Daniel's seventieth week, the thousand-year reign and the city of God. It ends with the hope of Christ's coming as a purifying hope. This is Morgan's early view of prophecy, which he changed in part late in life. Read God's Methods with Man, and see our guide to the best books on the second coming.
Evangelism and missions
Evangelism (1904)
Five lectures for ministers and church workers on the gospel message, the church as the body through which Christ evangelizes, the character of the evangelist, the conduct of evangelistic services, and the opportunity of his day.
We must be very suspicious of any new evangel that has no Cross in it.
Evangelism, chapter I, The Evangel
The Missionary Manifesto (1909)
A study of the four commissions the risen Christ gave in Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. Morgan argues they aren't one command worded four ways but four parts of one charge: the authority of the King, the gospel to every creature, the witnesses, and the remission of sins. Read The Missionary Manifesto.
A note on these editions
Several of these books were restored from scans of the original printings and are still being proofread. Life Problems, The Ten Commandments, The Life of the Christian, God's Perfect Will and The Christ of To-Day have the most misread words, though all of them read well. The others are in good shape.
Why read Morgan today
Morgan teaches you how to read the Bible. He looks at the whole of a passage, finds its plan, and then shows what it asks of you. Begin with The Practice of Prayer, and when you want something longer, go to The Crises of the Christ. All seventeen books are on the G. Campbell Morgan author page.