J. H. Jowett Books: A Reading Guide to All 19 and Where to Start
DevotionalPreachingChristian LifeBible StudySermons
J. H. Jowett (1863–1923) was one of the best-loved preachers of the early twentieth century, in Newcastle, Birmingham, New York and London. Nearly all his books are short. Most are collections of brief meditations, each a few pages on one phrase of Scripture, written in a warm, picture-filled style. TheWay Library has nineteen of them, all free to read: a year of daily readings, nine books of devotional meditations, seven books of sermons, and two books for preachers and Christian workers. For his life story, see who was J. H. Jowett.
Where to start
If you're new to Jowett, start with Come Ye Apart. It gives you a short reading and often a prayer for every day of the year, and it shows him at his best in small portions.
After that, choose by what you want:
- A short book to read straight through: Things That Matter Most, Brooks by the Traveller's Way or The Friend on the Road.
- To read through a part of the Bible with him: The Eagle Life (Old Testament), Springs in the Desert (Psalms), Life in the Heights (the Epistles), The High Calling (Philippians) or The Epistles of St. Peter.
- For a season of trial or grief: The Silver Lining and Sharing His Sufferings.
- For spiritual warfare: The Whole Armour of God.
- For the church and its witness: The Transfigured Church and God Our Contemporary.
- If you preach or teach: The Preacher: His Life and Work and The Passion for Souls.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of J. H. Jowett quotes.
Daily readings
Come Ye Apart: Daily Exercises in Prayer and Devotion
A devotional for the whole year, arranged by month. Each day gives a short Bible text, a paragraph or two of meditation and, often, a few lines of prayer. The readings range from Psalm 23 to the pearl of great price to seeking first the kingdom. They're practical as well as tender:
The only way in which to know truth is by transmitting it into life.
Come Ye Apart, January
Devotional meditations
Things That Matter Most
Thirty-eight short meditations from 1913. The book opens with the love of God, "the biggest thing you and I will ever know," then turns to Christ's habit of prayer, His thankfulness and His gift of peace, and to weakness and struggle: the thorn that remains, bruised reeds, infirmities in prayer and needless regrets. It closes with a chapter on the right use of holidays.
We may become so absorbed as not to miss the God we have lost.
Things That Matter Most, chapter XXVI, The Destruction at Noontide
Brooks by the Traveller's Way
Twenty-six meditations from 1902, each a "brook" of refreshment drawn from one verse. Jowett writes on setting the Lord always before us, the things God hides so we may find them, the vine and the branches, burdens that are meant to stay heavy, spiritual sleep, starving sin by neglect, and the Shepherd who calls His sheep by name.
I determine the direction of gaze; He will determine the character of my life.
Brooks by the Traveller's Way, chapter I
Read Brooks by the Traveller's Way.
The Folly of Unbelief, and Other Meditations for Quiet Moments
Twenty-seven short pieces from 1900, first printed in a magazine. The title meditation says the fool of Psalm 14 denies God because he wishes there were none: "He begins by defying God: he ends by denying God." Others treat being filled with the Spirit, Moses' shining face, the lost sheep, the home at Bethany, the joy of the Lord and Isaiah's vision. The scan garbles the opening words of most chapters, but the body text reads well. Read The Folly of Unbelief.
Sharing His Sufferings
Seven meditations on "the fellowship of His sufferings," first published as The School of Calvary. Jowett calls Calvary the academy where love and reverence are learned, then writes on losing life to find it, the neglected cup of sacrifice, the road through Gethsemane to Olivet, the Lord's Supper, and the morning glory of the resurrection. It's short, about an hour's reading. Read Sharing His Sufferings.
Meditations through the Bible
These five books walk through one part of Scripture a text at a time, a page or two each. They make good companions for a daily Bible reading plan.
The Eagle Life, and Other Studies in the Old Testament
Forty-eight meditations from Genesis to Zechariah: the spies who counted giants and forgot God, the "school of hunger," the faint-hearted soldier who melts his brothers' courage, the sin of prayerlessness, and three pieces on Isaiah 40:31, mounting up with wings. The scan has scattered errors.
God weighs everything, and love-sacrifice is the heaviest thing in the world.
The Eagle Life, chapter XII, The Balances of God
Springs in the Desert: Studies in the Psalms
Seventy-eight meditations from Psalm 1 to Psalm 147: the making of a cynic, the hard things in the Twenty-third Psalm, a cure for fretfulness, the rock that is higher than I, and the title piece on the valley of weeping made a place of springs. The first letters of many chapters are misread in the scan.
The remedy is deeper than my necessity, for it is as deep as God.
Springs in the Desert, chapter XXI, A Cure for Fretfulness
The Friend on the Road, and Other Studies in the Gospels
Fifty-nine very short studies on sayings and scenes from the Gospels, each drawing out one lesson for daily life. The titles show his gift for a phrase: "Critics and Surgeons," "Sixpennyworth of Miracle," "The Simplification of Life," "Evils That Never Arrive." The scanned text has some misread words and a few chapters missing their opening lines. Read The Friend on the Road.
Life in the Heights: Studies in the Epistles
Sixty-nine meditations on the letters from Romans to Hebrews: Paul's thorn that stayed while his strength grew, old sins that die by neglect when a greater love crowds them out, the cheerful giver, singing, and the title piece on a chapter that "begins in the heavenlies and ends in the kitchen." Like Springs in the Desert, it has misread letters at the start of many chapters.
The heavenly places and the kitchen are at the same elevation.
Life in the Heights, chapter LVI, Life in the Heights
The High Calling: Meditations on St. Paul's Letter to the Philippians
Thirty-nine meditations moving through Philippians phrase by phrase: the courtesy born of grace, the mind of Christ, "this one thing I do," the cure for care, the peace of God as a sentinel and the secret of contentment. It's a fine companion for reading Philippians slowly. The text has scattered scanning errors.
Courtesy is not the creation of effort, it is the product of grace: it is born, not made.
The High Calling, chapter I, The Courtesy Born of Jesus
Sermons
Apostolic Optimism, and Other Sermons
Twenty sermons from his Birmingham years, published in 1901. The title sermon asks why Paul was so hopeful and finds the answer in the living Christ, in redemption as God's eternal purpose, and in a grace that "finds God's raw material in the world's discarded waste." Others treat worldliness, the power of the cross and abiding in Christ. It ends with his address on the secrets of effective preaching.
If sin has become a commonplace, our preaching has become a plaything.
Apostolic Optimism, chapter XX, The Secrets of Effective Preaching
Thirsting for the Springs
Twenty-six addresses from 1902, first printed in a newspaper and still in the shape of spoken talks. The title address presents Jesus as the living water who alone satisfies the soul's thirsts. Others treat altars and altar fire, knowing God better, loving enemies, forgiveness in Psalm 32 and a song in the night. The scan has some stray errors.
Anyone can build an altar; it requires a God to provide the flame.
Thirsting for the Springs, Altars and Altar Fires
Read Thirsting for the Springs.
The Silver Lining
Twenty-six warm, pastoral addresses from 1907 on the mercies hidden inside hard things. In "Divine Amelioratives" Jowett names God's gentle helps in grief: sleep, time, the work that must be done after a death, and service to others. Other chapters take "fret not thyself," being comforted in order to comfort, the ministry of the cloud and "so shall we ever be with the Lord." It's one of his best books for anyone in sorrow.
Our own pang is lessened when we seek to take the pang out of another's soul.
The Silver Lining, Divine Amelioratives
The Transfigured Church
Twenty-two sermons from 1910, led by a long address on what the church could be if the Spirit filled it as at Pentecost. Jowett says the church is too much like the world, has lost awe and true fellowship, and so fails to draw the crowd. The sermons that follow treat redemption, the love of God, sin, boldness, faith and giving. The scan has scattered errors.
We have toyed with the light, but we have forgotten the lightning.
The Transfigured Church, chapter I, The Ministry of a Transfigured Church
God Our Contemporary
Fifteen full-length sermons from 1922, late in his ministry, on a living God at work in ordinary life today. The first calls prayer the field where our greatest battles are fought. Others treat "Thy will be done," taking the hazard for Christ, Christians as the salt of society, and "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever."
Well now, it is in the field of prayer that life's critical battles are lost or won.
God Our Contemporary, chapter I, Where Our Greatest Battles Are Fought
The Epistles of St. Peter
Twenty-nine expository sermons that follow 1 and 2 Peter passage by passage: born again to a living hope, joy in manifold trials, living stones, the fiery trial, tending the flock, the Christian's resources, God's patience in judgment and growing in grace. This is the closest Jowett comes to a commentary.
In obtaining our forgiveness by His death, the Lord Christ revealed His love and unveiled our sin.
The Epistles of St. Peter, Bringing Us to God
Read The Epistles of St. Peter.
The Whole Armour of God
Fifteen sermons preached in New York during the First World War. Jowett begins with the unseen enemies of Ephesians 6, takes each piece of the armor in turn, then speaks on prayer, watchfulness, enduring hardness, Christ the invisible Commander and being more than conquerors. Each sermon opens with one of his pulpit prayers.
We are to use God's thought about a thing in fighting all other thoughts about that thing.
The Whole Armour of God, chapter VII, The Sword of the Spirit
For preachers and Christian workers
The Passion for Souls
Seven addresses on the Christian worker's longing to see others saved. Drawing mostly on Paul, Jowett writes on the worker's theme (the unsearchable riches of Christ), his sacrifice, his tenderness, watching for souls, the Companion who works with him, his rest and his vision. It's short and searching. Read The Passion for Souls.
The Preacher: His Life and Work
Jowett's 1912 lectures on preaching at Yale. He speaks on the call to preach, the perils of handling holy things every day, the great themes to preach, the study, the pulpit, the pastor in people's homes and the pastor in public life. It's one of the most practical books on ministry from its era.
Men never learn to pray in public: they learn in private.
The Preacher: His Life and Work, chapter V, The Preacher in His Pulpit
Read The Preacher: His Life and Work.
Why read Jowett today
Jowett writes for the inner life. He's short, clear and kind, and he never leaves a reader without a picture to carry into the day. Begin with Come Ye Apart, then read Things That Matter Most straight through. When you want more, pick the Bible book you're reading and find his meditations on it. All nineteen books are on the J. H. Jowett author page.