John R. Macduff Books: A Guide to All 24 and Where to Start
John R. Macduff (1818–1895) was a Church of Scotland minister who wrote dozens of small devotional books, most of them for people in sorrow, sickness or daily care. TheWay Library has twenty-four of them, all free to read: books of daily readings and prayers, books of comfort for the grieving, meditations on Bethany, Galilee, the Mount of Olives and Psalm 42, a companion to the Lord's Supper, devotional lives of Elijah, Peter and Paul, two little books for children, and an early story of the Waldensian Christians. For his life story, see who was John R. Macduff.
Twenty-four books is a lot to choose from. This guide sorts them so you can find what you need.
Where to start
If you're new to Macduff, start with The Morning Watches, and Night Watches, the book that made his name: a prayer for each morning of the month and a meditation for each night.
After that, choose by what you want:
- A few minutes a day: The Faithful Promiser, The Words of Jesus or The Mind of Jesus.
- Prayers to pray: Evening Incense.
- Comfort in grief: Memories of Bethany, or Early Graves if you have lost someone young.
- Before the Lord's Supper: Communion Memories.
- Comfort in spiritual dryness: The Hart and the Water-Brooks.
- A Bible life: The Prophet of Fire (Elijah).
- For children: The Cities of Refuge and The Little Child's Book of Divinity.
Every quotation below is checked against the book it comes from. For many more, see our collection of John R. Macduff quotes.
Daily readings and prayers
Macduff's best-loved books follow one pattern: one short reading or prayer for each day of the month. Each takes a few minutes, and when you reach the end of the month you start again.
The Morning Watches, and Night Watches
Thirty-one morning prayers, each for one need, from pardon of sin and help in trouble to comfort in bereavement and a pilgrim spirit. Then thirty-one night meditations, each beginning "My Soul!" and dwelling on one truth about God: His glory, love, grace, faithfulness, promises and presence. Read The Morning Watches, and Night Watches.
Grace found him a rebel — it leaves him a son.
The Morning and Night Watches, On Thy Grace
The Faithful Promiser
A month of readings, each built on one promise of Scripture under the motto "He is faithful that promised." They move from pardoning grace to the day God wipes away all tears. It's about an hour to read through, and it's meant to be kept by the bed. Read The Faithful Promiser.
Grace is no scanty thing, doled out in pittances. It is a glorious treasury, which the key of prayer can always unlock, but never empty.
The Faithful Promiser, 3d Day
The Words of Jesus
Thirty-one sayings of Jesus, each with a short heading and a page of warm comment, mostly for believers in trouble. Read The Words of Jesus.
The Mind of Jesus
The companion to The Words of Jesus, turning from what Christ said to what He was. Each day takes one grace seen in Jesus, such as compassion, meekness, forgiveness or humility, and asks the reader to grow like Him. Read The Mind of Jesus.
Evening Incense
A written prayer for each evening of the month, each asking for one grace, from communion with God and peace in believing to support in death and meeting in heaven. The prayers are full of Scripture and suit private or family worship. Read Evening Incense.
In Christo, or The Monogram of St. Paul
A month of meditations on Paul's favorite phrase, "in Christ," which Macduff calls the apostle's monogram. Thirty-one short chapters take Paul's texts in turn, from being without Christ to no condemnation, completeness, the dead in Christ and no separation, and the book closes by asking, "Am I in Christ?" Read In Christo.
Palms of Elim
Seventy short meditations on the rest of grace believers can enjoy now, pictured by the palm trees that shaded Israel at Elim in the wilderness. Macduff wrote it for God's children in the valleys of trouble, on God's unchanging care, the sympathy of Jesus, right guidance and the Father's hand in hard things.
Every man’s existence is a biography, written chapter by chapter, line by line, by God Himself.
Palms of Elim, Divine Leading
Meditations for the sorrowing
Memories of Bethany
Twenty-three meditations on the home of Martha, Mary and Lazarus, following John 11 step by step: the message to Jesus, His delay, His tears, and the call "Lazarus, come forth." It's written for the sick, the dying and the bereaved. Read Memories of Bethany.
Man — short-sighted man — often raises impossibilities when God does not.
Memories of Bethany, Unbelief
The Hart and the Water-Brooks
A short study of Psalm 42, "As the hart panteth after the water brooks." Macduff pictures David in exile and writes to the spiritually dry and downcast about the soul's thirst for the living God. Read The Hart and the Water-Brooks.
Early Graves: A Book for the Bereaved
Macduff's book for those who have buried someone young. Sermons and meditations on the death of a child, an only son, an only daughter, a brother and the young King Josiah lead into chapters on God's purposes, sleep in Jesus and meeting again in heaven. It closes with memoirs of three people Macduff knew who died early: a servant, a missionary and a soldier.
The work cut short in this lower world is not arrested; it is only transferred.
Early Graves, The Early Grave of a King
Read Early Graves, and see our guide to the best Christian books on death and grief.
The Bow in the Cloud, and The First Bereavement
Two small books of comfort bound together. The Bow in the Cloud gives thirty-one short daily readings for the sorrowing, each a promise of Scripture shining like a rainbow in the storm. The First Bereavement is a longer pastoral letter to someone meeting death in their home for the first time. Read The Bow in the Cloud.
Scenes from the life of Christ
Memories of Gennesaret
Twenty-two chapters on Christ's ministry around the Sea of Galilee, from the call of the fishermen and the storm on the lake to Peter's restoration on the shore. Each chapter opens with a poem. Read Memories of Gennesaret.
Memories of Olivet
The companion to Memories of Gennesaret and Memories of Bethany, written after Macduff's own visit to the Holy Land. Twenty chapters gather the Bible scenes tied to the Mount of Olives, from David's flight from Absalom to Christ's tears over Jerusalem, Gethsemane and the Ascension. Read Memories of Olivet.
The Shepherd and His Flock
Twenty-one meditations on the Bible's picture of Christ as Shepherd and His people as sheep: the flock astray, sought and found, the Shepherd smitten and giving His life, the green pastures and paths of righteousness, the valley of the shadow, and the flock gathered home at last. Read The Shepherd and His Flock.
The Lord's Supper
Communion Memories
A companion to the Lord's Table drawn from Macduff's years as a Church of Scotland minister. It gathers twelve sermons preached at Communion seasons, private meditations and prayers for before and after the Supper, short addresses to young, aged and mourning communicants, and a history of how the Supper has been kept.
All grace and mercy, pardon and acceptance, flow, not from the sacrament, but from Christ.
Communion Memories, The Obligation of Christians to Observe the Lord's Supper
Bible lives
The Prophet of Fire
A devotional life of Elijah in twenty-two chapters, from his first stand before Ahab through Cherith, Carmel and the still small voice at Horeb to the chariot of fire and the Mount of Transfiguration. Read The Prophet of Fire.
Go back in thought to that widow of Sarepta, and take courage from her example in doing little things for God and for His people.
The Prophet of Fire, Cherith and Zarephath
The Footsteps of St. Paul
Paul's life in twenty-three chapters, from his boyhood in Tarsus through his conversion, missionary travels, imprisonments and shipwreck to his last days in Rome. Read The Footsteps of St. Paul.
St. Paul in Athens
A closer look at one chapter of Paul's life, Acts 17, written after Macduff visited Athens. The first part sets the scene in the marketplace and on Mars' Hill; the second opens up Paul's speech under four heads: the God of nature, of providence, of grace and of judgment. An epilogue follows the Athenian church afterward. Read St. Paul in Athens.
Saint Paul in Rome
Eight sermons Macduff preached during a stay in Rome in 1871, with a long introduction tracing Paul's road from Puteoli along the Appian Way. They cover the letter to the Romans, Paul's friends and converts in the city, the saints in Caesar's household and his martyrdom. Read Saint Paul in Rome.
The Footsteps of St. Peter
The companion volume, and the longest book here at about fifteen hours. It follows Peter from the Sea of Galilee through his confession, denial and restoration to Pentecost, Cornelius and his two letters, showing the stormy disciple grown gentle. Read The Footsteps of St. Peter.
Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains
The closing scenes of Bible lives, each pictured as a sunset on a hill of the Holy Land: Abraham, Joseph, Joshua, Samuel, David, Elijah and Elisha, Simeon, John the Baptist, Stephen, and Christ Himself. It isn't gloomy; Macduff wants to teach lessons from life seen from its end. Read Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains.
For children
The Cities of Refuge
A talk to young people on the six cities of refuge in Joshua 20, which Macduff reads as six pictures of Jesus, the refuge for sinners. It ends with a story about a great rock that sheltered persecuted Waldensian believers. Read The Cities of Refuge.
The Little Child's Book of Divinity
Eight Sunday-evening talks by the fire between little Emma and her grandmother, covering God, creation and the fall, Christ, the new heart, the Holy Spirit, judgment and heaven. It's a catechism in story form, good for reading aloud. Read The Little Child's Book of Divinity.
Church history
The Exiles of Lucerna
An early book, a historical tale of the Waldenses of the Alps. It follows a family through the persecution of 1686, exile in Switzerland, and the return to their valleys under Henri Arnaud. Read The Exiles of Lucerna.
A note on these editions
Eight of these books come from proofread transcriptions. The other sixteen were restored from scans of the original printings and are still being proofread. In Memories of Gennesaret and Sunsets on the Hebrew Mountains, many of the poems that open the chapters are garbled, and The Prophet of Fire has misread words in places, including some Bible quotations. In Christo, Palms of Elim, Early Graves, The Bow in the Cloud, Memories of Olivet, The Shepherd and His Flock, Communion Memories and the two Paul books are scans as well. Their Scripture texts and chapter openings are often garbled, though the body of each book reads well enough.
Why read Macduff today
Macduff writes for the heart. His readings are short, warm and full of Scripture, and they always lead the reader to Christ. Begin with The Morning Watches, and Night Watches or The Faithful Promiser, and keep one by your bed. All twenty-four books are on the John R. Macduff author page.