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John Henry Jowett

John Henry Jowett (1864–1923) was an English preacher and Congregationalist minister whose eloquent sermons and devotional writings earned him a reputation as one of the early 20th century’s most gifted pulpit orators. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, to a working-class family—his father, Joseph, a tailor, and his mother, Sarah, a devout Christian—he grew up in a religious home and excelled academically at Airedale College and Edinburgh University, where he trained for ministry. Ordained in 1889, he began his career at St. James’s Congregational Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, serving until 1895, when he succeeded R.W. Dale at Carr’s Lane Chapel in Birmingham, a post he held for 16 years. Married to Mary Jane Langhorne in 1891, with whom he had no children, Jowett’s personal warmth and intellectual depth fueled his pastoral work. Jowett’s ministry reached its zenith in the United States and London, where his preaching drew widespread acclaim—Charles Haddon Spurgeon reportedly called him a successor in spirit. In 1911, he accepted a call to Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, serving until 1918, captivating American audiences with his poetic style and emphasis on Christ’s transformative power. Returning to England, he ministered at Westminster Chapel in London from 1918 until ill health forced his retirement in 1922. Author of over 30 books, including The Passion for Souls and The Preacher: His Life and Work (from his 1912 Yale lectures), Jowett blended mysticism with practical faith. He died in 1923 in London, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose lyrical voice and spiritual insight inspired congregations across two continents.
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John Henry Jowett preaches on Psalm 62, using powerful symbols to illustrate the confidence of the righteous and the futility of the wicked. The righteous find security in God as their rock and high place, sheltered from life's storms and out of reach of harm. In contrast, the wicked are like a bowing wall, building their lives on shaky foundations that will lead to ruin, and like a tottering fence, easily dislodged by the winds of adversity.
The Rock and the Bowing Wall
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. And the second symbol is this: "_He is my high place._" The high place is the home of the chamois, out of reach of the arrow. "Flee as a bird to your mountain!" Get beyond the hunter's range! Our security is found in loftiness. It is our unutterable privilege to live in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus. Such is the confidence of the righteous. In this psalm there is also another pair of symbols describing the futility of the wicked. The wicked is "_as a bowing wall._" The wall is out of perpendicular, out of conformity with the truth of the plumb-line, and it will assuredly topple into ruin. So is it with the wicked: he is building awry, and he will fall into moral disaster. He is also "_as a tottering fence._" The wind and the rain dislodge the fence, it rots at its foundations, and one day it lies prone upon the ground.
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John Henry Jowett (1864–1923) was an English preacher and Congregationalist minister whose eloquent sermons and devotional writings earned him a reputation as one of the early 20th century’s most gifted pulpit orators. Born in Halifax, Yorkshire, to a working-class family—his father, Joseph, a tailor, and his mother, Sarah, a devout Christian—he grew up in a religious home and excelled academically at Airedale College and Edinburgh University, where he trained for ministry. Ordained in 1889, he began his career at St. James’s Congregational Church in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, serving until 1895, when he succeeded R.W. Dale at Carr’s Lane Chapel in Birmingham, a post he held for 16 years. Married to Mary Jane Langhorne in 1891, with whom he had no children, Jowett’s personal warmth and intellectual depth fueled his pastoral work. Jowett’s ministry reached its zenith in the United States and London, where his preaching drew widespread acclaim—Charles Haddon Spurgeon reportedly called him a successor in spirit. In 1911, he accepted a call to Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York City, serving until 1918, captivating American audiences with his poetic style and emphasis on Christ’s transformative power. Returning to England, he ministered at Westminster Chapel in London from 1918 until ill health forced his retirement in 1922. Author of over 30 books, including The Passion for Souls and The Preacher: His Life and Work (from his 1912 Yale lectures), Jowett blended mysticism with practical faith. He died in 1923 in London, leaving a legacy as a preacher whose lyrical voice and spiritual insight inspired congregations across two continents.