"_He went out not knowing whither he went._"
--HEBREWS xi. 6-10.
Abram began his journey without any knowledge of his ultimate destination.
He obeyed a noble impulse without any discernment of its consequences. He
took "one step," and he did not "ask to see the distant scene." And that
is faith, to do God's will here and now, quietly leaving the results to
Him. Faith is not concerned with the entire chain; its devoted attention
is fixed upon the immediate link. Faith is not knowledge of a moral
process; it is fidelity in a moral act. Faith leaves something to the
Lord; it obeys His immediate commandment and leaves to Him direction and
destiny.
And so faith is accompanied by serenity. "He that believeth shall not make
haste"--or, more literally, "shall not get into a fuss." He shall not get
into a panic, neither fetching fears from his yesterdays nor from his
to-morrows. Concerning his yesterdays faith says, "Thou hast beset me
behind." Concerning his to-morrows faith says, "Thou hast beset me
before." Concerning his to-day faith says, "Thou hast laid Thine hand
upon me." That is enough, just to feel the pressure of the guiding hand.
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John Henry Jowett was born in Halifax, England in 1864. Jowett's father had arranged for him to begin working as a clerk for a lawyer in Halifax, but the encouragement of his Sunday school teacher, Mr. Dewhirst, turned Jowett's heart toward the ministry.
After theological training at Edinburgh and Oxford, Jowett assumed the pastorate of the Saint James Congregational Church. His six effective years of ministry brought him to the attention of the Carr's Lane Church in Birmingham, England, on the death of their pastor. For the next fifteen years the church grew and prospered. Their pastor's vision led them to increase their efforts to bring people to Christ. In 1917, the mayor of Birmingham said the church had changed the town with "crime and drunkenness having decreased."
Jowett came to America for the first time in 1909 to address the Northfield Conference founded by D. L. Moody. While in America he preached twice at the Fifth Avenue Presbyterian Church in New York. The church immediately asked him to come as its pastor. Jowett refused, having received a petition, signed by more than 1,400 members of his church in England, begging him to stay. The Fifth Avenue Church called him again, and then a third time. Finally Jowett concluded that this was God's leading for his life. He assumed the pastorate in 1911.
Although his preaching style was not dynamic (he read all of his sermons), the depth of his knowledge, the clarity of his language, and the power of his life commanded respect. Attendance at the church which had dropped to 600 on Sunday morning rose to 1,500. Lines up to half a block long formed, waiting for unclaimed seats. Jowett began preparing his Sunday sermons on Tuesday, following a meticulously detailed schedule.
When G. Campbell Morgan resigned the Westminster Chapel in London in 1917, Dr. Jowett once again crossed the ocean to take a new church. This would be his final pastorate. Declining health forced him to give up preaching in 1922, and his death in 1923 took from the world one of its most gifted and dedicated preachers.