A Reader’s Guide to F. B. Meyer

Study to shew thyself approved unto God, a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth. 2 TIMOTHY 2:15

Meyer is easy to read and easy to find. He wrote for ordinary believers, in short chapters full of pictures, and nearly all of it is now in the public domain. The difficulty, as with most prolific Victorian preachers, is quantity: he published a great many books and booklets, and he repeats himself freely. The guide below is arranged to save the reader time.

Begin here

The Secret of Guidance. A small collection of addresses — on guidance, the loss of Christian joy, Christ’s indwelling, fact, faith and feeling, burdens, sorrow, the presence of God, the fulness of the Spirit, and a temperance tract. It is the best single entry point, and most of this volume draws on it. In the Ochorus library.

Our Daily Walk. A reading for every day of the year, each with a text, a short meditation and a prayer. The readings vary in weight, but the best are among the most practical things he wrote. In the Ochorus library.

On Hebrews and the way to God

The Way Into the Holiest. His exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, a chapter to a theme, and the doctrinal foundation beneath his devotional books. Read it for the veil, the blood, the great High Priest, the gospel of rest and the race; read it with care where it turns to controversy. In the Ochorus library.

On the inner life

The Shepherd Psalm, a gentle exposition of Psalm 23; The Present Tenses of the Blessed Life, on what the believer may have now; Christian Living, a collection of short practical addresses; The Directory of the Devout Life, on the Sermon on the Mount; Tried by Fire, on the First Epistle of Peter; and Love to the Uttermost, on the closing chapters of John’s Gospel. Our Daily Homily, a large set of short readings through the whole Bible, was one of his most used books. None of these is yet in the Ochorus library.

The Bible biographies

Abraham, or The Obedience of Faith; Israel, a Prince with God, on Jacob; Joseph, Beloved, Hated, Exalted; Moses, the Servant of God; Joshua and the Land of Promise; Samuel the Prophet; David, Shepherd, Psalmist, King; Elijah and the Secret of His Power; Jeremiah, Priest and Prophet; John the Baptist; Peter, Fisherman, Disciple, Apostle; and Paul, a Servant of Jesus Christ. These are the books for which he is best remembered. Begin with Elijah or Abraham, keep the Bible open beside them, and notice where he fills the silences of the text. None is yet in the Ochorus library.

Approach with care

The chapters of The Way Into the Holiest that deal with the Christian priesthood contain sharp polemic against Roman and Anglican priests; take the argument from Hebrews and leave the tone. Why Sign the Pledge? pleads a noble cause but leans towards making abstinence a rule for all, and its health arguments are dated. His Keswick addresses on the fulness of the Spirit and the surrendered life are best read alongside his own insistence that the filling is to be sought daily and that there was more in the doctrine than he had grasped.

About Meyer

W. Y. Fullerton, F. B. Meyer: A Biography (1929), written by a friend and colleague soon after his death, is the standard older life; warm, anecdotal and admiring. Ian M. Randall, Spirituality and Social Change: The Contribution of F. B. Meyer (1847–1929) (2003), is a careful modern study that takes his social work and his Keswick spirituality together, and is the best place to see the whole man. Bob Holman’s F. B. Meyer: If I Had a Hundred Lives is a shorter and more popular account by a writer with his own long experience of work among the poor. The Ochorus author page carries a shorter biography.

Three counsels for reading him

Read him with the Bible open. Meyer claimed no authority of his own and would be the first to send you to the text. Check his applications against it.

Read him for the substance, not the upholstery. His illustrations can be many and his prose sentimental. Look past them for the plain counsel underneath, which is usually sound and often searching.

And read him with your hands open. Nearly every reading he wrote ends in a prayer, and nearly every address ends in a call to do something before evening. Pray the prayer, and do the thing. A chapter obeyed will do more than a shelf admired.

Prove all things; hold fast that which is good. 1 THESSALONIANS 5:21