January 14—Morning Devotion
“And she said to the king, it was a true report that I heard in mine own land, of thy acts, and of thy wisdom. Howbeit, I believed not the words until I Came and mine eyes had seen it: and beheld, the half was not told me!”—I Kings 10:6-7
If the queen of the South was so astonished in the view of Solomon’s wisdom, what ought to be thy surprize, my soul, in the contemplation of Jesus, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge! When thou didst first hear of Jesus, and when constrained by necessity to come to him, a poor blind ignorant sinner, how little didst thou conceive either of thyself or him. He told thee indeed, all that was in thine heart, and made thy very spirit, like her’s, to faint within thee, when he shewed thee thy, sin and his Salvation. Surely then, and often since, even now, hast thou been constrained to say, as she did, the half was not told thee by others, of what sweet discoveries he hath made to thee of himself. Think then, my soul, what holy surprize and joy will burst in upon thee in the day when, at the fountain- head of glory in his courts above, he will unfold all his beauty, love, and wisdom; when thou shalt see him as he is, and know even as thou art known!
Robert Hawker (1753-1827) was an Anglican (High-Calvinist) preacher who served as Vicar of Charles Church, Plymouth. John Hazelton wrote of him:
“The prominent features…in Robert Hawker's testimony…was the Person of Christ….Dr. Hawker delighted to speak of his Lord as "My most glorious Christ.” What anxious heart but finds at times in the perusal of the doctor's writings a measure of relief, a softening, and a mellowing? an almost imperceptible yet secret and constraining power in leading out of self and off from the misery and bondage of the flesh into a contemplation of the Person and preciousness of Christ as "the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely." Christ and Him crucified was emphatically the burden of his song and the keynote of his ministry. He preached his last sermon in Charles Church on March 18th, 1827, and on April 6th he died, after being six years curate and forty-three years vicar of the parish. On the last day of his life he repeated a part of Ephesians 1, from the 6th to the 12th verses, and as he proceeded he enlarged on the verses, but dwelt more fully on these words: "To the praise of His glory Who first trusted in Christ." He paused and asked, "Who first trusted in Christ?" And then made this answer: "It was God the Father Who first trusted in Christ."
Robert Hawker on the Biblical Covenants (Complete)
Robert Hawker's Poor Man's Morning Portions
