January 20—Morning Devotion
“What shall be done unto the man whom the king delighteth to honour?”—Esther 6:6
Nay, my soul, ask thine own heart what shall be done to the God-man whom Jehovah the King of kings, delighteth to honour? Oh, for the view of what John saw, and to, hear what John heard, when he beheld the heaven opened, and heard the innurnerable multitude chanting salvation to God and the Lamb! Lord, I would say, “let every knee bow before him, and every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.” And Oh, most gracious Father! dost thou take delight that Jesus should be honoured? Is it thine honour when Jesus is honoured; thy glory when Jesus is glorified? Oh, what wonderful encouragement is this to the faith and belief of a poor sinner! that I not only praise my adorable Redeemer when I come to him for all things, and trust him for all things; but when also my poverty and emptiness afford occasion to him to get glory by me, in giving to me all things, and blessing me in all things. And these exercises of grace are acceptable to God my Father, as they are honourable to God the Son. And this is the only way, and a blessed way it is indeed, by which a poor sinner can give glory to the Father, in believing the record which he hath given of his Son. Here then, my soul, do thou daily be found in honouring the glory-man, the God-man, Christ Jesus, whom God the Father delighteth to honour.
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
