October 31—Morning Devotion
“There remaineth therefore a rest to the people of God.”—Hebrews 4:9
Blessed motto for the close of the month, or the day, or year; after being fatigued with the thoughts, and cares, and anxieties of life. My soul, delight thyself in the thought of it, look forward to the speedy enjoyment of it. Like the prophet’s vision, it will come; wait for it. No sorrow you have gone through will ever come over again. No persecution already felt shall exactly be again practised. The same trial shall not be again known, Every day, every hour of the day, we are nearer home. Precious consideration. And Jesus is the rest of his people. Lord, in thee alone I find rest; be thou my hope, and be thou my portion for ever.
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
