- Home
- Speakers
- Robert Hawker
- Count The Cost
Robert Hawker
Robert Hawker (1753–1827) was an English preacher and Anglican priest whose powerful evangelical ministry earned him the nickname "Star of the West" in 18th- and early 19th-century Devon. Born in 1753 in Exeter, England, he was the son of Jacob Hawker, a surgeon. Initially trained in medicine under Samuel White in Plymouth and serving briefly as an assistant surgeon in the Royal Marines, Hawker shifted his path to theology. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1778, and was ordained in 1779. Appointed assistant curate at Charles Church, Plymouth, under John Bedford in 1778, he succeeded Bedford as vicar in 1784, a position he held until his death. In 1772, at age 19, he married Anna Rains, with whom he had eight children. Hawker’s preaching career was marked by his extemporaneous, high-Calvinist sermons, which drew thousands with their passion, biblical depth, and accessibility, often lasting 70 to 80 minutes and necessitating gallery expansions at Charles Church. Known for beginning services with spontaneous prayers—sometimes against clerical norms—he preached annually in London to packed congregations, reportedly impressing King George III, who handed him sermon texts moments before preaching. Beyond the pulpit, he launched one of the earliest Sunday School hymn books around 1787 and, in 1813, founded the Corpus Christi Society to aid distressed Christians across denominational lines. A prolific writer, his works like The Poor Man’s Morning Portion (1809) and Poor Man’s Commentary on the New Testament (1816) were priced affordably for the working class, reflecting his pastoral heart. During the 1809 fever outbreak in Plymouth, he and Anna tirelessly tended to sick soldiers, risking their own health.
Download
Topic
Sermon Summary
Robert Hawker preaches on the importance of counting the cost of following Christ, using the analogy of a builder and a warrior to emphasize the eternal significance of the Christian life. He challenges the listeners to examine if they have truly laid their foundation on Christ and are willing to give up everything for Him, including earthly pursuits, relationships, and even life itself. The sermon highlights the necessity of making Christ the center, strength, and unity of our spiritual lives, ensuring that every part of our being is built upon Him.
Count the Cost
AUGUST 23. EVENING. "For which of you, intending to build a tower, does not sit down first and count the cost?" Luke 14:28 Ponder, my soul, over this very striking image of your Lord's, concerning the divine life. The picture of a builder is most aptly chosen; for the Christian builder is building for eternity. And the figure of a warrior, which our Lord also joins to it, is no less so, for the battle is for life, and that life is eternal. Have you counted the cost? Have you entered upon the work? Is the foundation-stone, which God hath laid in Zion, the rock on which you are building? Pause and examine. Be the cost what it may; the loss of earthly friends; the parting with every worldly pursuit; the scorn, contempt, and derision of all mankind; indeed, the loss of life itself: if these come in the way of competition, are you ready to give them all up?-When you has answered these inquiries, go on, and see that your foundation be really fixed on Christ. If so, it must have been previously sought for, by digging deep into the natural state in which you were born. Jesus must have been first determined to be most essentially necessary, and most essentially precious, before the spiritual building of the soul was made to rest upon him. And, when found, unless the whole of the building rest entirely upon him, it will, as a column out of its centre, still totter. Oh! it is blessed to make Christ the all in all of the spiritual temple; blessed to make him the first in point of order; blessed to make him the first in point of strength, to support and bear the weight of the whole building; blessed to make him the grand cement, to unite and keep together, in one harmonious proportion and regularity, every part of the building; and blessed to bring forth the top-stone of the building, by his strength and glory, crying, "Grace, grace unto it." Precious Jesus! May it be found that I have so sat down, counted the cost, and formed my whole plan, in your strength, and to your praise; that whatever oppositions, like the Tobiahs and Sanballats of old, I may meet with in the work, I may feel the sweetness and encouragement of that blessed Scripture, and exult with the prophet: "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!" Zech 4:7
- Bio
- Summary
- Transcript
- Download
Robert Hawker (1753–1827) was an English preacher and Anglican priest whose powerful evangelical ministry earned him the nickname "Star of the West" in 18th- and early 19th-century Devon. Born in 1753 in Exeter, England, he was the son of Jacob Hawker, a surgeon. Initially trained in medicine under Samuel White in Plymouth and serving briefly as an assistant surgeon in the Royal Marines, Hawker shifted his path to theology. He entered Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1778, and was ordained in 1779. Appointed assistant curate at Charles Church, Plymouth, under John Bedford in 1778, he succeeded Bedford as vicar in 1784, a position he held until his death. In 1772, at age 19, he married Anna Rains, with whom he had eight children. Hawker’s preaching career was marked by his extemporaneous, high-Calvinist sermons, which drew thousands with their passion, biblical depth, and accessibility, often lasting 70 to 80 minutes and necessitating gallery expansions at Charles Church. Known for beginning services with spontaneous prayers—sometimes against clerical norms—he preached annually in London to packed congregations, reportedly impressing King George III, who handed him sermon texts moments before preaching. Beyond the pulpit, he launched one of the earliest Sunday School hymn books around 1787 and, in 1813, founded the Corpus Christi Society to aid distressed Christians across denominational lines. A prolific writer, his works like The Poor Man’s Morning Portion (1809) and Poor Man’s Commentary on the New Testament (1816) were priced affordably for the working class, reflecting his pastoral heart. During the 1809 fever outbreak in Plymouth, he and Anna tirelessly tended to sick soldiers, risking their own health.