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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.
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Robert Hawker preaches on the importance of fixing our eyes on the Lord Jesus for salvation, drawing from Zechariah 9:1 and Isaiah 45:22. He highlights the Father's love for Jesus as the Mediator and Surety of His church, emphasizing the need for believers to look to Jesus with the same love and devotion. Hawker encourages souls to pursue Jesus wholeheartedly, seeking Him with earnest longings and never ceasing to fix their eyes on Him until the day of full enjoyment in His presence.
Scriptures
Eyes on the Lord
MAY 3. EVENING. "The eyes of man, as of all the tribes of Israel, are on the Lord."-Zech. 9:1. Precious Jesus! when shall this blessed Scripture be accomplished? "The eyes of man." What man? Surely as the church's glorious head, and as her glorious representative, the eyes of our Lord Jesus himself were always from everlasting directed to Jehovah his Father. But secondarily, and subordinately, the eyes of your redeemed, blessed Jesus, the eyes of man, the eyes of every man, must ultimately be all toward you for salvation. You indeed have said, "Look to Me, and be saved, all you ends of the earth! For I am God, and there is no other," Isa. 45:22. Pause, my soul! this evening, over this view of your Jesus, for it is a very blessed one, and see what benefit, under divine teaching, you can draw from it. It is said, that as one of the tribes, indeed, all the tribes of Israel, every eye shall be upon Jesus. And how suitable is it that it should be so! Is not God the Father unceasingly beholding his dear Son in his commitments as the Mediator and Surety of his church and people? Oh! Who shall be competent to describe with what complacency and delight he beholds him in his glorious person, as the God-man, the Glory-man; and in all his offices, characters, and relations? Something of this we may gather from what Jesus has himself said concerning the Father's love for his undertaking and accomplishing redemption by his blood. "Therefore (says our Jesus) My Father loves Me, because I lay down My life that I may take it again," John 10:17. But the full understanding of the love of the Father on this one account cannot perhaps be brought within the capacity of the human mind. But if God the Father loves Jesus as Mediator and for his undertaking, and is unceasingly beholding him with rapture on this account, it may serve at least to teach you, my soul, how exceedingly it becomes you to look to Jesus for the same, and that your eyes, as the eyes of all the tribes of Israel, should be towards the Lord. Dearest Lord Jesus! Let my eyes, my heart, my whole soul be fixed on you, until every part of me flows out in desires after you. I would pursue you like the Old Testament saints, who saw your day "afar off, rejoiced, and were glad." I would behold you as New Testament believers, who are looking to you, and "are enlightened, and their faces are not ashamed." I desire to see you with the first dawn of the morning; indeed, before the morning light, and "until the day breaks, and the shadows flee away;" and until my beloved comes to me "as a roe, or a young hart, upon the mountains of Bether!" Yes! precious Lord Jesus! I would be sending the earnest longings of my soul through the windows of my eyes after you, and never give rest to my eyes, nor slumber to my eyelids, until that blessed hour arrives, when nothing will come between to prevent the full enjoyment of my soul in you; and when a body of sin and death shall no longer weary my soul in her enjoyment of you; but I shall then see Jesus as he is, and never again lose sight of his lovely person, but live in his presence, and Jesus in mine, forevermore.
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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.