Hawker’s Guidebooks to Zion by George Ella

Hawker’s Guidebooks to Zion

Genesis 33:12

Robert Hawker (1753-1827) combined sound Biblical doctrine with intense evangelistic fervour. Wherever he ministered, crowds longing to hear the Word of Life thronged to hear him. Hawker preached with great feeling and compassion because he knew that his labour was not in vain and God’s Word never failed in its purpose. Some years ago, longing for more of Hawker’s works, I approached an international ‘Christian’ bookseller who had a complete set for sale. His price would have rigged me out with a complete computer system so my fond idea was dropped. Then I heard from a friend who had actually been given a set. How envious I was! But the circumstances of the gift made me wonder what the Christian world is coming to. A certain denominational library had once treasured their set of Hawker’s works but now they felt the books were an embarrassment to them; indeed dangerous for their modern-minded readers so they gave the gospel-bearing books away! The library’s action is symptomatic of the present down-grading of sound gospel principles which once led thousands to Christ and were held in honour by 18th and 19th century Trinitarian denominations.

These thoughts led to my New Focus article on Robert Hawker: Zion’s Warrior. When I received issue No. 05, I was overjoyed to see a Gospel Standard advertisement adjacent to my article listing Triangle Press reprints of Hawker at £2. 75 – £3.45 per volume. I immediately sent off my order and the books arrived speedily and what a blessing they proved to be!

This article is more a recommendation than a review as twelve volumes have now been published which hardly allows for a detailed analysis. First I delved into Hawker’s The Divinity of Christ and the Divinity and Operation of the Holy Ghost, bearing in mind modern heretical teaching featuring a Godhead halting between two opinions on salvation and the inane idea that the Spirit breathes contradiction and contention into the Scriptures. 1. In arguing for dissension within the Trinity concerning man’s salvation and a breach in the logical harmony of Scripture in bringing this salvation home to the sinner, such writers as David Gay are tearing the churches apart and actually boasting that such disunity fosters church growth! What has Hawker to say to these modern contenders for forked paths to heaven? His readers will find that his message is a God-given antidote to this modern plague.

Hawker was confronted with the very same heresy in his day. This prompted him to write on the Trinity. His opponents left the field with their tails between their legs, doing the only honest thing they could. They became Unitarians. This is why it is of the utmost importance that Hawker is read once more. As God’s watchman and Zion’s Warrior, he has proved his value in showing how gospel truths prevail. It will be sad to see modern tension and paradox preachers joining the Unitarians, but as their views of Christ and Scriptures are so low, they will feel more at home there and leave true religion to get on with its true work. Read Hawker on the unity of the Godhead as displayed in the salvation of His people. It will not only thrill your heart and soul but equip you for proclaiming the truth and combating error. If you are a child of God, it will certainly make a convinced Trinitarian of you.

Coefficient to the work of the triune Unity is the operation of the Holy Spirit in rendering the work of salvation effectual in the application of what the Father has wrought out in His Son, regenerating corrupt and fallen sinners. Indeed, Hawker argues that it is through the unity of the Spirit-breathed Word that the sinner sees the unity of God’s nature in preparing salvation for him and the unity of the triune action in effectually redeeming him. Hawker argues that if such a work had been referred to in a Bible of irreconcilable, conflicting passages, and had not the unity of action been insisted on in every part of God’s Word, then some apology might be made for the incredibility of mankind respecting it. However, as the Scriptures refer to the work of the Father Son and Holy Ghost in their joint and uniting enterprise of saving sinners and as thousands can testify to being born of God through this work, we see how trustworthy is the entire testimony of the revealed Word and the folly of men striving to find disharmony in the word via a reasoning which is in disharmony with God.

Union and Communion with Christ was written to prepare believers for the communion service and deals with the believer’s standing in Christ. Christ is the Vine and we are its branches, He is the Head and we the body. Together we form a holy Temple and are members of one with another as the Bride of Christ and the family of God. I have rarely experienced the mysterious union we have with our Lord from eternity to eternity so sublimely taught as in this gem of a book. Hawker’s advice on how to be assured of the unity one enjoys in Christ is pastoral care at its very best.

Hawker lays great stress on prayer and in his Prop Against All Despair, the writer coaches the believer lovingly through the most difficult of Christian exercises but perhaps the most rewarding. Hawker shows how prayer in the Spirit opens Heaven’s doors. Few books have blessed their readers as Hawker’s Zion’s Pilgrim, The Sailor Pilgrim and Zion’s Warrior. To believe that one is a stranger and pilgrim on earth but marching onwards to Zion is not just the theme of a revival hymn but the teaching of Scripture and the experience of every believer. Hawker shows in these works how the path upwards is strewn with grace, mercy and love from beginning to end. There is much personal testimony given here and I was left with the assurance that God had strengthened my weak faith by my following Hawker’s advice on how to keep on Zion’s true track. Hawker’s testimony is so strong that, whilst reading, I actually imagined myself going on the way arm in arm with this great saint, feeling all the better for his company. Few books have such an effect on me.

Hawker was not only a parish pastor but a chaplain to the forces stationed at Plymouth and his book Compassion for the Sick and Sorrowing is based on a harrowing experience he had. Ship after ship entered the port full of troops dying of the fever and Hawker and his church did all they could to relieve them, converting barns into hospitals, but a thousand men died during the three months run of the epidemic. Though Hawker had a heavy schedule in his parish, he spent hours each day comforting the dying and burying the dead. Anyone terminally ill without knowing whether they are bound for Zion or anyone wishing to help the dying over the threshold of death should read this book as there is not a theoretical word in it but sheer practical experience and genuine comfort from cover to cover.

The above works show Hawker at his desk and in his pastoral work, his two volumes of Village Sermons and Sermons on Important Subjects reveal his faithfulness in the pulpit. The words contained in Hawker’s memorial tablet sum up Hawker’s prowess as a preacher:

“The elegancy yet simplicity of diction, the liveliness and brilliancy of imagination, the perspicuity and vigour of thought, the depth and compass of Christian knowledge and experience, with which he was talented and blest, are still extant in his sermons.”

Hawker was a didactically gifted man and improved the quality of Christian education greatly. As a school text-book author and curriculum writer, I approached Hawker’s Catechism for Children with what we might call ‘professional interest.’ Though the Heidelberg Catechism is prescribed in our schools (North-Rhine Westphalia), it is little used because of its ancient language. Hawker’s language should be no problem for modern English-speaking children over the age of eleven or so and the book would still make an excellent addition to Scripture lessons and family worship. Some Christians object to ‘putting words into children’s mouths’ in catechetical work but have no objection to their children learning parts in plays and singing songs and hymns learnt off by heart. Hawker’s questions and answers are Scriptural throughout and as Scripture is the language that tunes the heart to God, Christians should surely not cavil at this means of evangelising their children. Furthermore, Hawker’s catechism provides pupils with a thorough knowledge of the history of the Jews as also a detailed knowledge of the two Testaments and the way of salvation. The Great Commission compels us to make this way known to all mankind, especially to children.

I cannot recommend these soul-saving and edifying works enough. The modern equivalent of a widow’s mite is sufficient to purchase a single volume, but the spiritual value of each book is so enormous that it stretches from here to Heaven.

George M. Ella Mülheim, Germany

1. See especially David Gay’s Preaching the Gospel to Sinners: 2, Banner of Truth, Issue 371-372 and his review of Iain Murray’s Spurgeon v. Hyper-Calvinism, ET, August, 1996, p. 19. These articles laid bare the tendency to Socinianism in the British evangelical establishment and pioneered the negative re-evaluation of Spurgeon spreading through the churches which is doing nobody any good.

BRIEF MEMOIR OF ROBERT HAWKER

Source

Robert Hawker was born on the 13th April 1753 in the City of Exeter. His father and grandfather were physicians and surgeons.

His father died at the early age of 36, when Robert his infant son was one year old.

His widowed mother, a godly woman of superior mind and talent lovingly watched over her son and in due time devoted herself to his early education, instilling into his mind a love and reverence for the word of God, to which he happily responded.

In due course he was sent to the Grammar School at Exeter and very early showed extraordinary proficiency, and quickly became versed in the classic languages of Latin, Greek and Hebrew. He possessed an ardent and unwearied mind capable of mastering any language or science. His memory was quick, retentive and capacious, and his genius excursive.

As a child Robert manifested pleasure in quoting Scripture, and as he attained age he showed strong bias for a clerical career.

His mother, however, wished him to follow his father’s profession and he was ultimately trained to this end. He went to a London hospital and eventually became a practicing surgeon.

God, however, had other fields of labour for him and sovereignly moved the young doctor’s mind and heart toward Himself so profoundly that,

although now married and even against his beloved mother’s desire, he resigned his medical work and went to Oxford University at the age of 25 to enable him to enter the ministry.

He possessed gifts of great magnitude and in less than a year he was given a curacy in Cornwall at St. Martins near Loos. He held this curacy for the brief space of three months, being moved to Charles Church, Plymouth in December 1778.

He began immediately to preach with power and distinction the unsearchable riches of Christ. He would preach in language chaste, elevated and impressive.

In the year 1784 the vicar of Charles Church died and the young curate, who was a man of great integrity and superior talents, was appointed to the living and he began a ministry of outstanding spiritual power and influence which was to continue for over 40 years, only ending by his death in 1827.

In 1790 he preached a series of remarkable sermons on ‘The Divinity of Christ’, and again in 1794 on ‘The Divinity and operations of the Holy Ghost’.

In the following years he regularly visited London and exercised such power in his ministry as an ambassador for Christ that the churches where he preached were unable to accommodate the numbers who gathered to hear him.

An outstanding feature of his preaching was his insistence on the Personality and Godhead of the Holy Ghost and the glory of the Person of Jesus as in the Godhead.

His church at Plymouth was invariably filled to overflowing, and he continued his powerful and spiritual ministry here, until his relatively sudden death in April 1827.

On Lord’s Day, March 25th, he was stricken with inflammation of the lungs and was unable to preach.

He said to his daughter, ‘My dear child, I cannot go today to the house of the Lord, but this cometh of the Lord of Hosts who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working; wisdom and power are His’.
During his illness and decline in bodily strength, he was strong in the Lord and rejoicing in the prospect of a glorious immortality. To those in attendance he seemed to enjoy holy and uninterrupted communion with God and the Spirit.

After what appeared to be a refreshing sleep he said to his daughter, ‘My soul is overfilled with joy, I am filled with glory’.

He constantly repeated portions of Ephesians 1, and among his last words were, “In whom we have redemption, through his blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace, yes, to the praise of His glory”.

Those surrounding the bed of the dying saint witnessed a holy serenity in his countenance which spake the inward aboundings of joy and peace through his faith in Christ Jesus.

He showed no bodily distress or signs of death and in the presence of his family – he had eight children – he literally fell asleep in Jesus. His physician who was present said he had never witnessed such a death before.

So much was this man of God beloved and revered that the shops of Plymouth were half-closed until the day of his burial.

His mortal remains were consigned to the tomb on the 13th April 1827, many thousands being present to witness to his love to God and to man.

He died as he had lived, ever in communion with his God and in the enjoyment of a holy intimacy with heaven. He was an habitation of God through the Spirit. The power of grace rested upon him.

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. HAWKER

[quoted from "The Gospel magazine, and theological review. Ser. 5. Vol. 3, no. 1-July 1874"]

Source

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS OF DR. HAWKER.

Never shall I forget the first time I saw and heard that dear man. I had been in a bad state of soul darkness, bondage, and terrors for a long time. Calling one Saturday afternoon upon a friend who knew the state of distress which I was in, she told me that Dr. Hawker was to preach twice the next Lord's day in St. Ann's, Blackfriars. After much entreaty, my friend prevailed upon me to promise that I would go and hear him. But I was not pleased that I had promised, when I was told that unless I went early in the morning I should not be able to get into the church. I thought when I heard this that it would be in vain for me to go and hear the Doctor, because he would not understand my case; and I was led thus to judge of him because I had been to hear many popular men, hoping to have my bonds loosed; but, alas! their preaching only made my fetters the stronger, and sank me lower into gloom. During the Saturday evening, I sometimes thought, Well, I will not go. Then my promise would be presented, and this prevailed. On the following morning, without any hope of profiting, I went to St. Ann's, and stood near the pulpit; but never before nor since have I witnessed anything that will bear a comparison. Pews, aisles, and pulpit steps were thronged: outside and inside of the windows were lined with persons resting upon the ledges like fowls upon their perches. Very many were mounted upon the edges of the pews, and steadying themselves by leaning against the pillars; Lo upon the top of the organ, doused in dust, I saw a few: how they obtained access to that exalted station was a puzzle to me. While the congregation was singing, I saw an aged man scrambling slowly through the almost impenetrable crowd, with a rusty gown thrown over his shoulders. His face was plain and discoloured. When, after great labour, the Doctor came close to where I stood, I looked upon him with scorn, and inwardly said," There is nothing in you; what a fool I have been to come to hear you. If I could get out, I would gladly do so; but it is useless to make the attempt."

Singing being ended, the Doctor began to speak in prayer; but oh, by God the Spirit, what holy freedom! oh, what near and sweet access to God the Father! and oh, what savoury and unctuous power from Jesus rested upon him! Every sentence powerfully carried the soul out and up into the bosom of infinite love. And here I must note by the way that, notwithstanding the crowd was so great, and the position of many, touching bodily ease, was far from comfortable, yet it was as if the silence of death reigned; all my scorn and displeasure vanished like the mist of the morning before the sun's spreading refulgent rays. How was I astonished at what I heard and what I felt; for, as in the days of old the people said of Jesus, so was I constrained to say of the Doctor, that he spoke as one having authority, and not as the letter-taught Scribes.

In prayer, there was no complimenting the Lord; there was no wording it towards the Lord as one at a distance, unto whom he was speaking, and upon whom he was calling. Oh no; he was not speaking to, but with the Lord. It was as the dew of Hermon, and as the dew that descended upon the mountains of Zion. Oh, what heavenly unction! what free, close, and endearing communion with the eternal Three in God! Even to this distant day I am constrained to say of him that he was one of those elders unto whom was given the harp, the tongue of the learned, and golden vial full of odours—the new spirit— and the odours are the prayers of saints in that spirit. All with whom I had ever before bowed the knee were like criminals bowing before an austere judge; but the Doctor was a free man; bowing in the presence of, and realizing precious communion with, his Lord, Lover, Saviour, and Friend, Father, Son, and Spirit;

Prayer being ended, he opened his little Bible, and read Deut. xxxii. 9, 10: "For the Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance. He found him in a desert land, and in the waste howling wilderness; He led him about, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye." Closing his Bible, the Doctor began his sermon; and his quotations of Scripture in confirmation of all his statements were numerous and very cogent, so that to me he seemed to be a living Concordance.

Well do I remember how he traced up the relation of the Lord's people to the Lord; how God the Father established His right and property in them as His portion (or, as the Doctor said, the Lord's part) by His everlasting choice of them in Christ, to and for Himself, quoting to confirm his statement, "For the Lord hath chosen Jacob unto Himself, and Israel for His peculiar treasure." He then pointed out that the Lord's people were not only His lot or part, but the lot of His inheritance—quoting, "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord, and the people whom He hath chosen for His own inheritance;" in which he proved that all relations which the Lord's people have to the Lord are founded upon God the Father's purpose in Christ Jesus according to election; so that His portion ever has been, and ever shall remain to be, by His own act made His portion, and the lot of His inheritance.

He then proceeded to show that these same people were made Christ's portion, and the lot of His inheritance, by the grace gift of God the Father. This Jesus had in His heart and eye when speaking in His prayer: "They were Thy portion, and the lot of Thy inheritance; and Thou gavest them to me, to be my lot, and the portion of mine inheritance." And here the Doctor did preciously and conspicuously unfold how Jesus removed all the judgments which stood against this given lot of His inheritance; which judgments prevented Him taking this inheritance into His own possession. But, by the sacrifice of Himself, Jesus became-entitled to the fulfilment of his Father's promise: "Therefore will I divide Him a portion with the great, and He shall divide the spoil with the strong, because He hath poured out His soul unto death."

God the Father, by His love choice, established his right in and title to His people, as His own portion, and the lot of His inheritance; then, by a love gift to Jesus, established His root interest, or foundation right and property, in the same people. And Jesus, by love's service, took away all law judgments; as it is written, "Sing, O daughter of Zion; shout, 0 Israel; be glad and rejoice with all the heart, O daughter of Jerusalem. The Lord hath taken away thy judgments; He hath cast out thine enemy; the King of Israel, even the Lord, is in the midst of thee; thou shalt not see evil any more."

Then the man of God in glowing terms set forth how God the Holy Ghost demonstrated His love communion interest in these same people as His people and the lot of His inheritance, in common with the Father and the Son, by seeking and finding them in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness— taking them into His own charge, and under His own care; leading them about, instructing them, and keeping them as the apple of His eye. Oh, how sweetly did those truths, proclaimed by the Doctor, suit my forlorn condition!

To this hour, in the eye and ear of my mind, I can see and hear him copiously pour out the precious streams of holy truth, which penetrated and sank into my parched soul like the descending rain into the thirsty earth.

Oh, the high and holy verities that were that morning unfolded to my wondering and adoring spirit! I saw, in the clearest visions of faith, the everlasting union of my soul, by the Father's love, unto Jesus; and my oneness with those chosen ones, redeemed out of every nation, kindred, tongue, and people. I that went into St. Ann's a poor, weary, sin-burdened, law-cursed outcast in my soul's feelings, left it glorying in a knowledge of interest in Eph. i. 3, 4.

While looking upon the Doctor, I saw the perspiration coursing down his face in streams; and to me there appeared around his head a heavenly halo, which led me to muse upon the shining of the face of Moses as he came down from the mount of communion with the Lord of hosts his God.

In his delivery there was singular gravity, and a commanding majesty corresponding with his subjects. There was a musical eloquence in his voice and words, like an instrument tuned and brought into harmonious concord with the living and life-giving truths he preached; and those truths touching the living chords of the regenerate life in the soul, caused them to go forth in the dance of them that are made merry.

I never heard the Doctor preach one single sermon but he would bring before his hearers the distinct acts of love, grace, and mercy of the Three in God, for, towards, and in the redeemed. He was not a nominal Trinitarian, insisting that there were three Persons by merely naming them; but he would point out and describe how in soul's experience their threefold personalities were manifest, demonstrated, and made known. All honour was given to God the Father in those multiplied acts of His everlasting love, taken up and pitched upon them whom He predestinated to the adoption of children, by Jesus Christ unto Himself, over and above that middle region act of His love, in giving His only begotten Son to be faith's object in dying, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. All honour was given to the Son, who completed the mighty task of doing, loving, and suffering; magnifying the law, and making it honourable; and restoring that which He took not away. All honour was given to the Holy Ghost, in His daily quickenings, renewings, and re-renewing; leadings, revealings, and witnessings; and establishing the souls of the household of faith in the truths of the everlasting Gospel, and in an assurance of interest in those everlasting truths.

In his gifts, qualifications, and labours in gathering and building up in the faith, the Doctor was a gift of no mean order to the Church; and one of those precious fruits of Christ by the Father's right hand, ascending to His right hand to give gifts to men for the work of the ministry, for the perfecting of the saints, until all come to the measure of the stature of the fulness of Christ.

Jehovah honoured Himself in the ministry of Dr. Hawker to a higher degree than was done in many of his coadjutors; and the more the Lord honoured Himself in him, the more Satan and men who had a name to live, but were dead, raved at him: yes, and belied him—ignorantly, if not wilfully.

The Doctor's station in the Establishment shielded him from his enemies accomplishing their designs and wishes in shutting him from his labours in Plymouth. Well does the writer remember with what warmth of thankfulness he made the following statement, and suiting the action-by stamping with his foot, he said, "The gentlemen who gave me this living, some years gone by, would now, if it was in their power, stamp upon my head as they would upon the head of a scorpion; but it is not in their power to remove me. Here you will see our advantage over all other denominations. If I were a dissenting minister, and did not preach the preaching which pleased the people, some lordly deacon would give me notice to quit my post; and, if I refused to obey, then the wealthy subscribers would withhold their subscriptions, and thus I should be starved out."

Upon one of the Doctor's visits to London, a poor woman had been so blessed under his ministry that she felt anxious for an interview, to make it known to him. Upon inquiry, she found that he was lodging with a gentleman at Clapham; and there she directed her steps. But when the poor creature came, and saw the large mansion, her heart failed, and she inly thought, " I shall not be allowed to see him; nor will such a fine gentleman condescend to speak with a poor woman like me." After passing forward and backward many times in front of the house, she put forth an effort and pulled the bell; but no sooner had this been done than she wished in heart the bell might not ring to be heard. In a few minutes after ringing, a servant in livery opened the gate, and demanded her business. She told him she wanted to be favoured to speak with Dr. Hawker. The poor woman was then ushered into a drawing-room elegantly furnished, there to wait for him. While this poor thing was waiting, she said, "I wish I had not come here; what presumption!" In the midst of her heart-saddening reverie, the Doctor walked into the room. The woman, in visible agitation, rose tremblingly; but he, with the sweetness of one whom the love of Christ constrained, said, " Do take your seat, my dear woman." He himself also sat down very near to her. This tender carriage of the Doctor removed much of the poor woman's timidity, and emboldened her to tell out the heartfelt joy she had been filled with under some of his discourses. After a long interview, in which the dear man of God did not, as is too much the case, deal with her haughtily, and put on the divinity doctor, but to the weak he became weak, the poor woman became emboldened to tell him how she was discouraged when she came and saw the large mansion, and was ushered into that princely drawing room. The Doctor listened to the artless statement, and, looking round upon the costly and elegant furniture, said in reply, "Ah, my dear sister, these things are not my glorious Lord; faith's views of the person and work, blood and righteousness of Jehovah Jesus, make all such things to sink into insignificance: their captivating power is a blank. To me such things are as so many nothings; while He, and He alone—Jesus, is the everything in my esteem."

RUJHAMAH.

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of Robert Hawker

Memoirs of the Life and Writings of the Rev. Robert Hawker, D. D. late Vicar of Charles, Plymouth. By the Rev. John Williams, D.D. of Slroud, with Portrait, 8vo.

This long-anticipated Memoir has at length appeared; and we do not think that the public will be disappointed in the most sanguine expectations they may have formed of it. Dr. Williams has executed his voluntary task fearlessly, faithfully, and well. He has neither concealed nor attempted to palliate the high and bold but true doctrines which his friend advanced; neither has he shunned to declare his own adherence to them. He is sensible that this will bring upon him the frown and the sneer of the multitude; but desirous only that he may possess his Saviour's smile, and that his work may be instrumentally useful in cheering the humble followers of his Lord in their way to Zion, and anxious that the character of his departed friend may be placed in its true light, and vindicated from the calumnies of the nominal and cold-hearted professor—a fear of the world's scorn, or the world's obloquy has not caused him to draw back.

Is the enquiry made—why has Dr. Williams been selected, or why has he come forward to record the life of Dr. Hawker ? On page 2, is an unanswerable reason; and pleasant it is thus to see one to whom the deceased has been the beacon to warn him from the dangerous road he was pursuing, and the way mark to- point him to a brighter and a more enduring inheritance than this world's joy—to see such an one, when his guide hath passed to " the better land," recording the dangers, the sorrows, and the bliss which he experienced in his journey through the present.

Dr. Hawker it appears was born at Exeter, the son of a surgeon in that city, who died at the early age of thirty-six years, leaving this his only surviving child at the age of fourteen months to the care of his widowed mother; and well indeed did this bereaved parent execute the trust committed into her hands. At a suitable age, he was placed under an eminent surgeon, named White, resident at Plymouth, with the intention of bringing him up in the same profession as his father had followed. But the Lord's ways are not our ways; another and an higher employment was marked out for him : and after passing through various scenes which are touchingly recorded in this volume, he was ordained by the Bishop of Exeter, and quickly afterwards, at the age of thirty-five, he was nominated Curate to the parish of Charles; here, as Curate and Vicar, he continued and faithfully laboured, till removed by death. Other and lucrative offers were made to tempt him away from Charles ; but his answer to Mr. Polwhele, when foully attacked by that gentleman, seemed also the language of his reply to every applicant—" As Vicar of Charles, I am determined to live and to die !' And there he did die. There, lamented not only by the people of his charge, but by the inhabitants of other cities and of other lands, to whom his writings or his occasional visits had rendered his name dear, died Robert Hawker. Farewell, thou man of God! thy death is to the church of Christ a great and heavy loss; long will it be, we fear, ere another star of equal radiancy shall illume our path; but, God reigneth!—saints, let this be your consolation ; though one and another pass away, throughout all the bright luminary from whom they derive all their radiance and all their worth still shines, the Saviour still lives, and until every partaker of heaven's joy shall have left this earth, his love, and his smile, and a ray of his brightness will be upon it.

There are several letters scattered throughout this volume. On page 43, there is a delightful one written in his own inimitable style to his eldest daughter, Mrs. Hodson. Dr. Hawker surpassed all we know in the composition of letters. The language evidently came always warm from his own heart, and it passed to the heart of his correspondent with a thrill, and a consolation, and a joy. We say this from personal experience; doubtless there may be some insensible hearts deadened to this feeliug, and they have our pity.

We should have been happy to extract into our Magazine the dying scene of this departed saint. Dr. Williams describes it in glowing language. But it is too long ; we must therefore content ourselves with referring our readers to the volume, which altogether has our warmest approbation. At the end is Mr. Kent's elegy, which we were pleased to find. We had heard of it, but had never seen it; many of our readers may be like us in that particular; they will, we are sure, read it with much gratification.

Memoir of Robert Hawker

DEATH OF THE REV. DR. HAWKER.
(From the Devonport Telegraph of April 7, 1827.)

"On the eve of going to press, last night, we received the melancholy tidings of the decease of this venerable man and excellent divine, at his residence in this town, at ten minutes before eight. In common with, all the Christian world, we deplore his loss, for in him the Gospel had a warm and zealous advocate. He was a clear expounder of its doctrines, a consistent follower of its precepts; and it may be truly said of him, as of the Patriarchs of old, that he " walked before the Lord in the beauty of holiness," for his whole life was devoted to the practice of every Christian virtue. He was the founder of many charities; and in him the poor have lost a father. Benignant and affectionate to all, his death will be universally regretted. Dr. Hawker was in his 74th year, 50 years of which he had been the pastor of the parish. He returned from Totness yesterday, at three o'clock in the afternoon; he was then in a very exhausted state. His journey to that place was undertaken against the advice of his medical friends, but he requested so earnestly to be suffered to visit his daughter (Mrs. Ball), who resides in that town, perhaps with a presentiment that it would be his last, that, with the hope of benefit from change of scene, he was at length removed ; but when there he found his strength rapidly diminishing, and returned but just in time to breathe his last among those to whom he was ardently attached and who may truly say, that " a great man is fallen in Israel."