WORDS TO THE BEREAVED, BY THE LATE DR. HAWKER

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

Plymouth, Feb. 26, 1810.

Dear Sir,—The Lord the Spirit, whose name is very sweetly made known by Christ to His body, the Church, as the Holy Ghost the Comforter, blessedly reveal Himself to your heart, and the heart of your dear daughter, under that endeared character, amidst the bereaving providence with which His wisdom, as well as his love, hath been pleased to visit yon.

Indeed, dear sir, your letter with the sad tidings of Mrs. Bowne's departure, received this morning, came wholly unexpected and unlooked for. I had not before heard of that dear friend's sickness; but I ought not to express myself on any event of death, as a matter either unexpected or unlooked for, in a dying world like ours, where the greater astonishment is, or ought to be, not that we die, but that we live. In relation to her flight into the world of spirits, whose absence hath made so great a breach in your heart and house, however painful the separation to you and dear Mrs. Rivers, on her account becomes a subject of thanksgiving and holy joy. This world is the worst place a child of God will ever dwell in; and had it not been so, the voice John heard from heaven would not have pronounced them " blessed which die in the Lord." It is blessed even here, amidst all the heartaches and headaches of a fallen state, to live in the Lord; and doubly blessed for all such to die in the Lord; and most " precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of His saints."

I send this by way of saying that I sincerely sympathize with you and your mournful family on the present occasion; and, though absent in body, yet present in spirit, I mingle my grief with yours. But while I say this, I would say also with the Apostle, I pray you "to sorrow not as others which have no hope; for if we helieve that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus, will God bring with Him." Call to mind, dear sir, that your once-loved partner, though dear to you, is living with God. And the person of every one is where the spirit is, and that is with the Lord. One view of the unspeakable blessedness of that place will tend more, as it relates to her just departed, to dry up all tears than a thousand arguments addressed to nature's feelings. "They are (said one which could not be mistaken) before the throne of God, and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light upon them, nor any heat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of water: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes."

Dear sir, my prayers will accompany my letter, that He whose province alone it is to comfort His people, will graciously sanctify this event to you and to your dear daughter and your household; and, if God the Holy Ghost, by His blessed influences, glorifies to your and their view, the Person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ, and direct your hearts into the love of God, the Lord Himself will more than fill the vacancy made by dear Mrs. B.'s departure, and be your God and your glory, and your portion to live upon for ever.

I commend you to the Lord, and to all the tender bowels of Jesus, and remain, very truly yours in the Lord, Bobert Hawker.

TWO LETTERS, BY DR. HAWKER, RESPECTING The late Henry Fowler

[quoted from "The earthen vessel and Christian record & review, Volume 4"]

" ' Plymouth, Charles Vicarage, Oe. 5,1813. " '

Dear Sir,—Grace, mercy, and peace, be with you, and with the whole Israel of God.

"' In answer to your letter respecting Mr. Fowler, I can only say that I have long known him, and long loved him, because I verily believe he hath loved, and doth love my Lord and Master. And should it please the great Head of his church to employ him, that he may go in and out before you in the. ministry of the word, may the Lord who sends, bless his services, so that Jesus be glorified, the church edified, and his own soul refreshed.

" ' If he be with you give my love to him, and tell him that I hope and trust that he will go on to exalt Christ Jesus. And I beg you to tell him that as a faithful servant should honour a kind master, so 1 hope he will prove himself a faithful servant by honouring the Lord our righteousness: the best, the kindest, the most blessed, the most dear and precious of all masters. It is high treason to the Majesty of heaven, to preach anything but Jesus in his person, offices, character, and relations. And my poor prayers will follow my letter, that my dear Mr. Fowler will above all things honour him, whom Jehovah delighteth to honour: and that he will make the Lord Jesus what Jehovah hath made him, the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the author and finisher of salvation.

" ' And if you will allow an old man hastening on the close of his poor ministry, to say a word to the church which is among you on the subject of your minister, I would say as Paul did, ' receive him in the Lord's name (not his own), and esteem him very highly in love for his works sake ;' pray for him, and pray with him. It is a blessed sign of good when the Holy Ghost sets his people to pray for a blessing on the labours of his servants. That blessing and that promise is as good as received which God the Spirit teacheth the faithful to ask in prayer. My poor soul hath found, yea, often found, the Lord's blessings in answer to his people's prayers. And you will find a fulness of blessing from the Lord's blessings on his ministry to your hearts, when the Lord hath enabled you to hold him up to the Lord, in seeking by prayer his grace upon him.
" ' I commend both you, the church, and him, the church's minister, to the Lord for blessing; and pray the glorious Head to bless both together, to his glory and your joy in the Lord.
" 'Thisfromtheunworthiestofhisservants, "'

Your's in the Lord Jesus,
"'robert Hawker.'


" ' Plymouth, Oct. 27, 1813.

" ' Dear Sir,—I beg to make a tenderof my christian love and affection to you, and the church of God which is with you, praying that all grace may abound in the covenant faithfulness of God our Father, through the dear Son of his love, by the blessed influence of God the Holy Ghost.
" ' Indeed, indeed, I thank the church of God with whom you are one, in that you so kindly and affectionately received my poor letter. It was written (if I know anything of my own heart), in the brotherly love of one that desires (at least) to love the precious name of our dear Lord exalted and extolled, and to be very high. And where Christ and his cause are concerned, there would I feel all that Paul felt, when to the church of the Thessalonians he said, he was so affectionately desirous concerning the people that he would have imparted unto them not the gospel of God only, but also (said he) our own souls, because ye were dear to us. And surely all that a faithful servant of such a master as Jesus is, all he hath, and all he is, and by every way, and in every thing, his one, yea, his only object is, and ought to be, how to promote his Lord's glory in hii church's happiness. And though I know not what I wrote to you on the occasion for which you wrote to me, yet certain I am the whole tendency of my letter must have been to this purpose: let the Lord Jesus and his cause be glorified, and it matters not by what instrument, or by what form of words.

" ' I pray you, therefore, my dear brother in the Lord, tell the church which is with you, how very highly I prize their affectionate acceptance of my letter. But having said this, there let it rest. Kindly as you all have read it, it cannot be fit for print. It was written in the moment of your question, and no further. Besides, though I have a very high regard for dear Mr. Fowler, and have said no more of him than I believe, yet it would not be suitable or becoming in me to send forth his character (according to my views) to the world. The Lord grant that he may be found faithful, and may my God, (if it be for his glory), bless you and him together. And if the sweet savour of Jesus, in his person, grace, and favour, be among you, the account of this, from time to time, will be more refreshing to my soul, than though my poor letter was framed in gold. Be assured, my dear friend in the Lord, that my poor "prayers will follow Mr. Fowler to Birmingham, and go up before the mercyseat for you, and him, as oft as I think of you all, that Jesus' love may cement yon, and cause great soul prosperity among you : and like the flock of Christ coming up from the washing, every one may bear twins, and none be found barren among you.—Song iv. 2.

" ' I beg you to give my brotherly love to your pastor; and once more say to him, from me, that as my Lord and his Lord hath advanced him to great honour, he and I ought to seek increasing grace from the Lord, to reflect all that honour back again with great thankfulness to the Lord. It matters not what becomes of such poor worms as we are, provided Jesus is glorified; and the souls of Christ's people are precious to our Lord, yea, very precious ; so ought they (and so will they, I trust,) be very precious to us also. And do tell my brother to be looking out for opposition from without, in proportion as the Lord Jesus makes him useful within. The servants most employed by Jesus will be sure to have most of the devil's grudge; and especially if Jesus employs them in soul comforting and soul-strengthening his people. The more Jesus smiles on them, the more hell will frown. But it is Jesus who must bear up and bear through all opposition ; this is his work, and not our's; and his is the glory to make more than conquerors all his redeemed, while going on as one is described, Psalm lxxi. 13, 14,15, 16; and always on the look out, as another is represented, 2 Timothy iv. 5, 6, 7, 8.
" ' Brethren ! the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen.

" ' Your's, in the best of all bonds in Jesus,
"' Robert Hawker.' "

A LETTER BY DR. HAWKER TO A CLERGYMAN

[quoted from "The Gospel Standard" Vol. 21 1855]

A LETTER BY DR. HAWKER TO A CLERGYMAN.

My very dear Sir,—If I were to attempt the description of the effect which the perusal of your letter produced on my mind, I should fall miserably short and defective in the account, and leave you still uninformed of what hath been the real state of the case. I do assure you, my dear Sir, that before I had read five lines, in that part of it which speaks of the change wrought in your soul, it occasioned a sensation which thrilled through all my frame; and while I uttered an involuntary exclamation, in which gratitude, holy joy, and, I trust, an humbleness of devout feeling, accompanied with tears, were all blended, I could not but look round the place where I was with an awakened imagination, as if to realize, in a more immediate manner, the presence of that wonder-working God, who doeth all things according to the purposes of his own Divine will. Oh ! my dear Sir, and is it really so, that he who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in your heart, to give you the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ ? What an endless subject of gratitude have we both to pay, and how may we exclaim, in the language of Scripture, " What hath God imovxjhif You know but in part, as yet, the infinite goodness and condescension of God in the appointment and accomplishment of so much mercy. You are looking only, I know, to yourself in the event, and naturally enough are lost in the contemplation of such undeserved favor. But I am compelled to take in another consideration, to me much more astonishing, and sufficient to fill any heart but mine with neverceasing gratitude. That God should call his people to his love, and by instruments of feebleness, to whom he gives strength, is indeed a subject of holy admiration and joy, and only ascribable to the effect of his distinguishing grace. But when he condescends to go lower even than this, and instead of faithful servants in his ministry, to make use of the vilest and most unworthy, and single them out, to accomplish the purposes of his will: what a contemplation opens here, to call up the most animated thanksgiving ! May the bountiful Giver of such blessings still impart this grace, that neither you nor I may ever cease to improve them. I am now doubly interested, more than ever, in your furtherance in the gospel, and cannot but feel an awakened concern for your highest attainments m it. You have afforded me more real happiness in the communication of this gracious event, than though you had the power, and were disposed to exercise it, of conferring upon me an empire. It will, I trust in God, be my encouragement in the darkest hour, and animate me in the glorious service of Jesus, when the season seems to be most unpromising. Let it have the same effect, I pray, on you. Consider who it is that sends; who gives the power; and who hath promised that his strength is perfected in weakness. The difference of human talents is therefore wholly lost in this charming consideration. For it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God, who showeth mercy. You request information what books I would recommend you to use. In answer, I would say that the book of books is the Word of God. And if (as I am persuaded you now will, my dear brother) you look up to him, who is the Spirit of truth, and implore his grace to guide and instruct you, he alone will be sufficient to make you wise unto salvation, and to make you that you will be neither barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ. Nevertheless, as collateral helps have been sometimes blessed to the promotion of godliness, I would subjoin all tracts which are perfectly orthodox, and treat of vital experimental piety. I have found the writings of Dr. Watts, Doddridge, and Gill, to be eminently useful. I confess they are all dissenters, but I bless God I have long learned not to be prejudiced against them. Tt has been a maxim with me, which I see no reason to alter, never to refuse instruction wherever I can conscientiously obtain it. A pearl is a pearl still, though found in a iEthiop's ear. I hope frequently to hear from you, my dear Sir, and more frequently to meet in prayer at the throne of grace. We need, I am sure, each other's prayers; and let us see which can be most bountiful in this invaluable friendship. Remember we have both the same Almighty Saviour and Intercessor to look up to, whom the Father heareth alway; and since we need the aid of his grace so constantly, let us draw near with a true heart, in full assurance of faith. My mind will be very frequently with you, particularly on the Lord's day. I already begin to frame to myself seals to your ministry. Oh ! what a joy will it be to my heart (should the Lord once more permit me to see you at Falmouth), to find many souls begotten to God through your instrumentality ! That the Lord may bless you abundantly in the service of his dear Son, is the very earnest prayer of your affectionate, but most unworthy brother in Christ,

Looe, Sept. 9, 1795. ROBERT HAWKER.

A PASTORAL LETTER, Never before Published by Robert Hawker

[quoted from "The Gospel magazine, and theological review. Ser. 5. Vol. 3, no. 1-July 1874, pg. 38"]

A PASTORAL LETTER,

Never before Published, by the Rev. Dr. Hawker.

Plymouth, July 1, 1824.

The pastor, and the elders, with the whole elect church of God which are among you, at Chertsey, I desire to greet in the Lord ! Grace be with you, mercy, and peace, from God the Father, and from ihe Lord Jesus Christ the Son of the Father; through the rich anointings, and blessed influences, of God the Holy Ghost!

Brethren beloved of the Lord ! having heard that the glorious Head of his Church and people hath inclined your hearts, first to give your ownselves to the Lord ; and then unto the church, by the will of God, in forming a small community in your chapel of Mount Zion, by way of aid, under the unction of the Holy Spirit; to promote the welfare of the Gospel Tract Society, established in London, my soul is drawn towards you, as the Lord God of Israel is said to have drawn of old the men of the children of Napthali, and of the children of Zebulun, to Mount Tabor, for the deliverance of Israel then ; as the same Almighty Lord God of his Israel is doing by you now. And as the prophetess Deborah said on that occasion; so may I humbly, from the same well-grounded confidence, of help and strength from the wisdom that is wisdom that is from above, say on the present; is not the Lord gone before you ? Indeed, indeed, from the affinity of spirits which distinguish the redeemed and regenerated church of our most glorious Christ: knit together in the mystical fellowship of Christ's body, from their union with Christ, the one Almighty Head. I feel the sweet spiritual influence, and, like musical instruments strung to the same note, my soul vibrates with your's. And if the Lord preserves me in the body, to the evening of your meeting, at the seventh of the 5th instant, I shall be with you in spirit, joying and beholding your order, and the stedfastness of your faith in Christ. And if the Lord, which strung the harp of Deborah, graciously toucheth mine, the goings forth of my soul will be in language like hers, when she said," my heart is towards the governors of Israel, that offered themselves willingly among the people : Bless ye the Lord."

And this communion of saints, (which next to communion with the Lord, and which ariseth out of communion from the Lord, is the sweetest of all spiritual enjoyments here below, during a life of faith,) I need not tell you, is the stated privilege of all the Lord's people. And wherefore should it be thought incredible, unless by carnal men, who know not the work of the Lord, nor the operations of his hands? Is it not one and the same Almighty Spirit which indites all prayers that are offered in faith ; which awakens all the praise that is framed in the spirit in love ; which directs the heart into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ ? And from hence, is it not clearly proved, to the spiritual apprehension of every regenerated child of God, that both in prayer and praise; and in all the numberless nameless enjoyments of the renewings of the Holy Ghost, shed upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ our Saviour. We can, and do testify to the concurring grace of the Holy Three in One, which bear record in heaven ; and set to our seal that God is true ? And is it not on this authority, attested both by sacred scripture, and in the living tablets of our hearts, that when the Spirit helpeth us in our infirmities, and as we know not what we should pray for as we ought, he it is that maketh intercessions for the saints according to the will of God ? Is it not also, on this very account, the church is said to have the mind of Christ; because the same Almighty Spirit which anointed Christ, and dwelleth in Christ—dwelleth in us, and maketh our bodies his temple ? And under all these assurances, which are both scriptural and spiritual, is it not certain, yea is it not one of the plainest, and most palpable truths, that however distant from each other, the Lord's people are in body, though self-elected in different countries or climes, yet from the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, are all united all alike to the one glorious Head ; and being adopted as children in Christ, by the God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in them all: they constitute the one body of Christ, and have spiritual union with each other, as members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones.

With these impressions from the Lord, I hail your assembly, in your proposed meeting; and having with you, first looked to Him for a blessing, who hath graciously promised that whenever two or three are gathered together in his name, there is He in the midst of them. I would humbly and affectionately address the meeting on the sacred and most interesting occa-sion for which they are congregated. I would say, Brethren ! in the formation of your society, according to the grace of God given unto you, see that as wise master builders, it is founded on the rock of ages—for other foundation can no man lay, than that is laid, which is, Jesus Christ. Make Him, what Jehovah in his Trinity of Persons in covenant love, in the ancient settlements of eternity hath made Him, the Alpha and Omega—the first and the last—the author and finisher of salvation. Take heed, that from divine teaching, you have each for yourselves, a true, clear, scriptural, spiritual apprehension of the Person, of our most glorious Christ; for it can be only from the knowledge of his Person, that ye can have the knowledge of the infinite nature and efficacy of his salvation; that while the clear, scriptural, and spiritual apprehension of his Person becomes the firm, unchangeable, and everlasting object of your faith : the complete and finished salvation which he wrought, and the righteousness which he brought in, will be the steady and unshaken subject of your hope. And while through rich, free, and sovereign grace, the Lord giveth unto you such views of the essential and underived Godhead of his Person, which he hath in common with the Father and the Holy Ghost in his divine nature ; and the immaculate holiness of his human nature; and in the union of both: the infinite fulness and suitability in himself, as the surety of his people: settled and established in these glorious truths yourselves, you will, under the Lord's blessing, be made instruments to communicate the information of them to others also. And from the scriptural and spiritual apprehension of the Person of Ch/ist, which give validity and efficacy to the salvation by Chris^: you will, according to our Lord's own statement of thes>e blessed truths, arrive to the only way by which you can arrive to the personal knowledge of, and communion with, the whole Persons in the Godhead. For, as Jesus said himself; no man cometh unto the Father but by me : so, in the same Scripture, the Lord added ; if ye had known me ye should have known my Father also. And again ; he that hath seen me hath seen the Father. John xiv. 6—9. Hence, therefore, allow me to say once more, and the Lord who is present, stamp the divine truth with his Almighty emphasis on every mind : Brethren see to it, that the basis of your society is our most glorious Christ, the Rock of Ages ! And if the gracious Lord, in infinite love, and in infinite condescension, establish you to be thus formed on him, and cemented in him : in every part of the building, as you go on in your labors ; your hearts xcill.be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the knowledge of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and Christ: in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge.

I ihall not think it necessary to trespass further upon your time, and the indulgence you have granted me, in stating the several particulars by which you will find yourselves called upon to act, as an Auxiliary to the Parent Socjery. With these you can be furnished from the Original Institution. And from the publications which have been issued from thence (all which are of a complexion purely Gospel) you will at once conclude how far your exertions, in your own place and neighbourhood will tend in securing a blessing, to be helpful in gathering into Christ's fold, the sheep of the Great Shepherd, which he has scattered abroad. But while I presume not to direct on those points (they come not within my province) 1 venture to observe, how very delightful, as well as honorable, the service to which every member of your Auxiliary Society is called by the critical consequences of this day. My Brother! I would say to every individual among you, the humble employment in ministering to the heirs of Christ's kingdom, is what angels are emulous to be engaged in. We read that a multitude of the heavenly host posted down from heaven on the morning of Christ's birth, so be the first heralds of those good tidings of great joy. And if the Great Head of his Church should mercifully send one of you on his errands of grace, and from a means so apparently slender as a tract in your hand, given to one of his, should make the gift of it minister to the heart, to make some poor, dejected, sorrowful soul, wise unto salvation through faith which is in Christ Jesus; what a source of consolatiou will arise therefrom to gladden the soul ? You, that in your own instance, know what it is to have ■passed from death to life, will best be able to appreciate the inexpressible mercy in others. What the man of Uz felt when delivering the poor from oppression, in the common providences of life, is but a faint resemblance to those finer feelings of the soul, when the Lord sends his messenger to any of his chosen ones, to be instrumental to their salvation by grace. Because I delivered (said Job) the poor that cried; and the fatherless, and him that had none to help him : the blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me; and I caused the widow's heart to sing with joy. Brethren, the Lord he will bless and prosper you in your undertaking : and then blessed will be the day when, the Lord opened a way for the diffusion of his divine truth in Cherlsey.

Do not expect, that in the great undertaking which the Lord hath inclined you to embark in this day, that you will find a perpetual calm. The surface may appear unruffled, but shortly storms and tempests will arise. The Lord describes the opposers of his truth under the similitude of a troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. There is no peace saith my God to the wicked I It was the very distinguishing character which our adorable Lord gave as the criterion of the Gospel in his own day. Think not (said the Almighty speaker, who spake as never man spake) that I am come to send peace on earth : I came not to send peace, but a sword. And a Society like yours, whose professed object is, to humble the sinner and exalt Christ, is but little short to proclaim war against all the customs and manners of mankind. Look, therefore, for hostilities in every quarter ; and give a truce to none. Wherefore (as the Holy Ghost commands by the Apostle) take unto you the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to withstand in the evil day, and having done all, to stand. And, while the colours of your little band have for their motto Christ, and Christ only, you will be as the Church was of old, beautiful as Tirzahf comely as Jerusalem, and terrible as an army with banners.

One word more, dear brethren, beloved of the Lord ! 1 charge you, be as the Prophet on the watch tower, to see the goings of the Lord before you, and following you. One love token from the Lord; one whisper of divine favor, in blessing your labors to his people, will be more precious to all your society, who love our most glorious Christ in sincerity, than thousands of gold and silver. Farewell! The Lord Jehovah be in the midst to bless you. The blessings of Him from above, and from the deep that lieth beneath ! Blessings of the breasts of consolation in all spiritual blessings in time: and blessing-i from the womb of eternity in the everlasting covenant, ftom Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and for evermore.

Yours, dear Brethren in the Lord,
ROBERT HAWKER.