A reading of Anglican priest Robert Hawker’s (1753–1827) morning devotional writings from “The Poor Man’s Morning and Evening Portion.”
The music for this reading is “Mallard” by Chad Crouch and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
These eyes shall see the king in his beauty. Isaiah 33:17.
Who, my soul, but Jesus could be intended by this sweet promise? And who is beautiful and lovely in thine eyes but him? There was no beauty in him, while thou wert in a state of unrenewed nature, that thou shouldst desire him; neither can any man truly love him, until that a soul is made light in the Lord. Is Jesus then lovely to thee? Hast thou seen him? Dost thou now know him, love him, behold him, as altogether fair, and the chiefest among ten thousand? Then, surely, this promise hath been, and is, continually fulfilled in thy experience. Hast thou so seen him, as to be in love with him, and to have all thine affections drawn forth towards him? Dost thou, my soul, so behold him, as to admire him, and love him, above all; and so to love him as never to be satisfied without him? Moreover— hast thou seen this King in his beauty, in his fullness, riches, and suitableness, to thee as a Saviour? Surely, blessed Jesus! there are not only glorious, precious excellencies in thee, and thine own Divine Person, which command the love and affection of every beholder, as thou art in thyself; but there is a beauty indeed in thee, considered as thou art held forth by our God and Father in all thy suitableness, to thy people. In thy beauty, blessed Lord! there is to be seen a fullness of grace, and truth, and righteousness, exactly corresponding to the wants of poor sinners—thy blood to cleanse, thy grace to comfort, thy fullness to supply; in thee there is every thing we can want—life, light, joy, pardon, mercy, peace, happiness here, glory hereafter. And do I not see thee, thou King! in thy beauty indeed, when I behold thee as coming with all these for my supply? So that, under the enjoyment of the whole, I feel constrained to cry out, with one of old, “I will love thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my strength and my song; and he is become my salvation.” Neither is this all: for in beholding the King in his beauty, I behold him also in his love. Yes, blessed Lord! thou art indeed most beautiful and lovely; for thou hast so loved poor sinners as to give thyself for them; and the conscious sense that our love to thee did not first begin, but thine to us was the first cause for exciting ours, and the shedding forth that love in our hearts, by thy blessed Spirit, first prompted our minds to look unto thee, makes thee lovely indeed. And now, Lord, every day’s view of thee increaseth that love, and brings home thy beauty more and more. The more frequent thou condescendest to visit my poor soul, the more beautiful dost thou appear. Every renewed manifestation, every view, every glimpse, of Jesus, must tend to make my God and King more gracious and lovely to my soul, and add fresh fervour to my love. Come, then, thou blessed, holy, lovely One, and ravish my spiritual senses with thy beauty, that I may daily get out of love with every thing of created excellency, and my whole soul be filled only with the love of Jesus; until, from seeing thee here below, through the mediums of ordinances and grace, I come to look upon thee, and live for ever in thy presence, in the full beams of thy glory in thy throne above.
