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 “Cedar Waxwing” by Chad Crouch and was adapted for length under a Creative Commons License (CC BY-NC 4.0).
“Knowing that whilst we are at home in the body, we are absent from the Lord; we are confident, I say, and willing rather to be absent from the body, and to be present with the Lord.” —2 Cor. 5:6, 8.
My soul! is this thy real language ? Pause. Whilst thou art at home in the body, how dark and dim, how few and short are all the glimpses thou hast by faith of Jesus. What from the workings of corruption, the claims of the body, the concerns of the world, and the numberless, nameless, obstructions which surround thee, how little dost thou know of Jesus. And wouldest thou desire for ever to live at this distance ? Think what the first view only of Jesus will be, when thou art once absent from the body, and present with the Lord ! What holy transports will break in upon the soul, when all the lines of love meet in one center, to manifest the Lord Jesus to thy view in his redeeming fullness ! If here below a single hour’s enjoyment of thy Jesus, through the medium of his word or ordinances, be so precious that no felicity on earth can equal, what must a whole eternity be, in the full uninterrupted vision of God and the Lamb ? If, through the influences of thy blessed Spirit, dearest Jesus, the tear of joy, and love, and praise, will fall in the contemplation of thy Person and work, surely all the floodgates of the soul will open when I see thee as thou art, and come to dwell with thee for ever. Oh ! for grace, then, to long for that blessed hour, when, absent from the body, I shall be present with the Lord ; when I shall behold thy face in righteousness, and shall he satisfied when I awake with thy likeness.
