FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL

HIS is truly an attractive name in

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later English hymnology. It is a name as tenderly beloved by American churches as by Christian worshippers of her native land. Miss Havergal was the daughter of the Rev. William Henry Havergal, vicar of Astley, Worcestershire, England, who himself was a writer of several good hymns and a composer of much acceptable sacred music.

To show the wonderful gifts of this saintly woman I quote a paragraph from my "Hymns Historically Famous": "A study of her short life reminds us that she could read at three; that she wrote verses at seven with remarkable fluency; that in her girlhood days she knew the whole of the New Testament, the Psalms, and Isaiah by heart, and afterwards memorized the Minor Prophets; that when fourteen years old she had a glowing spiritual enthusiasm ;

that she early acquired the French, German, Italian, Latin, Greek, and Hebrew languages; that she daily read the Old and New Testaments in the original; that she could play through Handel and much of Mendelssohn and Beethoven without notes; that she had a sweet singing voice and was a reputable composer; and that in her school days, though having a frail constitution, she climbed the Swiss Mountains that she might revel in the scene of perpetual snow."

Miss Havergal's physical qualities were never strong, and her mental activity which many times was extremely severe, brought on rapid bodily decline, and in 1879, when she had just passed her fortieth year, she entered immortality.

Five years before Miss Havergal passed away she wrote the following consecration hymn which may be commended as one of the finest of its class:

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days,
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

Take my hands and let them move
At the impulse of Thy love.
Take my feet and let them be
Swift and beautiful for Thee.

Take my voice, and let me sing
Always, only, for my King.
Take my lips, and let them be,
Filled with messages from Thee.

Take my silver and my gold,
Not a mite would I withhold.
Take my intellect and use
Every power as Thou dost choose.

Take my will and make it Thine;
It shall be no longer mine.
Take my heart, it is Thine own:
It shall be Thy royal throne.

Take my love: my Lord, I pour
At Thy feet its treasure-store.
Take myself, and I will be
Ever, only, all for Thee!

The hymn is not only popular with English and American churches, but it has been rendered into nearly all European languages, and is even sung in the tongues of the Africans and the Asiatics.

In 1872 Miss Havergal wrote "A Worker's Prayer" which in poetic purity and spiritual beauty is not less admirable than her consecration hymn. In some prints it has been badly marred; but the text, as it came warm from the heart of its author, is as follows:

Lord, speak to me, that I may speak
In living echoes of Thy tone;
As Thou hast sought, so let me seek
Thy erring children lost and lone.

Oh, lead me, Lord, that I may lead
The wandering and the wavering feet;
Oh, feed me, Lord, that I may feed

Thy hungering ones with manna sweet.
Oh, strengthen me, that while I stand
Firm on the rock and strong in Thee,

I may stretch out a loving hand

To wrestlers with the troubled sea.

Oh, teach me, Lord, that I may teach

The precious things Thou dost impart ;
And wing my words, that they may reach
The hidden depths of many a heart.

Oh, give Thine own sweet rest to me,
That I may speak with soothing power

A word in season, as from Thee,
To weary ones, in needful hour.

Oh, fill me with Thy fulness, Lord,
Until my very heart o'erflow
In kindling thought and glowing word,
Thy love to tell, Thy praise to show.

Oh, use me, Lord, use even me

Just as Thou wilt, and when, and where, Until Thy blessèd face I see,

Thy rest, Thy joy, Thy glory share.

Her hymn on "The New Year" is very

lovely:

Another year is dawning,

Dear Master, let it be,
In working or in waiting,
Another year with Thee.

Another year of leaning
Upon Thy loving breast,
Of ever-deepening trustfulness,
Of quiet, happy rest.

Another year of mercies,

Of faithfulness and grace;
Another year of gladness

In the shining of Thy face.

Another year of progress,
Another year of praise,

Another year of proving
Thy presence all the days.