Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal
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This is a reproduction of a library book that was digitized by Google as part of an ongoing effort to preserve the information in books and make it universally accessible. https://books.google.com MemorialsofFrancesRidleyHavergal IBRARY IVERSITY OF ALIFORNIA ANTA CRUZ , . f!) MEMORIALS OF F. R. H. yV~A.eii- c^a,ys ec^~/A Ar-<e 7?6.s£"r (o jtr<'s^- w<ll ca.££ l"A.ee 4.cr^xe /tistr //is r-e eld ' nf" /Z /!u«Ati^( ,stren.crti.e-M.e.cC- G.H <^ty dc^y s > <?t.7' v> / /y rt , v , sxjii : r. '..Vl , ' MEMORIALS OF Frances Ridley Havergal. BV HER SISTER, M. V. G. H. THIRTY-EIGHTH THOUSAND. iLontwn : JAMES NISBET & CO., 21, BERNERS STREET. 1881. Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Frome, and London. PR H3 PREFACE. T T is with a reverent hand that these hidden leaves " of my dear sister's life are now laid at the Master's feet, for His acceptance and blessing. "Leaves which grave Experience ponders, Soundings for her pilot-charts ; Leaves which God Himself is storing, Records which we read, adoring Him, who writes on human hearts. Leaflets long unpaged and scattered Time's great library receives ; When eternity shall bind them, Golden volumes we shall find them, God's light falling on the leaves." No attempt has been made to write a Bio graphy, but rather to allow her to relate her own life-story — a sister's loving touch uniting the several links. Her letters, so kindly lent to b PREFACE. me by many friends, have furnished abundant materials for this purpose. These pages will reveal, to some extent, her "true-hearted, whole-hearted" loyalty in the service of God. Often was it as unseen as the lonely watchfulness of the sentinel on some distant outpost ; although in later years she seemed as one pacing the ramparts in the very presence of the King. And so — " The joy of loyal service to the King Shone through her days, and lit up other lives With the new fire of faith, that ever strives, Like a swift-kindling beacon, far to fling The tidings of His victory, and claim New subjects for His realm, new honour for His Name." May Christ be magnified by this record of her life and death ! To her, Christ was indeed " all and in all " ; and she did but describe her own experience in the words: "There were strange soul depths, restless, vast, and broad, Unfathomed as the sea ; PREFACE. An infinite craving for some infinite stilling : But now Thy perfect love is perfect filling, Lord Jesus Christ, rhy Lord, my God, Thou, Thou art enough for me ! " Yes, she was satisfied with Him, and knew what it was to "rest in the Lord," whilst she worked for Him. May I not add that an equally joyous and blessed experience may be ours ; and that His grace, which was sufficient for her, is sufficient for all who, possessing "like precious faith," "follow His steps." MARIA V. G. HAVERGAL. Caswell Bay Road, The Mumbles, South Wales. April. 1880. I CONTENTS. PAGE Preface ..... * CHAPTER I. (1836-1844.) Introduction — Birth — Brothers and sisters — Name — Birth day wreaths — Astley Rectory (illustration) — Her father's music — New home at Henwick — Flora's epitaph — Reading under the table — First rhyme .... I CHAPTER II. (1843-1848.) Autobiography from six years old — Wanting to be happy — Sunday chapters and prayer — Golden light — Waving boughs — "The caged lark" — No hypocrisy — Mother's last words — Death — No trance — The cry of the motherless — Wales — Oakhampton . .11 CHAPTER III. (1848— 1852.) The new decade — Meteor flashes — "Oh for faith " — School at last — Showers, but no blessing — Breaking the ice — The climax — The school sunbeam — A gleam of hope — Trusting Jesus — School again — Illness and patience — Wales — Singing and responding at " Taffy services " 26 CHAPTER IV. (1852-1855.) School at Dusseldorf — Journey to Westphalia — Leaving school — Numero I. — Autobiography resumed — Life in the pastor's family — The Countess von Lippe — Letter from Pastor Schulze-Berge — The day of con firmation — In Worcester cathedral — " Thine for ever " CONTENTS. — Home life — Oakhampton enjoyment — " Welcome home to my father 43 CHAPTER V. (1856—1860.) Ireland — F. R. H. and the Irish girls — Hebrew studies — Grateful memory of Bible class teachings — " Nearer heaven ! " — Chapters learnt — " Touching the hem " — Leaving St. Nicholas' — The loving teacher — Last page in Sunday Scholar's Register — Welcome to Shareshill . 59 CHAPTER VI. (1861— 1869.) Oakhampton — A new power — Musical gifts — Deep borings — Subjects for prayer — Hiller's commendation — Re markable power of harmonizing — Welcome to Win- terdyne — Stormy petrelism — Sent empty away — Calmer waters — Joining Young Women's Christian Association — London — " Guess my birthday treat ! " — Signor Randegger — Epitome of his first singing lesson — New home at Leamington — How poems came — My Evelyn ! — "The Two Rings" — Weary and sad — First sight of Alpine mountains ... 71 CHAPTER VII. (1870-1871.J \ father's holy teachings — Peaceful death — " Yet speak- eth " — " Songs of Grace and Glory" — How harmony was learnt — Letter on tunes in " Havergal's Psalmody " — The "hush of praise" — Sympathy — The great transition — The most enjoyable trip to Switzerland — A real Alpine dawn — The Vaudois chaplain — Vivas on the Col de la Seigne — Christmas Day — Waiting, not working 99 CHAPTER VIII. (1872- 1874.) The Right Way " — Snowdon — Evenings at Harlech — Jesus our Reality — Switzerland once more — Ascent to the Grands Mulets — Glissade peril and escape — Active CONTENTS. xi I'AGE service — Winterdyne — Bright sunshine — Full sur render — I John i. 7 — Definitive standpoint — Chimes in the night of " Ever, only, all for Thee " — No cheque — Songs, not sighs — How "Golden harps," "Tell it out," etc., came — Wayside enjoyments . .116 CHAPTER IX. (1874.) ,Circular letters — Sunset on the Faulhorn — Ormont Dessus — Interruptions to poems — Other work done — " Little Pillows," etc. — Swiss singing — That great transfer — A musical reverie — Return to England — Bright work and results 142 CHAPTER X. (1874-1875.) A dark enigma — Typhoid fever — " Waiting at the golden gates " — Coming back from them — Winterdyne — Relapse — Oakhampton — The ministry of kind servants — Return to work — Letters — Gleams — Whitby — " Reality" — The old friend's letter — Kindness of friends 155 CHAPTER XI. (1876.) "The Turned Lesson" — Patient work — Sympathy with E. C, going to India — Upton Bishop Vicarage — The brother's organ and last singing — The last visit to Switzerland — " Seulement pour Tot " — Bible reading to peasants — The Great St. Bernard — Champery — Baroness Helga von Cramm — Alpine cards — Illness at Pension Wengen — Return home — "My King" — Pruning 189 CHAPTER XII. (1877) Letters — The mystery of pain — The Lord's graving tool — Loyal letters — "Won't you decide to-night?" — Manhood for Christ's service — Splendid promises — " My silver and my gold " — Mildmay : its intercessions, greetings, hushing power — A crumb from the King's table — The Christian Progress Union .... 226 xii CONTENTS. CHAPTER XIII. (1878.) PAGE Sympathy with sorrowful suffering — "Just as Thou wilt" — The mother's last smile — Called to rest — The home nest stirred up — Clear guidance — "Another little step " — Last days in Leamington — Nieces and nephews — Devonshire visits — The Welsh nest — " My study " — The harp-piano — More work — The sweep of Jehovah's pencil — Bible readings — " Take my love" — Songs in a weary Christmas night .... 250 CHAPTER XIV. (1879.) New Year's sunshine — Journal of mercies — (Facsimiles of Bible pages) — Prayer and intercessions — Work, "if the Lord will " — London — The law of the Lord a delight — Prospering — "Loving all Along" — "Bruey" suc cess — Irish plans — Temperance work — The oldest friend's visit — "Can I go to India?" — Last Y. W. C. A. address — " Little Nony " — Last letters — Costly stones — The last " Sunday crumb " card . 273 CHAPTER XV. The Last Week. The donkey-boy — My Temperance regiment — Work on the village bank — Sailor friends — Helga's pictures — ' ' God's will delicious " — Good Mary and kind nurse — ' ' How good and kind to come " — The last Sunday — The last hymns — Last messages — " Do speak bright words for Jesus " — The last song at the Golden Gate — With the King — Astley Churchyard .... 295 APPENDIX 3x5 Portrait to face title. Astley Rectory „p.6 Facsimiles of Bible Pages .... „ p. 278 F. R. H.'s Tomb in Astley Churchyard . „ /. 309 MEMORIALS OF F. R. H. — — CHAPTER I. (1836— 1844.) Introduction — Birth — Brothers and sisters — Name — Birthda) wreaths — Astley Rectory (illustration) — Her father's music — New home at Henwick — Flora's epitaph — Reading under the table — First rhyme. E do not often see the risings of our rivers, » ' the tiny spring lies hidden in some mountain home. Even when the stream gathers strength in its downward course, it meets with many an obstructing boulder, passes through many an unfrequented valley, and traverses here and there a sunless ravine. But the rivei deepens and widens, and is most known, most navigable, just as it passes away for ever from our gaze, lost in the ocean depths. And thus it was with the early life of that dear sister whose course I would now attempt to trace. Those who only knew her when her words were flowing deeply and widely, around, little guess the B 4t 2 MEMORIALS OF F. R. H. dark shadows on her early course. It is most difficult to know what to give, and what to with hold, in these pages. In simple dependence on God's overruling guidance, a selection is now made from what she little thought would ever be pub lished. Remembering one of her latest whispers, " I did so want to glorify Him in every step of my way," it is thought right to unfold these life- . records. May her desire be fulfilled ! " Come nearer, Sun of Righteousness, that we, Whose dim, short hours of day so swiftly run, So overflowed with love and light may be, So lost in glory of the nearing Sun, That not our light, but Thine, the world may see, New praise to Thee through our poor lives be won ! * Frances Ridley Havergal was born on the 14th of December, 1836, and was the youngest child of William Henry Havergal and Jane his wife.