I Bring My Sins to Thee -- Frances Ridley Havergal

She had a life that was well-tuned to her Creator, but still felt the need to vocalize her commitment to him when she was 34 years old. Was there something in 1870 that compelled the Englishwoman Frances Ridley Havergal to declare “I Bring My Sins to Thee”? Was it an especially close loss, either recent or soon-expected, that stirred her poetic spirit to write about four parts of her life that she offered to give to the ultimate Giver? Perhaps she felt that all things were from Him anyway, so why not be willing to relinquish all that her life was currently possessing? These included the adverse issues, as well as those at the opposite end of the spectrum. Take all of them, because whether good or ill, they compose me, and make me unique. That was indeed true of Frances.

Frances Havergal had experienced her share of heartache and joy by the time “I Bring My Sins to Thee” gestated in her spirit in 1870. Raised in an Anglican minister’s home, Frances showed the same poetic and hymn-writing traits as her father, William Henry Havergal. A brother, Henry, was a priest and played the organ. Although her mother died when Frances was just 11 years old, it may have been this mother’s deathbed words to the Havergals’ youngest daughter that impacted her most deeply – words urging her to be totally committed to God, to be His vessel. With these stimuli, Frances did indeed follow a path that would have undoubtedly pleased her mother, while using the gift most evident in her father. This very bright, highly educated young girl (she studied six languages) was also affected by her father’s ill health, forcing the family to move, including at least once as he took on ministry in a smaller church. Frances was likewise occasionally plagued by illness as a young woman, eventually succumbing to an infection at age 42. Eight years earlier, was her father’s death in 1870 a precipitating factor in her composition of “I Bring …”, perhaps? She mentions four broad facets of her life – anyone’s life – that she offered to the One she worshipped. Could these have been occupying her mind in the wake of her father’s death, or alternately, as she watched him decline? ‘Sins’ (v.1), ‘Grief’ (v.2), ‘Joys’ (v.3), and ‘Life’ (v.4) were all parts of herself that she wanted to surrender to Him.  Understandably, the offerings she made in the first two verses one could speculate are easier – who wants to hang onto sin and grief, after all? But, what about joy and life itself? What would a 34-year old’s vantage point look like, that would make her say this? Perhaps she’d surmised by this time that one had to accept that good and evil coexist. Would her poem have been more aptly entitled ‘I Bring It All to Thee”?       

Frances was looking at her own experience broadly, probably not for the first time, but maybe in sharper relief, as death was becoming all too real yet again for herself and those to whom she was closest. Is there an escape hatch? Though still a relatively young woman, even negative events had prospered Frances Havergal – her mother’s dying words inspired her, and conceivably it was her other parent’s mortality that helped spawn “I Give…” over 20 years later. I don’t welcome the negative. Nobody does. Yet, somebody once said something about a seed dying and giving new life. Who was that?

See this site for information on the composer: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/v/havergal_fr.htm

See also here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

 

See all four original verses of the song here: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/b/r/ibringms.htm

Read the composer’s obituary here: https://www.truthfulwords.org/biography/havergaltw.html

Lord Speak to Me -- Frances Havergal

This 36-year old Englishwoman wrote something in 1872 she called “A Worker’s Prayer” as she considered what would be useful to members of the church where she worshipped. But, she didn’t want it to sound like she was the one giving the advice, so she said “Lord Speak to Me”, an appeal that Frances Ridley Havergal must have made many times over the course of her short life. She may have been an adult, but what she crafted indicates she hadn’t grown up too much to ask for and accept advice from above. From where did such an attitude derive, and was this song’s episode different from others that stimulated her poetic nature?

Frances was the daughter of an Anglican minister (her father) and probably never forgot the last moments with her mother, though they were some 25 years removed from the poem-song that she would write in her mid-30s. Having deeply spirit-led parents imbued Frances with a consciousness close to her Creator in ways that mimicked those who brought her into the world, most especially her father. He was also a hymn-writer, a trait that he passed on to Frances. Her mother’s influence must have also been strong, as the story of her deathbed encouragement to 11-year old Frances is known today, perhaps coming from Frances’ own memory. The Havergals’ daughter was already a bright, committed believer before her teenage years, having begun reading the bible by age 4 and writing poetry not long afterward. She reportedly learned Latin, Greek, and Hebrew, and committed to memory lengthy portions of the bible, including Psalms, Isaiah, and the New Testament during the remainder of her childhood. So, it comes as no surprise that Frances would write dozens of books and hymns in her adult years – the fruit of her upbringing. Frances’ health apparently caused her difficulty frequently, so her death at the age of 42 was not entirely unexpected either. Perhaps it was the ill health that also drew her toward him, as well as the memory of her own mother’s premature demise but nevertheless evident heavenward devotion. “Lord, Speak to Me” can be summed up, therefore, as Frances’ life experience -- a poem-prayer to Him, as well as a model to fellow believers. She wanted to be useful, and the words she shared indicate she must have been asked by others to share what was the key to her life. The answer? Go talk to Him first – that’s in the first line of all seven of her poem’s verses.         

  

Prayer is access for everyone, and that’s what Frances wanted everyone to realize. And, it’s not just an isolated incident between my Creator and myself. Frances understood in “Lord Speak to Me” that seeking His direction should compel me toward others here, to share what He has for them. He’s not stingy, a notion that Frances Havergal had apparently grasped and wanted to share. “Lord, Speak…” has a dual purpose; there’s the one-to-one vertical connection in prayer, but also the resulting horizontal me-to-others link. That’s what Frances wants me to see. You suppose He told her that, too?  

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all seven original verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/s/p/lspeak2m.htm

 
See biography of composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

Take My Life and Let It Be -- Frances Ridley Havergal

“It’s all yours” is another way she might have said this the morning after an episode that touched her so profoundly that she was unable to sleep. It might be analogous to a patriotic zeal, upon seeing a nation’s flag (see England’s here), that motivates soldiers or citizens to sacrifice themselves. Frances Ridley Havergal was a 38-year old Englishwoman known for her steadfastness to God, but had any other time in her life affected her so? “Take My Life and Let It Be” was evidently not just pretty words for Frances, an often-ailing figure who must have leaned on Him especially because of her physical challenges. Was her commitment stronger because she suspected hers would be an abbreviated existence?  

As she lived in 1874, Frances Havergal had already suffered enough challenges for a lifetime, and yet she convinced others with her uncomplaining spirit that there was much that was praiseworthy, much that was available even in her delicate frame for His use. While she apparently had a gifted voice, it’s reported that she was often sick, and died with a serious infection at the age of just 42. Before her death she was a model for others of a consecrated character, a condition that especially her father, also a hymnist-writer and member of the Anglican clergy, nurtured in her from childhood. By her 30s, Frances had a well-known reputation for daily living as a spiritually-led individual, as her poetry indicated. ‘Take My Life…’ was reportedly written at the conclusion of a five-day visit to a house where she influenced 10 other people toward a new or stronger Christ-commitment. Had she used her musical voice as part of this witness to urge their lives upward, since it too was part of her God-given talent? If she did, Frances did not dwell on it, but rather credited Him with the inspiration to persuade these acquaintances of His concern for them. This included two girls with whom she was stirred from bed to converse. Afterwards, she was so moved by the experience that she lay awake that night with her own overflowing fervor. As light dawned, she had composed the six-verse poem to cap this experience. She must have thought, as she excitedly pondered the thrill of the events in the dark, that she would surrender anything to His use if she could just retain that moment of Divine success. It oozes from every verse she penned, ‘take this and take that of me’, use it all, God! Hers may have been a weak constitution, but if she truly felt as she wrote that night, maybe her physical infirmity was what she gladly accepted in exchange for making His purposes complete in herself.

What became of the 10 people to whom Frances talked during that week in 1874? Perhaps they sang the words Frances had crafted that one evening, remembering the things she’d said to push them closer to their Creator. Her lines cannot be voiced with casual attention. There’s too many objects of ‘take’ in the words, culminating in ‘all’. Those two words sum up Frances – she invited someone to take it all. That’s probably because she’d discovered it was worth it. He’s worth it.   

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; 101 Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1982; and Then Sings My Soul – 150 of the World’s Greatest Hymn Stories, Robert J. Morgan, Thomas Nelson Publishers, 2003.

Also see this link, showing all six original verses, shown as three verses, and the composer’s story about the song: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/t/a/k/takemyli.htm

More in-depth biography of composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

Site describing an Areley House in the United Kingdom: http://www.areleyhouse.co.uk/

Is It for Me? -- Frances Ridley Havergal

This poetess had a few questions that she wanted to record as she felt the loss of a loved one in her 35^th year. Frances Ridley Havergal was also travelling that year of 1871 with a  friend, a time for appreciation of His creation that struck her. These were just a few of the circumstances about her as Havergal penned the poem “Is It for Me?” Had she really doubts in her mind, as she thought about what lay ahead? Did this often-sick, but relatively young woman wonder whether her life would be cut short? Her poetry may also have been a learned response, the imitation of a parent she now could only remember, but to whom she could no longer speak.

Poetry was a craft that Frances learned from her father as a child, and which she used throughout her brief but productive life. William Havergal’s family, including his daughter Frances, lived in Anglican England where he ministered and composed verse and hymn, passing along key parts of his character to his children. While one brother Henry followed in his father’s footsteps as a ‘man of the cloth’ and an organist, Francis adopted her father’s poetic trait. Frances was a precocious girl who could read at age 4 and was writing verse at age 7. She learned several languages, and memorized several books of the bible, equipping her with a mind and a heart tuned specially for hymn-writing as an adult. These must have girded her spirit too, for she lost both parents before she was 40 – her mother at age 11, and her father when she was 34. The second loss was in 1870, the year before she would write her poem-question “Is It for Me?” It’s reported that her father’s death made her faith more acutely real for Frances, and perhaps that and her travel with a friend the following year played roles in the words she would write. She visited Switzerland with her friend Elizabeth Clay in 1871 when “Is It…” was composed. She marveled at the scenery before her eyes, with a growing appreciation for the Creator. You can sense the amazement still in her consciousness in the words of the poem she crafted, a woman who felt undeserving of her status in God’s kingdom. The few years of this particular period may have been something of a life turning point, as something coalesced inside her. Shortly thereafter, around 1873, she began to fully devote herself to lifting Jesus in all her efforts. It’s almost as if she was answering her own question ‘Is it for me?’, with a realization that God’s answer was indeed ‘yes’ to her.   

Frances would spend but a few years living her deepened devotion following “Is It for Me?” Sickness became more common and serious for her, finally taking her life in 1879 when she was just 42. But, she’d been prepared, with an attitude of joy in her last hours despite the pain that tormented her physically. She must have imagined it in many of her thoughts that are recorded poetically. These included words from the concluding verse of the hymn she’d written eight years earlier…’never grieve Thee more’. She meant it, in life and in death. May we all.  

    

See this site for all the verses: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/i/s/i/isitform.htm

See this site for further biography: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frances_Ridley_Havergal

See this site for further biographic information:

http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/h/a/v/havergal_fr.htm

See extensive biography here: http://www.wholesomewords.org/biography/bhavergal4.html

http://www.truthfulwords.org/biography/havergaltw2.pdf