Hymn of the week 2

Last night I was speaking in Rugby and we closed with that wonderful hymn 'Take my life'. Written in 1874, it is the most famous of the many hymns of Frances Ridley Havergal (1836-1879). One writer says of it 'Of all her poems, (it) ... meant the most to her, and has meant the most to the world.'

The cyberhymnal calls Havergal 'a bright but short lived can­dle in Eng­lish hymnody'. She has been called 'the hymnist of Keswick' her hymns being very much loved at the annual convention there.

She was born in Astley, Worcestershire on December 14, 1836, the youngest daughter of William Havergal, an Anglican minister, a skillful composer of music, and himself a hymn writer. She was baptised by another hymn writer, John Cawood (Hark! what mean those holy voices?). A precocious girl, she was reading at the age of four and composing verse by the time she was seven. She studied in England and then when her father and stepmother went there Germany. She became a good Hebrew and Greek scholar and knew several modern languages. She had a gift for memo­rising and knew the Psalms, Isai­ah and most of the New Test­ament off by heart. She also became a brilliant singer and pianist. A glittering career in society was open to her but she considered all her talents gifts from the Lord, to be used in his service. She would only sing sacred music and for the purpose of winning souls. She put her efforts into working for the Master - teaching in Sunday schools, writing letters, writing leaflets and books, conducting religious meetings. She had delicate health and her life was quite short but she accomplished a wonderful amount of work. She died on June 3, 1879, of peritonitis, in Caswell Bay on the Gower Peninsula, near Swansea, where she had moved from Leamington Spa the year before, following her parents deaths. She was just 43. There is a girl boarding school in Toronto, Havergal College, named for her. (Imagine - I have a gal at Havergal. Sorry.)

The hymn itself is quite simple, hardly great poetry but it has its own power adn is always a challenge to sing honestly. She said about it

'I went for a lit­tle vi­sit of five days (to Are­ley House). There were 10 per­sons in the house, some un­con­vert­ed and long prayed for, some con­vert­ed, but not rejoicing Christ­ians. He gave me the pra­yer, 'Lord, give me all in this house!' And He just did. Be­fore I left the house ev­ery one had got a bless­ing. The last night of my vis­it af­ter I had retired, the gov­ern­ess asked me to go to the two daugh­ters. They were cry­ing, etc.; then and there both of them trust­ed and re­joiced; it was near­ly mid­night. I was too hap­py to sleep, and passed most of the night in praise and re­new­al of my own con­se­cra­tion; and these lit­tle coup­lets formed them­selves, and chimed in my heart one af­ter ano­ther till they fin­ished with “Ever, On­ly, ALL for Thee!”

Take my life and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee;
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 moments and my days,
Let them flow in endless praise;
Take my intellect and use
Every pow’r as Thou shalt 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.

Check here for more on Havergal.