“Does not His Word open out more and more, as the years go on? One feels greedy of every bit that one seems to get hold of for oneself. I so often look forward and wonder, ‘What next, Lord? what will be the next unexpected shining upon a text, or gold thread put into one’s hand to string many upon?’” (This was found in Letters by the Late Frances Ridley Havergal, edited by her sister, Maria V. G. Havergal, London: James Nisbet & Co.,1886, “Division IV Letters Without Date,” the third letter to “M.F.,” page 155 of the original book, page 190 of Volume IV of the Havergal edition.)

Here are four items found handwritten by Frances in her last Bagster Bible. This was a Facsimile Large Edition of the English Version of Bagster’s Polyglot Bible that she read and studied at the end of her life. Frances’ stepmother, Caroline Anne Havergal, gave her this Bible on Frances’ 40th birthday, a little less than two and a half years before she died.

1. This was found on the left-side blank page facing the title page of the Bagster Bible:  

“If we believe in the Revealer, we have no difficulty about the Revelation.”

2. This was found on the left-side blank page facing the first page of Genesis:  

The Old Testament Scriptures. “Were it but for the fact that they are the only writings, of which we know, that Christ used & loved, they ought to be very precious to us:—Christ’s favourite book, Christ’s only book, the book He always read, always quoted, His guide & companion during life, His meditation & comfort in His sufferings & on His cross. If we love Jesus, we ought dearly to love, & diligently to read the Old Test. Scrs.” Saphir [Adolph Saphir (1831-1891)]

[This was taken from Christ and the Scriptures by Rev. Adolph Saphir, B.A. (London: Morgan and Chase, 38, Ludgate Hill), 1867, pages 27-28. “And here I cannot but express grief and astonishment at the prevalent neglect of the Jewish Scripture. The term “Old Testament” may partly have contributed to this, people imagining that what is old is antiquated. We have already seen that these Scriptures are full of Christ; and were it but for the circumstance that they are the only writings of which we know that Christ used and loved them, they ought to be most precious to us. Christ’s favourite book! Christ's only book! The book He always read, always quoted; his guide and companion during life; his meditation and comfort in his sufferings and on his cross. If you love Jesus, you ought dearly to love and diligently to read this book.”]

3. In the margin next to Matthew 27:11-14 (she underlined the last word of verse 12, “nothing”), she wrote this note in quotation marks with the initial F. at the end: “The silence of the innocent Jesus atoned for the excuses of the guilty Adam.” F.

[She referred to this: “He simply suffered His false accusers and their false listeners to entangle themselves in the hideous coil of their own malignant lies, and the silence of the innocent Jesus atoned for the excuses of the guilty Adam.” This was found in The Life of Christ by Frederic William Farrar, D.D., F.R.S, Late Fellow of Trinity College, Cambridge; Canon of Westminster; and Chaplain in Ordinary to the Queen (New York: E. P. Dutton & Company, 1875), page 408.]

4. On page 163, at the top of Hebrews chapter 11, in the margin, she wrote this:  

With the world seeing is believing.

With the Christian believing is seeing.

   Oh, there is so much (that is very valuable) available to me that I want to quote from her on Bible study. I will just give this quotation before the poem.

   In Frances’ desk after she died was a hand-written list of projects, “Work for 1879 ‘If the Lord will.’” One of the items was “‘About Bible marking.’ Magazine article”—not completed when she so unexpectedly soon died. The following brief piece was published in the periodical The Christian for Thursday, June 5, 1879 (two days after F.R.H.’s death, likely prepared for press before her death), page 11. Frances possibly or likely was the “correspondent” here. 

   HINTS ON BIBLE MARKING.—A correspondent has sent the result of some years’ experience in Bible-study, which contains some useful hints. We quote the methods recommended. There are three chief methods of studying Scripture—(1) reading, (2) searching, (3) meditating. The first may be done by reading a daily portion (and this should never be neglected)—noting any parallelisms and contrasts in the text, the connexion with the preceding chapter, and repetitions of a word or phrase. Or the plan of reading single books again and again, or of looking up the references to some particular subject, may be adopted. As a companion in searching the Bible, a Concordance is indispensable, and should be used methodically and carefully. And our correspondent has something to say in favour of the plans of Bible-marking and “chains of texts,” and also advocates the employment of alliteration and other mnemonic aids. The latter, together with careful attention during study, and the exercise of memory, will help to store the mind with treasures of Biblical knowledge available at any time. 

(This may have been––I think likely was––Frances’ rough draft or introduction to her article on Bible marking and study, or another’s summation of a longer article or draft by her. Though we do not know whether she wrote this, if she did not, this very much looks like her thinking and writing. Previously in her life, she had also published anonymously in periodicals, identifying herself as a “correspondent.”)

The Havergal Trust | Website