Dear reader,

Charles Spurgeon said about John Bunyan that if you stick him anywhere, he bleeds Scripture. That is also true of F.R.H. She was intimately familiar with every page of the Bible; she truly loved the Author, and thus she loved His Book. I have high-resolution photographs of all of her last Bible read and studied at the end of her life, which show so much of her love for, diligent study of, and insights into the word of God. Scripture was in her blood, and in the warp and woof of what she wrote.

   Frances Ridley Havergal is very obscure today. Comparatively few people know or recognize her name at all, though many or most who attend church know of her most famous piece, the “Consecration Hymn,” “Take my life and let it be, Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.” In her day (1836-1879), in the last five years or so of her life, she was very widely known and highly regarded on both sides of the Atlantic. Of those today who know of her, most of them know of her only as a hymnwriter. Besides her hymns, she wrote a large, valuable body of poetry, and she also wrote a large body of prose works. Finally, she also wrote a smaller (though also very fine, rich and important) body of music scores.

   She published five books that were called the “Royal” books, which she regarded as a set. Each of these books had 31 “Days,” a section for each day of a month. The first four of these books were primarily prose, and the fifth one was 31 poems. In the four prose books, a column of Scripture references was given beside the prose text for each “Day.” A dear friend, Sherry Goodwin, who has done so much, truly invaluable, to help to complete the edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal, wrote this brief introduction years ago, quoting Frances’ words:  

        THE FIVE ROYAL BOOKS

        by Frances Ridley Havergal

My King. “The source of the Kingship of Christ is God Himself in the eternal counsels of His love. . . . Having provided, He appointed and anointed His King.” The sections of this book are taken from Old Testament texts. “Why has God made Jesus King? Because the Lord loved His people. He knows our need of a King.”

Royal Commandments. “Some of His Royal Commandments are made so ‘plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth.’ . . . Some are engraved upon the gems of promise; and as we look closely into the fair colours of each jewel that the hand of faith receives, we find that it is enriched by an unerasable line of precept. But all are royal, and all are ‘from Him,’ our King. And He has said, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments.’”

Royal Bounty. “The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.” (Deuteronomy 28:12) This book describes the gracious provision of our King to His subjects, the benefits of the Christian life, the unsearchable riches of Christ in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “Faith is the key to this infinite treasury.”

The Royal Invitation. “The human heart within us craves a personal, living rest and refuge. . . . The great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, is given to us, ‘Come unto Me.’” This is the Son of God, mighty to save and ready to save all who come unto Him. In Him are life and peace.

Loyal Responses. These are 31 poems, in which “almost every line has been either directly drawn from Holy Scripture or ‘may be proved thereby.’ May not only our lips but our lives be filled with Loyal Responses to all the words of our King!”
  This is a quotation found in the section entitled “Notice on Books” in the February (before she died on June 3, 1879) February, 1879 issue of Spurgeon’s magazine The Sword and the Trowel. C. H. Spurgeon very likely or almost surely wrote this review. (A knowledgeable person said that reviews in this periodical were written by Spurgeon unless otherwise initialed.)

Loyal Responses; or, Daily Melodies for the King’s Minstrels. By FRANCES RIDLEY HAVERGAL. James Nisbet.

We have been charmed with Miss Havergal’s exquisite little books upon the King, his commandments, invitations, and bounties; they are each one rich with food for the mind and cheer for the heart. Condensed spiritual meat of the finest quality, we might call them. She now most fitly closes the series with “Loyal Responses.” These are choice poems, a few of which, such as—
   “Take my life, and let it be
   Consecrated, Lord, to thee,”
are well known to the Christian public. Most of the others are new, and exceedingly good. The little book is a marvellous shillingsworth of gracious minstrelsy.
     [almost certainly by C. H. Spurgeon]
This is the first “Day” of My King (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1877), the first of F.R.H.’s five Royal books.  

Because of the great difficulty—with small cell-phone screens or other devices without full, wide screens—to make the verse references line up correctly with the text as F.R.H. meant, next is a link by which you can download a PDF of this, copied from Volume II of the Havergal edition, to read this much better if you are not using a laptop or a larger screen. You can also try viewing this next section in "landscape" orientation if you are viewing this email on a mobile device.
First Day.

The Source of the Kingship.

 “Because the Lord hath loved His people, He hath made thee king over
  them.”—2 Chronicles 2:11; 9:8.
John 17:24

Ephesians 1:4
Titus 1:12   

2 Samuel 23:5




Genesis 22:8 
I Samuel 16:1

Psalm 139:17

Psalm 2:6



Psalm 44:4
I Kings 1:35

Ezekiel 37:2
John 11:52









Jeremiah 31:3



John 17:26
CHRIST said to His Father, “Thou lovedst me before the
foundation of the world.” At that mysterious date, not
of time, but of everlasting love, God “chose us in Him.”
Before the world began, God, that cannot lie, gave the
promise of eternal life to Him for us, and made with Him
for us “a covenant ordered in all things, and sure.” The
leading provisions of that covenant were, a Lamb for our
atonement, and a King for our government—a dying and a
living Saviour. This God the Father did for us, and His own
divine interest is strongly indicated in the typical words,
“God will provide Himself a Lamb,” and “I have provided
me a King.” So the Source of the Kingship of Christ is God
Himself, in the eternal counsels of His love. It is one of the
grand “thoughts of God.”
Having provided, He appointed and anointed His King:
“Yet have I set (margin, anointed) my King upon my
holy hill of Zion.” What a marvellous meeting-place is thus
found in the Kingship of Jesus for God’s heart and ours! He
says in His majestic sovereignty, “I have set my King”; and
we say in lowly and loving loyalty, “Thou art my King.”
God has appointed His King “to be ruler over Israel
and over Judah.” Thus He gives his children a great bond
of union. For “one King shall be King to them all,” and
He shall “gather together in one the children of God which
were scattered abroad.” “Satan scatters, but Jesus ga-
thers.” Shall we then let the enemy have his way, and
induce us to keep apart and aloof from those over whom
our beloved King reigns also? Let us try this day to
recollect this, and make it practical in all our contact with
His other subjects.
Why has God made Jesus King? Who would have
guessed the right answer? “Because the Lord loved His
people.” So the very thought of the Kingship of Christ
sprang from the everlasting love of God to His people.
Bring that wonderful statement down to personal reality,—
“His people,” that is, you and me. God made Jesus King
over you, because He loved you, and that with nothing
less than the love wherewith He loved Him. Which is the
more wonderful—the love that devised such a gift, or the
gift that was devised by such love! Oh, to realize the
glorious value of it! May we, who by His grace know
something of God’s gift of His Son as our Saviour, learn
day by day more of the magnificent preciousness of His
gift of His Anointed One as our King!

F.R.H. (the “First Day” of My King)
Sincerely,
David Chalkley
editor of the Havergal edition
As I wrote at the end of the first two e-mails, so I want to say this at the end of each of these e-mails: Much work has been done by a number of people to make F.R.H.’s works available to many. There is life in these pages, and the reality of Jesus Christ. These works truly glorify the Lord, and help, encourage, enrich His people. There are also parts of this that are very clear, compassionate, powerful presentations of the truth to people who have not yet been saved. If you see the value in these works, please tell others who might be interested in this. We have no desire to become rich or famous from this, not a trace. Our desire is that these works be widely disseminated, for the Lord’s glory and the good of His people.

We would be glad to hear from you. Please write to us by replying to this email or by contacting us through the Havergal Trust website.

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