Soon after his death she prepared for the press _Havergal's Psalmody_,
which was afterwards largely used in the compiling of the Rev C. B.
Snepp's hymn-book, called _Songs of Grace and Glory_, for which, she
herself wrote several hymns. In June, 1871, she accompanied her friend
Elizabeth Clay on a visit to Switzerland; there she thoroughly enjoyed
the Alpine climbing, and revelled in the grand scenery of Mont Blanc and
other snow mountains. On a subsequent visit Mont Blanc was ascended as
far as the Grand Mulets. Here her delight in the exhilarating exercise
of glissading landed her in a danger which, but for the presence of mind
of Mr. Snepp, must have ended fatally to herself and one of the guides.
III.
LIFE MORE ABUNDANTLY.
We have now reached a time when Frances Ridley Havergal made a marked
advance in spiritual life. It was the close of 1873. She received one
day by post a little book entitled _All for Jesus_. She thus wrote about
it to the clergyman who sent it to her: "_All for Jesus_ has touched me
very much.... I know I love Jesus, and there are times when I feel such
intensity of love to Him that I have no words to describe it. I rejoice
too in Him as my 'Master' and 'Sovereign;' but I want to come nearer
still, to have the full realisation of John xiv. 21--['He that hath My
commandments, and keepeth them, he it is that loveth Me; and he that
loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, and I will love him, and manifest
Myself to him']--and to know the power of His resurrection,' even if it
be with 'the fellowship of His sufferings;' and all this, not exactly
for my own joy alone, but for others."
In reply to a letter from the clergyman, she wrote:[1] "I know I am not
standing where I was two or three years ago. I think I first came to
Jesus when I was only fourteen years of age, and I have been 'on the
Lord's side' ever since. But of late, life has been a totally different
thing to me, unspeakably brighter; Jesus so infinitely more precious:
His service so infinitely sweeter and freer." But with this happiness
she felt that there was a fuller consecration to God's service, to which
she had not yet been able to yield herself. In a further communication
her correspondent reminded her of the truth that Jesus is able to keep
us from falling, and abiding in Him, His blood cleanseth, _i.e._ goes on
cleansing from all sin. "For conscious sin there is instant confession
and instant forgiveness."
[Footnote 1: _Such a Blessing_, p. 13.]
These words, though so simple, were made by the Holy Spirit a great
comfort and help to her spiritual life. She replied,[1] "I see it all,
and I _have_ the blessing. But I cannot write about it yet, not even to
you. I want first to test my gold and to count my new treasure. In two
or three weeks (b.v.) I will write and tell you all about it."
[Footnote 1: _Ibid_., p. 15.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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