Tonight we’re going further back in time than in the last episode, visiting a hymn written by Frances Ridley Havergal, in 1874 (Hendon, Hymnology Archive). Frances Havergal was born on the 14th of December, in 1836, to William and Jane Havergal. William Havergal was a rector of Astley, Worcestershire. Frances was the youngest child of six – Jane, Henry, Maria, Ellen, Francis (Frank), and Frances Ridley Havergal.

According to her sister, Miriam (presumably Jane, as her middle name was Miriam), Frances started speaking early and better than the usual child (Havergal, 1881). She had larger vocabulary, was more fluent, and could read easy books at the age of three. At four she could read the Bible, according to her sister, and was a precocious child. Apparently, when she was young, she would secretly listen along as her other siblings learned German, and came to pick it up (Havergal, 1881). Altogether, she seemed a bright, lively child.

At the age of 22, Frances wrote an autobiography of her inner life for her sister Maria in case of her death, so her loved ones would know how God had provided for and helped her. It was finished later, added to by Maria, and titled Memorials of Frances Ridley Havergal.

Frances writes that she began to be aware of religion at the age of 6 to 8, saying,

Even in her prose writing, there is a lyricism in her words and her proclivity for writing is evident. Havergal also called herself a mischievous child, writing,

Her mother’s death at age 12 affected Frances tremendously and she struggled with her faith for years afterwards, feeling that she could not love God (Havergal, 1881). In 1850, after going to school and encountering some very helpful and loving teachers and classmates, Frances slowly started turning back towards God, but still felt distant and lost. In December a very good friend found Christ in a new and meaningful way, making an impact on Frances’s own journey. Finally, in February of the next year, at the age of 15 after a conversation with a mentor, Frances committed her life to Christ in trust and trembling and experienced the sweet joy that came with it.

Throughout her life, Frances suffered from poor health, passing away at the young age of 42, and much of her time on earth was marked by illness and recovery. She was closely involved with her family — parents, siblings, nieces, and nephews. After her conversion in 1851, Frances still struggled with following God’s will and always sought to be better, coming closer to God, and learning new lessons. Like many of her hymns, Take My Life stemmed from an experience of her’s – in her own words, she writes,

Maria, her sister, adds,

Take My Life is an incredibly personal hymn that each singer brings their own meaning to. Each person’s “treasure store” lies somewhere different – and Havergal’s hymn provides a confession of offering and sacrifice. In each of the six stanzas of the song, Havergal gives something else – her life, her body, her voice, her treasure, her will, and herself.

This whole hymn is, as the first stanza states, a consecration. In today’s world, time is the most precious commodity there is for many people. Havergal calls God to take the most valuable of human resources and make them His, as she says:

In the second stanza, Havergal expresses a willingness to work for the Lord. Her words portray not only a readiness for God’s labor, but the higher beauty of following His way and doing His work:

Havergal’s third stanza seems the most unique to her work as a hymnist. As an artist of words, Havergal offers her work and calling to God, petitioning Him to use her gifts in His way. She acknowledges His sovereignty over her and dedicates her work to Him.

The fourth stanza gives God one’s earthly possessions and intellect – both things that often become molded and made precious by the world and its demands. The culture that many of us live in seem to worship wealth and intelligence, and we often fall into the trap of pursuing these above all else. Havergal’s verse not only fails to pursue them, but hands intellect and treasure to God, surrendering what the world holds as most valuable.

Havergal’s fifth stanza is perhaps the most meaningful of all of them. In it, she offers up her own will and heart, surrendering not only her possessions, time, or body, but her desires and soul to God. Submission and surrender – often the two most difficult things for us to give to anyone – Havergal presents boldly in her hymn:

Havergal finishes her hymn with a final sacrifice of love. She ends the song with an offering of herself – not her life, her treasure, her time, her will, or her heart – but all of who she is. In C.S. Lewis’s book Mere Christianity, written nearly eighty years after Take My Life, Lewis writes of what Christ asks of us when we choose the Christianity:

Both Havergal and Lewis are expressing the same thing in their writing – the surrender of oneself in order to take on Christ and live ever, only, all for Him. Havergal’s final stanza reads,

According to Chris Fenner from Hymnology Archive, Take My Life was originally set to a tune written by Fanny’s father, and this was the melody Fanny preferred for her hymn. However, Take My Life is also frequently set to a tune written by French minister Henri Malan. Malan wrote it for one of his own texts, and it seems to have been connected with Fanny’s lyrics in an appearance in one of Ira Sankey’s hymn collections in 1887.

The podcast episode for Take My Life can soon be found at https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectWakeTheDawn, as well as on Spotify. I hope this post has found you well, and that you daily find renewed grace and forgiveness in Christ. Come back again to join me in the journey of discovering Christian music, and in the meantime, God be with you!

Today we’re going back to 1866 to the small town of Franklin, Kentucky where Thomas Obediah Chisholm was born. A year earlier slavery had been abolished in the United States, and the country was recovering from the shocks of the civil war. It was during this time that Thomas Chisholm was born.

He grew up on a farm during his childhood, and at the age of 16 became a school teacher in rural Kentucky. Five years later he graduated to the role of associate editor of the local newspaper, the Franklin Advocate. Brought to faith, however, through the efforts of the founder of Asbury College in Wilmore, Kentucky, Henry Clay Morrison, the 27 year old Thomas Chisholm was persuaded to move to Louisville, Kentucky, as the editor of another newspaper. 

Despite becoming a Methodist Minister 10 years later, Chisholm suffered from ill health that prevented him from pursuing the life of a pastor. Instead, he and his family moved to Indiana for his health, and finally settled in New Jersey. For fifty-seven years and most of his adult life, Chisholm sold insurance. Throughout these years Chisholm was steadily cracking out hymns, and in 1953, when he retired, he had produced over 1200 hymns and published 800. 

According to The Singers and Their Songs: Sketches of Living Gospel Hymn Writers, a book written by Charles Hutchinson Gabriel about the lives of many different hymnists, and published in 1916 while Chisholm was still living, Chisholm had,

“Prior to conversion… done versifying, contributing to the Louisville Courier-Journal, and was chosen poet for the Kentucky Press Association. His first hymns were sent to Fanny Crosby for criticism, who returned them with kindly suggestions and such words of commendation as to encourage him in the work. His first success was "O, To Be Like Thee". His aim in writing is to magnify the Word, incorporating as much Scripture, either literally or in paraphrase, as possible, and to avoid any flippant or sentimental themes, choosing subjects from the inexhaustible storehouse of the Bible. "Having been led, for a part of my life", he tells us, "through some difficult paths, I have sought to gather from such experiences material out of which to write hymns of comfort and cheer for those similarly circumstanced" (Gabriel, 1916, p. 76).

Thomas Chisholm passed away in 1960, at the incredible age of 94. Despite (or perhaps because of) a life of health problems and hard work, Chisholm found from somewhere the inspiration for over 1200 hymns. The one we are looking at today, Great Is Thy Faithfulness, has a theme of continuance, of faithfulness. There is a simple belief all throughout the hymn that God will deliver daily, hourly, without ceasing. The hymn mentions ‘every morning’ or ‘tomorrow morning’ several times, continuing this theme of God’s regular grace and mercy. The first stanza begins: 

The refrain is derived from Lamentations 3:22-23 “The steadfast love of the LORD never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness” (English Standard Version, 2001). Chisholm’s paraphrased refrain reads, 

The second verse echoes the steadfast theme, mentioning the seasons and constellations, perhaps as a metaphor for faithfulness. There are few things in nature that are as dependable as the changing of seasons and the courses of the planets. By drawing on this aspect, Chisholm paints a picture of unwavering and steady faithfulness in the listener’s mind. 

Finally, the last verse focuses on God’s enduring pardon and forgiveness. It points out the daily bread God provides today beside the hope for tomorrow, saying, 

The tune of this hymn was written by Reverend William Runyan, to whom Chisholm had sent many of his hymns and poems. Runyan was a musician at the Moody Bible Institute. Runyan, who was particularly struck by the words of Great Is Thy Faithfulness, said,

"This particular poem held such an appeal that I prayed most earnestly that my tune might carry over its message in a worthy way, and the subsequent history of its use indicates that God answered prayer. It was written in Baldwin, Kansas, in 1923, and was first published in my private song pamphlets" (Hawn, 2013, para. 5).

In 1954, the hymn was introduced in Great Britain at a Billy Graham meeting and enthusiastically received. Great Is Thy Faithfulness remains popular among United Methodists (Hawn, 2013).

The podcast episode for Great Is Thy Faithfulness can be found at https://www.youtube.com/@ProjectWakeTheDawn, as well as on Spotify. I hope this has found you well, and that you daily find renewed grace and forgiveness in Christ. Circle back again to join me in the journey of discovering Christian music, and, until we meet again, God be with you!

References 

Asbury Seminary. (1930). Henry Clay Morrison (circa 1930). eCommons. https://place.asburyseminary.edu/ecommonsatsimages/13/

Gabriel, C. H. (1916). The singers and their songs: sketches of living Gospel hymn writers. The Rodeheaver Company. https://archive.org/details/singerstheirsong00gabr/mode/2up 

Hawn, M. (2013, August 22). History of hymns: "Great Is Thy Faithfulness". Discipleship Ministries: The United Methodist Church. https://www.umcdiscipleship.org/resources/history-of-hymns-great-is-thy-faithfulness

Holy Bible, English Standard Version. (2001). Crossway. https://www.esv.org/ 

Hymnology Archive. (n.d.) Thomas O. Chisholm. https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/thomas-chisholm?rq=Thomas%20chisholm

Polman, B. (n.d.). William M. Runyan. Hymnary.org. https://hymnary.org/person/Runyan_WM

The Wake The Dawn podcast is on Spotify and YouTube. I will post here on my website, as well as on Instagram. Circle back to join me in the journey of discovering Christian music. And until we meet again, God be with you!  

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