PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
Kept for the Master's Use
Havergal, Frances Ridley, 1836-1879 · 39,211 words · 57 reading sections
Part 1
Produced by Bryan Ness, Stephen Hutcheson and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net Kept for the Master's Use By Frances Ridley Havergal Philadelphia Henry Altemus Company Copyrighted 1895, by Henry Altemus.…
35 wordsSECTION 2CONTENTS.
I. Our Lives kept for Jesus, 9 II. Our Moments kept for Jesus, 26 III. Our Hands kept for Jesus, 34 IV. Our Feet kept for Jesus, 46 V. Our Voices kept for Jesus, …
91 wordsSECTION 3PREFATORY NOTE.
My beloved sister Frances finished revising the proofs of this book shortly before her death on Whit Tuesday, June 3, 1879, but its publication was to be deferred till the Autumn. In appreciation of the deep and general sympathy flowing in to her relatives, they wish that its publication should not be withheld. Knowin…
85 wordsSECTION 4MARIA V. G. HAVERGAL.
Oakhampton, Worchestershire. KEPT FOR The Master's Use. Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee. Take my moments and my days; Let them flow in ceaseless praise. 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, …
151 wordsSECTION 5CHAPTER I. Our Lives kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my life, that it may be_ _Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.'_ Many a heart has echoed the little song: 'Take my life, and let it be Consecrated, Lord, to Thee!' And yet those echoes have not been, in every case and at all times, so clear, and full, and firm, so continuously glad as we would wish, and perhaps expect…
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And yet, as at our first coming, it is less than nothing, worse than nothing that we have to bring; for our lives, even our redeemed and pardoned lives, are not only weak and worthless, but defiled and sinful. But thanks be to God for the Altar that sanctifieth the gift, even our Lord Jesus Christ Himself! By Him we dr…
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Let us ask this with the same simple trust to which, in so many other things, He has so liberally and graciously responded. For this is the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask anything according to His will, He heareth us; and if we know that He hears us, whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the petitions…
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Here we must face a question, and perhaps a difficulty. Does it not almost seem as if we were at this point led to trusting to our trust, making everything hinge upon it, and thereby only removing a subtle dependence upon ourselves one step farther back, disguising instead of renouncing it? If Christ's keeping depends …
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This is consecration, and I cannot tell you the blessedness of it. It is not the least use arguing with one who has had but a taste of its blessedness, and saying to him, 'How can these things be?' It is not the least use starting all sorts of difficulties and theoretical suppositions about it with such a one, any more…
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Do not shrink, and suspect, and hang back from what it may involve, with selfish and unconfiding and ungenerous half-heartedness. Take the word of any who have willingly offered themselves unto the Lord, that the life of consecration is 'a deal better than they thought!' Choose this day whom you will serve with real, t…
918 wordsSECTION 11CHAPTER II. Our Moments kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my moments and my days;_ _Let them flow in ceaseless praise.'_ It may be a little help to writer and reader if we consider some of the practical details of the life which we desire to have 'kept for Jesus' in the order of the little hymn at the beginning of this book, with the one word 'take' changed to 'keep.'…
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Look back through the history of the Church in all ages, and mark how often a great work and mighty influence grew out of a mere moment in the life of one of God's servants; a mere moment, but overshadowed and filled with the fruitful power of the Spirit of God. The moment may have been spent in uttering five words, bu…
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Is it a little too much for them all to 'flow in ceaseless praise'? Well, where will you stop? What proportion of your moments do you think enough for Jesus? How many for the spirit of praise, and how many for the spirit of heaviness? Be explicit about it, and come to an understanding. If He is not to have all, then _h…
211 wordsSECTION 14Chapter III. Our Hands Kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my hands, that they may move_ _At the impulse of Thy love.'_ When the Lord has said to us, 'Is thine heart right, as My heart is with thy heart?' the next word seems to be, 'If it be, give Me thine hand.' What a call to confidence, and love, and free, loyal, happy service is this! and how different will the re…
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Then Moses 'brought the ram for the burnt-offering; and Aaron and his sons laid their hands upon the head of the ram, and Moses burnt the whole ram upon the altar; it was a burnt-offering for a sweet savour, and an offering made by fire unto the Lord.' Thus Christ's offering was indeed a whole one, body, soul, and spir…
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A busy wife, or daughter, or servant has a number of little manual duties to perform. If these are done slowly and leisurely, they may be got through, but there will not be time left for some little service to the poor, or some little kindness to a suffering or troubled neighbour, or for a little quiet time alone with …
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For when the gentleness of Christ dwells in us, He can use the merest touch of a finger. Have we not heard of one gentle touch on a wayward shoulder being the turning-point of a life? I have known a case in which the Master made use of less than that--only the quiver of a little finger being made the means of touching …
848 wordsSECTION 18Chapter IV. Our Feet kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my feet, that they may be_ _Swift and beautiful for Thee.'_ The figurative keeping of the feet of His saints, with the promise that when they run they shall not stumble, is a most beautiful and helpful subject. But it is quite distinct from the literal keeping for Jesus of our literal feet. There is a certain …
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'May it not be a comfort to those of us who feel we have not the mental or spiritual power that others have, to notice that the living sacrifice mentioned in Rom. xii. 1 is our "bodies"? Of course, that includes the mental power, but does it not also include the loving, sympathizing glance, the kind, encouraging word, …
541 wordsSECTION 20Chapter V. Our Voices kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my voice, and let me sing_ _Always, only, for my King.'_ I have wondered a little at being told by an experienced worker, that in many cases the voice seems the last and hardest thing to yield entirely to the King; and that many who think and say they have consecrated all to the Lord and His service, 'revolt' w…
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I have just received a letter from one who has laid her special gift at the feet of the Giver, yielding her voice to Him with hearty desire that it might be kept for His use. She writes: 'I had two lessons on singing while in Germany from our Master. One was very sweet. A young girl wrote to me, that when she had heard…
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A great many so-called 'sacred songs' are so plaintive and pathetic that they help to give a gloomy idea of religion. Now _don't_ sing these; come out boldly, and sing definitely and unmistakeably for your King, and of your King, and to your King. You will soon find, and even outsiders will have to own, that it is a _g…
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You will say that all this refers only to drawing-room singing. So it does, primarily, but then it is the drawing-room singing which has been so little for Jesus and so much for self and society; and so much less has been said about it, and so much less _done_. There would not be half the complaints of the difficulty o…
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On the other hand, it is quite possible to sing for Jesus without singing a sacred song. Do not take an ell for the inch this seems to give, and run off with the idea that it does not matter after all what you sing, so that you sing in a good frame of mind! No such thing! And the admission needs very careful guarding, …
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Singing for Jesus, our Shepherd and Guide; Singing for gladness of heart that He gives; Singing for wonder and praise that He died; Singing for blessing and joy that He lives! Singing for Jesus, oh, singing with joy; Thus will we praise Him, and tell out His love, Till He shall call us to brighter employ, Singing for …
62 wordsSECTION 26Chapter VI. Our Lips kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my lips, that they may be_ _Filled with messages from Thee.'_ The days are past for ever when we said, 'Our lips are our own.' Now we know that they are not our own. And yet how many of my readers often have the miserable consciousness that they have 'spoken unadvisedly with their lips'! How many pray, 'Keep t…
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There seems a seven-fold sequence in His filling the lips of His messengers. First, they must be purified. The live coal from off the altar must be laid upon them, and He must say, 'Lo, this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin is purged.' Then He will create the fruit of them, and this …
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It has often struck me as a matter of observation, that open profession adds force to this influence, on whichever side it weighs; and also that it has the effect of making many a word and act, which might in other hands have been as nearly neutral as anything can be, tell with by no means neutral tendency on the wrong…
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And when opened, oh, how much one _does_ want to have them so kept for Jesus that He may be free to make the most of them, not letting them render second-rate and indirect service when they might be doing direct and first-rate service to His cause and kingdom! It is terrible how much less is done for Him than _might_ b…
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Jephthah uttered all his words before the Lord; what about ours? Well, they _are_ all uttered before the Lord in one sense, whether we will or no; for there is not a word in my tongue, but lo, Thou, O Lord, knowest it altogether! How solemn is this thought, but how sweet does it become when our words are uttered consci…
363 wordsSECTION 31Chapter VII. Our Silver and Gold Kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my silver and my gold;_ _Not a mite would I withhold.'_ 'The silver and the gold is Mine, saith the Lord of Hosts.' Yes, every coin we have is literally our 'Lord's money.' Simple belief of this fact is the stepping-stone to full consecration of what He has given us, whether much or little. 'Then you mean to s…
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There is always a danger that just because we say 'all,' we may practically fall shorter than if we had only said 'some,' but said it very definitely. God recognises this, and provides against it in many departments. For instance, though our time is to be 'all' for Him, yet He solemnly sets apart the one day in seven w…
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'What about self-denial?' some reader will say. Consecration does not supersede this, but transfigures it. Literally, a consecrated life is and must be a life of denial of self. But all the effort and pain of it is changed into very delight. We love our Master; we know, surely and absolutely, that He is listening and w…
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Here the question of jewellery seems to come in. Perhaps it was an instance of the gradual showing of the details of consecration, illustrated on page 21, but I will confess that when I wrote 'Take my silver and my gold,' it never dawned on me that anything was included beyond the coin of the realm! But the Lord 'leads…
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Ah! if we had stood at the foot of the Cross, and watched the tremendous payment of our redemption with the precious blood of Christ,--if we had seen that awful price told out, drop by drop, from His own dear patient brow and torn hands and feet, till it was ALL paid, and the central word of eternity was uttered, '_It …
221 wordsSECTION 36Chapter VIII. Our Intellects kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my intellect, and use_ _Every power as Thou shalt choose.'_ There are two distinct sets of temptations which assail those who have, or think they have, rather less, and those who have, or think they have, rather more than an average share of intellect; while those who have neither less nor more are generally op…
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He who made every power can use every power--memory, judgment, imagination, quickness of apprehension or insight; specialties of musical, poetical, oratorical, or artistic faculty; special tastes for reasoning, philosophy, history, natural science, or natural history,--all these may be dedicated to Him, sanctified by H…
497 wordsSECTION 38Chapter IX. Our Wills kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my will, oh, keep it Thine,_ _For it is no longer mine.'_ Perhaps there is no point in which expectation has been so limited by experience as this. We believe God is able to do for us just so much as He has already done, and no more. We take it for granted a line must be drawn somewhere; and so we choose to dra…
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All true surrender of the will is based upon love and knowledge of, and confidence in, the one to whom it is surrendered. We have the human analogy so often before our eyes, that it is the more strange we should be so slow to own even the possibility of it as to God. Is it thought anything so very extraordinary and hig…
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'Within the shadow of this love, Loss doth transmute itself to gain; Faith veils earth's sorrows in its light, And straightway lives above her pain. 'We are not losers thus; we share The perfect gladness of the Son, Not conquered--for, behold, we reign; Conquered and Conqueror are one. 'Thy wonderful grand will, my G…
196 wordsSECTION 41Chapter X. Our hearts kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my heart; it is Thine own;_ _It is now Thy royal throne.'_ 'It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace,' and yet some of us go on as if it were not a good thing even to hope for it to be so. We should be ashamed to say that we had behaved treacherously to a friend; that we had played him false…
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The heart that is established in Christ is also established for Christ. It becomes His royal throne, no longer occupied by His foe, no longer tottering and unstable. And then we see the beauty and preciousness of the promise, 'He shall be a Priest upon His throne.' Not only reigning, but atoning. Not only ruling, but c…
340 wordsSECTION 43Chapter XI. Our love kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my love; my Lord, I pour_ _At Thy feet its treasure-store.'_ Not as a mere echo from the morning-gilded shore of Tiberias, but as an ever new, ever sounding note of divinest power, come the familiar words to each of us, 'Lovest thou Me?' He says it who has loved us with an everlasting love. He says it who has d…
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In that always very interesting part, called a 'Corner for Difficulties,' of that always very interesting magazine, _Woman's Work_, the question has been discussed, 'When does love become idolatry? Is it the experience of Christians that the coming in of a new object of affection interferes with entire consecration to …
667 wordsSECTION 45Chapter XII. Our Selves kept for Jesus.
_'Keep my self, that I may be_ _Ever, only, all for Thee.'_ 'For Thee!' That is the beginning and the end of the whole matter of consecration. There was a prelude to its 'endless song,'--a prelude whose theme is woven into every following harmony in the new anthem of consecrated life: 'The Son of God, who loved me, a…
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Set apart for Jesus! Is not this enough, Though the desert prospect Open wild and rough? Set apart for His delight, Chosen for His holy pleasure, Sealed to be His special treasure! Could we choose a nobler joy?--and would we, if we might?[footnote: _Loyal Responses_, p. 11.] But yielding, by His grace, to this blessed…
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I know that whatsoever God doeth, it shall be for ever. Therefore we may rejoicingly say 'ever' as well as 'only' and 'all for Thee!' For the Lord is our Keeper, and He is the Almighty and the Everlasting God, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. He will never change His mind about keeping us, and n…
278 wordsSECTION 48Chapter XIII. Christ for Us.
_'So will I also be for Thee._'--Hos. iii. 3. The typical promise, 'Thou shalt abide for Me many days,' is indeed a marvel of love. For it is given to the most undeserving, described under the strongest possible figure of utter worthlessness and treacherousness,--the woman beloved, yet an adulteress. The depth of the…
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3. _His Hands_ 'for thee.' Literal hands; literally pierced, when the whole weight of His quivering frame hung from their torn muscles and bared nerves; literally uplifted in parting blessing. Consecrated, priestly hands; 'filled' hands (Ex. xxviii. 41, xxix. 9, etc., margin)--filled once with His great offering, and n…
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8. _His 'treasures of wisdom and knowledge'_ 'for thee.' First, used for our behalf and benefit. Why did He expend such immeasurable might of mind upon a world which is to be burnt up, but that He would fit it perfectly to be, not the home, but the school of His children? The infinity of His skill is such that the most…
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11. _His Love_ 'for thee.' Not a passive, possible love, but outflowing, yes, _outpouring_ of the real, glowing, personal love of His mighty and tender heart. Love not as an attribute, a quality, a latent force, but an acting, moving, reaching, touching, and grasping power. Love, not a cold, beautiful, far-off star, bu…
438 wordsSECTION 52SELECTIONS FROM MISS HAVERGAL'S LATEST POEMS.
An Interlude. _That_ part is finished! I lay down my pen, And wonder if the thoughts will flow as fast Through the more difficult defile. For the last Was easy, and the channel deeper then. My Master, I will trust Thee for the rest; Give me just what Thou wilt, and that will be my best! How can _I_ tell the varied, h…
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Let Him write what He will upon our hearts, With His unerring pen. They are His own, Hewn from the rock by His selecting grace, Prepared for His own glory. Let Him write! Be sure He will not cross out one sweet word But to inscribe a sweeter,--but to grave One that shall shine for ever to His praise, And thus fulfil ou…
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My Master, they have wronged Thee and Thy love! They only told me I should find the path A Via Dolorosa all the way! Even Thy sweetest singers only sang Of pressing onward through the same sharp thorns, With bleeding footsteps, through the chill dark mist, Following and struggling till they reach the light, The rest, t…
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'I thought I knew it!' she said, 'I thought I had learnt it quite!' But the gentle Teacher shook her head, With a grave yet loving light In the eyes that fell on the upturned face, As she gave the book With the mark still set in the self-same place. 'I thought I knew it!' she said; And a heavy tear fell down, As she t…
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I could not do without Him! Jesus is more to me Than all the richest, fairest gifts Of earth could ever be. But the more I find Him precious-- And the more I find Him true-- The more I long for you to find What He can be to you. You need not do without Him, For He is passing by, He is waiting to be gracious, Only wait…
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Another year of service, Of witness for Thy love; Another year of training For holier work above. Another year is dawning! Dear Master, let it be On earth, or else in heaven, Another year for Thee! New Year's Wishes. What shall I wish thee? Treasures of earth? Songs in the springtime, Pleasure and mirth? Flowers on …
275 wordsSource & rights
Public domain in the USA; original historical text digitized by Project Gutenberg.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.