A Regal Reading List

Source: heroinesofthefaith.blogspot.com via Speakable Gifts on Pinterest

Two Other Sisters

There were two contemporaries of Mrs. Prentiss, both women who loved Christ and loved to write about Him, both who touched the hearts of many as she did. Frances Havergal and Fanny Crosby never met, but each was an admirer of the other. I ran across a lovely verse that Miss Havergal wrote in a letter to her "blind sister over the sea." It's so beautiful and seemed very appropriate to copy here, on this blog dedicated to another woman of their era who was so like them:

Dear blind sister over the sea--
An English heart goes forth to thee.
We are linked by a cable of faith and song,
Flashing bright sympathy swift along
One in the East and one in the West,
Singing for Him whom our souls love best.
Singing for Jesus! Telling His love
All the way to our home above,
Where the severing sea, with its restless tide
Never shall hinder and never divide.
Sister, what shall our meeting soon be
When our hearts shall sing and our eyes shall see?

[How sweet is this? Surely it touches your heart as it does mine. ~ mr]

My Jesus I Love Thee

Afraid of Love

I was interrupted last night by the arrival of G.L.P., after his four months' absence in Mississippi, improved in health, and in looks, and in spirits, and quite as glad to see me, I believe, as even you, in your goodness of heart, say my lover ought to be. But I will tell you the truth, my dear cousin, I am afraid of love. There is no other medium, save that of the happiness of loving and being loved, by which my affections could be effectually turned from divine to earthly things. Am I not then on dangerous ground? Yet God mercifully shows me that it is so, and when I think how He has saved me hitherto through sharp temptations, it seems wicked distrust of Him, not to feel that He will save me through those to come. ~ from a letter to her cousin, March 22, 1844

[It's actually good to know that she had such a love for her future husband. Surely this was a good thing, even though she worried it might turn her heart away from the heavenly. By God's grace, it's obvious that it didn't.  ~ mr

Only Jesus

Jesus, Jesus, only Jesus,

Shall become my wish and aim;

Now I make a sacred promise

That our wills shall be the same;

For my heart in sweet accord,

Cries, "Thy will be done," dear Lord.

There is One whom I am loving,

Loving early, loving late;

He o me my all has given,

All to Him I consecrate,

Thou Thy blood on me hast poured,

Let Thy will be done, dear Lord!

If what seems to be a blessing

Is not chosen, planned by Thee,

Oh deprive me of it, rather

Give me what is good for me;

Still Thy name shall be adored,

Where Thy will despoils me, Lord!

Let Thy will be done within me,

Through me, by me, ever done,

Done in life, in joy, in sorrow,

Till the victory is won,

Dying be in me restored,

When, how, where Thou wilt, dear Lord!

~ From Golden Hours: Heart-Hymns of the Christian Life

The Other side of Their Sufferings

For Horace, if his experience had not been identical with that of Maggie, had learned that to love as an idolater is not to love as a Christian. And while he was full of thoughtful, tender services, and watched over her as he had never done before, and had entered into closer union with her than even that of the marriage tie, for there is no love like that which unites those who live to Christ, he knew, and she knew, that he was no longer a slave to her, as she was no longer a slave to him. The baptism of fire had purified their souls, and they had come out from it, hand in hand, and with songs to sing to other ears. It is true they were misjudged by those who had suffered less and learned less; but who has passed through this difficult complex journey of life unassailed, and nobly understood?

[So we see the results of the sufferings of Horace and Maggie with both having come back from the threshold of death.] ~ from Aunt Jane's Hero.

Teach Your Little Eyes

 "Thomas and his mother fighted together today and she couldn't whip him he ran away so."

"How came you to know that, Susy?

"The door was open and I was going by, and I heard a noise, and so I stopped."

"That was not right, my darling. You must teach your little eyes not to look at things they ought not to see. Didn't you feel all the time that it was not quite proper for you to stop and watch in that way? Always make it a rule never to look at anything, no matter what, if you have even a little bit of a feeling that you ought not. Your eyes are your own, and you must teach them."

"I will, mamma," said Susy. "And I am glad you're my mamma. I'm glad Thomas' mamma isn't mine. She didn't pray to God to make him good; she fighted with him. 

~ From Little Susy Stories