urrendered soul, her one ambition being to devote all her talents to
Christ. She did not consider herself to be a poet of a high order, but so
filled was she with the love of Christ that her heart overflowed with
rapturous praise. Indeed, her hymns may be said to be the record of her
own spiritual experiences. Always she was proclaiming the evangel of full
and free salvation through Jesus' merits to all who believe.

She is often referred to as "the consecration poet." This is an allusion
to her famous consecration hymn, written in 1874:

Take my life, and let it be
Consecrated, Lord, to Thee.
Take my moments and my days;
Let them flow in ceaseless praise.

The circumstances that led to the writing of this hymn are interesting.
Miss Havergal was spending a few days in a home where there were ten
persons, some of them unconverted, and the others rather half-hearted
Christians who seemed to derive no joy from their religion. A great
desire came upon her that she might be instrumental in bringing them all
to true faith in Christ. Her prayer was wonderfully answered, and on the
last night of her stay her heart was so filled with joy and gratitude she
could not sleep. Instead, she spent the night writing the consecration
hymn.

Her prayer, "Take my silver and my gold; not a mite would I withhold,"
was not an idle petition with her. In August, 1878, she wrote to a
friend: "The Lord has shown me another little step, and of course I have
taken it, with extreme delight. 'Take my silver and my gold,' now means
shipping off all my ornaments to the Church Missionary House (including a
jewel cabinet that is really fit for a countess), where all will be
accepted and disposed of for me. I retain a brooch or two for daily wear,
which are memorials of my dear parents, also a locket containing a
portrait of my dear niece in heaven, my Evelyn, and her two rings; but
these I redeem, so that the whole value goes to the Church Missionary
Society. Nearly fifty articles are being packed up. I don't think I ever
packed a box with such pleasure."

In addition to her other accomplishments, Miss Havergal was a brilliant
linguist, having mastered a number of modern languages. She was also
proficient in Greek and Hebrew. Her sister records that she always had
her Hebrew Bible and Greek New Testament at hand when she read the
Scriptures.

The study of the Bible was one of her chief joys. During summer she began
her Bible readi