Musical Notes

Hello OCBC family,
“There is a river whose streams make glad the city of God, the holy habitation of the Most High.” (Psalm 46:4).

We are very familiar with this psalm, especially because this psalm was used by Martin Luther to create his famous hymn, “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God.” But it was another person, another believer, that used this hymn to create another beautiful hymn, her name was Frances R. Havergal, and the hymn is “Like a River Glorious.”

Frances R. Havergal was the daughter of W. H. Havergal, a pastor in Astley, Worcestershire. She was born on December 14, 1836. In August 1850, she entered Mrs. Teed's school, whose influence over her was most beneficial. In the following year she said, "I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment."

In 1876, while she was on vacation in the south of Wales, she became sick and suffered inflammation of the lungs. Somebody told her that she might die, and her answer was, “If I am really going, it is too good to be true.” Her hope was always in her Lord. The same year she wrote these lyrics,

“Like a river glorious
Is God's perfect peace,
Over all victorious
In its bright increase;
Perfect, yet it floweth
Fuller ev'ry day;
Perfect, yet it groweth
Deeper all the way.”

Let me share about her last days on this earth from the book “Then Sing My Soul” by James Robison.

                Three years later, while meeting some boys to talk with them about the Lord, she ran into cold, wet weather and became chilled. As her fever grew worse, her family became alarmed. It gradually became apparent that Frances was dying. On Whitsunday, as one of her doctors left the room, he said, “Goodbye, I shall not see you again,”
                “Then you really think I am going?” asked Frances.
                “Yes.”
                “Today?”
                “Probably.”
                “Beautiful,” said Frances. “Too good to be true.”
                Soon afterward she looked up smiling and said, “splendid to be so near the gates of heaven!” She asked her brother to sing some hymns to her, then he said to her, “You have talked and written a great deal about the King, and you will soon see Him in His beauty.”
                “It’s splendid!” she replied. “I thought He would have left me here a long while; but He is so good to take me now.”
                A little later she whispered, “Come, Lord Jesus, come and fetch me.”

Frances Havergal died when she was 42 years old, and she wrote several books and hymns. Beside “Like a River Glorious” she wrote also, “Take My Life and Let It be Consecrated,” “Lord, Speak to Me, that I May Speak,” and “I Gave My Life for Thee.”

“Like a River Glorious” is an example that even during hard times, God gives peace, comfort and inspiration to create words of worship for his glory through weak people.

“Ev'ry joy or trial
Falleth from above,
Trac'd upon our dial
By the Sun of Love;
We may trust Him fully
All for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly
Find Him wholly true.
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blessed;
Finding, as he promised,
Perfect peace and rest.”
​
In His service,
Israel