The Five "Royal" Books

The Five "Royal" Books

This volume contains the five “Royal” books by Frances Ridley Havergal. My King was first published in 1877. Royal Commandments and Royal Bounty were published together later in 1877. The Royal Invitation was published in 1878. Loyal Responses was published later in 1878. As she wrote in her Prefatory Note to Loyal Responses (on page 372 of this book), she regarded these as a set. My King. “The source of the Kingship of Christ is God Himself in the eternal counsels of His love. . . . Having provided, He appointed and anointed His King.” The sections of this book are taken from Old Testament texts. “Why has God made Jesus King? Because the Lord loved His people. He knows our need of a King.” Royal Commandments. “Some of His Royal Commandments are made so ‘plain upon tables, that he may run that readeth.’ . . . Some are engraved upon the gems of promise; and as we look closely into the fair colours of each jewel that the hand of faith receives, we find that it is enriched by an unerasable line of precept. But all are royal, and all are ‘from Him,’ our King. And He has said, ‘If ye love Me, keep My commandments.’ ” Royal Bounty. “The Lord shall open unto thee His good treasure.” (Deuteronomy 28:12) This book describes the gracious provision of our King to His subjects, the benefits of the Christian life, the unsearchable riches of Christ in Whom are hidden all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge. “Faith is the key to this infinite treasury.” The Royal Invitation. “The human heart within us craves a personal, living rest and refuge. . . . The great word of Invitation, Royal and Divine, is given to us, ‘Come unto Me.’ ” This is the Son of God, mighty to save and ready to save all who come unto Him. In Him are life and peace. Loyal Responses. These are 31 poems, in which “almost every line has been either directly drawn from Holy Scripture or ‘may be proved thereby.’ May not only our lips but our lives be filled with Loyal Responses to all the words of our King!” About the Author Frances Ridley Havergal's formal education ended when she was seventeen, with one term at a young women's school in Dusseldorf, Germany, yet she was a true scholar all her life. Fluent in German and French and nearly so in Italian, she read and loved the Reformers in Latin, German, and French. Knowledge was never an end in itself, only a means to know better her Lord and Saviour and to help to bring others to know Him. The Bible was her only Book, and she studied deeply the Hebrew and Greek texts of Scripture, memorized nearly all the New Testament and large portions of the Old Testament, and loved the Author with all her being. Frances was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ when she was fourteen, and the rest of her life was consecrated to her Savior, the Lord Jesus. Keenly aware of her own sinfulness and inability, her sole desire was to please and glorify Him alone. Very finely gifted, she was truly diligent with her gifts: her poetry is among the finest Christian verse in the English language, after George Herbert; her prose works are deeply beneficial; a musician to the core, she left behind important compositions. Like her works, her life richly touched the ones near her and countless many who met or heard her. The Lord Jesus Christ was her alone, only beauty, and she glowed Him and His truth. These books are taken from the newly prepared edition of The Complete Works of Frances Ridley Havergal. Never wanting attention to herself, Frances' desire of her heart was for herself and for others to know her King, the Lord Jesus Christ. Her works are a gold-mine of help and enrichment. As her sister Maria, wrote, Knowing her intense desire that Christ should be magnified, whether by her life or in her death, may it be to His glory that in these pages she, being dead, "Yet speaketh !" David L. Chalkley and Glen T. Wegge, editors