All For Jesus and Frances Havergal

J. T. Wrenford (J. T. Renford)

(His name is sometimes misspelled)

Wrenford's name is spelled "Renford" in the article quoted below, but it is assuredly a mistake. Information obtained from sources in Newport, Mon (Wales) where he pastored, and a letter from Havergal to Hannah Whithall Smith held in the archives at Asbury Seminary, clearly identify Wrenford as the author of All For Jesus. He was an Anglican pastor who served at St. Paul's Church in Newport, Mon for more than fifty years, during which time, seasons of wonderful spiritual refreshing were experienced. He was a busy writer, and wrote a series of booklets on the Christian life, of which supposedly 2.5 million copies were printed. He also established an "All for Jesus Disciples" group that spread from Wales to other parts of the world. Unfortunately I have not been able to locate any of his booklets, but I hope to some day. One book is available for sale: Reality, which was part of the Keswick Library.

I have looked for the booklet but have been unsuccessful so far. The words of the little All For Jesus booklet, however, were later printed in the January 4, 1873 edition of The Christian, which you can see below.

The "All For Jesus" testimony of J. T. Wrenford was a great blessing to Frances Ridley Havergal, who read the little booklet in 1873. As a result she wrote the following to her sister:

“. . . Are you thus cut off from pleasant intercourse and kindness for nothing? Surely not; depend upon it, it means blessing, and will be a blessing if you seek that it may. Oh, Ceci, Jesus has been so much to me this winter, more than ever before. I send you a tiny book, All for Jesus, which has been an unspeakable blessing to me, and now I want you to be ‘all for Jesus.’ It is very marvelous how God lately seems to have been stirring up thousands and thousands of Christians to consecrate themselves utterly to Him, and to seek and find more in Him than ever before. I have shared this blessing, and now I want you to have it too!”

Now you can read the same "All For Jesus" testimony which follows, as well as Maria Havergal's description of how it impacted her sister.

All For Jesus

J. T. Renford (should be Wrenford)

Words fail me wherewith to describe exactly and fully the blessedness realized by Him who can say from His very heart—willingly, frankly, joyfully, “All for Jesus!” To very many, this blessedness, of which we read so much in the Word of God, is not a reality. They read for example, of “peace with God” which “passeth all understanding,” and of “joy” which is “unspeakable and full of glory,” yet, they cannot say they possess either the one or the other.

But leaving the cases of other persons, let me refer to my own. For five-and-twenty years of my life, my “believing” brought me no certainty of salvation, and no real peace and joy such as the apostles described. I reverenced the Scriptures. I accepted the full range of “evangelical truth”—took my stand upon it, defended it, was jealous of it, and sought by all means to propagate it. My whole energies were devoted unsparingly to the furtherance of Christian and philanthropic endeavors. And yet I felt I lacked the certainty which I was convinced the Christian should have as to His acceptance with God, and the full, conscious blessedness of being “in Christ,” and so, free from “condemnation.”

This distressed me deeply. I could not account for it. Clearly there was error somewhere—but where? Was it in the Word of God, or in myself? I was sure it was not in the former—it could not be. But as to myself, wherein did I fail? My views were most strictly orthodox. Did I not intensely desire and strive to be right in everything? Was not Jesus my sole hope, His sacrifice my one plea, His great redeeming work my one theme during a ministry of more than twenty years? Then why had I not the certainty and the full blessedness? “Hoping” and “trusting” did not satisfy me. Reading my Bible, it was clear I should get beyond mere “hopes” and “trusts.” But I did not. How was this? I could not tell.

Very discomforting was the state of mind above described. It continued for a long period. At length it became intolerable. Satan availed himself of the moment of my soul’s extreme bitterness, by suggesting a strong doubt as to the veracity of the Bible and its statements. Were not learned men writing about its manifold errors, denying the divinity of Jesus, assailing the atonement, and impugning almost every doctrine of the gospel? Did I not myself find some of its statements misleading? Where was the consciousness of pardon, of having peace with God, of rejoicing in Jesus with joy unspeakable and full of glory, which it promised? I had better have no more to do with it; it was only a miserable delusion.

The hour of conflict had arrived. The struggle was severe. “My feet were almost gone, my steps had well nigh slipped.” But at length the light came. As with a sunbeam the truth was revealed. I saw that I had to do with Jesus personally, and that my safety depended upon really accepting Him, and really and fully surrendering myself to Him. I fell on my knees before Him. The Spirit helped my infirmities. With all my soul I did, there and then, accept Him—my “Wisdom, Righteousness, Sanctification, and Redemption,” my Savior and my Lord; and I did, there and then, surrender myself to Him, utterly and unreservedly.

Then the blessing came. I rose from my knees rejoicing! “Jesus is mine!” I could exclaim, “and I am His.” The uncertainty was gone. The doubts and fears had departed. I had passed beyond the “hoping” and “trusting”—at last, but surely. And now it was as though Jesus Himself was speaking to my soul, and I could hear His voice. Yes, the blessing had indeed come, and such a blessing! I found I had that “peace” which “passeth all understanding,” and that which is “unspeakable and full of glory.” Ever since that day I have been living a new life. I am so happy. “All for Jesus,” is my daily, almost hourly life. And Jesus is so precious! I cannot describe the sweetness of His presence and fellowship. It is so real, so constant, so sustaining to the soul. I have trials and difficulties, toils and hardships, but they seem as nothing now. The blessing is so great, that these things are “light,” and “but for a moment.” Besides, I know that, the hand of Jesus lightens the burden: He carries the heavy end of each cross. And all the while He speaks so comfortably to my soul, so gently, encouragingly, lovingly, that I cannot but go on rejoicing in Him, whatever the present trial may be.

And He so honors me! I am aware that my talents, abilities, and attainments do not warrant the expectation that I shall be very useful; and yet I find that the Lord does own my endeavors to serve Him. He often blesses me more to souls in a single week now than (as far as I know) He did in a whole year, or in many years, in former times. And so I am going on consciously, joyously, to the home above, asking daily, and about everything, “Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?” “To me,” I can say without presumption, “to live is Christ.” And at every step I want to prove, by His grace, that my affections, my desires, my efforts, yea, my very words and thoughts, are “All for Jesus.”

And, now, why have I written all this about myself? First, to magnify the grace of God in so working upon me by His Spirit, as to bring me out into this region of most blessed and heavenly sunshine. And then, secondly, that many who read it may be led, by the gracious operations of the same Spirit, to desire to realize similar certainty and blessedness, through a true and full acceptance of Christ, accompanied by such an unreserved and heartfelt surrender to Him as shall impel them to exclaim, “All for Jesus!”

I appeal to the “hoping,” “trusting,” “doubting,” and “fearing” professors of religion into whose hands this tract may come. I know what I am saying. I know the disconsolations of uncertainty. I know the wretchedness of crying for five-and-twenty years, “Lord, Lord,” without ever truly realizing the preciousness of Jesus, or the blessedness of His pardoning love. I know, too, the unutterable sweetness of finding myself at His side, consciously His, enjoying His company, and going on daily with the light of His countenance falling full upon my soul, with His heart, as it were, beating against me, with His dear, loving words ever and anon reaching me, “Fear thou not; I am with thee,” and with His Spirit sanctifying and strengthening me for His blessed service more and more. And from my heart’s depths I implore you, give up all for Him! Let the world go; let everything go; count it but dross and dung that you may win Christ, and be found in Him! Offer Him all you are and have; lay it at His feet. Keep nothing from Him. And with your whole heart and soul cry, “All for Jesus!”

Then for the sunshine. Away will go the clouds, the fogs, the mists; away will go the doubts, the fears, the misgivings; away will go the agitations and tremblings as to death and judgment! The sunshine will straightway come down upon your heart, filling it with light and with joy. You will be “accepted in the Beloved.” The weary load of sin will be cast into the depth of the sea. You will feel the Father’s arms, as it were, round about your neck. The kiss will assure you that your sins and iniquities shall be remembered no more. And then the homeward course, the loving communings by the way, and, at length, the abundant entrance, the joyous welcome, the everlasting rest!

Shall it be so? Before God, who is waiting to be gracious, and before Jesus, who shed His blood for you, I ask you solemnly, shall it be so? No longer, I pray you, insult the Lord by your half-heartedness? Bring it to an end; have done with it for ever: and resolve to be true, sincere, fully surrendered, fully consecrated, fully devoted—”All for Jesus!”

From All for Jesus, published by Partridge & Co.

F.R.H. Directory

Read About Frances' Experience in Reading All For Jesus

F. R. H.’s Second Experience

Maria Havergal

This comes from a tract published by James H. Earle, Boston, written by the sister of Miss Havergal, and entitled F. R. H.'s Second Experience.

ONE day Frances received in a letter a tiny book with the title “All for Jesus.” She read it carefully. Its contents arrested her attention. It set forth a fullness of Christian experience and blessing exceeding that to which she had as yet attained. She was gratefully conscious of having for many years loved the Lord and delighted in his service; but there was in her experience a falling short of the standard, not so much of a holy walk and conversation as of uniform brightness and continuous enjoyment in the divine life. “All for Jesus” she found went straight to this point of the need and longing of her soul. Writing in reply to the author of the little book she said: “I do so long for deeper and fuller teaching in my own heart; ‘All for Jesus’ has touched me very much. I know I love Jesus, and there are times when I feel such intensity of love to him that I have not words to describe it. I rejoice, too, in him as my ‘Master’ and ‘Sovereign,’ but I want to come nearer still, to have the full realization of John 14. 21, and to know ‘the power of his resurrection’ even if it be with the fellowship of his sufferings. And all this, not exactly for my own joy alone, but for others. So I want Jesus to speak to me, to say ‘many things’ to me, that I may speak for him to others with real power. It is not knowing doctrine, but being with him, which will "give this.” God did not leave her long in this state of mind. He himself had shown her that there were “regions beyond” of blessed experience and service; had kindled in her very soul the intense desire to go forward and possess them; and now, in his own grace and love, he took her by the hand and led her into the goodly land. A few words from her correspondent on the power of Jesus to keep those who abide in him from falling, and on the continually present power of his blood (“the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin”) were used by the Master in effecting this. Very joyously she replied: “I see it all, and 1 have the blessing.”

The “sunless ravines” were now forever passed, and henceforth her peace and joy flowed onward, deepening and widening under the teaching of God the Holy Ghost. The blessing she had received had (to use her own words) “lifted her whole life into sunshine, of which all she had previously experienced was but as pale and passing April gleams, compared with the fullness of summer glory.”

The practical effect of this was most evident in her daily, true-hearted, whole-hearted service for her King, and also in the increased joyousness of the unswerving obedience of her home life, the surest test of all.

To the reality of this I do most willingly and fully testify. Some time afterward, in answer to my question, when we were talking quietly together, Frances said: “Yes it was on Advent Sunday, Dec. 2d, 1873, I first saw clearly the blessedness of true consecration. I saw it as a flash of electric light, and what you see you can never unsee. There must be full surrender before there can be full blessedness. God admits you by the one into the other. He himself showed me all this most clearly. You know how singularly I have been withheld from attending all conventions and conferences; man’s teaching has consequently had but little to do with it. First, I was shown that ‘the blood of Jesus Christ his Son cleanseth us from all sin,’ and then it was made plain to me that he who had thus cleansed me had power to keep me clean; so I just utterly yielded myself to him and utterly trusted him to keep me.” I replied that “it seemed to me if we did thus yield ourselves to the Lord we could not take ourselves back again, any more than the Levitical sacrifices, once accepted by the priest, were returned by him to the offerer.”

“Yes,” she rejoined, “just so. Still, I see there can be renewal of the surrender, as in our communion service, where we say: ‘And here we offer and present unto Thee, O Lord, ourselves, our souls and bodies.’ And there may also be a fuller surrender, even long after a surrender has once, or many times before, been made. He has brought me into the ‘highway of holiness,’ up which I trust every day to progress, continually pressing forward, led by the Spirit of God. And I do indeed find that with it comes a happy trusting, not only in all great matters, but in all the little things also, so that I cannot say ‘so and so worries me.’

“I would distinctly state, that it is only as and while a soul is under the full power of the blood of Christ that it can be cleansed from all sin; that one moment’s withdrawal from that power, and it is again actively because really sinning; and that it is only as, and while, kept by the power of God himself that we are not sinning against him; one instant of standing alone is certain fall! But (premising that) have we not been limiting the cleansing power of the precious blood when applied by the Holy Spirit, and also the keeping power of our God? Have we not been limiting I John I. 7, by practically making it refer only to ‘the remission of sins that are past’ instead of taking the grand simplicity of ‘cleanseth us from all sin?’ ‘All’ is all; and as we may trust him to cleanse from the stain of past sins so we may trust him to cleanse from all present defilement; yes, all! If not, we take away from this most precious promise, and, by refusing to take it in its fullness, lose the fullness of its application and power. Then we limit God’s power to ‘keep;’ we look at our frailty more than at his omnipotence. Where is the line to be drawn beyond which he is not able? The very keeping implies total helplessness without it, and the very cleansing most distinctly implies defilement without it. It was that one word ‘cleanseth’ which opened the door of a very glory of hope and joy to me. I had never seen the force of the tense before, a continual present, always a present tense, not a present which the next moment becomes a past. It goes on cleansing, and I have no words to tell how my heart rejoices in it. Not a coming to be cleansed in the fountain only, but a remaining in the fountain, so that it may and can go on cleansing.

“Why should we pare down the commands and promises of God to the level of what we have hitherto experienced of what God is ‘able to do,’ or even of what we have thought he might be able to do for us? Why not receive God’s promises, nothing doubting, just as they stand? ‘Take the shield of faith, whereby ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked;’ ‘He is able to make all grace abound toward you, that ye, always having all sufficiency in all things;’ and so on, through whole constellations of promises, which surely mean really and fully what they say.

“One arrives at the same thing, starting almost from anywhere. Take Philippians 4. 19, ‘your need;’ well, what is my great need and craving of soul? Surely it is now (having been justified by faith, and having assurance of salvation,) to be made holy by the continual sanctifying power of God’s Spirit; to be kept from grieving the Lord Jesus; to be kept from thinking or doing whatever is not accordant with his holy will.

“Oh what a need is this! And it is said ‘He shall supply all need;’ now shall we turn round and say ‘all’ does not mean quite all? Both as to the commands and the promises, it seems to me that anything short of believing them as they stand is but another form of ‘yea hath God said?’

“Thus accepting, in simple and unquestioning faith, God’s commands and promises, one seems to be at once brought into intensified views of everything. Never, O never before, did sin seem so hateful, so really ‘intolerable,’ nor watchfulness so necessary, and a keenness and uninterruptedness of watchfulness too, beyond what one ever thought of, only somehow different, not a distressed sort but a happy sort. It is the watchfulness of a sentinel when his captain is standing by him on the ramparts, when his eye is more than ever on the alert for any sign of the approaching enemy, because he knows they can only approach to be defeated. Then, too, the ‘all for Jesus’ comes in; one sees there is no half way; it must be absolutely all yielded up, because the least unyielded or doubtful point is sin, let alone the great fact of owing all to him. And one cannot, dare not, temporize with sin. I know and have found that even a momentary hesitation about yielding, or obeying, or trusting and believing, vitiates all; the communion is broken, the joy vanished; only, thank God, this never need continue even five minutes; faith may plunge instantly into ‘the fountain open for sin and uncleanness,’ and again find its power to cleanse and restore. Then one wants to have more and more light; one does not shrink from painful discoveries of evil, because one so wants to have the unknown depths of it cleansed as well as what comes to the surface. ‘Cleanse me thoroughly from my sins;’ and one prays to be shown this. But so far as one does see one must ‘put away sin’ and obey entirely; and here again his power is our resource, enabling us to do what without it we could not do. .

“One of the intensest moments of my life was when I saw the force of that word ‘cleanseth.’ The utterly unexpected and altogether unimagined sense of its fulfillment to me, on simply believing it in its fullness, was just indescribable. I expected nothing like it short of heaven. I am so thankful that, in the whole matter, there was as little human instrumentality as well could be, for certainly two sentences in letters from a total stranger were little. I am so conscious of his direct teaching and guidance through his word and Spirit in the matter that I cannot think I can ever unsee it again. I have waited many months before writing this, so it is no new and untested theory to me; in fact, experience came before theory and is more to me than any theory.

Maria Havergal, F. R. H.’s Second Experience, Forty Witnesses, edited by S. Olin Garrison, (New York: Phillips & Hunt, 1888), 237 - 244

F.R.H. Directory

Further Thoughts from Frances on "All For Jesus"

The following excerpts from letters communicate her convictions and joys relative to the "All for Jesus" experience.

"It is a Grand Thing to Start Out Early"

". . . Let me say just this; when one is really and utterly "all for Jesus," then and not till then we find Jesus is all for us, and all in all to us. Now I want you to be "all for Jesus." I can't describe the happiness He puts into any heart that will only give itself up altogether to Him, not wishing to keep one single bit back. And I want you to have this, and to have it now; not to wait till illness or great trouble come, and you feel driven at last to Him. No! that is simply "too bad!" Jesus says, "Come now!" not, "come when everything else has turned bitter." And if you come now, and surrender to Him now, you will have the peace now and the gladness now; and I can tell you it is worth having, because I have it, and so I know it is. It is a grand thing to start out early, and be on the Lord's side all along. Oh, what an amount of sorrow it will save you if He gives you grace to do it! But come now, for Jesus of Nazareth is passing by, and many are getting His blessing. Don't wait, either to get better or to feel worse!"—Memorials, 234

"Only and All For Jesus"

"To-morrow your manhood begins. Whose shall it be? How much of it shall be for Him? Shall it be, still, "some for self, and some for Thee"? What if He had not made a whole offering? what if He had not given His whole self for you? Answer the question, face it tonight, "How much owest thou unto my Lord?" Think of that, and you will be glad that there is anything to give up for Him. And, as for "giving up," there is not a true servant of Christ who does not know that the Master's words come true, "he shall receive an hundredfold now in this time." I know it for myself. Can't you take your Lord's own word for it, and trustfully say, "Yea, let Him take all"? Can you deliberately say, "Well, Jesus shall have part; I'll see what I can spare for Him After my boating friends, and all the things that a man must do, you know, have had their due share." That is what it comes to. But you cannot serve two, much less several, masters. For, if you are serving self, and pleasure, and the world, even a little, you are serving Christ's enemy, and not serving Him really at all, because He accepts no divided service. It is very solemn; but won't you, on this solemn, great, dividing time of your life, look steadily at the reality of the case, and decide, once for all, whose your real service shall be? Oh, if it might but be that the great, joyful transaction might be done this very night, before the clock strikes twelve, so that not even one hour of your manhood should be "for another," but only and all for Jesus! Oh, don't be afraid of taking the plunge; give yourself over into His hands, and then it will be His part to keep you, and you may trust Him for the keeping; you will not find Him fail you. Yield yourself unto God (Rom. vi. 13) altogether, body, soul, and spirit, all your powers and all your members. And then see if He won't use you! He always does! Dear , I wish I had an angel's tongue to persuade you to believe what blessedness you are on the edge of, if you would only give yourself "in full and glad surrender" to Jesus, and be "true-hearted, whole-hearted." But I want you for my Master's sake, far more than for your own! I can't bear those who might be even officers, let alone recruits, in His army to be contented to stay at home as it were, and only fight their own little private battles for their own ends, and the cause of the Redeemer left to take its chance! Oh, if we might be able to say to-morrow the verses I have stuck on this letter! I am so happy whenever there is "another voice to tell it out"; won't you be "another"? I must not stay up writing, but I don't think I shall soon sleep. God helping me, I will not let Him go except He bless you. Once more, How much for Jesus?"—Memorials, 236-238

Even a Momentary Hesitation Vitiates All the Communion

"Accepting, in simple and unquestioning faith, God's commands and promises, one seems to be at once brought into intensified views of everything. Never, oh never before, did sin seem so hateful, so really "intolerable," nor watchfulness so necessary, and a keenness and uninterruptedness of watchfulness too, beyond what one ever thought of, only somehow different, not a distressed sort but a happy sort. It is the watchfulness of a sentinel when his captain is standing by him on the ramparts, when his eye is more than ever on the alert for any sign of the approaching enemy, because he knows they can only approach to be defeated. Then, too, the "all for Jesus " comes in; one sees there is no half way, it must be absolutely all yielded up, because the least unyielded or doubtful, point is sin, let alone the great fact of owing all to Him. And one cannot, dare not, temporize with sin. I know, and have found, that even a momentary hesitation about yielding, or obeying, or trusting and believing, vitiates all, the communion is broken, the joy vanished; only, thank God, this never need continue even five minutes, faith may plunge instantly into "the fountain open for sin and uncleanness," and again find its power to cleanse and restore. Then one wants to have more and more light; one does not shrink from painful discoveries of evil, because one so wants to have the unknown depths of it cleansed as well as what comes to the surface. "Cleanse me throughly from my sin and one prays to be shown this. But so far as one does see, one must "put away sin " and obey entirely; and here again His power is our resource, enabling us to do what without it we could not do."—Memorials, 130,131

Jesus is All For Us

"Dear Clement, You are all alone, so I must send you a line. However, you will not find it very dismal in this lovely weather and the bright look out of seeing your dear ones. Last evening I was at a young women's meeting, and asked to sing, so I prayed the dear Master would let me bring them a message of song from Himself. There are so many "all for Jesus" Christians here. Seriously, dear Clement, if that is indeed our heart's motto, we find that Jesus is all for us, and all in all to us. I hit upon two little texts yesterday which fitted together beautifully. First, a prayer, "Do Thou for me, O Lord," did you ever notice it? "do Thou," just whatever wants doing for us or in us, just whatever we cannot do at all for ourselves. Then, if we really pray this, we shall follow it up with " God that performeth all things for me!" Think of His simply doing every thing for you and me. What can we wish more?"—Memorials, 180

Be Altogether His Own

"Dear , I never told you, but you can't think how I have longed for you ever since I first saw you. I have prayed for you again and again. I want you for Jesus! It is not only that I want you to be safe in Him, I do want that; but I want you to be altogether His own, knowing all the sweet peace of being His very own, and using all your bright days for Him. I want you to be "all for Jesus." I do so long for you to give Him your heart and life now, so that you might never have the terrible sorrow of having only a death-bed to give Him! And I am sure He wants you; really and truly now, at this very moment, is waiting for you, and wanting you to come to Him and let Him show you His "exceeding great love." There are so few comparatively that are on His side: won't you be one? If you could see Him now, this minute, waiting for you, you wouldn't like to keep Him waiting I am sure; and you wouldn't and couldn't think about anything else till you had heard what He, Jesus, your real Saviour, wanted to say to you. Dear child, I have asked my own dear Master to give me some token of His love on my birthday: shall it be this, that He will call you, so call you that you shall come to Him and "find rest"?"—Memorials, 187,188

"All" Sealed With "Only"

"In the women's ward I read and prayed and sang, and then spoke to each alone. I saw there was sowing and reaping work wanted, and many entreated me to come again. When I went again God sent much blessing. One, very suffering, and who had a most distressed expression the day before, had found peace soon after I left her. She lay looking so happy, saying, "I've left it all with Him now, and it's so beautiful!" Another, a moping groping Christian, told me that the words God helped me to say to her lifted her straight up into the sunlight. Before I left the ward, I do think another was enabled by God's Spirit to trust in the Lord Jesus. From that time, it pleased God to send such continuous blessing. But (I hardly know how it began, I think from my own couplet ". . . let me sing, Always, only, for my King," in connection with that Thursday evening) somehow I felt that on both sides, singer and listeners, it was not really "only for Him," but too much of F. R. H. That word "only" seemed to be pressed on my own heart. I saw it as I never saw it before, and that the "all for Jesus" must be supplemented and sealed with "only for Jesus." It was a great and humbling revelation to me of failure in full consecration, where I really did not see it before; and of course I dare not and would not hold back from accepting and following, at any cost, what I felt God's Holy Spirit was teaching me. I felt I could not, and would not, sing again the next Thursday as before, and that I must pass on this "only" to the Y. W. C. A. Then I had copies printed of the Consecration Hymn, and had my name left out, and a blank line instead for the signature, which each might fill up alone and prayerfully. At the meeting, Mr. W opened it and then went away. Then I told them I had meant to sing them beautiful songs of Handel, but I could not and dare not; that I could not, after what my King had shown me last week, sing even partly to please them, it must be "only for my King." Then I told them about this "only," not merely totality of surrender but exclusiveness of allegiance, and how I wanted every one there to take this step with me that night, and to accept with me "Only for Jesus," as our life motto, henceforth. To keep my word as to singing, I just sang "Precious Saviour, may I live only for Thee " After prayer, I resumed the subject and then distributed the Consecration Hymns (very systematically done in one minute without disturbance); and, after running through it, asked those and those only to sign their names who meant it. Oh, M , it was such singing, one felt it was so real! Then I gave an interval of silent prayer which I felt was a time of real consecration. I was sure of His presence, so sure that He was bowing the hearts before Him by the Holy Spirit's power. Was it not strange that the first "consecration meeting" I ever came in for should have been in my own hands?"—Memorials, 203-205

Confirming the Author's Identity

The following paragraph comes from a letter Frances sent Hannah Whitall Smith regarding the blessings she gained in reading the words of "Mr. Wrenford." She uses the term "goes on cleansing" in describing her experience.

"Then came what Mr. Smith [Robert Pearsall Smith] told me he calls 'conviction for holiness' some weeks neither dissatisfaction or craving for I hardly knew what, then three days of seeing what I wanted and tremendous turmoil of soul about it. Then—just one sentence in a letter from Mr. Wrenford—“For conscious sin there is instant confession and instant forgiveness—for unconscious sin the blood of Christ cleanseth, i.e. goes on cleansing”! That was the message of deliverance to me! I really received as if I saw everything at once, just as you see a whole landscape in one flash where before you saw nothing!"

A footnote follows that provides more information on "Mr. Wrenford":

"Mr Wrenford refers to Rev. John Tinson Wrenford (1825-1904), a prolific Anglican writer and clergyman, who formed a close bond with Frances Havergal. She sent him the first copy of her hymn “Take my life and let it be consecrated, Lord, to Thee” in manuscript form as soon as it was written. He then helped publicize this hymn through his ministry."

The Asbury Journal 73/1: 190-210

Other Writings by J. Tinson Wrenford

God’s Work at Newport, Monmouthshire

This page has a few paragraphs of a larger publication on the revival that took place i Wrenford's church in Newport.

Quotations of Tinson Wrenford

"O for reality! Men to preach, and people to pray, who have themselves been brought into a condition of conscious acceptance, pardon, life; who themselves are 'in Christ,' and who know, in their own daily experience, the sweetness of that peace with God which 'passeth all understanding,'and of that joy which is 'unspeakable and full of glory.' O for reality! A real lifting up of Jesus in the midst of perishing sinners, that the guilty may draw near, may look, may live. O for the Real Presence of the loving Jesus in our assemblies, the real coming of the sin-burdened to Him there and then, and the real reception from His willing hands of a most real, blessed, and everlasting salvation. J. Tinson Wrenford.