Standing at the portal New Year. Jan. 4, 1873. Frances R. Havergal

Frances Ridley Havergal was born on December 14, 1836, the sixth and last child of Rev. William Henry and Jane Head Havergal. As a child she was called “little quicksilver.” Her mother’s death, when Frances was 11, very deeply affected her. In August, 1850, she entered Mrs. Teed's school, whose influence over her was most beneficial. In the following year she says, "I committed my soul to the Saviour, and earth and heaven seemed brighter from that moment." She was brought to a saving knowledge of Christ when she was 14, and though she had attended church and read the Bible for years, now she had the light and life of Christ she had not known before. Though her formal education ended when Frances was 17 (concluding with one term at a girls’ school in Dusseldorf, Germany, where she was awarded top prize, never previously done at the school), she was a true scholar and student the rest of her life. She was rarely gifted and was rarely diligent with her gifts. She was utterly fluent in German and French, and nearly fluent in Italian. In 1860 she left Worcester on her father resigning the Rectory of St. Nicholas, and resided at different periods in Leamington, and at Caswall Bay, Swansea, broken by visits to Switzerland, Scotland, and North Wales. She died at Caswell Bay, Swansea, June 3, 1879. She lived forty-two and a half years. She glowed the Lord Jesus Christ and His truth, and her life profoundly benefited many who knew her and later many who read books or pamphlets by her or sang her hymns. Early in the 21st century, few recognize her name, and most of those who do remember her name only know of her as a hymn-writer. At the time of her death, she was very widely known and greatly valued on both sides of the Atlantic, and likely four million of her books were published between 1870 and 1910. There is true gold in her writings, help and enrichment to disciples.
Frances Ridley Havergal was in the habit of sending New Year’s cards, rather than Christmas cards. And, being a skilled devotional poet, she wrote the verses they contained herself. One of these that has become a hymn is Another Year Is Dawning. And if you were a friend of hers in 1874, you would have received a card containing the hymn poem, Standing at the Portal. Note how the second stanza below contains virtually a word by word quotation of Isaiah, which says: Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God. I will strengthen you, yes, I will help you, I will uphold you with My righteous right hand. Isaiah. 41:10

Standing at the portal of the opening year,
Words of comfort meet us, hushing every fear;
Spoken through the silence by our Saviour’s voice,
Tender, strong and faithful, making us rejoice.

Onward, then, and fear not,
Children of the day;
For His Word shall never,
Never pass away.

“I, the Lord, am with thee, be thou not afraid;
I will help and strengthen, be thou not dismayed.
Yea, I will uphold thee with My own right hand;
Thou art called and chosen in My sight to stand.”