1716-1778

May 1716, Brough­ton, Hamp­shire, Eng­land.

No­vem­ber 11, 1778, Brough­ton, Hamp­shire, Eng­land.

Brough­ton, Hamp­shire, Eng­land.

The­o­do­sia.

Anne was the daugh­ter of Will­iam Steele, a tim­ber mer­chant who was al­so a lay preach­er at the Bap­tist church in Broughton. She lost her mo­ther at age 3. At age 19, a se­vere hip in­jury made her a life­long in­val­id. At age 21, her fi­an­cé drowned the day be­fore they were to be mar­ried. From this ser­ies of tra­ge­dies rose 144 hymns and 34 ver­si­fied Psalms, which were enor­mous­ly pop­u­lar. Her main work was Po­ems on Sub­jects Chief­ly De­vo­tion­al (1760). When Trin­i­ty Church in Bos­ton, Mass­a­chu­setts (where Phil­lips Brooks la­ter be­came rec­tor) pub­lished its hym­nal in 1808, 59 of its 144 hymns were from the pen of Anne Steele. She pre­ferred to re­main anon­y­mous, though, writ­ing under a pen name. Her tomb­stone car­ried the follow­ing words:

Silent the lyre, and dumb the tuneful tongue,
That sung on earth her great Re­deem­er’s praise;
But now in Hea­ven she joins the angelic song,
In more harmonious, more exalted lays.

  1. Ah, Wretch­ed Souls Who Strive in Vain
  2. Alas! What Hour­ly Dan­gers Rise
  3. Amazing Love That Stooped So Low
  4. Awake, Awake the Sac­red Song
  5. Bright Scenes of Bliss, Un­cloud­ed Skies
  6. Come, Hea­ven­ly Love, In­spire My Song
  7. Come, Let Our Souls Adore the Lord
  8. Come, Tune Ye Saints, Your Nob­lest Strains
  9. Come Ye That Love the Sav­ior’s Name
  10. Dear Re­fuge of My Wea­ry Soul
  11. Deep Are the Wounds Which Sin Has Made
  12. Enslaved by Sin, and Bound in Chains
  13. Eternal Pow­er, Mighty God
  14. Eternal Source of Joys Di­vine
  15. Far from These Nar­row Scenes of Night
  16. Father of Mer­cies, in Thy Word
  17. God of My Salva­tion Lives, The
  18. Gospel, O What End­less Charms, The
  19. Great God, to Thee My Ev­en­ing Song
  20. Great Source of Bound­less Pow­er and Grace
  21. He Lives! the Great Re­deem­er Lives!
  22. Hear, Gra­cious Lord, My Hum­ble Moan
  23. Hear, O My God, with Pi­ty Hear
  24. How Blest Are Those, How Tru­ly Wise
  25. How Far Be­yond Our Mor­tal View
  26. How Help­less Guilty Na­ture Lies
  27. How Love­ly, How Di­vinely Sweet
  28. How Oft, Alas!
  29. In Vain I Trace Cre­a­tion O’er
  30. In Vain My Rov­ing Thoughts Would Find
  31. Jesus, and Didst Thou Leave the Sky?
  32. Jesus D­emands This Heart of Mine
  33. Jesus, the Spring of Joys Di­vine
  34. Jesus, Thou Source Di­vine
  35. Look Up, My Soul, with Cheer­ful Eye
  36. Lord, How Mys­ter­i­ous Are Thy Ways
  37. Lord, in the Tem­ple of Thy Grace
  38. Lord, in Thy Great, Thy Glor­i­ous Name
  39. Lord, My Shep­herd and My Guide, The
  40. Lord, the God of Glo­ry Reigns, The
  41. Lord, Thou Hast Been Thy Child­ren’s God
  42. Lord, We Adore Thy Bound­less Grace
  43. Lord, When My Rap­tured Thought Sur­veys
  44. Lord, When My Thoughts De­lighte­d Rove
  45. Mind Was Formed to Mount Sub­lime, The
  46. My God, My Fa­ther, Bliss­ful Name!
  47. My God, O Could I Make the Claim
  48. My God, ’Tis to Thy Mercy Seat
  49. My God, to Thee I Call
  50. My Mak­er and My King
  51. My Soul, to God, Its Source, As­pires
  52. O Could Our Thoughts and Wish­es Fly
  53. O for a Sweet, In­spir­ing Ray
  54. O for the Eye of Faith Di­vine
  55. O Je­sus, Our Ex­alt­ed Head
  56. Oh Thou Whose Ten­der Mer­cy Hears
  57. O World of Bliss, Could Mor­tal Eyes
  58. Once Loved Form Now Cold and Dead, The
  59. Permit Me, Lord, to Seek Thy Face
  60. Praise Ye the Lord, Let Praise Em­ploy
  61. Savior Calls, The
  62. See, Lord, Thy Will­ing Sub­jects Bow
  63. Should Famine o’er the Mourn­ing Field
  64. So Fades the Love­ly, Bloom­ing Flow­er
  65. Stern Win­ter Throws His Icy Chains
  66. Stretched on the Cross, the Sav­ior Dies
  67. Sure, the Blest Com­forter Is Nigh
  68. There Is a Glor­i­ous World on High
  69. Thou Love­ly Source of True De­light
  70. Thou On­ly Sov­er­eign of My Heart
  71. Thy Gra­cious Pre­sence, O My God
  72. Thy King­dom, Lord, For­ev­er Stands
  73. To Je­sus, Our Ex­alt­ed Lord
  74. To Our Re­deem­er’s Glor­i­ous Name
  75. To Your Cre­at­or, God
  76. Triumphant, Christ As­cends on High
  77. When Blest with That Trans­port­ing View
  78. When Death Be­fore My Sight
  79. When Gloomy Thoughts and Bod­ing Fears
  80. When I Re­solved to Watch My Thoughts
  81. When I Sur­vey Life’s Var­ied Scene
  82. When Sins and Fears Pre­vail­ing Rise
  83. When Wea­ry Souls with Sin Dis­tressed
  84. Whene’er the An­gry Pass­ions Rise
  85. Where Is God? Does He Re­tire
  86. While My Re­deem­er’s Near
  87. Why Sinks My Weak De­spond­ing Mind?
  88. Ye Earth­ly Van­i­ties, De­part
  89. Ye Glit­ter­ing Toys of Earth, Adieu
  90. Ye Hum­ble Souls, Ap­proach Your God
  91. Ye Wretch­ed, Hun­gry, Starv­ing Poor
where to get Steele’s pic­ture