Occasioned by hearing a friend commend my verses

Could all the powers of eloquence divine

Author: Anne Steele
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

Could all the powers of eloquence divine
But half the glories of my Lord display,
How I should wish those unknown powers were mine
To animate and raise the votive lay.

O could I rise, one happy minute rise!
And hear the music of the blissful choir,
Would not my heaven-enraptur'd mind despise
The sweetest notes that tune this feeble lyre.

Yet is the subject of their song the same,
Not angels know a nobler theme than mine;
Thy grace Emmanuel, bliss-inspiring name!
Awakes the strain to extasy divine.

That grace, which smiles approving on their lays,
Bends lower still and kindly deigns to own
A mortal's wishes to attempt thy praise,
When humble love presents them at thy throne.

My Lord, my life, does not thy love inspire
The warmest highest wish this bosom knows?
O let that love employ this feeble lyre
Till with diviner force the passion glows!

Till (every mortal weakness left in dust)
Immortal life commences, then my tongue
To thee, dear object of my hope and trust,
With heaven's full choir shall tune a nobler song.

Source: Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #86

Author: Anne Steele

Anne Steele was the daughter of Particular Baptist preacher and timber merchant William Steele. She spent her entire life in Broughton, Hampshire, near the southern coast of England, and devoted much of her time to writing. Some accounts of her life portray her as a lonely, melancholy invalid, but a revival of research in the last decade indicates that she had been more active and social than what was previously thought. She was theologically conversant with Dissenting ministers and "found herself at the centre of a literary circle that included family members from various generations, as well as local literati." She chose a life of singleness to focus on her craft. Before Christmas in 1742, she declined a marriage proposal from contemporar… Go to person page >

Text Information

First Line: Could all the powers of eloquence divine
Title: Occasioned by hearing a friend commend my verses
Author: Anne Steele
Language: English
Publication Date: 1780
Copyright: This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1929.

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Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #86

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