Why should my pining spirit be

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Why should my pining spirit be

Author: Anne Steele
Published in 3 hymnals

Representative Text

Why should my pining spirit be
So long a stranger to my Lord,
When promises divinely free,
Invite me in his sacred word?

Does he not bid the weary come,
And call the wretched sons of grief,
To him their refuge and their home,
Their heavenly friend, their sure relief?

Yes by the kindest, tenderest names,
My Lord invites my humble trust;
My diffidence he gently blames,
How soft the censure and how just.

This trembling frame worn out with pains
On thee my guardian God depends;
And while my fainting heart complains,
To thee the plaintive groan ascends.

Though all the powers of nature fail,
And life's pale trembling lamp decline;
Thy grace can bid my faith prevail,
Can give me fortitude divine.

That grace which bids my hope aspire
Can every anxious fear remove,
Can give me all my soul's desire,
The full assurance of thy love.

Source: Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #133

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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 >

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