Anne Steele
Anne Steele (1716-1778) was a poet and hymn writer. She was contemporary with John Gill, Augustus Toplady and George Whitefield. Her ancestors were numbered among the Puritans and she hailed from a long line of gospel preachers. She was the eldest daughter of a Baptist preacher named William Steele. He oversaw a congregation in Hampshire, England, where he and his family lived. At an early age, her mother died. A few years later she sustained a permanent injury to her hip after falling from a horse. After her twenty-first birthday, she was married to a Mr. Elscourt, but he died on the day of their wedding in a drowning accident. She therefore lived under her father’s care until his death, at which time she lived with her brother for the remainder of her life. After showing a gift for writing poetry, her father advised her to use a pseudonym so as not to be lifted up with pride. She therefore attributed her poems and hymns to the name “Theodocia”, which means “devoted to God”. She prepared her first selection of hymns while in her forties, on which occasion her father recorded in his diary—“Nov. 29. 1757, This day, Nanny sent part of her composition to London, to be printed. I entreat a gracious God, who enabled, and stirred her up to such a work, to direct in it and bless it for the good of many…I pray God to make it useful, and keep her humble."
"ALAS, HOW OFT, THIS WRETCHED HEART"
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The Life And Testimony Of Anne Steele
Miss Steele was the descendant of a family who had inhabited for many years the village of Broughton, Hampshire, her father and ancestors being pastors of the Calvinistic Baptist congregation in that town, the foundation of which dates back to the time of the Commonwealth. One, Mr. Henry Steele, was ordained to the pastoral office in the year 1699, which office he held for forty years. He was very popular, and greatly beloved by many of the inhabitants of Broughton, so that on an episcopal visitation the clergyman complained to the Bishop that his parochial province was sadly invaded by the Dissenter. "How can I best oppose him?” was his query to the Bishop, the celebrated and godly Gilbert Burnett. "Go home,'' said the wise…
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The Life And Ministry Of Anne Steele
It has been observed that many of our most approved hymn writers were unmarried—the list including Cowper, Sir E. Denny, Charlotte Elliott, Susannah Harrison, R. Murray M'Cheyne, Samuel Pearce, Thomas Row, Jane Taylor, A. M. Toplady, Anna Letitia Waring, Dr. Watts, Henry Kirke White, and the saintly lady whose name appears above. She was the eldest daughter of a timber merchant, who also ministered in the Baptist Chapel at Broughton, in Hampshire. Here she was born in 1716, and was a member of her father's Church for 46 years. An early trouble shadowed her whole life and rendered her a great invalid. She was engaged to be married to a young man named Elscourt, who was drowned when bathing in an adjacent river the day…
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And Can My Heart Aspire So High
Isaiah 64:8: "But now, O Lord, thou art our father; we are the clay, and thou our potter; and we all are the work of thy hand." Hebrews 12:5-13: "And ye have forgotten the exhortation which speaketh unto you as unto children, My son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him: for whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth. If ye endure chastening, God dealeth with you as with sons; for what son is he whom the father chasteneth not? But if ye be without chastisement, whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards, and not sons. Furthermore we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us, and we…
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How Oft, Alas, This Wretched Heart
Jeremiah 3:12: "Go and proclaim these words toward the north, and say, Return, thou backsliding Israel, saith the Lord; and I will not cause mine anger to fall upon you: for I am merciful, saith the Lord, and I will not keep anger for ever." Psalm 119:176: "I have gone astray like a lost sheep; seek thy servant; for I do not forget thy commandments. Hosea 6:1: "Come, and let us return unto the Lord: for he hath torn, and he will heal us; he hath smitten, and he will bind us up."
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How Oft, Alas, This Wretched Heart
Some of the points covered in this sermon: • Highlighting the subject and theme of the hymn—the triumphant recovery of a rescued backslider • Showing where the subject of backsliding fits within the framework of sovereign grace • Explaining the distinction between the twofold nature of a regenerate sinner’s soul • Explaining progressive sanctification and showing why it is a wrong doctrine • Explaining the difference between progressive sanctification and growth in grace • Outlining the five stanzas of the hymn, each of which may be viewed as a step forward in the recovery process of a rescued backslider • Stanza 1—A Solemn Confession • Stanza 2—A Gracious Invitation • Stanza 3—A Mournful Petition • Stanza 4—A Joyful Acclamation • Stanza 5—A Compelled Resolution…
