Born: May 1716, Broughton, Hampshire, England.
Died: November 11, 1778, Broughton, Hampshire, England.
Buried: Broughton, Hampshire, England.
Pseudonym: 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.
Sources
Hymns
- Ah, Wretched Souls Who Strive in Vain
- Alas! What Hourly Dangers Rise
- Amazing Love That Stooped So Low
- Awake, Awake the Sacred Song
- Bright Scenes of Bliss, Unclouded Skies
- Come, Heavenly Love, Inspire My Song
- Come, Let Our Souls Adore the Lord
- Come, Tune Ye Saints, Your Noblest Strains
- Come Ye That Love the Savior’s Name
- Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul
- Deep Are the Wounds Which Sin Has Made
- Enslaved by Sin, and Bound in Chains
- Eternal Power, Mighty God
- Eternal Source of Joys Divine
- Far from These Narrow Scenes of Night
- Father of Mercies, in Thy Word
- Father, Whate’er of Earthly Bliss
- God of My Salvation Lives, The
- Gospel, O What Endless Charms, The
- Great God, to Thee My Evening Song
- Great Source of Boundless Power and Grace
- He Lives! the Great Redeemer Lives!
- Hear, Gracious Lord, My Humble Moan
- Hear, O My God, with Pity Hear
- How Blest Are Those, How Truly Wise
- How Far Beyond Our Mortal View
- How Helpless Guilty Nature Lies
- How Lovely, How Divinely Sweet
- How Oft, Alas!
- In Vain I Trace Creation O’er
- In Vain My Roving Thoughts Would Find
- Jesus, and Didst Thou Leave the Sky?
- Jesus Demands This Heart of Mine
- Jesus, the Spring of Joys Divine
- Jesus, Thou Source Divine
- Look Up, My Soul, with Cheerful Eye
- Lord, How Mysterious Are Thy Ways
- Lord, in the Temple of Thy Grace
- Lord, in Thy Great, Thy Glorious Name
- Lord, My Shepherd and My Guide, The
- Lord, the God of Glory Reigns, The
- Lord, Thou Hast Been Thy Children’s God
- Lord, We Adore Thy Boundless Grace
- Lord, When My Raptured Thought Surveys
- Lord, When My Thoughts Delighted Rove
- Mind Was Formed to Mount Sublime, The
- My God, My Father, Blissful Name!
- My God, O Could I Make the Claim
- My God, ’Tis to Thy Mercy Seat
- My God, to Thee I Call
- My Maker and My King
- My Soul, to God, Its Source, Aspires
- O Could Our Thoughts and Wishes Fly
- O for a Sweet, Inspiring Ray
- O for the Eye of Faith Divine
- O Jesus, Our Exalted Head
- O Thou Whose Tender Mercy Hears
- O World of Bliss, Could Mortal Eyes
- Once Loved form Now Could and Dead, The
- Permit Me, Lord, to Seek Thy Face
- Praise Ye the Lord, Let Praise Employ
- Savior Calls, The
- See, Lord, Thy Willing Subjects Bow
- Should Famine o’er the Mourning Field
- So Fades the Lovely, Blooming Flower
- Stern Winter Throws His Icy Chains
- Stretched on the Cross, the Savior Dies
- Sure, the Blest Comforter Is Nigh
- There Is a Glorious World on High
- Thou Lovely Source of True Delight
- Thou Only Sovereign of My Heart
- Thy Gracious Presence, O My God
- Thy Kingdom, Lord, Forever Stands
- To Jesus, Our Exalted Lord
- To Our Redeemer’s Glorious Name
- To Your Creator, God
- Triumphant, Christ Ascends on High
- When Blest with That Transporting View
- When Death Before My Sight
- When Gloomy Thoughts and Boding Fears
- When I Resolved to Watch My Thoughts
- When I Survey Life’s Varied Scene
- When Sins and Fears Prevailing Rise
- When Weary Souls with Sin Distressed
- Whene’er the Angry Passions Rise
- Where Is God? Does He Retire
- While My Redeemer’s Near
- Why Sinks My Weak Desponding Mind?
- Ye Earthly Vanities, Depart
- Ye Glittering Toys of Earth Adieu
- Ye Humble Souls, Approach Your God