The Christian's noblest resolution

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Ah, wretched souls, who strive in vain

Author: Anne Steele
Tune: PILESGROVE
Published in 92 hymnals

Representative Text

1 Ah wretched souls, who strive in vain,
Slaves to the world, and slaves to sin!
A nobler toil may I sustain,
A nobler satisfaction win.

2 I would resolve with all my heart,
With all my pow'rs to serve the Lord,
Nor from his precepts e'er depart,
Whose service is a rich reward.

3 O be his service all my joy!
Around let my example shine;
Till others love the blest employ,
And join in labours so divine.

4 Be this the purpose of my soul,
My solemn my determin'd choice,
To yield to his supreme control,
And in his kind commands rejoice.

5 O may I never faint nor tire,
Nor wandering leave his sacred ways;
Great God! accept my soul's desire,
And give me strength to live thy praise.

Source: A Collection of Hymns and A Liturgy: for the use of Evangelical Lutheran Churches; to which are added prayers for families and individuals #287

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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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First Line:	Ah, wretched souls, who strive in vain
Title:	The Christian's noblest resolution
Author:	Anne Steele
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

Ah, wretched souls who strive in vain. Anne Steele. [Lent.] A hymn on "The Christian's Noblest Resolution” which appeared in her Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional, 1760, vol. i. p. 161, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines, from whence it passed into the Baptist Collection of Hymns of Ash and Evans, 1769, No. 286, and signed "T."; into Rippon's Baptist Selection 1787, No. 334, and others. It is also found in Sedgwick's reprint of Miss Steele's Hymns, 1863.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)
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Ah, wretched souls who strive in vain, p. 33, i. The following are from this hymn, (1) "My soul no more shall strive in vain"; and (2) "May [Now] I resolve with all my heart."

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)

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