Our Example

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 >

And is the gospel peace and love? Anne Steele. [Example of Christ.] First published in her Poems on Subjects chiefly Devotional, 1760-80, vol. i. pp. 122-123: and repeated in Sedgwick's reprint of her Hymns, &c, 1863, pp. 75-76. It is in 7 stanzas of 4 lines, and entitled, "The Example of Christ." In 1787 it was introduced into congregational use by Dr. Rippon, in his Baptist Selection of Hymns, No. 166. This was followed by the Baptist New Selection, 1828, No. 121, and others to modern collections. In Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, No. 555, stanzas i., ii., iii., and vi. are given unaltered. It is also in American use.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)