Happy the Man

Representative Text

1 Happy the man, whose heaven-directed feet
Avoid the crowded path where sinners meet;
Who shuns the lofty feet of impious pride;
Of men, who dare Jehovah's law deride.

2 He in that sacred, venerable law,
(Inspiring holy thoughts and pious awe,)
Continual meditates with new delight;
Guide of his day, and solace of his night!

3 Beneath heaven's kindest influence he shall grow,
Like a fair tree where cheering waters flow:
Whose grateful boughs confess the happy soil,
And crown'd with autumn's richest bounty smile.

4 Unfading and secure his hope shall stand,
And prosperous be the labors of his hand
to the sinner's hope; he soon shall find,
It flies like chaff before the driving wind.

5 How will the guilty tribes their sentence bear,
When God in awful judgement shall appear?
Then shall no sinner stand before His face,
Or in the bless'd assembly find a place.

6 The LORD looks down, and guides His children's way,
Safe to the regions of eternal day.
But oh, the flowery paths which sinners tread,
To darkness and to sure perdition lead.

Source: Psalms of Grace #1c

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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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