Should nature's charms to please the eye

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Should nature's charms to please the eye

Author: Anne Steele
Published in 15 hymnals

Representative Text

I. Should nature's charms, to please the eye,
In sweet assemblage join,
All nature's charms would droop and die,
Jesus, compar'd with thine.

II. Vain were her fairest beams display'd,
And vain her blooming store;
Ev'n brightness languishes to shade,
And beauty is no more.

III. But ah, how far from mortal sight,
The Lord of glory dwells!
A veil of interposing night
His radiant face conceals.

IV. O could my longing spirit rise
On strong immortal wing.
And reach thy palace in the skies,
My Saviour, and my King!

V. There myriads worship at thy feet,
And there, (divine employ!)
The triumphs of thy repeat,
In songs of endless joy.

VI. Thy presence beams eternal day,
O'er all the blissful place;
Who would not drop this load of clay,
And die to see thy face?

Source: Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, Vol. 1 #155

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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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