When John Rippon published his influential hymnal A Selection of Hymns in 1787, 101 of the texts were by the short-lived but prolific Philip Doddridge (1702–1751). The second-most-represented author, with 47 texts in the hymnal, was Baptist poet Anne Steele. For many years, Steele’s poems figured prominently in evangelical hymnals, but by the early 20th century, her works nearly disappeared. By 1950, hymnologist Albert Bailey could write that “all but one of her 144 hymns are now forgotten.”1Albert Bailey, The Gospel in Hymns (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), 70. The hymn Bailey refers to is “Father of Mercies, in Thy Word.”
However, Steele wrote hymns worth remembering and learning, hymns born out of a life of disappointment, grief, and suffering. When she was three years old, her mother died. A hip injury at age nineteen led to chronic physical pain for Anne. She also dealt with symptoms of malaria throughout her life. Many accounts of her life state that she was engaged to one Robert Elscourt, who drowned the day before or the day of their wedding. This may be a romanticized addition to her life, though she did remain unmarried her whole life.2At one point, however, she turned down a marriage proposal from hymn writer and pastor Benjamin Beddome. Her father remarried, but his second wife died when Anne was forty-three. A sister-in-law died two years later. Anne’s father developed poor health late in his life, and Anne cared for him until he died in 1769.
Despite the suffering and difficulty, Anne’s faith and hope were in God. Her father, a well-to-do merchant, also served as a deacon and eventually pastor of a Baptist church in Broughton, England. Anne joined the church at age 14 and from an early age exhibited a faith that expressed itself through poetry. She began to write primarily for her own devotional use, but her father saw the value of his daughter’s poetry and introduced these hymns to his church. Anne was initially reluctant to show her work to a wider audience, but through the encouragement of her father and step-mother, as well as a small group of pastors who championed her work,3That these men would have encouraged Anne toward the publication of her poetry is significant, since women were generally not supported in such endeavors in 18th-century England. … Continue reading she submitted poetry for publication when she was in her early forties. The resulting book, Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional and published under the pen name Theodosia, introduced people to a significant new voice in hymnody. Baptist hymnologists Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath state, “Miss Steele was the foremost of a group of Baptist hymnists . . . who, because their hymns possess a quality unsurpassed before or since, constitue a ‘Golden Age of Baptist Hymnody.’”4Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath, Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology, 2nd ed. (Nashville: Church Street Press, 1995), 134 n. 8. Anne’s hymns turned her trials into expressions of faith in God and in the work of His Son, and give us words to do the same.
Joni Eareckson Tada, herself no stranger to chronic pain, writes of Anne Steele, “Hers was a ministry of suffering.”5Joni Eareckson Tada, Songs of Suffering: 25 Hymns and Devotions for Weary Souls (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 90. She goes on to say, “Do you serve God in your suffering? We serve him when we imitate Jesus’s endurance in our suffering. Or his patience in the face of disappointment or his perseverance while shouldering our cross. . . . And when we choose contentment over complaining, we imitate his glad willingness to submit to the Father’s terrible yet wonderful will. All of it comprises a fragrant, sacrificial service to God.”6Tada, Songs of Suffering, 91.
Anne’s hymn “Dear Refuge of My Weary Soul” (published in Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional under the title, “God the Only Refuge of the Troubled Mind”) was widely used in hymnals throughout the 19th century, but nearly disappeared in the 20th.7See the chart at https://hymnary.org/text/dear_refuge_of_my_weary_soul. However, the song has recently received renewed interest, and can be sung to classic tunes such as ST. COLUMBA or ST. AGNES, or to Matt Merker’s 2014 tune. More than the tune, however, is a striking text that hardly seems nearly three hundred years old, speaking as it does to very modern concerns such as doubt and the confusion that arises in the middle of suffering. Yet the poet continually points us back to God as the answer to our fears. God’s Word and prayer provide sweet relief for anything we face.
But clouds of doubt sweep in, and like the prodigal son we fear that we have no right to call God our Father (Luke 15:21). Yet then we remember—“Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (John 6:68). Since God has commanded us to seek His face, we cannot seek in vain. God will not ignore the cries of His troubled children. “And will not God give justice to his elect, who cry to him day and night? Will he delay long over them? I tell you, he will give justice to them speedily. Nevertheless, when the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on earth?” (Luke 18:7–8).
Anne Steele reflected her faith in her hymns. As she found, “There is no more beautiful service to God than to imitate Christ in your afflictions. And then to sing about it.”8Tada, Songs of Suffering, 92.
Dear refuge of my weary soul,
On Thee, when sorrows rise;
On Thee, when waves of trouble roll,
My fainting hope relies.
While hope revives, though pressed with fear
And I can say, “My God,
Beneath Thy feet I spread my cares,
And pour my woes abroad.”
To Thee I tell each rising grief,
For Thou alone canst heal;
Thy Word can bring a sweet relief
For every pain I feel.
But oh! when gloomy doubts prevail,
I fear to call Thee mine;
The springs of comfort seem to fail,
And all my hopes decline.
Yet, gracious God, where shall I flee?
Thou art my only trust,
And still my soul would cleave to Thee,
Though prostrate in the dust.
Hast Thou not bid me seek Thy face?
And shall I seek in vain?
And can the ear of sovereign grace
Be deaf when I complain?
No, still the ear of sovereign grace
Attends the mourner’s prayer;
O may I ever find access,
To breathe my sorrows there.
Thy mercy seat is open still;
Here let my soul retreat,
With humble hope attend Thy will,
And wait beneath Thy feet.
—Anne Steele, 1737/38
References
| 1 | Albert Bailey, The Gospel in Hymns (New York: Charles Scribner’s Sons, 1950), 70. The hymn Bailey refers to is “Father of Mercies, in Thy Word.” |
|---|---|
| 2 | At one point, however, she turned down a marriage proposal from hymn writer and pastor Benjamin Beddome. |
| 3 | That these men would have encouraged Anne toward the publication of her poetry is significant, since women were generally not supported in such endeavors in 18th-century England. See https://www.hymnologyarchive.com/anne-steele. |
| 4 | Harry Eskew and Hugh McElrath, Sing with Understanding: An Introduction to Christian Hymnology, 2nd ed. (Nashville: Church Street Press, 1995), 134 n. 8. |
| 5 | Joni Eareckson Tada, Songs of Suffering: 25 Hymns and Devotions for Weary Souls (Wheaton, IL: Crossway, 2022), 90. |
| 6 | Tada, Songs of Suffering, 91. |
| 7 | See the chart at https://hymnary.org/text/dear_refuge_of_my_weary_soul. |
| 8 | Tada, Songs of Suffering, 92. |