The Soul's Best Portion

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Almighty maker of my frame

Author: Anne Steele
Published in 105 hymnals

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Representative Text

1 Almighty Maker of my frame,
Teach me the measure of my days!
Teach me to know how frail I am,
And spend the remnant to thy praise.

2 My days are shorter than a span,
A little point my life appears;
How frail at best is dying man!
How vain are all his hopes and fears.

3 Vain his ambition, noise, and show!
Vain are the cares which rack his mind1
He heaps up treasures mix'd with woe,
And dies and leaves them all behind.

4 O be a nobler portion mine;
My God, I bow before thy throne,
Earth's fleeting treasures I resign,
And fix my hopes on thee alone.

Source: The Hartford Selection of Hymns: from the most approved authors: to which are added a number never before published (2nd ed.) #CCCLIII

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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:	Almighty maker of my frame
Title:	The Soul's Best Portion
Author:	Anne Steele
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

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Notes

This is an excerpt from a much longer treatment of Psalm 39, "When I resolv'd to watch my thoughts," published in Anne Steele's Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, vol. 2, pp. 168-171.

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