Blessedness of Adoption

Representative Text

1 And can my heart aspire so high
To say—My Father, God?
Lord, at Thy feet, I fain would lie,
And learn to kiss the rod.

2 I would submit to all Thy will,
For thou art good and wise;
Let each rebellious thought be still,
Nor one faint murmur rise.

3 Thy love can cheer the darkest gloom,
And bid me wait serene,
Till hopes and joys immortal bloom,
And brighten all the scene.

4 My Father, God, permit my heart
To plead her humble claim,
And ask the bliss those words impart,
In my Redeemer's name.

Source: Beulah Songs: a choice collection of popular hymns and music, new and old. Especially adapted to camp meetings, prayer and conference meetings, family worship, and all other assemblies... #9

All representative texts • Compare texts ^ top

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 >

^ top

First Line:	And can my heart aspire so high
Title:	Blessedness of Adoption
Author:	Anne Steele
Meter:	8.6.8.6
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

^ top

Notes

And can my heart aspire so high. Anne Steele. [Submission. ] First published in her Poems, &c, new edition, 1780, vol. iii. p. 132, in 4 stanzas of 4 lines, headed, "Filial Submission," and based on Heb. xii. 7. It was included in Sedgwick's reprint of her Hymns, 1863, p. 147. Its use is mainly confined to American collections of various denominations.

-- John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)

^ top