The Happiness of the Children of God

Extensive promise! O what hopes divine

Author: Anne Steele (1780)
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

Extensive promise! O what hopes divine,
What rich delight, the gracious words impart!
My father! when my faith can call thee mine,
A ray of heaven illuminates my heart.

Lord, if thy word confirm my heavenly birth,
And bid me say "my father," then I live;
Not all the tenderest, dearest names on earth,
Can half the pleasure, half the transport give.

The Lord Almighty deigns (amazing thought!)
To call us children, (once the heirs of woe,)
Sweet words of consolation, richly fraught
With all the blessings mercy can bestow.

His eye, attentive marks his childrens way,
He guides them safe though dangers lurk unseen:
Though sorrow's gloomy clouds o'ershade the day,
Secure, on his Almighty arm they lean.

His ear, indulgent to their feeble prayer,
Receives each rising wish, each plaintive sigh;
His kind, compassionate, paternal care
Knows all their wants, and will those wants supply.

When foes unnumber'd rise, and fear alarms,
His constant love immediate succour lends,
Encircled in their father's guardian arms,
Foes rise in vain, omnipotence defends.

All needful, present good, his hand provides,
But what their future portion? Angels tell,
(For mortal language fails,) where he resides,
What blooming joys, what boundless raptures dwell.

But not the natives of that glorious place,
Not all the bliss resounding songs above,
Can e'er display the riches of his grace;
Or count the endless wonders of his love.

O could those distant seats of joy impart
A moment of their bliss! how would it raise,
How would it animate this languid heart,
In these dark regions, to begin his praise!

Yet from his word, a bright enlivening ray
Shines on my heart, while all my powers adore;
Jesus, whose wonderous love mark'd out the way,
Jesus, the heavenly friend, is gone before.

Fair mansions in his father's blest abode
That heavenly friend prepares, and joys unknown
By him presented to their Father God,
His children bow before the eternal throne.

In his prevailing, his accepted name,
Father, my soul adores beneath thy feet;
Let his full merits plead my humble claim,
And raise my hope to joy divinely sweet.

Source: Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #58

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 >

Text Information

First Line: Extensive promise! O what hopes divine
Title: The Happiness of the Children of God
Author: Anne Steele (1780)
Language: English
Publication Date: 1780
Copyright: This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1929.

Instances

Instances (1 - 1 of 1)
Text

Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose #58

Suggestions or corrections? Contact us