In Vain Would Boasting Reason Find

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In vain would boasting reason find

Author: Anne Steele
Published in 42 hymnals

Piano/Organ
	Alleluia! Alleluia! (Easy Organ Settings…

Representative Text

1 In vain would boating reason find
The path to happiness and God;
Her weak directions leave the mind
Bewildered in a doubtful road.

2 Jesus, Thy words alone impart
Eternal life, on these I live;
Here sweeter comforts cheer my heart
Than all the pow'rs of nature give.

3 Here let my constant feet abide;
Thou art the true, the living Way.
Let Thy good Spirit be my guide
To the bright realms of endless day.

4 The various forms that men devise
To shake my faith with treach'rous art
I scorn as vanity and lies
And bind Thy Gospel to my heart.

Source: Evangelical Lutheran Hymnary #254

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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:	In vain would boasting reason find
Title:	In Vain Would Boasting Reason Find
Author:	Anne Steele
Meter:	8.8.8.8
Language:	English
Copyright:	Public Domain

1 Corinthians 1:18
(hymns)

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Notes

In vain would boasting reason find. An altered form of Anne Steele's “Jesus, the spring of joys divine," beginning with stanza 2 (p. 1089, ii. 15).

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, New Supplement (1907)

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Tune

HARMONY GROVE (Oliver)

MENDON (17151)

MELCOMBE (Webbe)

Also known as: ST. PHILIPS BENEDICTION GRANTON NAZARETH MELCOMBE was first used as an anonymous chant tune (with figured bass) in the Roman Catholic Mass and was published in 1782 in An Essay on the Church Plain Chant. It was first ascribed to Samuel Webbe (the elder; b. London, England, 1740; d.…

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