Divine Compassion

The Lord forgets his wonted grace

Author: Anne Steele (1760)
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

I. The Lord forgets his wonted grace,
Afflicted Zion said;
My God withdraws his smiling face,
Withdraws his heav'nly aid.

II. Shall the kind mother's gentle breast
No soft emotion share;
But, ev'ry tender thought supprest,
Forget her infant care?

III. The helpless child, that oft her eyes
Have watch'd with anxious thought,
While her fond breast appeas'd his cries—
And can he be forgot?

IV. Strange as it is, yet this may be,
For creature-love is frail;
But thy Creator's love to thee,
O Zion, cannot fail.

V. No, thy dear name engraven stands,
In characters of love,
On thy almighty Father's hands;
And never shall remove.

VI. Before his ever-watchful eye
Thy mournful state appears,
And ev'ry groan, and ev'ry sigh
Divine compassion hears.

VII. These anxious doubts indulge no more,
Be ev'ry fear supprest;
Unchanging truth, and love, and pow'r,
Command thy cares to rest.

Source: Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, Vol. 1 #80

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: The Lord forgets his wonted grace
Title: Divine Compassion
Author: Anne Steele (1760)
Language: English
Publication Date: 1760
Copyright: This text is in the public domain in the United States because it was published before 1929.

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Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, Vol. 1 #80

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