In Christ I've all my soul's desire

Author: Anne Steele

Anne Steele was born at Broughton, Hampshire, in 1717. Her father was a timber merchant, and at the same time officiated as the lay pastor of the Baptist Society at Broughton. Her mother died when she was 3. At the age of 19 she became an invalid after injuring her hip. At the age of 21 she was engaged to be married but her fiance drowned the day of the wedding. On the occasion of his death she wrote the hymn "When I survey life's varied scenes." After the death of her fiance she assisted her father with his ministry and remained single. Despite her sufferings she maintained a cheerful attitude. She published a book of poetry Poems on subjects chiefly devotional in 1760 under the pseudonym "Theodosia." The remaining works were published a… Go to person page >

In Christ I've all my soul's desire. [Christ All in All.] Appeared in the Christian Magazine, 1790, and signed "W. G. Bristol." In 1806, it was transferred, with alterations, to John Dobell's New Selection No. 44, in 5 stanzas of 4 lines. This, the recognized form of the text, is in common use in Great Britain and America, including Snepp's Songs of Grace & Glory, 1872, and the Dutch Reformed Hymns for the Church, N. Y., 1869.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology (1907)