Longing for Immortality

Sad pris'ners in a house of clay

Author: Anne Steele (1760)
Published in 1 hymnal

Representative Text

I. Sad pris'ners in a house of clay,
With sins, and griefs, and pains opprest,
We groan the ling'ring hours away,
And wish, and long to be releast.

II. Nor is it liberty alone,
Which prompts our restless ardent sighs;
For immortality we groan,
For robes and mansions in the skies.

III. Eternal mansions! bright array!
O blest exchange! transporting thought!
Free from th'approaches of decay,
Or the least shadow of a spot!

IV. There shall mortality no more
Its wide extended empire boast,
Forgotten all its dreadful pow'r,
In life's unbounded ocean lost.

V. Bright world of bliss! O could I see
One shining glimpse, one chearful ray.
(Fair dawn of immortality!)
Break thro' these tott'ring walls of clay.

VI. Jesus, in thy dear name I trust,
My light, my life, my Saviour God;
When this frail house dissolves in dust,
O raise me to thy bright abode.

Source: Poems on Subjects Chiefly Devotional, Vol. 1 #104

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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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Text Information

Text Information

First Line:	Sad pris'ners in a house of clay
Title:	Longing for Immortality
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.