Sweet is the Spirit's strain

Author: Joseph Anstice

Anstice, Joseph , M.A., son of William Anstice of Madeley, Shropshire, born 1808, and educated at Enmore, near Bridgwater, Westminster, and Ch. Church, Oxford, where he gained two English prizes and graduated as a double-first. Subsequently, at the ago of 22, he became Professor of Classical Literature at King's College, London; died at Torquay, Feb. 29, 1836, aged 28. His works include Richard Coeur de Lion, a prize poem, 1828; The Influence of the Roman Conquest upon Literature and the Arts in Rome (Oxford prize Essay); Selections from the Choice Poetry of the Greek Dramatic Writers, translated into English Verse, 1832, &c. His hymns were printed a few months after his death, as:— Hymns by the late Joseph Anstice, M.A., formerly Student… Go to person page >

Sweet is the Spirit's strain. J. Anstice. [Invitation.] Appeared in his Hymns, 1830, p. 95, in 5 stanzas of 6 lines, and based upon Rev. xxii. 17. In some collections it is considerably altered although the opening line is unchanged. It has been attributed to “J. Austin," but in error.

--John Julian, Dictionary of Hymnology, Appendix, Part II (1907)