Benjamin Beddome (1717-95) was for more than half a century a Baptist minister at Bourton-on-the-Water, refusing for the sake of his rustic flock the attractions of a call to more conspicuous pastorates. ‘I would rather honour God,’ he said, ‘in a station even much inferior to that in which He has placed me, than intrude myself into a higher without His direction.’ His hymns were written for his own congregation, and usually to suit his sermon for the day. There is not much to choose amongst Beddome’s pious verses. The following lines are interesting since they may, perhaps, have suggested Montgomery’s well-known hymn: Prayer is the breath of God in man, Returning whence it came; Love is the sacred fire within, And prayer the rising flame. It gives the burdened spirit ease, And soothes the troubled breast; Yields comfort to the mourning soul, And to the weary rest. When God inclines the heart to pray, He hath an ear to hear; To Him there’s music in a sigh, And beauty in a tear. To these clerical hymn-writers of the school of Watts must be added the name of Anne Steele (1716-78), daughter of William Steele, timber-merchant and Baptist minister at Broughton, Hants. Miss Steele is the first Englishwoman who takes a permanent place amongst hymn-writers. She has been called the Miss Havergal of the eighteenth century, and so far as popularity and piety are concerned the comparison is fair. She wrote under the name of ‘Theodosia,’ and her hymns were for a hundred years extensively used in Nonconformist worship, and several are to be found in Anglican hymnals. Dr. Watts was her acknowledged model. She cries— O for the animating fire That tuned harmonious Watts’s lyre, To sweet seraphic strains![106] She was so modest and devout, suffered and sorrowed so much, that one is glad to know that some at least of her songs will take their place among the permanent treasures of Christian song. Her hymns are generally improved by the omission of some verses, and by slight changes; but Miss Steele is never guilty of the clumsy and offensive phrases which mar so many contemporary hymns. Her best-known hymns are ‘When I survey life’s varied scene,[107] and ‘Father of mercies, in Thy word.’ Here are a few verses from a hymn on the text, ‘Because I live, ye shall live also’ (John xiv. 19)— If my immortal Saviour lives, Then my immortal life is sure; His word a firm foundation gives: Here let me build and rest secure. Here let my faith unshaken dwell: Immovable the promise stands; Not all the powers of earth or hell Can e’er dissolve the sacred bands. Here, O my soul, thy trust repose! If Jesus is for ever mine. Not death itself, that last of foes, Shall break a union so divine.