Harriet Auber was born in London on October 4, 1773, the daughter of James Auber. She lived a quiet and secluded life spent chiefly at Broxbourne and Hoddesdon in Hertfordshire, dying at Hoddesdon on January 20, 1862.
Although she wrote both devotional and secular poetry, her principal publication was The Spirit of the Psalms (1829), a collection consisting largely of her own versions of the Psalms and original hymns. From this work, about twenty psalm renderings were included in Charles Spurgeon's Our Own Hymn Book (1866). Her most enduring contribution to hymnody is the Pentecostal lyric "Our blest Redeemer, ere He breathed," alongside her Epiphany hymn "Bright was the guiding star that led."
Her psalm versions and hymns from The Spirit of the Psalms that entered common use include "Arise, ye people, and adore" (Easter), "Sweet is the work, O Lord" (Sunday), "With hearts in love abounding" (Psalm 45), "Hasten, Lord, the glorious time" (Psalm 72), "With joy we hail the sacred day" (Sunday), "When all bespeaks a Father's love" (Psalm 91), "Who, O Lord, when life is o'er" (Psalm 15), and "Whom have we Lord, in heaven, but Thee" (Psalm 73).
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