Elizabeth Prentiss
1818-1878 19th century
The request to love more, repeated in the hollow of grief and of featureless days.
Who was Elizabeth Prentiss?
A pastor's daughter and a pastor's wife in New York, often ill, she lost two children within a few months. It was in that year that she wrote the hymn that made her known. Her novel Stepping Heavenward and her letters tell of an ordinary life of faith, cut through with grief and household work.
In their own words
More love to Thee, O Christ, more love to Thee.
Once earthly joy I craved, sought peace and rest; now Thee alone I seek, give what is best.
To love Christ more is the deepest need, the constant cry of my soul.