Elizabeth Payson Prentiss was born in Portland, Maine, on October 26, 1818. She was known throughout her life as a saintly woman, who continually practiced the presence of Christ.
On one occasion she wrote:
“To love Christ more is the deepest need, the constant cry of my soul … out in the woods, and on my bed, and out driving, when I am happy and busy, and when I am sad and idle, the whisper keeps going up for more love, more love, more love!”
While ministering to a church in New York City during the 1850s, the Prentiss’ lost a child, and then a short time later their youngest child also died. For weeks, Elizabeth was inconsolable, and in her diary, she wrote, “Empty hands, a worn-out, exhausted body, and unutterable longings to flee from a world that has so many sharp experiences.”
During this period of grief, Elizabeth began meditating upon the story of Jacob in the Old Testament, and how God met him in a very special way during his moments of sorrow and deepest need. She prayed earnestly that she too might have a similar experience. She also thought about Sarah Adams’ hymn text, “Nearer, My God, to Thee”. While she thus meditated and prayed, she began writing her own lines in almost the same metrical pattern that Sarah Adams had used in her writing. Elizabeth completed all four stanzas of “More Love to Thee” that same evening; but she never showed the poem to anyone, not even her husband, for the next thirteen years. It was eventually published in 1869 and later made into a hymn.
As we grow older, let us grow more in love with Jesus Christ. Today in prayer, may your heart’s desire to have more love for Jesus.
“More love to thee, O Christ,
more love to thee!
Hear thou the prayer I make
on bended knee.
This is my earnest plea:
More love, O Christ, to thee.” – Elizabeth Payson Prentiss
God’s Word: “This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” – 1 John 4:10
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