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By Michael Gryboski, Mainline Church Editor Sunday, August 11, 2024

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss dies – Aug. 13, 1878

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (1818-1878), a poet and author who wrote the famous Christian hymn 'More Love to Thee, O Christ.' — Elizabeth Payson Prentiss (1818-1878), a poet and author who wrote the famous Christian hymn "More Love to Thee, O Christ." | Wikimedia Commons

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, a prolific author known for her children’s books and writing the hymn “More Love to Thee, O Christ,” died in Dorset, Vermont, this week in 1878.

The daughter of a Congregational minister who would later marry another Congregational minister, Prentiss authored several books, including the best-selling Stepping Heavenward, which was, for a time, a staple among Sunday school classes.

She and her husband had six children, two of whom did not survive childhood. In 1856, following her 2-year-old daughter Minnie nearly dying, she wrote the hymn “More Love to Thee, O Christ,” which would later be sung at her funeral.

“Faith in suffering was the life theme of author Elizabeth Payson Prentiss,” explains the Lighting the Way Project. “Elizabeth persisted in giving a positive interpretation of suffering as part of God’s unerring plan. In her own life, she accepted suffering and found happiness independent of earthly circumstances.”