be the parting cry
My heart shall raise;
This still its prayer shall be,
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee.

Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, 1856.

A HYMN THAT GREW OUT OF SUFFERING

The fruits of a sanctified life are often seen long after the person who
lived that life has ceased from earthly strivings. This was true in a
very special sense of Elizabeth Payson Prentiss, author of "More love to
Thee, O Christ." Although it is fifty years since Mrs. Prentiss went home
to glory, her beautiful Christian life still radiates its spirit of trust
and hope through her hymns and devotional writings.

As a child she was blessed with an unusual home. Her father, Edward
Payson, was one of New England's most famous clergymen, revered and
beloved by thousands because of his saintly life. It is said that after
his death the name of "Edward Payson" was given in baptism to thousands
of children whose parents had been blessed through his consecrated
ministry.

The daughter, who was born in 1818, was much like her father. Spiritually
minded from childhood, she possessed unusual gifts as a writer. When she
was only sixteen years old she contributed verses and prose to "The
Youth's Companion." Later she taught school at Portland, Me., her
birthplace, and in Ipswich, Mass., and Richmond, Va., at each place being
greatly beloved by her pupils.

In 1845 she became the bride of Rev. George L. Prentiss, who later was a
professor in Union Theological Seminary, New York City.

Her home life was beautiful. Those who knew her best, described her as "a
very bright-eyed little woman, with a keen sense of humor, who cared more
to shine in her own happy household than in a wide circle of society."

But all the while she was carrying a heavy burden. Throughout life she
was a sufferer, and scarcely knew what it meant to be well. Chronic
insomnia added to her afflictions, but as her body languished under
physical chastening her spirit rose above pain and tribulation, daily
growing more radiant and beautiful. It was out of these trying
experiences that she wrote her famous story, "Stepping Heavenward." The
purpose of the book, as she herself explained, was "for strengthening and
comforting other souls."

It met with instant success, more than 200,000 copies being sold. It also
was translated into many foreign languages. Another story, "The Flower of
the Family," likewi