More Love To Thee, O Christ
More Love to Thee, O Christ
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,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
Once earthly joy I craved,
Sought peace and rest;
Now Thee alone I seek,
Give what is best;
This all my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
Then shall my every breath
Sing out Your praise;
This be the only song
My heart shall raise;
This still my prayer shall be:
More love, O Christ, to Thee,
More love to Thee,
More love to Thee!
ELIZABETH PAYSON PRENTISS came from a godly home. Her father, Edward Payson, was a brilliant Bible teacher and a loving father. Her husband, a gifted Presbyterian minister, later became a seminary professor. But despite her many blessings, Prentiss’s life was not easy. She suffered from severe headaches and chronic insomnia. One of her children suddenly died, and a short time later a second child died. At this, Prentiss cried out in anguish, “Our home is broken up, our lives wrecked, our hopes shattered, our dreams dissolved. I don’t think I can stand living for another moment.”
In her room with a Bible and hymnal in hand, she sought comfort. She stopped at Sarah Adams’s hymn “Nearer, My God, to Thee” and read it several times. As she prayed, words came to her: “More Love to Thee, O Christ.”
This is my commandment: Love each other in the same way I have loved you. There is no greater love than to lay down one’s life for one’s friends. You are my friends if you do what I command. I no longer call you slaves, because a master doesn’t confide in his slaves. Now you are my friends, since I have told you everything the Father told me.
John 15:12-15
From the book
