Prentiss’ Fictional Heroine - 1831
“I ran after him into the hall, my eyes full of tears, holding out both hands…”
Introduction
Elizabeth Prentiss was a hymnwriter, author, pastor’s wife, mother, and holiness advocate. She is best known for her hymn “More Love, O Christ, to Thee” and the novel Stepping Heavenward. This was written in the form of a diary as if by a selfish girl named Katherine who turned sixteen the day the story began. Katherine eventually becomes aware of her deficiencies and need for grace and grows into a loving, selfless woman. The fictional entry for this day February 20, 1831 is representative of the tenor of the whole book.
Quote
“Feb. 20.-It has been quite a mild day for the season, and the doctor said I might drive out. I enjoyed getting the air very much. I feel just well as ever, and long to get back to school. I think God has been very good to me in making me well again, and wish I loved Him better. But, oh, I am not sure I do love Him! I hate to own it to myself, and to write it down here, but I will. I do not love to pray. I am always eager to get it over with and out of the way so as to have leisure to enjoy myself. I mean that this is usually so. This morning I cried a good deal while I was on my knees, and felt sorry for my quick temper and all my bad ways. If I always felt so, perhaps praying would not be such a task. I wish I knew whether anybody exactly as bad as I am ever got to heaven at last. I have read ever so many memoirs, and they were all about people who were too good to live, and so died; or else went on a mission. I am not at all like any of them.”
Prentiss, Elizabeth. Stepping Heavenward. 1869.