Another hymn recalled from my youth is being entered into the series Then Sings My Soul: The Hymns of My Youth this weekend, this one representing a familiar longing for many.
Eliza Edmunds Hewitt was born June 28, 1851 in Philadelphia, PA. Valedictorian of her class at the Girls Normal School in Philadelphia, she went on to a teaching career in the public schools of Philadelphia. (She looks like a school teacher, doesn’t she?) One day while she was disciplining a pupil, the boy struck her across her back with a heavy piece of slate. This serious injury became a spinal condition that confined her to a bed for some time in a heavy body cast. Upon its removal she wrote a song of gratitude called “There is Sunshine in my Soul Today.” She was an invalid most of the remainder of her life, but continued writing, becoming a prolific writer of Sunday School literature, and poems. Some suggest it may have run in the family — her cousin was hymnist Edgar Stites.
As she continued to write, musicians became aware of her many poems and began setting some of them to music. In later years, Miss Hewitt’s condition improved to the point where she could become more involved in ministry. She never strayed far from Philadelphia, she was Sunday School superintendent at the Northern Home for Friendless Children, and later at the Calvin Presbyterian Church. Hewitt became a close friend of Fanny Crosby, and the two would often visit and discuss hymns they had written. “More About Jesus” was set to music by John Sweney and published in 1887. Eliza Hewitt died in Philadelphia on April 24, 1920 and was buried in Woodlands Cemetery in Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania.
More about Jesus
More about Jesus would I know,
More of His grace to others show;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.More, more about Jesus,
More, more about Jesus;
More of His saving fullness see,
More of His love Who died for me.More about Jesus let me learn,
More of His holy will discern;
Spirit of God, my teacher be,
Showing the things of Christ to me.Refrain
More about Jesus; in His Word,
Holding communion with my Lord;
Hearing His voice in every line,
Making each faithful saying mine.Refrain
More about Jesus; on His throne,
Riches in glory all His own;
More of His kingdom’s sure increase;
More of His coming, Prince of Peace.Refrain
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