It Is Well with My Soul
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It Is Well With My Soul
When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Refrain:
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, with my soul,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.
Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
Let this blest assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
My sin, oh, the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to the cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
And Lord, haste the day when my faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
Horatio Spafford
It Is Well with My Soul is a very influential hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.
This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the S.S. Ville Du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with another ship, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone." Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.
The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Palestine. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf.
[edit] See also
- American Colony for a summary of the biography of Bertha Spafford Vester, who spent her entire adult life concentrating on relief and charitable work in Jerusalem.
[edit] Trivia
- The hymn is one of the main melodies in the song "Flight of Valor" composed by James Swearingen for the victims of United Airlines Flight 93.
- Christian metalcore band Haste the Day takes its name from the opening line of the last verse.
- Shane & Shane recently recorded this song live on the the album "How Great is our God."
- Peace Like a River, a novel by Leif Enger, is named after this hymn.
- The concert band piece "On a Hymnsong of Philip Bliss," composed by David Holsinger, is based on the melody of this hymn.
- The hymn was covered by the South African group Mahotella Queens for their 2007 release, Siyadumisa (Songs of Praise).
- Fever Drum and Bugle Corps uses the hymn as their corps song.
- Christian band Jars of Clay recorded this song on their album "Redemption Songs".
[edit] References
- SpaffordHymn.com : The original Hymn manuscript penned by Horatio Spafford
- History of Spafford
- Hymn Lyrics
- It Is Well (trumpet performance by Xavier Castellà)
- McCann, Forrest M. (1997). Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources. Abilene, Texas: ACU Press. Pp. 327-328, 520, 597. [ISBN 0-89112-058-0]
