It Is Well With My Soul

Copyright 2013 PJ Stassen

All Rights Reserved

When sorrows come, they come not single spies, but in battalions! (King Claudius, Hamlet).

-      William Shakespeare, 1564-1616.

   Take a moment to reflect on the circumstances under which this hymn was written by Horatio Spafford after the following traumatic events in his life (according to Wikipedia):

·        The first was the death of their only son from Scarlet Fever in 1870

·        Second was the1871 Great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer and had invested significantly in property in the area of Chicago which was decimated by the great fire)

·        His business interests were further hit by the economic downturn of 1873 at which time he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre. In a late change of plan, he sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, 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 travelled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.^[3] Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.^[4]

   Wikipedia further remarks:  “The Spaffords later had three more children. In 1881, the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel. 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”.^[3]  (Wikipedia, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/It_is_well_with_my_soul).  
   The music was written by Philip P. Bliss.

YouTube

It Is Well With My Soul

(Horatio G. Stafford, 1828-1888/Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876)

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.

Tho Satan should buffet, tho trials should come,

Let this blest assurance control,

That Christ hath regarded my helpless estate

And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

My sin ‒ O the bliss of this glorious thought ‒

My sin, not in part, but the whole,

Is nailed to the cross, and I hear 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.

CHORUS

It is well (It is well) with my soul (with my soul)

It is well, it is well with my soul.

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Bibliography

1.     Andrews, Allen (1969)   Quotations For Speakers And Writers.  Newnes Books.  Hamlyn Publishing Group Ltd. London.

2.     Peterson, John W. (1966)   Great Hymns Of The Faith. ‘It Is Well With My Soul’.  Singspiration.  Zondervan Publishing House.  Grand Rapids, Michigan.