It is well with my soul
(Original text)
(When peace like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know or say b
It is well, it is well, with my soul.)
Refrain:
It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (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!
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life,
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. a
But Lord, 'tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
Blessed hope, blessed rest of 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,
A song in the night, oh my soul ! c
a The fourth stanza "For me ..." was added later.
b "know" (at the end of the third line) was later changed to "say".
c “A song in the night, oh my soul” (last line) was later changed to
“Even so, it is well with my soul”.
It Is Well With My Soul is a hymn in the words of the US attorney Horatio Spafford.
Emergence
Spafford wrote the text after traumatic personal events. First, the Great Chicago Fire ruined the successful lawyer who had invested in real estate in the fire-ravaged part of Chicago. Its businesses suffered again from the recession of 1873. So he wanted to go on vacation to Europe with his family and help his friend, evangelist Dwight Lyman Moody , and Ira Sankey on an evangelism tour. However, he was temporarily held back by business problems in Chicago while his family advanced on the Ville du Havre . While crossing the Atlantic, the ship collided with Loch Earn on November 22, 1873 and sank rapidly. All four of the family's daughters aged 11, 9, 7 and 2 died, only his wife Anna survived. She sent him a telegram "Saved alone ..." ("The only one saved"). Shortly afterwards, when Spafford was traveling to see his grieving wife, he is said to have received the inspiration for the words of the song when he passed near the place where his daughters had died. Another version puts the origin of the text on a visit by Moody and Sankey to Spafford's house two years later.
The couple later had three other children. The son Horatio Goertner Spafford died of scarlet fever in 1876 at the age of 4 . The daughters were Bertha Hedges Spafford (born March 24, 1878) and Grace Spafford (born January 18, 1881).
Her Presbyterian congregation saw the Spafford tragedy as "God's punishment" and Moody himself found herself in a crisis of faith. In response, the Spaffords formed their own messianic sect, dubbed the "Overcomers" by the American press. In 1881 the Spaffords emigrated to what was then Turkish-Ottoman Palestine and settled in Jerusalem . They helped found a Christian colony there known as the American Colony . The members - later supported by Swedish Christians - dedicated themselves to philanthropic activity among the inhabitants of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation and without missionary motives. It therefore won the trust of the local Christian, Jewish and Muslim communities. During and shortly after World War I, the American Colony played an important role in supporting these communities through soup kitchens, hospitals, orphanages, and other charities.
Spafford himself died of malaria .
Dubbing
The text was set to music by Philip P. Bliss . The song was first featured in Gospel Songs No. 2 by Ira D. Sankey and Bliss published as Ville du Havre and is perhaps the most significant work in Bliss' repertoire. It was first performed by Bliss personally on November 24, 1876, at a large gathering of preachers organized by Moody.
Shortly afterwards, on December 29, 1876, Bliss and his wife were killed in a railroad accident. When a wooden bridge collapses near Ashtabula , Ohio, the wagons fall into the icy river. Bliss managed to break free, but his wife was trapped. When he returned to help his wife, a fire destroyed the wooden wagons and both were burned.
Aftermath
The hymn can be found in the hymn books of many Christian denominations. The American colony in Jerusalem was the subject of Selma Lagerlöf's novel Jerusalem .
Spafford's daughter Bertha Spafford Vester processed the events in her book Our Jerusalem .
Individual evidence
- ^ History . Kosinski Studio. Archived from the original on March 11, 2013. Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. Retrieved March 26, 2013.
- ↑ a b c www.spaffordhymn.com, accessed June 8, 2016
- ↑ a b c d e f g h It is Well with my soul the Rest of the Stories, accessed June 8, 2016
- ^ A b The American Colony in Jerusalem, 1870-2006 . Retrieved May 2, 2013.
- ^ Forrest M. McCann: Hymns and History: An Annotated Survey of Sources. Abilene , TX : ACU Press ( Memento of the original from January 12, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. 1997, ISBN 0-89112-058-0 , pp. 154, 327-328, 359-360, 520, 597.
literature
- Forrest Mason McCann: Hymns & History: An Annotated Survey of Sources. ACU Press, Abilene, Texas 1997 pp. 327-328, 520, 597. ISBN 0-89112-058-0
Web links
- SpaffordHymn.com original manuscript of the song