It Is Well with My Soul: Historical Origins of the Hymn & the Tune

horatius bafford was born in troy new york in 1828 he moved to chicago where he met and married anna larson in 1861. by 1870 he had become a wealthy senior partner in a large law firm he was a successful businessman having invested heavily in real estate in north chicago he also served as an elder in the presbyterian church the staffords were supporters and friends with the well-known evangelist dwight l moody they lived happily in lakeview with their four daughters they could certainly say at this time in their lives that all was well but their earthly fortunes would soon change on october 8 1871 the ever-present threat of fire in the crowded city of chicago broke out old wooden buildings and sidewalks quickly went up in flames fanned by winds off lake michigan within two days at least 300 people were dead 100 000 homeless and 200 million dollars worth of property destroyed including stafford's real estate investments and law firm by 1873 spafford concerned about anna's health planned a family trip to england to participate in revival services led there by dwight moody and music evangelist ira sankey just before they left their dwindling finances took another hit during the panic of 1873 though he was detained by last minute business concerns he sent anna and the four girls ahead whom he would follow in a few days spafford booked passage for his wife eleven-year-old anna nine-year-old maggie lee five-year-old elizabeth and two-year-old tanetta who joined 308 other passengers aboard the french steamship ville de havre in new york they set sail on november 15 1873 about one week into the crossing at 2 am on november 22nd the vilde halva collided with the iron hold scottish ship the loch iron the loch iron rang the ship's bell and ported its helm while they build a hover put to starboard but it was too late the vildejavra was nearly broken in two anna hurried her daughters from their birth to the deck where all was chaos having been told that the ship would soon sink there she knelt down and prayed that god would either save them or make them willing to die the vildejavra sank into the cold murky waters of the atlantic in only 12 minutes 226 souls were lost while rowing a small boat a sailor spotted a woman clinging to a piece of the wreckage it was anna still alive but all four of her daughters had drowned another vessel landed them in cardiff wales nine days later there she cabled her husband the famed message that began saved alone what shall i do one of the ship's survivors later recalled anna saying god gave me four daughters now they have been taken from me someday i will understand why horatio immediately left chicago for liverpool as he crossed the atlantic the captain called horatio to his cabin to say that by his best reckoning they were passing over the spot where his daughters perished he wrote to his wife's half-sister on thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean the waters three miles deep but i do not think of our dear ones there they are safe folded the dear lambs irasanki said that dwight moody left his meetings in edinburgh and went to liverpool to comfort the bereaved parents and was pleased to find that they were able to say it as well the will of god be done the staffords returned to chicago where in 1876 they entertained ira sankey in their home for several weeks according to sankey that is when horatio penned the words of the hymn it is well with my soul in commemoration of the death of his children sankey stated that the comforting fact in connection with this incident was that in one of our small meetings in north chicago a short time prior to their sailing for europe the children had been converted as heart-rending as their losses were these events were not the end of the stafford sorrows in 1875 they were blessed with the birth of a son horatio gates spafford ii but before he turned five their son died of scarlet fever however in 1878 in 1881 respectively daughters bertha and grace were born in what is perhaps the most tragic part of the story spafford began to drift away from evangelical truth and adopt unusual notions and questionable business practices he became obsessed with date setting for the second coming a supposed golden earthly age of a thousand years messages and visitations from god a denial of hell false prophecies and many other rather extreme practices with growing opposition spafford and some of his followers found it expedient to leave the country in august of 1881 this messianic sect left for jerusalem where they established the american colony and lived communally to wait for the second coming near the end spafford even imagined himself to be the messiah though this was likely the result of delirium from malaria on october 16 1888 horatio spafford died of malaria anna spafford passed away many years later in 1923. but the tragedies surrounding this hymn did not begin and end with the sinking of a ship spafford penned the famous words of the hymn but philip p bliss composed the tomb which he dubbed viodejov after the ship that took the stafford's daughters the complete hymn was published by bliss and sankey in 1876 it was first sung by bliss himself before a large gathering of ministers hosted by moody on november 24 1876 after christmas only one month later bliss wired d.l moody that he his wife lucy and his two sons paul and george would soon be arriving in chicago in the telegram he said tickets for chicago via buffalo and lake shore railroad shall be in chicago friday night god bless you all forever at the last minute they decided to leave the two boys with bliss's mother philip and lucy departed on a cold blizzardy december 29 1876 at 8 o'clock p.m on crossing over a ravine near ashtabula ohio the bridge carrying the train collapsed and one of two engines and 11 passenger coaches carrying about 160 people plunged 75 feet into the icy river below five minutes later fire broke out and fanned by gale force winds quickly enveloped the wreckage two-thirds of the passengers perished in the wreck and the fire philip however was able to free himself and escape through a window he returned to pull his wife lucy out but found her to be hopelessly pinned in the twisted iron of the wreckage when he found that he could not save her he bravely remained at her side until both were consumed by the flames in 1877 an eyewitness wrote he would not escape by deserting his noble wife and they went home together in a baptism of fire the newspapers reported all that remained was a charred mass no trace of their bodies was ever discovered seven tragic deaths surround this hymn for some the circumstances of life and death could not touch their souls for others the thorns of affliction grew and choked it is difficult to assess how such tragedies influence bafford's theological drift but perhaps one may both take warning and have compassion that there but for the grace of god go any of us yet like others we may hold confidently and exuberantly to the blessed assurance and hope of the gospel for one who rests in christ and his atoning sacrifice nothing in life or death can change his standing with god this is why job despite the horrors of affliction could ask what shall we receive good at the hand of god and shall we not receive evil it is why he could cry out though he slay me yet will i hope in him this is why paul could declare for to me to live is christ and to die is gain and this is why he could say but whatever gain i had i counted as lost for the sake of christ indeed i count everything as lost because of the surpassing worth of knowing christ jesus my lord for his sake i have suffered the loss of all things and count them as rubbish in order that i may gain christ and be found in him not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law but that which comes through faith in christ the righteousness from god that depends on faith that i may know him and the power of his resurrection and may share his sufferings becoming like him in his death that by any means possible i may attain the resurrection from the dead this is why jesus said for whoever would save his life will lose it but whoever loses his life for my sake and the gospels will save it for what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul and this is why if we were to take all the losses we experience in life and add them to the loss of death they would never add up to the gain we have in christ and so when sorrows billow over us and threaten to sink us we may confidently sing my sin o 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 so whatever my lot thou has taught me to say it is well it is well with my soul you

Channel: David Depp

Views: 2,792,027

Rating: 4.8871331 out of 5

Keywords: It Is Well, Spafford, Bliss, Moody, Sankey, Ville du Havre, Sorrow, Hope, Hymn Stories, Chicago Fire, Shipwreck, Trainwreck, Ashstabula, Chicago, Ashtablula Bridge Disaster, American Colony, Jerusalem, Horatio Spafford (Author), Philip P. Bliss, Dwight L. Moody, Ira Sankey, Hymns, Hymn Tunes, It Is Well With My Soul (Composition)

Id: iqrya00iY34

Length: 10min 12sec (612 seconds)

Published: Tue Oct 27 2015