****A tribute to the music and faith of Philip Bliss

 

A TRIBUTE TO THE MUSIC AND FAITH OF PHILIP BLISS

 In last week's column about the hymn, I WILL SING OF MY REDEEMER, I noted the tragic train wreck that ended the life of the writer at the age of 38 years. 

Philip Bliss was more than just a hymn writer. He was also a composer, a singer, and an evangelist. His multiple talents are reflected in several other well-known hymns.

He wrote WONDERFUL WORDS OF LIFE for D.L. Moody’s brother-in-law who was about to launch a Sunday School publication. The name of the paper was to be WORDS OF LIFE and he wanted a song that would emphasize the importance of studying the Word of God.

The song was inspired by Peter’s response when Jesus asked him, “Do you also want to go away?” 

Peter answered, “Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life” (Jn. 5:24).

In another great hymn, HALLELUJAH! WHAT A SAVIOR, Philip described our human condition; we are vile, guilty of sin, and utterly helpless. And there is nothing we can ever do to merit God’s forgiveness and grace.

But the Man of Sorrows came and willingly subjected Himself to the shame and scoffing and agony of the cross at Calvary.
Isaiah. said, “The Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” (Isa. 53:6)  
One day, when the Lord returns for those whom He bought, we will sing a new song around His throne, “Salvation and glory and honor and power belong to the Lord our God.”  (Rev. 19:1).  

I GAVE MY LIFE FOR THEE is a song that I rarely used for congregational singing because the lyrics are often misunderstood to imply that we must do something to earn our salvation. But in the proper biblical context, that is not the case.

Frances Havergal wrote the lyrics, but the music score was composed by Philip Bliss. The song poses four questions that center around four action verbs – Give, Leave, Bear, and Bring. 

God’s Word gives us instructive examples as to how we should respond:

God expects us to give to others the same way He has given to us – "freely, abundantly, and running over." (Luke 6:38)

Jesus told the women caught in adultery, “Go now and LEAVE your life of sin.”  (John 8:11)

Since we have been forgiven, we are commanded to “BEAR with each other and... forgive as the Lord forgave you.” (Col. 3:13) 

And what does God expect us to bring? Malachi is clear; God is not pleased with our sacrifices.  Instead, our responses to His grace should be willful, loving sacrifices of praise that come from grateful hearts because of all that He has done. 

So, this song doesn’t really suggest that we must do something to earn God’s favor. That would be an insult to Him. We are saved by grace through faith and now, He wants us to go out into the world to serve Him.

Philip Bliss also wrote the music score for the hymn, IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL, but the words were penned by Horatio Spafford after the tragic death of his children.

We often think of this hymn in the context of comfort for those who are grieving but in the first stanza, we get a glimpse of Spafford’s faith during a time of unbearable grief; “When sorrows, like sea billows roll; Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say, ‘It is well, it is well with my soul.’”

But the hymn has another important dimension. Like Bliss’s, "Hallelujah!  What a Savior," it also addresses our sinful nature. 

In the third stanza, Spafford, in his desperate condition, finds comfort and joy in God’s mercy and grace. “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.”

****COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING

 

Robert was a small boy in mid-18th century England when his father died and so, without the guidance of a male parent in the home, he wandered into the corrupt influence of bad companions.

On one occasion, he and his wild, rowdy gang harassed a gypsy woman. Thy poured liquor into her and demanded that she tell their fortunes for free.

The drunken gypsy pointed directly at Robert and told him that he would live to see his grandchildren. He was startled by that and he thought, “If I am going to have children and grandchildren, I’ll have to change my way of living.”

That incident softened his heart and he wanted to go to church. His companions went with him to heckle the Methodist congregation. But the pastor, George Whitefield was not deterred; he boldly preached a convicting sermon from the text: “O generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come?” (Matt 3:1)

Robert left that evening, fearful and with a deep sense of personal sin that haunted him for three years

.

At the age of 21, he made his peace with God, he trusted Christ for salvation, and he began preparations to become a Methodist preacher. Two years later, in 1757, Robert Robinson wrote the hymn that many believe was autobiographical and prophetic. It certainly seems to reflect his life.

In the last stanza he wrote: “Prone to wander, Lord, I feel it, prone to leave the God I love.”

That phrase caused some to question his salvation. After all, he left the Methodists to become a Baptist and then, later, he developed a very close relationship with a Unitarian preacher. Some say he converted.

However, in a sermon he preached later, Robinson clearly declared that Jesus is God, and that, "Christ in Himself is a person infinitely lovely as both God and man."

That certainly doesn’t sound like errant Unitarian theology.

But then there is an unverified story about an incident in Robert’s old age. While traveling in a stagecoach, a young female passenger began singing, COME THOU FOUNT OF EVERY BLESSING. After a while, she asked him what he thought of her song.

The legend says that he looked at the young lady and, with tears in his eyes, said, "Madam, I am the poor unhappy man who wrote that hymn many years ago, and I would give a thousand worlds, if I had them, to enjoy the feelings I had then."

To which the young woman gently replied, “Sir, the ‘streams of mercy’ are still flowing.”

The story indicates that Robert was deeply touched by the message of his own hymn and His fellowship with the Lord was restored because of the willing witness of a strange Christian.

During his life, he pastored several churches, wrote numerous works on theology, and composed several hymns.

Did Robert Robinson really drift away from the God he loved? I don't know, Maybe, We all experience those times of doubt and are prone to wander. But the second part of that phrase, as well as most of the hymn, is a proclamation of our assurance. Christ has redeemed us with His precious blood and those whom God saves, He seals, and He keeps.

****SOLDIERS OF CHRIST, ARISE

He’s like an old friend; I look forward to seeing him regularly. I come, early in the morning, several times a week and when I look up to the cross on the top of the steeple, he’s always there.

 

I watch him as he scours our church grounds with his laser-like hawk eyes.   From his perch high above the steeple, he stands guard, ever watchful, for snakes and vermin and other pests that might do harm to our people and our property.  And when he sees one, quickly and silently, he unapologetically swoops down for the kill. 

Charles Wesley wrote SOLDIERS OF CHRIST, ARISE in 1747.  He originally titled it, "The Whole Armor of God, Ephesians 6."  It’s one of several battle hymns that have become largely rejected by the modern church because of their militaristic images.

  

At the time, The Church of England was intolerant of those who rejected its false teachings.  Christians were persecuted, their homes were vandalized, and many were stoned, mauled, dragged through the streets, and sometimes killed.

   

Wesley was aware of very real physical battles as he wrote the hymn. Yet the more important theme of his song refers to the spiritual warfare that all Christians face in every age. 

In today’s climate of political correctness and social justice, we are pressured to keep our beliefs to ourselves to avoid offending others. Those who would speak up to defend God’s Truth are accused of being judgmental or intolerant.

It’s easy to avoid controversy and just focus on love and forgiveness rather than standing for the whole truth of God’s Word.  But that is not God’s way.  God has given His church some Steeple hawks; people who guard and protect us from false teachers and false doctrines.  Primarily that responsibility has been assigned to pastors, but we are all called to be vigilant and to fight for truth.

Jude warned us to watch out, “...for certain men have crept in unnoticed, ...ungodly men, who turn the grace of our God into lewdness and deny the only Lord God and our Lord Jesus Christ.  ...these dreamers defile the flesh, reject authority, and speak evil of dignitaries.

“These are grumblers, complainers, walking according to their own lusts; and they mouth great swelling words, flattering people to gain (an) advantage.

“But you, beloved, remember the words which were spoken before by the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ:  how they told you that there would be mockers in the last time who would walk according to their own ungodly lusts.  These are sensual persons, who cause divisions, not having the Spirit.”

And the apostle, Paul, encouraged his young friend, Timothy, to "fight the good fight of the faith." (1 Tim. 6:12).

This hymn encourages us to put on the full armor of God and it reminds us that our strength in the Lord. We should always be ready to defend the truth whenever someone teaches or promotes unbiblical beliefs.  

****THE OLD RUGGED CROSS

Al Smith was often called “Mr. Singspiration” and the “Dean of Gospel Music.” He was a composer, Gospel soloist, song leader, lecturer, and an authority on church music, recording artist, and music publisher.

One night, in the 1940s, He was singing at the Mel Trotter Mission in Grand Rapids. At the close of the evening meeting, he wandered over to Walgreen's drugstore to get a sandwich.  As he was placing his order, an old man with long snow-white hair and thick glasses approached him and asked, "Are you, Al Smith?"

When Al replied, that he was, the old man introduced himself; "I'm George Bennard."

Al Smith had often hoped to someday meet the writer of the hymn, THE OLD RUGGED CROSS, and now, here he was at the food counter in a Walgreen’s drug store.  And, had this encounter never happened, we would not know this story about how George Bennard came to write the hymn. 

Dr. Bennard was an ordained minister in the Methodist Episcopal Church and he was active in the Salvation Army.

As they chatted, George told Al Smith that John 3:16 had always been a favorite verse of his.  The phrase, “He Gave His only begotten Son,” conveyed a sense of great sacrifice. The more he quoted it, the more meaningful it became and always, there was with it a vision of a cross--not a beautiful gold-colored one, but a rough and rugged one--a crude Roman instrument of death- a cross of shame stained with the blood of God's only begotten Son.  And George understood that his Savior's blood was shed for him.

One day as he was imagining that scene, he began to compose the song.  The complete melody came in a matter of minutes, but he stalled on the lyrics; all he could get was, `I'll cherish the Old Rugged Cross.'"  So, he set it aside unfinished.

Sometime later, when he accepted a call to speak at some evangelistic meetings in New York, he felt led to emphasize the theme of the cross.   

At each service, many were coming to Christ, trusting in His finished work at Calvary. More and more the Lord began to reveal to him, the true meaning of His love at Calvary. The meetings so overwhelmed him with the importance of the cross that when he returned to Michigan, he sat down at his desk and immediately began to write the stanzas of the song without hesitation.

When he had finished, he took up his guitar, called to his wife, and sang the completed song to her.  She was thrilled!

Then he sent the manuscript to Charles Gabriel and asked him to harmonize it so that he could have it published.  When Mr. Gabriel returned the finished manuscript, he enclosed a note saying, “You will hear from this song.  When I played and sang it for some friends they said, `God has given you a song that will never die; it has moved our hearts as no other song ever has.'”

With that note, George was humbled as he felt that he could take no credit for writing the song; he was merely an instrument that God used for His glory."

At the end of their visit, that night, at Walgreen’s, the 75-year-old Dr. George Bennard excused himself saying, "I must get back to Albion tonight, for it isn't good for a young fellow like me to be out too late after dark.”

****SO SEND I YOU

Most of you are familiar with the missionary hymn, SO SEND I YOU.   But what you may not know is that the author wrote two different versions. 

(But first, I want to announce that you may obtain your own FREE copies of our hymnbook, from the table at the side entrance of our auditorium.)   

Now, for "The Rest of the Story." -

Margaret Clarkson always hoped that God would call her to serve on the mission field.  In her younger days, she spent seven years working in a mining camp in northern Ontario, Canada.  She was alone with no church or Christian friends.  

One day, while reading her bible, she read John 20:21, "Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so, send I you."

She believed that God must have wanted her in that place for a purpose.  And that’s when she began to write a poem that expresses the miseries and hardships of a missionary’s life.

The poem describes a calling that is unappreciated, underpaid, unloved, rebuked, scorned, scoffed, and burdensome; a life of suffering and loneliness.  She had sacrificed all her personal desires and ambitions to show God's love to hard-hearted people who reviled and hated her.

And that is the background for, and the subject of the hymn that has been called the finest missionary hymn of the 20th century.

Except for ..."The Rest of the Story!"

According to Margaret Clarkson, “...twenty-some years later, after more life-experience and contact with real missionaries, I realized that the poem was really very one-sided; it told only of the sorrows and privations of the missionary call and none of its triumphs. [So,] I wrote another song, in the same rhythm, that sets forth the glory and the hope of the missionary calling.  Above all, I wish to be a biblical writer, and the second hymn is the more biblical one.”

Her first hymn wasn't wrong; it was just self-centered.  It emphasized the failures and frustrations of someone who was striving to do God's work in her own strength.  

Unfortunately, the original hymn was already widely known and accepted before Margaret wrote the revised text that she much preferred.  Both versions are published, side by side, in our hymnbook on pages 310 and 311.  If you were to compare them, you would see how 20 years of serving God had changed her heart.  Now, with self out of the way, she was seeing God's work from a whole new perspective.

   

SO SEND I YOU (with its new subtitle, By Grace Made Strong), declares the great grace of a mighty God who is our strength, our peace, our comfort, and our joy.  He never promised an easy, comfortable life but He does promise that He is with us and will lead us through all our trials and tribulations.  And He uses weak and imperfect people to accomplish His work by His power and for His manifest glory. 

And with my apologies to Paul Harvey, 

now you know "The Rest of the Story."

****GOD LEADS HIS DEAR CHILDREN ALONG

Haldor Lillenas, the founder of the music-publishing company that bears his name, immigrated to the United States from Scandinavia as a young man.  A kind Christian lady befriended him and taught him the English language.  She also taught him about Jesus and, she introduced him to the world of Christian hymns.  One of her favorites, which she sang often, was GOD LEADS HIS DEAR CHILDREN ALONG. 

 

Years later Haldor began to research the origin of that hymn.  What he found was that there is not much information or any reliable records about the author, George A. Young.  He was a poor preacher who worked hard as a carpenter to provide for his wife and family.

 

After years of sacrifice, George was able to build a small house for his family.  But soon after they occupied it, while he was preaching in another community, some gospel-hating young punks set fire to their home.  It was completely destroyed.

In 1903, George Young published his hymn for which he wrote both the lyrics and the score.

   

And that’s about all we would know if Haldor had not dug a little deeper.  Without the modern convenience of Google Search, he discovered that the writer, George Young, had passed away, but that his widow was living in a nearby town.  So, he found an address and he drove out to meet her. 

When he stopped at a gas station to ask for directions, the attendant said, “Sir, that’s the County Poor House, up the road about three miles.  And mister, when I say poor house, I really mean poor house!”

When he arrived, he found a poor, elderly woman, in simple surroundings. But she was rich in spirit; she radiated with joy, and she spoke of how the Lord had guided her and her husband over many years.

She said, “My husband and I were married while we were very young. God gave us a wonderful life together; he led us from day to day. We had so much of Jesus. But then God took him.”

Then she told him, “I am so thankful that God has led me here!  You know, every month, people come into this place to spend the rest of their days.  Many of them are so sad and in such great need of help and comfort.  And so many of them don’t know my Savior.  I have been able to cheer them and introducing them to the Lord Jesus Christ.  Isn’t it wonderful how God leads His children?”

GOD LEADS HIS DEAR CHILDREN ALONG is presumed to be George Young’s personal testimony of his unwavering faith in God, through times of great trials and difficulties.

****JESUS, THOU JOY OF LOVING HEARTS

The hymn, JESUS, THOU JOY OF LOVING HEARTS, comes from a portion of a very long, ancient poem written by Bernard of Clairvaux.  

The first stanza reads like Bernard’s personal testimony.  He was a wealthy nobleman by birth.  He had tasted the “best bliss that earth imparts.”  But he wasn’t satisfied so, he gave up everything and turned to Jesus.

The dictionary defines bliss as supreme happiness; utter joy, or contentment:

What would the world’s best bliss look like for you?  The world has their ideas (money, power, influence, prestige, education, fame, family, good health) but the supreme happiness, the utter joy, the contentment that those things bring are fleeting.  Just when we think we have it, we become bored and want something more.

At one time, John D. Rockefeller was the world’s richest man and first American billionaire.  There is an unverified story about a reporter who asked him, “How much money is enough?” To which he allegedly responded, “Just a little bit more.”

So, how much is enough?  Can we ever get enough to make us happy?  Well, unlike some health and prosperity gospel preachers who claim that “we can have our best lives now,” God’s Word tells us otherwise.

 King Solomon had great wealth, power, notoriety, and unparalleled wisdom, and yet he considered all of life’s best bliss to be vanity.  Listen to some of his words from Ecclesiastics 1.

^“What profit has a man from all his labor?  The eye is not satisfied with seeing, Nor the ear filled with hearing.  There is nothing new under the sun.

“I was king over Israel in Jerusalem.  And I set my heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all that is done under heaven;   I have seen all the works that are done under the sun; and indeed, all is vanity and grasping for the wind.

“And I set my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and folly.  I perceived that this also is grasping for the wind.   For in much wisdom is much grief, and he who increases knowledge increases sorrow.”

The Apostle Paul looked for worldly bliss in his religion. Here is a list of his boasted accomplishments in Philippians 3:

“I was circumcised on the eighth day. 

“I was born a member of God’s chosen people, the Israelites.

“I was part of Israel’s favored clan, the tribe of Benjamin.

“I was a son of Hebrew parents and able to speak the Hebrew language.

“I was a member of the Jewish religion, and part of the most strict and prestigious group of all the Jews, the Pharisees.

“My zeal for God was so great that I even persecuted Christians.

“I was blameless before God; I followed every law of my religion!”

But, Paul too, was unfulfilled and, about his best bliss,  he continued:

“But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus, my Lord… I consider [my accomplishments] as rubbish that I may gain Christ, I want to know Christ.”

The best bliss the world can offer is unsatisfying and fleeting.  In this hymn of prayer, the author points our hearts to the Joy of knowing Jesus.   He is the Fountain of Life, the Light of men, the Truth, and our Good Savior.  He is the Bread of Life for our hungry hearts, and He is the Living Water for our thirsty souls.

He is our Eternal Bliss.


[This is a new hymn for me.  The melody is unfamiliar but it works well with music for other hymns written in the same meter.   Try it to the tune of "O Master, Let Me Walk With Thee."]