 Bliss home in Rome, Pennsylvania; now the P.P. Bliss Gospel Songwriters’ Museum |
Philip Paul Bliss
Born: July 9, 1838, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.
Died: December 29, 1876, Ashtabula, Ohio. Bliss and his wife died in a tragic train wreck caused by a bridge collapse. He survived the initial impact, but went back into the flames in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue his wife.
Burial: The remains retrieved from the Ashtabula disaster were placed in a common grave marked by a cenotaph in the Ashtabula Cemetery. A cenotaph in memory of the Blisses was also erected in the cemetery at Rome, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1877.
Philip Paul Bliss is the second most famous Christian song
writer in history. Had he lived as long as his peers, Fanny Crosy, Charles
Wesley and Ira Sankey, he may have surpassed them all, as the greatest song
writer of all time and the most widely used singer of all time, but a tragic
accidental train wreck snuffed out his life in his 38th year.
Mr. Bliss was born with a melody in his heart, in a log cabin
home in a mountain region. His father, Mr. Isaac Bliss, was a dedicated
Christian man. The first spiritual recollections that Bliss had of his father
were the daily family prayers. These prayers were ingrained upon childhood
memory, ever to follow him throughout life.
His father was a lover of music and it was through his father
that he developed a passion for singing. They attended the Methodist Church.
When Philip was about six the family moved to Trumbull City,
Ohio, but three years later returned to Pennsylvania, settling in Tioga City.
During the first ten years of his life, the lad had little schooling, save his
father's singing and his mother's teachings. The Holy Bible became an
ever-growing influence in his life.
At the age of ten, he heard the piano for the first time and
it deepened his burden to become a musician. The occasion is worth telling. At
times, he was allowed to go in to town to sell vegetables from door to door.
This was a means of helping the family budget but it also put him in contact
with others.
One Saturday, with his basket of vegetables, the barefooted,
gawky, ten-year-old boy was to hear the sweetest music that he had ever listened
to. The only things that he could play melodies on were reeds plucked from the
marshes. Almost unconscious of what he was doing, he climbed the garden fence of
a country estate and entered the home unobserved. Standing in the door of the
parlor, he listened to a young lady playing the piano, the first he had ever
seen. When she stopped, impulsively, he exclaimed, "O lady, please play
some more!" Somewhat startled, the woman wheeled and saw the awkward,
barefooted boy standing before her and immediately exclaimed, "Get out of
here with your big, bare feet!" The boy was unaware that he had trespassed,
and he went back to the streets crestfallen.
When Philip was eleven years old, in 1849, he left home to
make a living for himself. He was to spend the next five years working in
logging and lumber camps and sawmills. Having a strong physique, he was able to
do a man's work. The next several years took him to many places and tutored him
in many trades.
At the age of twelve, in 1850, he made his first public
confession of Christ and joined the Baptist Church of Cherry Flats,
Pennsylvania. He does not recall a time when he did not love Christ, but this
was the official time of his conversion.
In 1851 he became assistant cook in a lumber camp at $9 per
month. Two years later, he was promoted to a log cutter. The following year he
became a sawmill worker. Between jobs, he attended school. Uncertain as to what
vocation he wanted, he just planned to be prepared for any opportunity that
might arise. He spent some of his money in musical education as well. Young
Philip remained strong in the Lord amongst the rowdy, laboring men of the camp,
although it was not easy, but the spiritual implants of the godly parents were
now bearing fruit. He also began to participate in Methodist camp meetings and
revival services.
At age seventeen, in 1855, he decided that he would take the
final step in preparation for his life's work. He went to Bradford City,
Pennsylvania and finished the last requirements for his teaching credentials.
The next year Philip was the new schoolmaster at Hartsville, New York. When
school was not in session, he hired out for summer work on a farm. In 1857 he
met J. G. Towner who conducted a vocal school in Towanda, Pennsylvania.
Recognizing that young Bliss had an unusually fine singing voice, he proceeded
to give him his first formal voice training. Towner also made it possible for
him to go to a musical convention in Rome, Pennsylvania, later that year. Here
he met William B. Bradbury, a noted composer of sacred music. By the time the
convention was over, Bradbury had talked Philip Bliss into surrendering himself
to the service of the Lord. The strong influence of these men in his life helped
him to decide to be a music teacher. While still in his teens, Philip discovered
that he had ability to compose music. His first composition was sent to George
F. Root with this strange request, "If you think this song is worth
anything, I would appreciate having a flute in exchange for it." He
received the flute.
In 1858 he was appointed a teacher in the Rome, Pennsylvania,
Academy. Here he met a fine young lady named Lucy Young, who was to become his
bride. She was a poet from a musical family and greatly encouraged him in
developing his musical talents. She was an earnest member of a Presbyterian
Church, which he then joined. In later years they were to sing beautiful duets
in the service of Christ. Not quite 21, on June 1, 1859, he married Lucy who was
also his sister's special friend. He had grown to love her deeply and to admire
her for her wonderful Christian life. The young groom worked on his
father-in-law's farm for $13 a month while he continued to study music.
He took music pupils in the evening to supplement his income
and at 22 had sufficient knowledge of music to become an itinerant music
teacher. He went from community to community with a $20 melodeon and an ancient
horse. It was the day of the old-fashioned singing school which was frequently
conducted by a teacher traveling from place to place. Mr. Bliss delighted in
these exercises and his musical ability began to attract the attention of his
friends. As a teacher of one of these schools, he recognized his limitations and
longed to study under some accomplished musician.
His wife's grandmother provided that opportunity in the
summer of 1860, by giving him $30 so that he could attend the Normal Academy of
Music of New York. This meant six weeks of hard study and inspiration. Upon
completion, he took the occupation of professional music teacher in earnest.
Within three years, having attended each summer session and studying the rest of
the year at home, Mr. Bliss was now recognized as a music authority in his home
area, while continuing to travel his circuit. His talent was turning to
composition, and his first published number, Loral Vale, though not a
sacred number, caused him to believe that he could write songs. This number was
published in 1865, one year after it was written.
The Blisses moved to Chicago in 1864 when Philip was 26. It
was here he began to conduct musical institutes and became widely known as a
teacher and a singer. His poems and compositions flowed out with regularity. He
collaborated with George F. Root in the writing and publishing of gospel songs.
In the summer of 1865, he went on a two-week concert tour with Mr. Towner. He
was paid $100. Amazed that so much money could be made in so short a time, he
began to dream dreams. These dreams were short lived. The following week a
summons appeared at his door stating that he was drafted for service in the
Union Army. Since the war was almost over, the decision was canceled after two
weeks, and he was released. He then went on another concert tour but this one
was a failure. However, during the tour he was offered a position with a Chicago
Music House, Root and Cady Musical Publishers, at a salary of $150 per month.
For the next eight years, between 1865 and 1873, often with
his wife by his side, he held musical conventions, singing schools, and sacred
concerts under the sponsorship of his employers. He was becoming more popular in
concert work, not yet directing his full efforts into evangelical singing. He
was, however, writing a number of hymns and Sunday school melodies, and many of
these were incorporated into the books, The Triumph and The Prize.
One summer night in 1869, while passing a revival meeting in a
church where D. L. Moody was preaching, Mr. Bliss went inside to listen. That
night Mr. Moody was without musical help for the singing and Mr. Bliss was aware
of it. The singing was rather weak. From the audience, Philip attracted Mr.
Moody's attention. At the door, Mr. Moody got the particulars about Mr. Bliss
quite quickly and asked him to come to his Sunday evening meetings to help in
the singing any time he could. He further urged him to give up his business and
become a singing evangelist.
Another chance acquaintance came with Major Daniel W.
Whittle, when Mr. Bliss was a substitute song leader in a gospel meeting.
Impressed with his voice, Mr. Whittle recommended the young man for the position
of choir director at the First Congregational Church in Chicago. This was in
1870. The Blisses moved into an apartment in the Whittle home, and while living
there, he wrote two of his most popular hymns, Hold the Fort and Jesus
Loves Even Me. Yearly, new songs were published with many of Bliss's songs
included. His fame began spreading.
In the fall of 1870, Mr. Bliss assumed the additional task of
Sunday school Superintendent at the Congregational Church, which work lasted for
three years until his busy schedule made it impossible for him to continue. His
first Sunday school book, The Charm, was issued in 1871.
Early in 1873 Moody asked Bliss to be his music director for
some meetings in England. Bliss declined and Sankey was then asked to go. Little
did Bliss realize the opportunity he had turned down, for it might have been
"Moody and Bliss" instead of "Moody and Sankey," for that
tour bought Moody into international prominence.
During the winter of 1873 Moody again urged him in a letter
from Scotland to devote his entire time to evangelistic singing. Mr. Bliss was
facing a time of decision. At a prayer meeting, Mr. Bliss placed himself at the
disposal of the Lord, and he decided to lay out a fleece. He would join his
friend Major Whittle, a good evangelist, in Waukegan, Illinois, and see what
would happen. That was March 24-26, 1874. At one of the services as Mr. Bliss
sang Almost Persuaded, the Holy Spirit seemed to fill the hall. As he
sang, sinners presented themselves for prayer and many souls were won to Jesus
Christ that night. The following afternoon, as they met for prayer, Mr. Bliss
made a formal surrender of his life to Jesus Christ. He gave up everything-- his
musical conventions, his writing of secular songs, his business position, his
work at the church, so that he would be free to devote full time to the singing
of sacred music in evangelism, in particular to be Mr. Whittle's song evangelist
and children's worker. At the same time, Mr. Whittle dedicated his life to
full-time evangelism. A gospel team was born. Little did Mr. Bliss know that he
only had two and one-half years to live.
Depending upon the Lord to take care of his wife and two
children, he joined Whittle in a successful evangelistic career. Mr. Bliss
compiled a revival song-book for use in their campaigns entitled Gospel
Songs. It was a tremendous success, bringing royalties of $30,000, all of
which he gave to Whittle for the development of their evangelistic efforts.
Another source mentions $60,000 was made and given to charities. Later when
Moody and Sankey returned from England, Sankey and Bliss combined their
respective books, Sankey's Sacred Songs and Solos with Bliss's book. The
new compilation was called Gospel Hymns and Sacred Songs by Bliss and
Sankey. Mr. Bliss, of course, was elated at this further exposure of his
ministries. Several editions were later published with George C. Stebbins
collaborating also. Meanwhile, the Whittle-Bliss team held some twenty-five
campaigns in Illinois, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Kentucky, Minnesota,
Mississippi, Alabama, and Georgia. The 1875 Louisville, Kentucky, meeting was an
especially good one. Mr. Bliss especially enjoyed working with young people and
often conducted his own "praise meetings." where he would preach and
sing.
On Friday, November 24, 1876, Mr. Bliss sang at a ministers'
meeting conducted by D. L. Moody in Chicago's Farwell Hall. Over 1,000 preachers
were present. A favorite song that was sung, was Are Your Windows Open Toward
Jerusalem. Also, he introduced to the gathering a new song that he had just
written the music for, It is Well with My Soul. He now had one month to
live.
Next, he conducted a service for the 800 inmates of the
Michigan State prison. In genuine repentance, many of them wept as he spoke of
the love of God and sang, Hallelujah, What a Saviour! The last hymn that
he ever sang in a public meeting was one of his own, called Eternity.
Mr. Bliss spent the Christmas holidays with his mother and
sister at Towanda and Rome, Pennsylvania, and made plans to return to Chicago
for work with Moody in January. A telegram, however, arrived asking him to
return sooner, in order to take part in meetings advertised for the Sunday
following Christmas. He wired a message. "Tickets for Chicago, via Buffalo
and Lake Shore Railroad. Baggage checked through. Shall be in Chicago Friday
night. God bless you all forever." He decided to leave his two little
children, Philip Paul age 1 and George age 4, with his mother.
Then, the day that was to stun the Christian world arrived,
December 29, 1876. The train, the Pacific Express, was struggling along in a
blinding snowstorm and was about three hours late on a Friday afternoon. Eleven
coaches pulled by two engines were creeping through the huge drifts, approaching
Ashtabula, Ohio. Passing over a trestle bridge that was spanning a river, the
first engine reached solid ground on the other side but everything else
plummeted 75 feet into the ravine below into the icy water. Later, it was
determined that flood waters had weakened the bridge.
Five minutes after the train fell, fire broke out. Fanned by
gale like winds, the wooden coaches were ablaze. Mr. Bliss succeeded in
extricating himself and crawling to safety through a window. Finding his wife
was pinned under the ironwork of the seats, he returned into the car, and
bravely remained at her side, trying to extricate her as the flames took their
toll. All that remained was a charred mass. No trace of their bodies was ever
discovered. For days it was not known who were among the dead, as there had been
no passenger list. It was tabulated that out of 160 passengers there were only
14 survivors. Later official sources said 92 died. In most cases, there was
nothing to recover.
Mr. Bliss's trunk reached Chicago safely. When it was opened,
it was found that the last song that he had written, before his death, began as
follows: "I know not what awaits me. God kindly veils my eyes" The
trunk contained many hymn-poems which he had not yet written the music for. One
such was My Redeemer, which became world famous, when music was added by
James McGranahan. McGranahan, by the way, age 36 at the time of Bliss's death,
was so moved by the tragedy that he decided to give up his miscellaneous works
and succeed Bliss as Whittle's evangelistic singer.
The funeral was held in Rome, Pennsylvania, where a monument
was erected bearing the inscription, "P. P. Bliss, author, Hold the
Fort!" Memorial services were held throughout the nation for the
beloved couple. No private citizen's death brought more grief to the nation. On
December 31st, D. L. Moody spoke at a memorial gathering in Chicago. On January
5th, a song service was held to honor Mr. Bliss there and 8,000 filled the hall,
and another 4,000 were on the outside.
Here are the stories of a few of his hymns:
Almost Persuaded... Outside of Just as I Am, this has been the most successful gospel invitation song ever written. In the early 1870's, Mr. Bliss was listening to a sermon by Rev. Brundage, a friend of his, in a little church in the east. The preacher closed his appeal with, "He who is almost persuaded is almost saved. But, to be almost saved is to be eternally lost!" These words impressed Bliss so deeply that it led him to write this great hymn.
Hold the Fort... In 1864, General Hood, during the Civil War, was successful in harassing Colonel Sherman's Army from the rear, thereby delaying its advance to the objective. As the situation looked hopeless they saw a white flag waving on a distant mountain twenty miles away signaling this message, "Hold the Fort! I am coming. Sherman." Three hours later the enemy had to retreat as the reinforcements came. In May, 1870, at a special Sunday School meeting in Rockford, Illinois, Whittle's telling of this story greatly moved Bliss. The next day in a Chicago YMCA meeting. Mr. Bliss wrote a chorus on a blackboard and sang for them extemporaneously. The audience joined in and the effect was electric.
Jesus Loves Even Me... One night, MR. Bliss, weary after many days of labor in downtown Chicago, was resting at the Whittle home at 43 South Street. His heart was overflowing with joy and he sat meditating upon Romans 5:5. As he meditated and prayed, with tears in his eyes, he took pencil and paper and wrote, "I am so glad that our Father in heaven, Tells of His love in the Book He has given..."
Let the Lower Lights be Burning... On occasion, Mr. Bliss would travel with Moody and be a participant at his meetings.One time Mr. Moody was telling the story of a shipwreck in one of his messages. On a dark stormy night, a large passenger boat cautiously edged toward the Cleveland harbor. The pilot knew that he could only find the harbor channel by keeping two lower shore lights in line with the main beacon. "Are you sure this is Cleveland?" asked the captain. "Quite sure, Sir," replied the pilot. "Where are the lower lights?" he asked. "Gone out, Sir!" was the reply. The pilot turned the wheel, but in the darkness, he missed the channel. The boat crashed on the rocks and many lives were lost that night. Mr. Moody's closing words were, "Brethren, the Master will take care of the great lighthouse; let us keep the lower lights burning." At the next meeting with Mr. Moody, Mr. Bliss sang this song... Let the Lower Lights Be Burning. It was published in 1874. It is said that this was the favorite hymn of Billy Sunday.
We end this sketch noting It is Well with My Soul whose words were written by Horatio G. Spafford. On November 22, 1873, this preacher and good friend of Mr. Bliss lost his four children in the depths of the Atlantic Ocean, as a result of a collision. Mr. Spafford had sent his wife and children ahead, promising to meet them in France, shortly. He wrote the verses in mid-Atlantic on his way over to join his bereaved wife. He asked Mr. Bliss to write the music for his verses. It was introduced publicly for the first time at the previously mentioned ministers' meeting in Chicago in November, 1876.
Hymns
Bliss home in Rome, Pennsylvania; now the P.P. Bliss Gospel Songwriters’ Museum |
Music