Millions of people have found comfort in the great gospel hymn “It Is Well with My Soul” since it was written more than a century ago. But few people know the tragic story behind the composition of the hymn–a story of a soul finding peace in God even in the midst of grief and loss.
We pick up the story in 1871, the year of the great Chicago fire. One man who was particularly hard hit by the fire was a Christian named Horatio Spafford, who had invested heavily in real estate along Lake Michigan. The great fire wiped out Spafford’s holdings.
This was not the first disaster to strike Spafford and his wife. Only a short time earlier they had suffered the loss of their son. Yet, even worse was to come.
Two years later, Spafford decided to take his wife and four daughters to Europe on vacation, where Spafford planned to assist his friend evangelist Dwight Moody in running an evangelistic campaign in Great Britain. But last minute business kept Spafford home in Chicago. He sent his wife and children ahead on the oceanliner S.S. Ville du Havre.
And then, tragedy struck. Halfway across the Atlantic, an English vessel rammed the Ville du Havre and cut her in two. In the chaos that followed, Mrs. Spafford watched helplessly as her four daughters were swept overboard to their deaths. Within just twelve minutes the ship had sunk.
The rescued survivors were taken to Wales. From there Mrs. Spafford cabled the terrible news to her husband, who was awaiting news of his family’s fare. The cable consisted of just two words: “Saved alone.”
Spafford immediately boarded the next ship and set off for Wales to be with his wife.
As his ship approached the mid-Atlantic, he looked out over the billowing waves that had taken the lives of his beloved daughters. Inspired by the sight, Spafford wrote the words of his now famous hymn:
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.
What an astounding sentiment! We can only imagine the grief he must have suffered — how he must have prayed and wept and searched for meaning in the tragedy. But in the end, he was able to affirm a deep faith that, for the believer, “it IS well,” even in the face of great personal suffering. The greatest hymns are those that speak out of the warp and woof of a flawed and fallen world — that give expression to our deepest fears and hopes.
Music helps us express thoughts too profound for simple prose, and gives melody to the richest experiences of faith. And as the life of Horatio Spafford teaches us, music can flow from a wounded heart to soothe and bless Christians for generations to come.
(c) 1998 Prison Fellowship Ministries
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Version by Rev. Alan Carr in “A Tearful Moment,” sermon #19910:
In 1871, tragedy struck Chicago as fire ravaged the city. When it was finally extinguished, the fire had taken over 300 lives and had left some 100,000 homeless. A man by the name of Horatio Spafford was one of those who tried to help the people of the city get back on their feet. Spafford was a Chicago lawyer who had invested heavily in the downtown area and lost everything as a result of the fire.
More tragically, Spafford had also suffered the loss his only son just a year earlier. Still, for two years Spafford assisted the homeless, the poor, the grief-stricken and others ruined by the fire.
It drained the family and they decided they needed a vacation. They were to go to England to join Moody and Ira Sankey on one of their evangelistic crusades, then travel in Europe. Mr. Spafford was delayed by some business, but sent his family on ahead. He would catch up to them on the other side of the Atlantic.
Their ship, the Ville de Havre, never made it. Off Newfoundland it collided with an English sailing ship and sank within 20 minutes. Though Horatio’s wife, Anna, was able to cling to a piece of floating wreckage (one of only 47 survivors among hundreds), their four daughters were killed. Horatio received a horrible telegram from his wife, only two words long: “Saved alone.”
Spafford boarded the next available ship to be near his grieving wife. When the ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, Spafford penned these precious words:
When peace, like a river attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll.
What ever my lot, Thou hast taught me to say,
It is well, it is well, with my soul.