People today may have a bit of a distrust of lawyers, but in American History, lawyers have played important roles, and several have recorded historical moments in poetry that has endured. Francis Scott Key was a lawyer, who penned The Star Spangled Banner while observing the bombing of Fort McHenry, MD by the British during the War of 1812. Abraham Lincoln wrote poetry, perhaps the most well-known of which is My Childhood Home I See Again. And of course there is Horatio Spafford.
You don’t know Horatio Spafford, you say? He may not be as famous as the other examples, but his poetry has endured in the form of a beloved hymn, It Is Well With My Soul. Spafford was a successful lawyer and business man in Chicago in the mid 1800’s. He was a Bible Scholar and Christian who studied and was friends with D. L. Moody. He and his wife, Anna had 4 daughters. He invested heavily in real estate in 1871, and his finances were devastated by the Great Chicago Fire in October of that year. His faith remained strong.
He and his wife decided to vacation in England in 1873. Moody was to be preaching there, and it would be good to get away. They booked passage on the steamship Ville du Havre. Spafford had some business come up, and sent his wife and daughters ahead, as per there original plans. On November 22, 1873, the Ville du Havre was struck by another ship, the three-masted iron clipper, and sank in just 12 minutes. 226 people were killed. Only 61 passengers and 26 crew members survived. The Spafford’s daughters, eleven-year-old Anna “Annie”, nine-year-old Margaret Lee “Maggie”, five-year-old Elizabeth “Bessie”, and two-year-old Tanetta, all perished. When Anna reached England, she sent her husband a cable that read “Saved alone.”
Spafford immediately left to join his wife, and it was on the voyage across the sea that had claimed the lives of his precious daughters that he penned the words to It is Well With My Soul. He wrote to his sister, “On thursday last we passed over the spot where she went down in mid-ocean, the water three miles deep. But I do not think of our dear ones there. They are safe, folded, the dear lambs, and there, before very long, shall we be too. In the meantime, thanks to God, we have an opportunity to serve and praise Him for His love and mercy to us and ours. I will praise Him while I have my being. May we each one arise, leave all, and follow Him.”
We sang this hymn as we ended our study of Revelation in Bible Study Fellowship. 12 “Behold, I am coming soon, bringing my recompense with me, to repay each one for what he has done. 13 I am the Alpha and the Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end.”
14 Blessed are those who wash their robes, so that they may have the right to the tree of life and that they may enter the city by the gates.15 Outside are the dogs and sorcerers and the sexually immoral and murderers and idolaters, and everyone who loves and practices falsehood.
17 The Spirit and the Bride say, “Come.” And let the one who hears say, “Come.” And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price. (Revelation 22: 13-15, 17)
This is the hope and the certainty that Horatio Spafford had. He and his wife had 3 more children, a son who died of scarlet fever at the age of 4, and 2 daughters who survived into adulthood. His faith and trust in Christ grew. In August 1881, the Spaffords gathered a group of likeminded Christians, who were dubbed by the press as “The Overcomers”, and set out for Jerusalem as a party of thirteen adults and three children to set up the American Colony. They were later joined by Swedish Christians, and engaged in philanthropic work amongst the people of Jerusalem regardless of their religious affiliation—thereby gaining the trust of the local Muslim, Jewish, and Christian communities.
When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
When sorrows like sea billows roll;
Whatever my lot, Thou hast taught me to know, (changed to say in subsequent publication)
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 hath regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.
(Refrain)
My sin, oh the bliss of this glorious thought!
My sin, not in part but the whole,
Is nailed to His cross, and I bear it no more,
Praise the Lord, praise the Lord, O my soul!
(Refrain)
For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
If Jordan above me shall roll,
No pain shall be mine, for in death as in life
Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul. (This verse was not part of the original poem, but was added by Spafford later.)
(Refrain)
And Lord haste the day, when the faith shall be sight,
The clouds be rolled back as a scroll;
The trump shall resound, and the Lord shall descend,
Even so, it is well with my soul.
(Refrain)
Praying you know and feel this blessed assurance.
Soli Deo Gloria,
Diane