It Is Well with My Soul (When Peace, Like a River)

495 It Is Well with My Soul

1. When peace, like a river, attendeth my way,
   When sorrows like sea billows roll;
   Whatever my lot, Thou has taught me to say,
   It is well, it is well with my soul.

Refrain:
   It is well with my soul,
   It is well, it is well with my soul.

2. Though Satan should buffet, though trials should come,
   Let this blest assurance control,
   That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
   And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

3. My sin, oh, 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!

4. And Lord, haste the day when my 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.
                         Horatio G. Spafford
                         Hymns for the Family of God

<idle musing>
I can't believe I haven't posted this one yet! It's one of my favorite hymns. I guess it just doesn't appear in any Methodist hymnals. And it does appear in fewer hymnals than I would have expected, just a few over 500.

Take a minute to read the biography at the link above. I was familiar with the story about the hymn, but I didn't know he and his wife were founders of the American Colony in Jerusalem, or that their adopted son was the one who discovered the Siloam Inscription!

Hymnary.org adds a couple of verse that I wasn't familiar with (read the biography above; it appears they are later additions):

4. For me, be it Christ, be it Christ hence to live:
   If Jordan above me shall roll,
   No pang shall be mine, for in death as in life
   Thou wilt whisper Thy peace to my soul.

5. But, Lord, ’tis for Thee, for Thy coming we wait,
   The sky, not the grave, is our goal;
   Oh, trump of the angel! Oh, voice of the Lord!
   Blessed hope, blessed rest of my soul!

</idle musing>