Speaker: Hymn Story narrator (not Pastor Ryan Rench; narrator not named in the video)
Philip Paul Bliss, perhaps one of the most influential hymn writers of the nineteenth century, left behind a long legacy of gospel songs. He spent his early years working on a farm and in lumber camps before pursuing a career in music. His talent for songwriting quickly became obvious, and at the age of twenty-six he sold his first song. He eventually took a position with a hymn publisher, where his work gained great recognition. When evangelist D. L. Moody encouraged him to use his musical gifts in ministry, Bliss obliged and became a singing evangelist in 1874. One of his most beloved hymns, “Hallelujah, What a Saviour!”, was published the next year, in 1875. It is obvious that Bliss got his inspiration for this hymn from Isaiah 53:3: “He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief: and we hid as it were our faces from him; he was despised, and we esteemed him not.” This hymn so wonderfully shows us why Jesus, the Man of Sorrows, came and rescued us from our sins. Each stanza ends with the phrase “Hallelujah, what a Saviour!” This is the only proper response to what Jesus has done for us.
Bliss’s life was tragically cut short just a year after publishing this hymn. On December 29, 1876, he and his wife, Lucy, were aboard the Pacific Express, heading to Chicago to help D. L. Moody’s ministry. As the train approached Ashtabula, Ohio, only about a thousand feet from the railroad station, the bridge beneath suddenly collapsed, sending the coaches plunging into the icy river below. Fueled by oil lanterns and coal stoves, the wooden train cars quickly caught fire. It was said that Bliss initially escaped the fiery crash but rushed back into the burning coach to rescue his wife. In the end, neither Bliss’s nor his wife’s remains were ever recovered. The disaster claimed the lives of approximately 92 passengers, making it one of the deadliest train accidents in United States history. Though his life ended in tragedy, God continues to use the work of Bliss’s hands. These hymns are still sung around the world today, proclaiming the timeless truth that made them so famous in the first place.
