MY FAITH HAS FOUND A RESTING PLACE
Words: Eliza E. Hewitt
Music:
HIS EYE IS ON THE SPARROW
Author: Civilla Martin (1905)
Music: Charles Gabriel
History.
Civilla Martin wrote:
"Early in the spring of 1905, my husband and I were sojourning in Elmira, New York. We contracted a deep friendship for a couple by the name of Mr. and Mrs. Doolittle, true saints of God.
Mrs. Doolittle had been bedridden for nigh twenty years. Her husband was an incurable cripple who had to propel himself to and from his business in a wheel chair. Despite their afflictions, they lived happy Christian lives, bringing inspiration and comfort to all who knew them.
One day while we were visiting with the Doolittles, my husband commented on their bright hopefulness and asked them for the secret of it. Mrs. Doolittle's reply was simple: "His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me."
The beauty of this simple expression of boundless faith gripped the hearts and fired the imagination of Dr. Martin and me. The hymn "His Eye Is on the Sparrow" was the outcome of that experience."
The next day she mailed the poem to Charles Gabriel, who supplied the music.
Lyrics
Why should I feel discouraged, why should the shadows come,
Why should my heart be lonely, and long for heaven and home,
When Jesus is my portion? My constant friend is He:
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Chorus:
I sing because I'm happy,
I sing because I'm free,
For His eye is on the sparrow,
And I know He watches me.
"Let not your heart be troubled," His tender word I hear,
And resting on His goodness, I lose my doubts and fears;
Though by the path He leadeth, but one step I may see;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Chorus
Whenever I am tempted, whenever clouds arise,
When songs give place to sighing, when hope within me dies,
I draw the closer to Him, from care He sets me free;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me;
His eye is on the sparrow, and I know He watches me.
Chorus
FAITH IS THE VICTORY
1 JOHN 5:4
Date: 1891
Author: John H. Yates
Music: Ira D. Sankey
Encamped along the hills of light,
Ye Christian soldiers, rise,
And press the battle ere the night
Shall veil the glowing skies.
Against the foe in vales below,
Let all our strength be hurled;
Faith is the victory, we know,
That overcomes the world.
Refrain:
Faith is is the victory!
Faith is is the victory!
Oh, glorious victory,
That overcomes the world.
His banner over us is love,
Our sword the Word of God;
We tread the road the saints above
With shouts of triumph trod.
By faith they, like a whirlwind's breath,
Swept on o'er ev'ry field;
The faith by which they conquered death
Is still our shining shield.
On ev'ry hand the foe we find
Drawn up in dread array;
Let tents of ease be left behind,
And onward to the fray;
Salvation's helmet on each head,
With truth all girt about,
The earth shall tremble 'neath our tread,
And echo with our shout.
To him that overcomes the foe,
White raiment shall be giv'n;
Before the angels he shall know
His name confessed in heav'n.
Then onward from the hills of light,
Our hearts with love aflame,
We'll vanquish all the hosts of night,
In Jesus' conqu'ring name.
IT IS WELL WITH MY SOUL
Author: Horatio G. Spafford, 1828-1888
Musician: Philip P. Bliss, 1838-1876
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."
Refrain:
It is well 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.
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!
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!
HYMN HISTORY:
Unclouded skies and gentle winds do nothing to test our vessel of faith. It takes the storm and tempest to prove the strength of our trust in the Almighty.
The prophet Isaiah records that, God keeps in perfect peace all who trust in Him. (Isa. 26.3).
Nowhere is this truth more aptly illustrated than in the story which accompanies the writing of the hymn "It Is Well With My Soul".
Horatio G. Spafford lived, with his wife and four daughters, in Chicago. He was a lawyer by profession and a devout and sincere Christian.
One day in 1873 he stood on the quayside in Chicago and bid farewell to his family as they set sail to visit relatives in far off Europe. He was not to realise that he would never see most of them again.
Some days later their ship, bound for Le Havre in France collided with another steamship in mid-Atlantic, and sank almost immediately.
Before it did so, however, Mrs Spafford was able to have a prayer with her children and commit them to the mercy of the Lord. That was the last time she would ever see them on this earth.
Fortunately, a lifeboat spotted Mrs Spafford and she was rescued. When she arrived in Britain, with the rest of the survivors, she sent her husband this terse, but telling message: 'SAVED ALONE.'
The words struck Horatio Spafford with full force, and, understandably, plunged him into deep sorrow. He left for England, without delay, to comfort his grief-stricken wife.
The great American evangelist D.L. Moody and his associate, singer Ira D. Sankey, were conducting a campaign in Edinburgh at the time. They were personal friends of the Spaffords and came down to London to give whatever help and comfort they could. They found their friends in surprisingly good spirits, strong in faith and able to say through their tears, 'It is well; the will of God be done.'
Three years after that tragedy, Mr. Spafford wrote his hymn "It Is Well With My Soul", in memory of his four precious daughters. Happily each of them had personally received Jesus Christ as Saviour before embarking on that fateful voyage.
It would be very difficult for any of us to predict how we would react under circumstances similar to those experienced by the Spaffords. But we do know that the God who sustained them would also be with us.
No matter what circumstances overtake us may we be able to say with Horatio Spafford
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.
BIBLE PASSAGE:
2 kings 4:26 "Run now, I pray thee, to meet her, and say unto her, Is it well with thee? is it well with thy husband? is it well with the child? And she answered, It is well."