Almost Persuaded -- Philip Paul Bliss

 

Do you think that someone might have said to this author ‘Thank God you were not just “Almost Persuaded”, and let slip away the memory of that sermon that coaxed your poem’? If ever he were asked, Philip Paul Bliss might have responded that the minister whose words rang in his ears deserved some measure of credit for what Philip would write.  The minister that sparked Philip’s imagination was preaching to a crowd that was sitting and looking up at him from pews (maybe not too different from these shown here), but he could not have really expected that one of these seats would be the birthplace of a song that very day. Given what he had to say to conclude this sermon, he must have instead hoped that this would be the spiritual birthplace of one or more souls who would be moved by his words – that someone would accept God at that very moment. But even if no one responded to this minister’s plea on that occasion, Philip’s resulting song would have the desired impact more than once in future years. And, it’s a sermon that just keeps preaching, over 150 years later.

 

Philip Bliss had written enough songs by the time he sat in a church in 1871, that he had probably grown something like musical antennae, and could sense when a special moment was happening, when a song might be emerging. And so, the message he heard from a minister named Brundage resounded in the 33-year-old heart of Philip that day, especially during what we might say was the ‘altar call’ the minister made at his sermon’s conclusion. Perhaps this Minister Brundage had actually heard someone procrastinate to his face with the very words ‘You almost persuaded me’. Was he also perchance preaching about how an ancient king named Agrippa once used similar words to stiff-arm a persistent evangelist like himself (see Acts 26:27-28)? Many accounts of the song’s impact are recorded later, especially those in which Ira Sankey, a fellow songwriter of the time, was present to capture those moments when listeners to a message took action. They weren’t part of the almost crowd. But, tragically, at least one other episode ended with an Agrippa-like outcome – almost, but not yet.  How many people wrote or spoke to Philip about these gnawing words, how they pierced the tough, calloused heart of someone? Philip must have had his own memories of one or more malingerers, of those who just had other things more urgent on their agendas. It’s not a ‘convenient day’  (v.1), they might have said, or perhaps they avoided hearing the ‘prayers rise from (other) hearts so dear’ (v.2), or especially did not appreciate that ‘doom comes at last’  with a ‘bitter wail’ (v.3). These sound almost like personal memories, don’t they?

 

The words of Philip and the minister who first spoke them are like cattle prods, if you are that procrastinator, a postponing kind of person. ‘Get up from that seat!’, Philip would say. Delay no longer! You know deep-down what you should do, so what’s holding you back? If you could just see your future alternatives clearly, perhaps that would be the spur to action. But, God must have your faith, first. And, that means doing this without seeing it, first. That makes this thing something that can be side-stepped, if you’re the kind who demands concrete evidence. Yet, consider this: you’re headed somewhere, to a place that no one has ever returned from with concrete evidence. Will that ever change? This is a sightless adventure, so taking a somewhat blind plunge will be required.  And, almost won’t be close enough. Join the rest of us, who’ve been persuaded, and convinced. You won’t be sorry you left almost in the rear view mirror.  

 

See more information on the song story in this source: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006.

 

See the link here for the story also: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/a/l/m/o/almostpe.htm

 

See here for author information: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/bio/b/l/i/s/bliss_pp.htm

More Holiness Give Me – Philip Paul Bliss

Philip Paul Bliss was a 35-year old singer, musical publishing house composer, and teacher when he evidently was being pulled in another direction. His utility up to that point had been the music he could contribute, although he must have been drawn by its effect, too. It was 1873, and he may have felt something was still missing, as he wrote out something he called “My Prayer”, probably while in the Chicago area. It’s more commonly known by its first few words – “More Holiness Give Me” – but that’s not really broad enough to cover all he said in three verses. He wanted 24 ‘mores’, and perhaps those gaps were what compelled his response to another direction’s call shortly thereafter.  

Philip Bliss had a musical gift that had been incubating for many years, and which would reach its conclusion just a few years after he wrote out this prayer song. His parents’ nurture must have played a part in his faith and musical development –his father, a Methodist and musical lover, and his mother who taught him from the Bible. But with little formal education by the time he was in his mid-teens, much of his musical skill was indeed latent. This was until he met a musical teacher who recognized his potential, and later his soon-to-be wife who further influenced his musical growth. Philip taught and toured as a young man, and soon turned to composing with Root and Cady Publishers in Chicago. But, he was also being coaxed to pursue evangelism full-time, particularly by Dwight Moody who was convinced Bliss’ musical gift could achieve much in the missionary field. By 1874 Bliss indeed did listen to the missionary call, joining the Civil War veteran Daniel Whittle in this effort. Perhaps the words he wrote shortly before he made this commitment show how deeply he contemplated his life’s meaning. Though he had been producing gospel songs, the words he wrote in “My Prayer” suggest he still pondered if he wasn’t missing something, many things in fact. The earnest persuasion of Moody and others spurred this introspective moment Bliss recorded, and what he did a few months or a year later show his reflection was genuine. He wanted to draw closer to Him, and must have become convinced that evangelism was how he wanted to reply. Had he known his and his wife’s lives would end suddenly in a train wreck two years later, Philip Bliss might have appreciated still more how God was speaking to him through the music he wrote and sang.   

Did Philip Bliss find his prayer was answered? What he wanted was much more, so it would be illuminating to know if he found at least a little more. Some of his ‘more-s’ sound like human modifications he sought –patience, striving-effort – so one wonders if God really thought that was wise. Should a child seek instead to become more like the Being he wants to emulate, and so work on trust, faith, purity, etc.? One who observed Bliss in his final days says he did seem to exhaust himself trying to get one more -- more joy, interestingly enough. He didn’t think more of that was possible here on earth. What do think he might say about where he is now?

 

Main source for the song’s story and its verses are at this link: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/m/o/r/e/moreholi.htm

Also see a portion of this account in this link chapter: http://www.biblebelievers.com/bliss/mem_ch27.html

See the song’s verses here also: http://www.hymnary.org/text/more_holiness_give_me

Biography of the composer here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Bliss

A much more extensive biography of the composer is here: http://www.biblebelievers.com/bliss/memindex.html
 
Brief bio on the company where the composer worked up to the time when song was published: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Root_%26_Cady

Let the Lower Lights Be Burning -- Philip P. Bliss

It must have been an illustration that was unique, involving perhaps the speaker’s delivery or the poignancy of the story’s ending, capturing Philip Bliss’s attention one night, causing him to imagine and create a song. “Let the Lower Lights Be Burning” were actually some words that Bliss’s friend spoke that gave him the mental picture and the words he needed to spark this musical creation in 1871. Had the 33-year old Bliss been at sea before, heightening his awareness as he listened to the speaker that night?  Did he know someone who needed to heed the words he composed? What are lower lights, and why are they apparently necessary if we have lighthouses (like the one shown here)?

Philip Paul Bliss was a gifted hymn-writer of the 19^th Century whose career output was only abbreviated because of his untimely death, five years after he composed this song about lights. He reportedly heard many messages that spurred the poetry he composed, including through the well-known speaker Dwight Moody.  It was one of Moody’s stories, told of a ship that foundered on a rocky shoal in Lake Erie outside of Cleveland, that gave him the inspiration for “Let the Lower Lights…”. From a far distance, a lighthouse is all a sailor needs to safely guide his navigation, but that changes the closer one draws to land. Rocks and sandbars are a deadly hazard, which ‘lower lights’ illuminate – if they’re working. One hardly hears about these lights, perhaps because the bigger, more obvious lighthouses get the attention. In Moody’s narrative, the failure of these lower lights left the ship blind, and ultimately wrecked with loss of life. The analogy is clear. God – the lighthouse – never fails, but we mortals cannot do without other, lesser lights to help us through difficult passages. Moody and Bliss wanted their hearers to notice that in God’s Divine wisdom, He needs us to watch out for each others’ welfare – we’re lights for our peers. I warn you, and you warn me, when danger is nearby. You and I help protect each other.

Whatever trails he followed, Philip Bliss needed others to help his feet see the hazards, just like any of us. Ironically, it was a train wreck due to a collapsed bridge that ended the composer’s life in 1876. Mortality touches all of us. What about the life of my soul - what threatens it? These are easier to discount, since no immediate, tangible, penalties may result. But, Bliss and Moody would warn us of these, and the ‘Father’s mercy’ (verse 1) and ‘sin’ (verse 2) we need to see. These fellows traveled a lot, spreading the news about God, so they must have been conscious of things that might go wrong along the way, including transportation that would falter. Whether it’s by land, or sea, or air, no method is failsafe, particularly when it gets dark. Is there a light where you’re headed? If you’re safe, even after tripping, are you warning that next person behind you?

See more information on the song story in these sources: The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs by William J. Petersen and Ardythe Petersen, Tyndale House Publishers, 2006; Amazing Grace: 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1990; and 101 More Hymn Stories, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, Kregel Publications, 1985.

Also see these links: http://www.hymntime.com/tch/htm/l/e/t/letlower.htm

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Bliss

Wonderful Words of Life -- Philip P. Bliss

He paraphrased some basic words from an ancient follower, as he crafted something to complement a fellow believer’s venture. That’s the genesis of Philip Paul Bliss’ creation known as “Wonderful Words of Life” in 1874. Would Bliss have had as much of a challenge with his ‘words of life’ as their first speaker? Did he consult a dictionary (like one shown here)? Did the addition of ‘wonderful’ intentionally underscore their value, because His—the Lord’s-- words in their original context had proven so complicated and baffling? It is often tough to share words, especially God’s, that will elicit a positive response from the hearer who’s a skeptic. Bliss had a way with words, though, that allowed him to make music and draw hearers, a talent that his collaborator drew upon.

  

Philip Bliss was doing in 1874 what he’d recently come to believe was his life’s calling. He’d been engaged seriously in music for over 15 years, as a student, teacher, singer, and composer, but by his mid-30s he decided that spreading the story of Christ was paramount. He’d been associated with Dwight Moody’s efforts for a few years, and with some urging turned his life completely toward evangelism. Moody’s brother-in-law Fleming Revell must have also played a significant role in Bliss’ decision, too, so it wasn’t surprising that he thought of Bliss as he pondered how to best make his own evangelistic effort that year. He wanted a song to accompany a publication he was beginning, and suggested to Bliss that something to go with his “Words of Life” journal would work well. He also apparently suggested one episode in Jesus’ life of teaching (John 6:60-68) that culminated with the apostle Peter’s assertion that Jesus’ words are life. It’s interesting that this particular story occurred to Revell, since Jesus’ words there are actually pretty tough for many of His hearers to swallow. Their bizarre, even revolting, character make Peter’s response to them intriguing. What really made the apostle Peter assert with such apparent conviction that ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life. We have come to believe and to know that you are the Holy One of God.’ Could it be that Revell wanted to inspire the same sort of faith that Peter expressed? No doubt about it, right? Bliss, too, must have wanted his musical endeavor to have the same potency. So, a song was born to coax God-seekers that Jesus speaks words, however alien they may seem at first, that actually reach and bless us like no others.

  

Taken out of context, Peter’s statement to Jesus sounds like a warm compliment to the Son of Man, doesn’t it? But it really is audacious, particularly since Jesus’ words just before that are what repel many of His hearers. Wonderful words? Drinking blood and eating flesh – that’s enough to make most anybody murmur that their speaker must be a nut. But, what Fleming Revell and Philip Bliss, along with Dwight Moody, must have told thousands of people was ‘Keep listening’. He said many challenging things, but He did more than speak words. He lived them, and died them too. And, rose because of them. No one else has ever done all of that.        

  

       

Information on the song was obtained from the books  “Amazing Grace – 366 Inspiring Hymn Stories for Daily Devotions”, by Kenneth W. Osbeck, 1990, Kregel Publications; and “The Complete Book of Hymns – Inspiring Stories About 600 Hymns and Praise Songs”, by William J. and Ardythe Petersen, 2006, Tyndale House Publishers, Inc. 

See this site for biography of composer: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philip_Bliss

See following for memoirs of the composer:

http://www.biblebelievers.com/bliss/mem_ch6.html