It Is Well with My Soul我心靈得安靈

It takes me a few weeks time to have a frightening experience precipitated. It happened during a local train trip from Changsha to Hengyang. I was accompanied by 11 local Hengyang ICC staff returning home after the 4 days intensive Emotion management course in Changsha. It was late in the evening after our graduation dinner departing for Hengyang 9:30pm. The person coordinating for this is a Christian. She is young and has overseas education exposures in Australia. Since all of the Hengyang ICC staff are non-Christians, she was expecting me to share the gospel with them on the train during the 2 and a half hour trip.

When we got on the train, instead of sitting by seat number on the ticket, I was arranged to be seated in the middle amongst those 11 Hengyang ladies. I prayed in my heart how I should begin my sharing in such open and unprotected environment in China where evangelism in public place is an offence. I worried more about words and messages to be shared than my own safety, because I know I have a God greater than any one alongside me all the time.

Because of the number of non-believers present, I could not use the one on one personal evangelism tool of Evangelism Explosion III. Rather I started by sharing my own testimony --- my life story of how God repeatedly gave me alarm what the meaning of life should look like and how I eventually was led to Christ.

Demonstration picture only, not the actual picture but local train setting was  correct!

As soon as I started talking, a guy sitting five rolls away from me suddenly stood up started doing a sort of stand up talk show. Attraction of almost all people in my carriage including my group of Hengyang ladies were quickly drawn to him. I sensed something wrong but I kept carrying on with my sharing with just a handful sitting right adjacent to me still listening to me. I signalled my Christian companion with an eye gesture, she just said lightly and briefly that it was rare but may happen sometimes on long haul train.

After finishing my story, the few ladies around raised many random questions about the credibility of Bible. How come Dinosaur disappeared from the world etc? I gave them the insight of the Bible and showed them that Bible though not a scientific book but can always be in harmony with scientific findings. Three to four men crowded around at my back while our conversation carried on till the end of the trip while the stand up talk show guy kept talking loudly down the aisle.

The seriousness of the situation was certainly under estimated at the time by me. One of a church member from mainland China who are familiar with the surveillance systems of the Communist Party confirmed that I might have all along been under surveillance. They knew ahead my local trip from Changsha to Hengyang and mobilized a team to escort me to get to my destination without causing them trouble. Thing could turn sour if they deemed I had crossed the line of committing offence of conducting evangelism in public place. Any of the friendly looking guys behind me could be the one making the arrest.

Though ignorance about the true seriousness of the situation, during that two and a half hour trip, the atmosphere throughout was tense and nerve breaking as if I could be snatched away and disappeared for ever any time soon. But inside me, I have a strange sense of calm and peace that transcend human understanding. The hymn entitled “It is Well with my Soul” kept enchanting in my mind. I felt the same strength of the composerHoratio Spafford  to keep me calm despite the external situation was stern and life threatening like the pounding by mountain of waves in a tsunami.

This is a kind of peace mentioned by Jesus in John14:27 that is completely different from the human definition of peace.

^“Peace I leave with you; my peace I give you. I do not give to you as the world gives. Do not let your hearts be troubled and do not be afraid.” 我 留 下 平 安 給 你 們 ； 我將 我 的 平 安 賜 給 你 們 。 我 所 賜 的 ， 不 像 世 人 所 賜 的 。 你 們 心 裡不 要 憂 愁 ， 也 不 要 膽 怯。（约14:27）

 My peace I give unto you 我將平安賜給你,

It’s a peace that the world cannot give這平安非世界所能給,

It’s the peace that the world cannot understand 這平安非世界所能够瞭解

Peace to know, peace to live 藉祂知，藉祂活

My peace I give unto you 我將平安賜給你

Peace in human sense is safety away from any external danger or peril situation. The kind of peace that Jesus offers is inner calmness even amidst great danger like my train trip experience or has just suffered from a great disastrous event likeHoratio Spafford did.

To give you a deeper understanding of what great suffering that Spafford was in, I quote the lyrics of the hymn and its background as remarks below.

It is noteworthy that the lyrics which Spafford wrote that day come from 2 Kings 4:26. They echo the response of the Shunammite woman to the sudden death of her only child. Though we are told "her soul is vexed within her", she still maintains that “It is well" And Spafford's hymn reveals a man whose trust in the Lord is as unwavering as hers was. The Title of the Hymn was thus coined as “It is Well, with my soul”; though it is  deeply hurting, with his physical being because of the severe suffering in flesh.

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 I do know that the God who sustained them would also be with me, at that awful  moment on the train surrounded by unknown number of enemies.

What we are common in this experience of true inner peace is that we all have God’s companion en-route our life journey. God has not promised us as Christians that we will be free from disasters and sufferings. But Jesus promises as per John16:33  he will go through these with us so that our faith and trust in him will grow from strength to strength.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." 我將 這 些 事 告 訴 你 們 ， 是 要 叫 你 們 在 我 裡 面 有 平 安 。 在 世 上 ，你 們 有 苦 難 ； 但 你 們 可 以 放 心 ， 我 已 經 勝 了 世 界 。

So, the key to have peace is to be in Jesus or to have Jesus in you. Are you ready to receive this transcending peace from Jesus?

Remarks: -

It Is Well With My Soul我心靈得安靈

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.

有時享平安如江河平又穩，有時憂傷來似浪滾，
不論何環境，主己教導我說：我心靈得安寧，得安寧。

Refrain: 副：

It is well, (it is well),
With my soul, (with my soul)
It is well, it is well, with my soul.

我心靈得安寧，我心靈得安寧，得安寧，得安寧。

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.

撒但雖來侵，眾試煉雖來臨，但有主美証在我心，
基督已看清我乏助之困境，甘流血救贖我，賜安寧。

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!

回想我眾罪，全釘在十架上，每念此，衷心極歡暢，
主擔我重擔，何奇妙大恩情，讚美主！我心靈得安寧。

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.

求主快再來，使信心得親見，雲彩將捲起在主前，
號筒聲吹嚮，主再臨掌權柄，願主來！我心靈必安寧。

Horatio Spafford

"It Is Well with My Soul" is a hymn penned by hymnist Horatio Spafford and composed by Philip Bliss.

Background

This hymn was written after several traumatic events in Spafford’s life. The first was the death of his only son in 1871 at the age of four, shortly followed by the great Chicago Fire which ruined him financially (he had been a successful lawyer). Then in 1873, he had planned to travel to Europe with his family on the SS Ville du Havre, but sent the family ahead while he was delayed on business concerning zoning problems following the Great Chicago Fire. While crossing the Atlantic, the ship sank rapidly after a collision with a sea vessel, the Loch Earn, and all four of Spafford's daughters died. His wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram, "Saved alone . . .". Shortly afterwards, as Spafford traveled to meet his grieving wife, he was inspired to write these words as his ship passed near where his daughters had died.

Bliss called his tune Ville du Havre, from the name of the stricken vessel.^[1]

The Spaffords later had three more children, one of whom (a son) died in infancy. In 1881 the Spaffords, including baby Bertha and newborn Grace, set sail for Israel. The Spaffords moved to Jerusalem and helped found a group called the American Colony; its mission was to serve the poor. The colony later became the subject of the Nobel prize winning Jerusalem, by Swedish novelist Selma Lagerlöf.

Although the original manuscript reads "know" at the end of the third line, almost all recordings and written reproductions read "say".

　　

上面這一首我非常喜愛的詩歌「我心靈，得安寧」，歌詞是由一位芝加哥的長老會平信徒「史派福（Horatio G. Spafford）」所寫的。他是 1828 年 10 月 20 日出生於紐約州的北特羅依（North Troy, New York）。在他年輕時，他就在芝加哥開辦了一間很成功的律師事務所，雖然他名利雙收，他卻對教會的活動一直保持熱忱的支持。
　　他與當時的福音派領袖，如慕迪（D. L. Moody）等人，都有很親蜜與持續的往來；當年一位很著名的福音派音樂家史戴賓（George Stebbins）如此形容史派福：「他是一位絕頂聰明而又細緻的人，他也非常屬靈，並且認真勤讀聖經！」在 1871 年的芝加哥大火發生的前幾個月，史派福在密西根湖畔大量投資在房地產上；因此，他的投資也都毀於這次的大災難裡了！因為他希望讓他的太太與四個女兒能好好地休息，而且他也希望能幫助慕迪與山奇（Moody and Sankey）他們在英國的培靈佈道活動，他就安排他的家人在 1873 年 11 月來一趟歐洲之旅。
　　他在出發前一刻，因為業務上的需要而必須留下來，於是他只好送他太太與四個女兒依原訂的船期，登上汽船（S.S. Ville du Harve）前往歐洲；而他自己則預計在幾天之後，處理完相關業務，再前往歐洲與妻女會合。
　　但是，在 11 月 22 日，這一艘由美國前往歐洲的船，被另一艘英國輪船（Lochearn）撞上，在短短的12 分鐘裡就沉沒了！幾天之後，海難的生還者終於在威爾斯的卡迪夫（Cardiff, Wales）登岸；史派福太太給她先生發了一封電報：「只有自己獲救（Saved alone）」！
　　史派福隨即乘船前去與他摯愛的妻子會合，當他搭船來到他四個女兒溺斃的海域附近時，他寫下了這一段描述他自己內心深沉悲慟的歌詞：「憂傷來似浪滾！（When sorrows like sea billows roll ……）」然而我們應該注意的是：史派福寫的這一首歌曲，並沒有只停留在人生的悲哀與苦難的主題上，反而是著重於第三段歌詞的「基督的救贖大功」，第四段歌詞的「盼望基督第二次榮耀的再來」！
　　由一般的人性來看，像史派福這樣經歷了失去四個女兒的慘痛悲劇之後，還可以寫出如此明確的宣告：「我心靈，得安寧（It is well with my soul）」，實在是奇蹟！
　　史派福夫婦在 1881 年，帶著兩個年幼的女兒與一群朋友，離開了芝加哥，前往耶路撒冷定居；他們在那裡建立了一個美國殖民地，來照顧當地的貧病無依的人；雖然史派福在八年之後，亦即 60 歲時（1888 年）去世了，但那些重要的事工仍然繼續推動！在他的女兒（Bertha Spafford Vesper）所寫的一本書「我們的耶路撒冷」（Our Jerusalem）裡，記載了這一特別的家庭與他們所推動的事工的故事。
　　布利斯（Philip P. Bliss）深深地為史派福的經歷與其歌詞內容所感動，因此他為這首歌譜了曲；並在1876 年，被收錄於福音讚美詩集第二集裡。布利斯是一位多產的作家，在他短短的一生裡（1838 - 1876），他寫下許多的讚美詩的詞與曲；在阿尼色弗兒童之家所使用的「頌主新歌」裡面，布利斯所作詞曲的詩歌，共有 14 首！