Thursday, July 03, 2008

God Bless America

"Tomorrow is the Glorious Fourth. It is America's birthday. Ours is the first nation whose birth certificate is also a great philosophical document. The Declaration of Independence was the inspiration for many other revolutions, but only the United States of America has succeeded these past two hundred and thirty-three years in bringing forth a 'new order of the ages.' America's experiment in ordered liberty is unique. Many countries have fought revolutions. Many have proclaimed the rights of man. But America has from the beginning acknowledged her liberties as a gracious endowment from a loving God.

The man who wrote that declaration was chosen for the task because his fellow members of the Continental Congress were impressed with his ability to write clearly and convincingly. Even earlier than 1776, young Thomas Jefferson had put the Americans' case well: 'The God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God?'

...Tomorrow is the anniversary of that fateful declaration. In declaring our own independence, we were doing more than breaking away from England. We were breaking away from tyranny. We were breaking away from the idea that some men were fit to govern others without their consent. We broke the chains of dependency and servitude.

The great document we celebrate today inspired Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass in the fight to end slavery. It inspired Americans of the World War II generation to stand up against Nazi cruelty."

By FRC (Family Research Council)

Wednesday, July 02, 2008

It Is Well With My Soul

By: Horatio G. Spafford, 1873
The words to this hymn was written after two major traumas in Spafford's life. The first was the Great Chicago Fire of October 1871, which ruined him financially. Shortly after, while crossing the Atlantic, all four of Spafford's daughters died in a collision with another ship. Spafford's wife Anna survived and sent him the now famous telegram: "SAVED ALONE." Several weeks later, as Spafford's own ship passed near the spot where his daughters died, he was inspired to write these words.

Bliss originally named the tune "Ville de Havre" after the ship on which Spafford's four girls perished, the SS Ville de Havre. Ironically, Bliss himself died in a tragic train wreck shortly after writing this music.



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.

It is well, with my soul,
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 blessed assurance control,
That Christ has regarded my helpless estate,
And hath shed His own blood for my soul.

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

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!

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

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.

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