“I Will Sing of My Redeemer”

Directions for

Hymnal Journaling

2. Read History

3. Color/Doodle Hymn

4. Share photo in comments OR

5. Share photo in Facebook Group

The Author of the Hymn

THE AUTHOR ~ Phillip P. Bliss

Born July 9,1838 in Clearfield County, Pennsylvania
Died December 29, 1876 in Ashtabula, Ohio.

Philip P. Bliss left home as a young boy to make a living by working on farms and in lumber camps, all while trying to continue his schooling. He was converted at a revival meeting at age twelve. Bliss became an itinerant music teacher, making house calls on horseback during the winter, and during the summer attending the Normal Academy of Music in Genesco, New York. His first song was published in 1864, and in 1868 Dwight L. Moody advised him to become a singing evangelist. For the last two years of his life Bliss traveled with Major D. W. Whittle and led the music at revival meetings in the Midwest and Southern United States. Bliss and Ira D. Sankey published a popular series of hymn collections entitled Gospel Hymns. The first book of the series, Gospel Songs, was published in 1874. Bliss’s tragic death at the age of thirty-eight happened near the end of 1876. Philip P. Bliss and his wife were traveling to Chicago to sing for the evangelistic services led by Daniel W. Whittle at Dwight L. Moody’s Tabernacle. But a train wreck and fire en route claimed their lives.

History of Hymn

THE HISTORY ~ “I Will Sing of My Redeemer”

The hymn was found in a piece of baggage rescued from a fiery train wreck on the day of December 20, 1876. The author, Phillip P. Bliss, had been traveling with his wife to Chicago to help in the D.L. Moody Tabernacle service.
In Ohio, a bridge collapsed and the train plunged into an icy river bed. It is said that Bliss survived the fall and climbed out through a coach window only to return, looking for his wife. Reunited, they died together in the flaming wreckage.

This hymn is a very simple expression of the truth of the Gospel.