Written by Velma M. Smith

Philip Paul Bliss, a native of Tioga County, was born in 1838. He left home at the age of 11 and worked on farms, in lumber camps and saw mills for about 5 years getting what schooling he could. When about 12 years of age, he joined the Baptist Church at Cherry Flatts.

He became a music teacher in 1860, going about with an old horse and a $20 melodeon. He began to write hymns, and he sold his first song in 1864 to Root and Cady, music publishers in Chicago, about the time he went to work for them.

He became a speaker, a song leader and a vocal soloist. He had a remarkable voice, full and resonant. He devoted his life to Christian work and although a poor man, he gave all royalties, some $30,000, from his hymn books to Evangelistic work.

Mr. Bliss had a wonderful helper in his wife. One June morning in 1870, she remarked to a friend, “Last evening, Mr. Bliss had a tune given to him that I think is going to live and be one of the most used that he has written”. She then sang over the notes of “Jesus Loves Me”.

The hymn, “Let the Lower Lights be Burning” was suggested to Mr. Bliss by a passage from one of Dwight L. Moody’s sermons: On a dark, stormy night, when the waves rolled like mountains and not a star was to be seen, a boat, rocking and plunging, neared the Cleveland harbor. There was only one light burning in the light house, and the pilot asked “Where are the lower lights?” In the darkness he missed the channel, and many lives were lost.

P.P. Bliss’s death was tragic. He and his wife were returning to Chicago from the east, when the train on which they were riding wrecked near Ashtabula, Ohio. He could have escaped but his wife was caught under the car seat. He stayed with her and they were burned to death, the night of December 29, 1876.