eHymns.org

From: The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition | Date: 2006

American evangelist and writer of gospel songs, b. Clearfield co., Pa.

A fine baritone voice and a handsome presence aided him in his work, and his songs became tremendously popular.

After the publication of his Gospel Songs (1874) he became associated with Dwight L. Moody and joined Ira D. Sankey in producing a series of songbooks called Gospel Hymns, the first of which appeared in 1875.

Among his songs are "Hold the Fort," "Let the Lower Lights Be Burning," and "Jesus Loves Me."

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From: http://pdmusic.org/index.html

Philip Paul Bliss was born in Clearfield County, PA on 9 July 1838 to the parents of Isaac Bliss (1757-1864) and Lydia Dolittle. He had three sisters: Phoebe, Reliance, and Elizabeth; and one brother: James D. He married on 1 June 1859 to Lucy J. Young and they had two children. He died, in a train wreck with his wife, on 29 December 1876 in Ashtabula, OH, at the age of 38. He occasionally used the pseudonym of Pro Phundo Basso. He was a contemporary of, and fellow Normal Musical Institute singer with, George Frederick Root, Frederic Woodman Root, and Thomas Martin Towne.

His most popular song was Hold the Fort! (1870) which was based on the events of a Civil War battle in October 1864 near Atlanta, GA. He is especially noted for his hymns and character songs.

Among his most popular hymns were I Am So Glad, Daniel's Band, More to Follow, Free From the Law, Whosoever Will, Man of Sorrows, Almost Persuaded, I Know Not the Hour, and Meet Me at the Fountain.

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From: www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/b/l/i/bliss_pp.html

Born: July 9, 1838, Clearfield County, Pennsylvania.

Died: December 29, 1876, Ashtabula, Ohio. Bliss and his wife died in a tragic train wreck caused by a bridge collapse. He survived the initial impact, but went back into the flames in an unsuccessful attempt to rescue his wife.

Burial: The remains retrieved from the Ashtabula disaster were placed in a common grave marked by a cenotaph in the Ashtabula Cemetery. A cenotaph in memory of the Blisses was also erected in the cemetery at Rome, Pennsylvania, July 17, 1877.

Bliss’s works include:

Gospel Songs (Cincinnati, Ohio: John Church & Co., 1874)


Hymns

Bliss Home
Bliss home in Rome, Pennsylvania;
now the P.P. Bliss Gospel Songwriters’ Museum
A Long Time I Wandered
At the Feet of Jesus
Almost Persuaded
By and By
Calling Now
Come, Brethren, as We March Along
Come, Sing the Gospel’s Joyful Sound
Cut It Down
Dare To Be a Daniel
Do You See the Hebrew Captive Kneeling?
Down Life’s Dark Vale We Wander
Free from the Law
God Is Always Near Me
Hail, Happy Morning
Hallelujah, He Is Risen!
Hallelujah, ’Tis Done!
Hallelujah! What a Savior
Have You on the Lord Believed?
Hear Ye the Glad Good News from Heaven
Hold the Fort
Holy Spirit, The
How Happy Are We
How Much Woes Thou?
I Should Like to Die
I Know He Is Mine
I Know Not the Hour
In Me Ye May Have Peace
In Zion’s Rock Abiding
Jesus Loves Even Me
Let the Lower Lights Be Burning
Light in the Darkness, Day Is at Hand
Light of the World Is Jesus, The
March to the Battlefield
More Holiness Give Me
My Redeemer
No Other Name
O! Jerusalem, the Golden City
On What Foundation Do You Build?
Only an Armor Bearer
Praying Always
Pull for the Shore
Repeat the Story O’er and O’er
Sailing into Port
See the Gentle Shepherd Standing
Seeking to Save
Spirit, O Sinner, In Mercy Doth Move, The
Sword of the Lord, The
There Is Sin in the Camp
There’s a Light in the Valley
This Is the Victory
Though the Way May Sometimes Be Dreary
’Tis Known on Earth and Heave, Too
To Die Is Gain
Wandering Afar from the Dwellings of Men
Weary Gleaner, Whence Comest Thou?
What Wilt Thou Have Me to Do?
When Jesus Comes
When My Weary Hands Are Folded
Where Are the Nine?
Where Hast Thou Gleaned Today?
While the Silvery Moonbeams Fall
Whosoever Will
Will You Meet Me at the Fountain?
Wonderful Words of Life


Music

Bury Thy Sorrow
Come unto Me
Eternity
Hold Fast Till I Come
It Is Well with My Soul
Kenosis
Lift Up, Lift Up Thy Voice
Look Away to Jesus
Lord Jesus, Come
New Song, The
Oh, to Be Nothing
Precious Promise
We’re Going Home Tomorrow
What Shall the Harvest Be?

Born: July 4, 1840, West Fellowfield, Pennsylvania.

Died: July 9, 1907, Kinsman, Ohio.

Buried: Kinsman, Ohio.

Pseudonym: G. M. J.

The following article by Gladys Doonan, “To Reap for the Master,” appeared in Challenge, December 28, 1986. Used by permission of Regular Baptist Press, Schaumburg, Illinois.

Even the festivities of the Christmas season that December of 1876 couldn’t drive them from his mind—those notes his friend Philip had written to him just a few days before the holiday. He read them over and over again and almost decided to yield to the urging of their message—almost, but not quite. His dreams of personal ambition were still too precious. How could he give them up?

James McGranahan was a talented and cultured American musician who lived from 1840 to 1907. He was gifted with a rare tenor voice and studied for years with eminent teachers who urged him to train for a career in opera. Of course, this advice opened up to his imagination dazzling prospects of fame and fortune. And he was assured time and time again it was all within his grasp.

James McGranahan was a Christian, and he had a Christian friend Philip P. Bliss who was concerned about him. His friend was also a capable musician who had gone through many of the same experiences in his younger days as a singer. However, he had been sensitive to the claims of the Lord on his life and had yielded his talents to God for full-time Christian service.

Though only two years older than McGranahan, Philip Bliss, at 38, had a good dozen years of Christian work behind him. He was then serving as a gospel soloist with the great evangelist Major D. W. Whittle. How he thrilled to the response of the great crowds who gathered for their campaigns and to the working of the Holy Spirit through his music! He longed for his friend James to know that thrill as well!

Philip Bliss and his wife were preparing for a trip home to Pennsylvania for Christmas. There was much to be done, but in the midst of all the bustle and hurry Bliss felt strangely compelled to take time out to write McGranahan a letter. He kept thinking of his 36-year-old friend, who was still studying music, still preparing for—what? Would it be opera or would it be the Lord’s work?

Philip Bliss prayed as he wrote that he would know the right words to put down. He knew the Lord was dealing with James and was eager for his friend to make the right decision.

Finally the letter was done. Bliss, needing encouragement and approval for what he had said, read it to Major Whittle. In the letter he compared McGranahan’s long course of musical training to a man whetting his scythe for the harvest. The climax came as he strongly urged, “Stop whetting the scythe and strike into the grain to reap for the Master!”

The letter was sent on its way and quickly reached its destination. Those words touched James McGranahan as no others had before. He could think of nothing else. “Strike into the grain to reap for the Master…to reap for the Master…to reap for the Master!” Day and night those words were before him.

One week later, December 19, 1876, the man who had penned the words was dead. The train returning the Blisses from Pennsylvania to Chicago where Philip was scheduled to sing at Moody Tabernacle broke through a railroad bridge at Ashtabula, Ohio. It plunged into a 60-foot chasm and caught fire. Among the 100 who perished in the disaster were the 38-year-old gospel singer and his wife.

When James McGranahan received news of the tragedy he rushed immediately to the scene of the accident. And it was there, for the first time, that he met Major Whittle.

The evangelist later recorded his thoughts on the occasion: “Here before me stands the man that Mr. Bliss has chosen to be his successor.”

The two men made the return trip to Chicago together, and as they rode they talked. Before they reached the city James McGranahan decided to yield his life, his talents, his all to the service of his Savior. He would “strike into the grain to reap for the Master.”

The operatic world lost a star that day, but the Christian world gained one of its sweetest gospel singers. James McGranahan was greatly used in evangelistic campaigns throughout America, in Great Britain and in Ireland.

Sources

* Hall, pp. 191-5
* Hustad, p. 285

Hymns

1. Go Ye into All the World
2. O the Crown
3. Shall You? Shall I?

Music

1. Are You Coming Home Tonight?
2. Banner of the Cross, The
3. Behold, What Love!
4. Believe Ye That I Am Able?
5. Beloved, Now Are We
6. By Grace Are Ye Saved
7. Church of God Is One, The
8. Christ Liveth in Me
9. Christ Returneth
10. Come
11. Come Believing!
12. Crowning Day, The
13. El Nathan
14. Every Day Will I Bless Thee
15. Frances
16. Go Ye into All the World
17. Hallelujah for the Cross!
18. He Is Not Here, But Is Risen!
19. He Will Hide Me
20. I Find Thee So Precious
21. I Know Not the Hour
22. I Left It All with Jesus
23. I Will Pass Over You
24. I’ll Stand by until the Morning
25. Jesus Is Coming
26. Kinsman
27. McGranahan
28. My Redeemer
29. Neither Do I Condemn Thee
30. Neumeister
31. Oh, Revive Us by Thy Word
32. Preach the Gospel
33. Sometime We’ll Understand
34. There Shall Be Showers of Blessing
35. Thou Remainest
36. Thy God Reigneth!
37. Verily, I Say unto You

Source: http://www.cyberhymnal.org/bio/m/c/g/mcgranahan_j.html

Born in the Van Wert Ohio County Hospital on June 27, 1960, Alvin (Bud) Herman Manz, Jr. was the 3rd of 4 sons born to Betty Manz and firstborn to her second husband, Alvin.

His older siblings, John Paul Rose, Jr. (1956) and Joseph Henry Rose (1957), were born to John Paul Rose. In 1958, John Sr. passed away leaving Betty with 2 little boys to care for until she met Alvin Manz and got married to him on October 3, 1959.

Bud's younger sibling, Robert James Manz, Sr., was born on August 23, 1961.

Bud never married, instead he lives with his father just south of Defiance Ohio.