His Last Song

Composed by Phillip Paul Bliss

“I know not what awaits me,

God kindly veils my eyes,

And o’er each step of my onward way

He makes new scenes to rise;

And ev’ry joy He sends me comes

A sweet and glad surprise.

So on I go, not knowing, I would not if I might;

I’d rather walk in the dark with God

Than go alone in the light;

I’d rather walk by faith with Him

Than go alone by sight,”

Philip Paul Bliss the famous hymn composer was born in Bennett's Valley on July 9, 1838. Philip Bliss and his wife, Lucy Young, along with 198 other people were killed in a train wreck in Ashtabula, Ohio on December 29, 1876. Bliss’s trunk had been checked through to Chicago, and in it, surviving its author, was the last song he wrote, a re-arrangement of a poem by Mary G. Brainard with a tune.

Learn more about Philip Bliss and his family in the book “Pioneer’s of Second Fork”. Contact Jim Burke at the Mt Zion Historical Society or visit the store to get a copy.