Music & HymnsPeace, Perfect Peace

"You will keep in perfect peace him whose mind is steadfast, because he trusts in You." Isaiah 26:3

Words: Edward Henry Bickersteth, Jr., 1875. Bickersteth was vacationing in Harrogate, England, where he heard a sermon on Isaiah 26:3. The minister related that the Hebrew text used the word peace twice to indicate absolute perfection. The idea was still on Bickersteth's mind when he visited a dying relative that afternoon. To soothe the man's emotional turmoil, Bickersteth opened his Bible to read from Isaiah 26:3. He wrote down these lyrics, just as they appear today, and read them to the man: perhaps the last thing he heard before Jesus called him "to heaven's perfect peace."

Music: "Pax Tecum," George Thomas Caldbeck, 1877

Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.

Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.

Peace, perfect peace, with sorrows surging round?
On Jesus' bosom naught but calm is found.

Peace, perfect peace, with loved ones far away?
In Jesus' keeping we are safe, and they.

Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and He is on the throne.

Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.

It is enough: earth's struggles soon shall cease,
And Jesus call us to heaven's perfect peace.

Hymns supplied through the gracious generosity of the Cyber Hymnal Website