Scripture Verse

There is no peace…unto the wicked. Isaiah 48:22

Introduction

Words: From A Se­lect­ion of Psalms and Hymns, fifth edi­tion, by Tho­mas Cot­ter­ill (Lon­don: Hatch­ard & See­ly, 1814), num­ber 94, alt.

Music: St. James Ralph Courte­ville, in Se­lect Psalms and Hymns for the Use of the Par­ish Church and Ta­ber­na­cle of St. James’, West­min­ster, 1696 (🔊 pdf nwc).

If you know where to get a good pic­ture of Cot­ter­ill or Courte­ville (head & shoul­ders, at least 200×300 pix­els),

Lyrics

Lost in be­wil­der­ing maze of sin,
And far from God as­tray,
The wick­ed, guiled by Sa­tan’s arts,
Pursue their dread­ful way.

From day to day they roam for rest,
But all their search in vain;
They seek the liv­ing ’mong the dead,
And joy where sor­rows reign.

Estranged from Thee, Thou God of peace!
What peace can sin­ners find?
What, but the phan­tom Satan gives
To lure the cap­tive mind?

The wick­ed, like the trou­bled sea,
In rest­less mo­tion rage,
And with their con­sci­ence, and with Thee,
Unceasing war­fare wage.

Till Thou di­rect our feet aright,
And guide us by Thy love,
From Hea­ven and peace, and safe­ty far,
Our wand­er­ing foot­steps rove.

When faith, up­lift­ing meek her eye,
Beholds Thine an­ger cease,
And grace in­spires the hope of Hea­ven—
This, this alone is peace.