Scripture Verse

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

Introduction

Words: Sam­uel Eck­ing, in the Gos­pel Ma­ga­zine, late 18th Cen­tu­ry. This hymn was sung by a 250-mem­ber choir on May 4, 1865, at the State House in Spring­field, Il­li­nois, as the body of as­sas­sin­at­ed pre­si­dent Abra­ham Lin­coln lay in state, just be­fore the cas­ket was closed and tak­en to the ce­me­te­ry.

Music: Ham­burg Lo­well Ma­son, 1824. First ap­peared in The Bos­ton Han­del and Hay­dn So­ci­ety Col­lect­ion of Church Mu­sic, third edi­tion, 1825 (🔊 pdf nwc).

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

portrait
Lowell Mason (1792–1872)

Lyrics

Peace, trou­bled soul, thou need’st not fear;
Thy great pro­vid­er still is near;
Who fed thee last, will feed thee still:
Be calm, and sink in­to His will.

The Lord, who built the earth and sky,
In mer­cy stoops to hear thy cry;
His pro­mise all may free­ly claim;
Ask and re­ceive in Je­sus’ name.

Without re­serve give Christ your heart,
Let Him His right­eous­ness im­part;
Then all things else He’ll free­ly give;
With Him you all things shall re­ceive.

Thus shall the soul be tru­ly blest,
That seeks in God His on­ly rest;
May I that hap­py per­son be,
In time and in eter­ni­ty.