This hymn, written by Frances Ridley Haverga, was dated 3 Nov. 1874, written in Leamington, Warwickshire, England, where her family had a home and she was returning from visiting Switzerland. But near the end of her trip in Switzerland, she had a turn of health; her sister noted, “Somehow or somewhere she caught fever, and commenced her homeward journey with dull headache and sickness.” Home was reached, shiverings and feverish symptoms rapidly set in, and she was soon utterly prostrate with typhoid fever. In spite of her illness, Frances found an incredible peace. She later explained to her sister: “All through my long illness I was very happy;… My one wish was to glorify God and to let my doctor and nurse see it”. Her hymn “Like a river glorious / is God’s perfect peace,” although not mentioned specifically here, was therefore written in the midst of terrible sickness, probably dictated to a family member, and it expresses the peace she felt in the possibility of finding heaven1.
Like a river glorious,
Is God’s perfect peace;
Over all victorious,
in its bright increase.
Perfect, yet it floweth,
Fuller every day;
Perfect, yet it groweth,
Deeper all the way.
Refrain
Stayed upon Jehovah,
Hearts are fully blest.
Finding as He promised,
Perfect peace and rest
Hidden in the hollow
Of His blessed hand;
Never foe can follow,
Never traitor stand.
Not a surge of worry,
Not a shade of care;
Not a blast of hurry
Touch the spirit there.
Every joy or trial
Falleth from above;
Traced upon our dial
by the Sun of Love.
We may trust Him fully,
All for us to do;
They who trust Him wholly
Find Him wholly true.
Hymn of the Day 