You keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on You, because he trusts in you. Trust in the Lord forever, for the Lord God is an everlasting rock. Isa 26:3-4

Kept in Perfect Peace

When King Charles II ascended the throne in 1660, He arrested Archibald Campbell, the eighth Earl of Argyll. The King had the earl condemned to death and execution was set on 27 May 1661.

A Painting by E M Ward that hangs in the House of Commons is captioned “The Last Sleep of Argyll before his Execution.” It depicts the earl, a devout Christian, dressed in black, sleeping peacefully on a rough couch on one side of his cell. The privy councilor’s perturbed, awestruck appearance contrasts sharply with the peaceful look on the earl’s face.

A historian of that period recorded that “on the day he was to die… the earl dined with appetite, conversed with gaiety at the table, and after his last meal lay down to take a short slumber so that his body and mind might be full of vigor when he should mount the scaffold.

How many of us would be able to sleep, if we knew we were going to be executed in the next few hours? Here was a man who lived so close to God that he could sleep in perfect peace while awaiting death. Sometimes life can be tougher than facing death. But God who gave the earl the courage to face death offers you and me the perfect peace to face life.

The secret to having this peace is in keeping our minds “stayed” on God. He will keep in Perfect Peace all those who trust in Him, whose thoughts often turn to the Lord! Turn your thoughts often to the Lord today and experience this peace that passes all understanding (Phil 4:7)