There is a place of quiet rest

There is a place of quiet rest. Cleland B. McAfee* (1866-1944). Based on James 4: 8, this was written in 1903, during McAfee’s ministry at Chicago, following the death of two of his infant nieces, the daughters of his brother Howard at Parkville, Missouri, from diphtheria. Reynolds (1976, pp. 220-1) quotes from the account given in Cleland’s and his daughter’s book (1954): the tragedy struck the college and the little town, and McAfee, who was to preach on the Sunday, wrote the words and music as an attempt at consolation: The choir learned it at the regular Saturday night rehearsal, and afterward they went to the Howard McAfee home and sang it as they stood under the sky outside the...