From scenes of war overseas to protests in our backyard, peace often seems an intangible mirage. For the young mom in the trenches of familial chaos, the harried career worker, or at the bedside of a dying loved one, peace may feel elusive. Internal war and external conflict continue as they have for centuries. We are flooded with their images and still yearn for peace. Where is the “Peace, Perfect Peace” that Scripture describes?
Nearly 150 years ago, a few simple verses became the hymn “Peace, Perfect Peace.” Its sweet message, sung through the decades, calls us even today to find our answers in Jesus alone.
Known to most of us as “Peace, Perfect Peace,” the full title of the hymn is “Peace, Perfect Peace in this Dark World of Sin?” Originally posing the title as a question, the author begins each first line with a question that the second line answers. The words of the hymn acknowledge the difficult experiences we go through in life while assuring true peace does exist in Jesus.
“Peace Perfect Peace” was birthed in August 1875. During a summer holiday, Bishop Edward H. Bickersteth went for a walk on the moors of Harrogate, where his family vacationed. It was a Sunday afternoon, and his mind worked over the morning sermon given by Vicar Canon Gibbon. The sermon’s key passage from the book of Isaiah tumbled through his thoughts: “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3 KJV).
Gibbon’s message stressed how the Hebrew word “peace” repeated itself, being translated into English as “Perfect Peace.” This emphasis struck Bickersteth profoundly, “Peace, Perfect Peace” echoed through his thoughts.
In James Edmund Jones’ The Book of Common Praise, Bickersteth’s son remembered his father as someone who “found it easiest to express in verse whatever subject was uppermost on his mind.”
During that afternoon, Bickersteth visited a dying relative. Confronted with the critical state of someone approaching eternity, the Bishop wanted to give spiritual hope and encouragement. He found paper and ink and quickly wrote the poem at the dying man’s bedside. He read the verses of “Peace Perfect Peace” to his relation, who found comfort in them. Edward returned home, gathered his children, and read the poem to them.
After Bickersteth wrote the words to “Peace, Perfect Peace,” it was first published in a tract, Songs in the House of Pilgrimage, with four other hymns. It soon became a common hymn sung at funerals. The tune is attributed to George Thomas Caldbeck.
What do we know about Bickersteth? He was born in Islington, London, England, in 1825. Bickersteth grew up in a deeply religious home—his father became the Church Missionary Society’s assistant secretary and experienced firsthand missionary life in West Africa. This evangelical zeal nurtured a passion for evangelism in both young Edward and the following generation.
Educated at Trinity College, Cambridge, Bickersteth became an Anglican priest and filled the roles of a curate, rector, vicar, Dean of Gloucester, and Bishop of Exeter.
He married one of his cousins, Rosa Bignold, and they had 16 children (six sons, ten daughters). Sorrow was not a stranger in his life—he lost two children, a dear sister, and his beloved wife. Rosa died in 1873. He was left with the care of a big family, the youngest only two years old when his wife died. He married again in February 1876.
“Peace Perfect Peace” was sung at the grave of Bickersteth’s oldest son. It was said to be a favorite of Queen Victoria. Translated into many languages, Bickersteth heard it sung in Japanese and Chinese on his tour to the East. He passed away in 1906.
Although this hymn’s lyrics were written nearly a century and a half ago, they address one of the greatest desires in our world today. Since Adam and Eve first disobeyed God, the perfect peace God created has been shattered. We live within the consequences of sin’s dominion. “Peace, Perfect Peace,” relevant and needed as ever, proclaims the simplicity of the gospel of Jesus.
Peace, perfect peace, in this dark world of sin?
The blood of Jesus whispers peace within.Peace, perfect peace, by thronging duties pressed?
To do the will of Jesus, this is rest.Peace, perfect peace, death shadowing us and ours?
Jesus has vanquished death and all its powers.Peace, perfect peace, our future all unknown?
Jesus we know, and he is on the throne.It is enough: earth’s struggles soon shall cease,
And Jesus call to heaven’s perfect peace.
“Peace Perfect Peace” is Bickersteth’s best-known work, but he authored many more. He was well-known for writing poems, hymns, books, and a commentary on the New Testament. Many of his poems, later put to music, continue to bless congregations worldwide.
Bickersteth’s songs are distinctive. Characterized by poetic verse and soothing effect, they spoke to the individual as an audience of one before God. In the hymn “Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,” his words touch the troubled heart with a similar message.
Come ye yourselves apart and rest awhile,
Weary, I know it, of the press and throng;
Wipe from your brow the sweat and dust of toil,
And in my quiet strength again be strong.
Bickersteth’s poems often looked past this life with hope to the next. The words of “Till He Come” is another example of assurance in eternity’s promise.
“Till he come!” O let the words
Linger on the trembling chords;
Let the “little while” between
In their golden light be seen;
Let us think how heav’n and home
Lie beyond that “Till he come.”
His missionary zeal overflowed from a personal and passionate sense of his salvation. This heart is expressed in “O Jesu, Saviour of the lost.”
O Jesus, Saviour of the lost,
My Rock and Hiding place,
By storms of sin and sorrow toss'd,
I seek Thy sheltering grace.Guilty, forgive me, Lord, I cry;
Pursued by foes I come;
A sinner, save me, or I die;
An outcast, take me home.Once safe in Thine Almighty arms,
Let storms come on amain;
There danger never, never harms;
There death itself is gain.And when I stand before Thy throne,
And all Thy glory see,
Still be my righteousness alone
To hide myself in Thee.
Bickersteth declared his faith through an intersection of spoken word and pen. His hymns have endured years of unrest and challenges of daily life. Honest and hopeful, they reached the heart. Although he achieved much in the Anglican church, his hymns spoke to common struggles everyone faces. They always lifted the audience to look beyond where peace could be found in truth.
The words to “Peace, Perfect Peace” still apply today. Jesus is, and always will be, the only answer to our quest for peace. The poem, which found its voice from Isaiah’s words, proclaims to this generation as they did in generations past, “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace, whose mind is stayed on thee: because he trusteth in thee” (Isaiah 26:3 KJV).
Further Reading:
The Powerful Story Behind the Hymn “I Love to Tell the Story”
The Beautiful Meaning behind the Old Hymn "Blessed Assurance”
Who Wrote the Hymn “Bless the Lord O My Soul”?
Who Wrote The Hymn “No One Ever Cared For Me Like Jesus”?
Photo Credit: Getty Images/CJ_Romas
Her love for pasta and all things Italian stems from years of ministry abroad. She’d love to tell you about it over a steaming cup of cappuccino. Connect with Sylvia on her blog, When the House is Quiet, her Facebook page, or Twitter.