Edward Henry Bickersteth was staying in Harrogate, Yorkshire, in 1875, and heard a sermon based on the words “Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace” (Isa. 26:3). That same afternoon he visited a dying relative and cheered his feelings of despondency by reminding him of this verse of Scripture. Within a few minutes he had composed the hymn of seven stanzas, each consisting of a question and answer, making it an excellent hymn for antiphonal singing.

It was the custom for each member of his family to repeat a hymn at tea time on Sundays, and he read this newly written one as his contribution. It received wide circulation through the years. An invalid wrote to the author, pointing out that sickness was not mentioned as one of the disturbing experiences of life. Thereupon Bickersteth wrote the following additional couplet, but did not include it officially as part of the hymn:

Peace, perfect peace-mid suffering’s sharpest throes? The sympathy of Jesus breathes repose.

Bickersteth was born in Islington, north London, on January 25, 1825, and educated at Cambridge. He gained his B.A. in 1847 and M.A. in 1850. He was ordained in the Anglican Church in 1848 and appointed as curate in the village of Banningham, north of Norwich in Norfolk, then to Christ Church in Tunbridge Wells in Kent. Next he was rector in Hinton Martell, a small town north of Poole in Dorset. From 1855 to 1885 he was vicar of Christ Church, Hampstead, London, then dean of Gloucester, and finally bishop of Exeter. He died on May 16, 1906, in Westbourne Terrace, Paddington, London. Bickersteth wrote a commentary on the New Testa- ment, and many sermons and poems. He also edited hymnals, in particular Psalms and Hymns, 1858, and the Hymnal Companion, 1876.

PAX TECUM (Peace Be With Thee) was composed especially for these words, by George Thomas Caldbeck when he was a student at Islington Theological College, London. Later he became a seller of tracts and text-cards. When arrested for not having a license to sell, he was dismissed by the magistrate without penalty when it was learned that he had composed this tune. Caldbeck, an Irishman, was born in 1852 in Waterford and died at Epsom in Surrey on January 29, 1918. Harmonization was supplied in 1877 by Charles John Vincent. He was born at Houghton-le-Spring in County Durham, England, on September 19, 1852, and became an organ builder and piano manufacturer. He was also a Doctor of Music, a noted composer and organist, and an examiner in music for the Trinity College of Music, London. He died at Monte Carlo, Monaco, on February 23, 1934.

📖 Reference: Companion to the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal by Wayne Hooper and Edward E. White. Review and Herald Publishing Association, 1988.