What The Bells Say...

 “The gold bells and the pomegranates are to alternate around the hem of the robe." Exodus. 28: 34

       More than tow hundred years ago a sailing , ship far out on the sea, a hundred miles from shore, heard the sound of church bells. It was Sunday morning and the bells were ringing, calling people to church. They seemed to say:

“Come when I call,
Both great and small.”

       At first those upon the vessel thought it was only fancy, for they were far from shore. There was only one place on the ship where the bells could be heard and that was before the bulging main sail, and there the sound of the church bells could be clearly heard, calling, calling, to worship and prayer.
       Months passed and the vessel one day sailed into the port of San Salvador and on inquiry the sailors learned that at the exact time when the bells were heard upon the ship far out at sea, the church bells of the cathedral were ringing. It was a great mystery to the sailors, but it is easy for us to understand. In our day when we know how easily the air carries the voice over land and sea we can understand how the sound of the bells could be caught by the bulging sail.
       What a pleasing sound it is to hear the call of the “church going bell. In old England where every village church has a bell you will find each of them has a motto graven in the metal. Some of these mottoes are interesting. Here is one that says:

Boarder
Bells

“Come away,

Make no delay.”

        Another says:

“Come and pray,
Hear and obey.”

      Sometimes the bell is vain and the motto reads:

“I am a pretty bell,
That you all may see.”  

       And sometimes the bell is modest and sensitive and sometimes they tell the praises of those who made them:

“Our merry bell is mainly due
To Mr. and Mrs. Gerald Carew.”

       Here is a complaining and grumbling motto:

“Our tone would have been made deeper
If contributions had been greater.”

       What strange messages for church bells! Some of them are vain, some foolish, some selfish. A church bell should send out one clear note. It should say, like the bells of Bath,

“Let Christ be known around,
And loved where’er we sound.
Then shall true joys abound.
Before Him lowly fall,
Where’er we lift our call
And praise Him Lord of all ”

       There is one bell, a very little bell, that rings sometimes very quietly and sometimes sounds a loud alarm and we can never get away from its sound. Do you know its name? Yes, it is Conscience. Sometimes it rings a merry, merry tune, and sometimes it sounds a warning. The teacher examining a Sunday School said, “Who can tell me what Conscience is?” One of the big boys said, “It is too big a word for me.” Then the teacher said, “Did you ever feel anything inside you that said, ‘Do this.' ‘Shun that.' ‘You ought to have done this.' ‘You should not have said that’?” “Oh, yes,” said George, “that is Jesus ringing a bell in our hearts.” And George was right. Better than the call of the church bell in the steeple is the call of Conscience which is the voice of Jesus, guiding us in ways of pleasantness and in paths of peace. Kerr