I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day

The year was 1863. It had been a dark year. The Civil war was raging on, now in its third year. The nation was torn apart. Countless thousands of Americans had been slaughtered in a war that literally put brother against brother. It was a war with no end in sight.

It was in this dark year of 1863 that the famous poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow penned some immortal words that still ring true today. Dark clouds hung over his own life as well as over the country while he wrote.

Tragedy had struck the family two years before in 1861. It had been extremely hot in July of 1861, and Henry’s wife Fanny wrote in her journal, “We are all sighing for the good sea breeze instead of this stifling land one filled with dust. Poor Allegra is very droopy with heat, and Edie has to get her hair in a net to free her neck from the weight.” The next day that same breeze led to Fanny’s death. She was of her daughter’s curls when she decided to preserve some of the curls in wax. A few drops fell unnoticed upon her dress. The longed for sea breeze gusted through the window, igniting the light material of Fanny's dress-- immediately wrapping her in flames. In her attempt to protect Edith and Allegra, she ran to Henry's study in the next room, where Henry frantically attempted to extinguish the flames with a nearby, but undersized throw rug. Failing to stop the fire with the rug, he tried to smother the flames by throwing his arms around Frances, severely burning his face, arms, and hands. Fanny Longfellow died the next morning. Too ill from his burns and grief, Henry did not attend her funeral.

The first Christmas after Fanny's death, Longfellow wrote, "How inexpressibly sad are all holidays." A year after the incident, he wrote, "I can make no record of these days. Better leave them wrapped in silence. Perhaps someday God will give me peace." Longfellow's journal entry for December 25th 1862 reads: "'A merry Christmas' say the children, but that is no more for me."

Henry’s son ran away from home and hopped aboard a train to join President Lincoln’s army. He contracted typhoid, fever, and malaria; but somehow managed to survive. At the battle of New Hope Church in Virginia, he was shot through the shoulder. The bullet nicked his spine and came close to paralyzing him. He was carried into the church and later taken to Washington to recover.

His father received the news on December 1, 1863. He rushed to his son and for weeks he sat by his son’s bedside slowly nursing him back to health.

On Christmas day, December 25, 1863, Henry sat down to give vent to his feelings. His wife was dead, and his son was at death’s door struggling to survive. The nation was torn apart, and it was against this backdrop that Henry Wadsworth Longfellow wrote the words to the song on page number 195 of our hymnal. (Notice as I read – the real stanzas four and five are omitted from our hymnal and most all others as well. Picture everything that was going on at the time in your minds.)

I heard the bells on Christmas Day
Their old familiar carols play,
And wild and sweet
The words repeat
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And thought how,
as the day had come,
The belfries of all Christendom
Had rolled along
The unbroken song
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Till, ringing, singing on its way,
The world revolved from night to day,
A voice, a chime,
A chant sublime
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

Then from each black, accursed mouth
The cannon thundered in the South,
And with the sound
The carols drowned
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

It was as if an earthquake rent
The hearth-stones of a continent,
And made forlorn
The households born
Of peace on earth, good-will to men!

And in despair I bowed my head;
"There is no peace on earth," I said,
"For hate is strong,
And mocks the song
Of peace on earth, good will to men!"

Then pealed the bells more loud and deep;
God is not dead; nor doth he sleep!
The Wrong shall fail,
The Right prevail,
With peace on earth, good-will to men!

We live in dark days…while our country is not engaged in Civil War, there is in fact a war going on! It is a war for our very souls! In our society God has been pushed out of public life – even at Christmas time! The battle rages all around us.

The battle is raging in our lives as well. Some of you have children who are lost…loved ones who are headed for certain destruction if they do not turn around. The devil is at war for your family and he is at war for your heart. You may feel like this evening that you have been under a cloud for far too long. The devil it seems is after your very soul, which is exactly what he is after! It may seem like you have very little to be happy about this Christmas season. Perhaps you are all alone with no one to share Christmas with. Maybe you are sick and the devil is tempting you to despair. Perhaps the songs of Christmas that sing of “peace on earth, good-will to men” are no longer ringing true in your life. Perhaps you feel like the devil has his cannon pointed in your direction, and the carols of Christmas you’re afraid are just about to be drowned out. Perhaps you, like Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, are bowing your head in despair and proclaiming that “there is no peace on earth…for hate is strong and mocks the song of peace on earth, good will to men.”

May I remind you this evening that the Christmas bells are still ringing! The poet felt like dropping his head in defeat, but then he heard the Christmas bells. Their triumphant pealing reminded him, “God is not dead, nor doth He sleep; The wrong shall fail, the right prevail, with peace on earth, goodwill to men.”

Church, God is not dead and He is not asleep! He is alive and well this evening! No matter what you may be facing during this Christmas season, I remind you that He is still in control!

Psalm 121:4 says, “Behold, He who keeps Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep.” (NKJV)[1] [2]





Sources:
[1]Nelson’s Annual Preacher’s Sourcebook 2003
[2] http://whatsaiththescripture.com/Fellowship/Edit_I.Heard.the.Bells.html