BIG BEN

Recently a 97 year old widow asked me if I knew the Big Ben hymn!  When I looked puzzled she began to sing the following words to the four chimes.  “O Lord my God.  Be Thou my guide.  That by Thy help no foot may slide!”

The name Big Ben was given to the huge 13½ ton hour bell which was probably named after Benjamin Caunt, a famous boxer who weighed 17 stone and was often called Big Ben.  The 4 smaller quarter chime bells provide the familiar Westminster Chimes that will soon introduce the solemn first stroke of the great bell to mark the beginning of 2008.

The bells of the great clock of Westminster first rang across London on 31st May 1859.  Soon after this the great bell cracked because the striking hammer was twice the weight specified.  Eventually a lighter hammer was fitted and the bell was turned slightly to present an undamaged section to the new hammer.  This is the bell we hear today the crack giving its distinctive but less than perfect tone.

The year 1859 was not only famous for the unveiling of Big Ben but for two other events.  The first was the publication of Charles Darwin’s Origin of Species, which tended to undermine faith in the Bible’s account of the Creation.  The second was a wonderful revival of the Christian faith over a large part of the western world.  In Britain the powerful proclamation of the gospel of Jesus Christ was changing the lives of hundreds of thousands.  Churches were packed to the doors, consciences were awoken and many social evils began to disappear.

I’m sure that if we each resolved to pray and obey the Big Ben prayer, during 2008, our Nation would be blessed again.