Solemn Consecration of the New Ring of Twelve Bells

St Magnus the Martyr, London Bridge - 03/03/09 

Sermon preached by the Bishop of London

Bells speak to the glory of God. Bells rang in the temple of Jerusalem but only tiny ones sewn to the robes of the high priest. It was when the church moved out of the period of persecution in the Roman Empire that bells were really able to give voice to His Glory. 

The first record of large church bells is from early 5th century Nola in Campania – hence campanology. 

In about 680 Bede records that a bell was brought from Italy by Abbot Benedict Biscop to adorn his monastery. Also before the Norman Conquest, St Dunstan who was for a very short time Bishop of London is said to have cast a bell. 

The Book of Common Prayer orders that a bell should be rung at a convenient time before service. A text on a bell in Banbury reinforces the point – “I ring to sermon with a lusty bome; that all may come and none stay at home.” 

The peculiar English glory of change ringing belongs to the 17th century. In 1668 Fabian Stedman’s Tintinnalogia was published. It would be a tragedy if this unique part of English culture were ever to become extinct and not the least merit of this fine new ring of bells is that they are well contrived to provide for the education of a new generation of ringers. 

The 18th century was a golden age for the bells of St Magnus but the achievements of that era will no doubt be surpassed by the exertions of the 21st century. Tonight represents yet another instance of the church emerging from the introversion of the past forty years to proclaim once more the glory of God in the public square. 

The original ring of ten was removed from the Tower in 1941 to preserve them from the Blitz. They were kept at the Whitechapel Bell foundry until 1976 when the tenor bell had one last outing to the Royal Albert Hall for a guest appearance in the 1812 Overture in the Summer Proms. There was little interest in restoration at a time marked by loss of nerve and the bells were broken up. 

Now thanks to a host of ringers and their supporters we are participating in an event which has not happened in the city of London for time out of mind, the baptism of an entirely new ring of bells. It is hoped that they will be installed in time to proclaim the Resurrection at Easter.

Bells go to the heart and they reverberate through a person for good and ill. They arouse strong feelings. 

In her campanological detective story The Nine Tailors, Dorothy Sayers writes “From time to time complaints are made about the ringing of church bells. It seems strange that a generation which tolerates the uproar of the internal combustion engine can be so sensitive to the one loud noise which is made to the glory of God. England alone in the world has perfected the art of change ringing and the true ringing of bells by rope and wheel and will not lightly surrender her unique heritage.” 

The enemies of the Christian faith have always been keen to silence the bells. The phrase “let not the Greeks ring their bells” appears in the instructions of Mehmet the Conqueror after the capture of Constantinople. He was followed by the Bolsheviks who melted down vast numbers of church bells to forge into the great machine idols of their godless state. The ringing of bells was entirely banned in 1930. The zvon, the sacred canopy spread over Russian cities by the bells was replaced by the noise of motors and furnaces. 

The return of the bells to Russia would have delighted Father Fynes Clinton who set his mark on this church and not least in his love of Russian Orthodoxy. He has a worthy successor today in Father Philip. 

Human life is not in the end defined by any mere idea of usefulness. Our destiny is to be like Christ, filled with the glory of God. Bells point the way, as George Herbert said

“Church bells beyond the stars heard, the soul’s blood,

The land of spices; something understood.”

“O praise God in his holiness

Praise him upon the loud cymbals

Let everything that hath breath

Praise the Lord.”

You can view an Excel file of ringing dates and times on the link below

http://ascy.org.uk/magnusringingtimes.xls