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"Train up a child in the way he should go, and
when he is old he will not depart from it."
"Start a boy on the right road, and even in old
age he will not leave it." Proverbs 22:6. (AV)
(NEB)
Working on an essay about TIME there dimmed in my ear the
verse of an old hymn from my childhood:
"Life at best is very brief
Like the falling of a leaf.
Like the binding of a sheaf,
Be in time."
When "Man About Town" of the Mourne Observer asked
readers to help me find more of the hymn he received an immediate
response from several of them. I sincerely thanked MAT and
the readers for their much appreciated help.
The little incident was the reminder that some things important
to us were learned when we were very young. It is to accept
the fact that what is taught to the young when it appears
to be too hard for them can become their strongly held attitudes
and beliefs in later life. The catechisms of the churches,
learning by rote and rhyme, is evidence of that, for what
was hard to understand in childhood becomes clear and believable
in youth and age.
Edward, Lord Carson of Duncairn, on a sick bed at 80 years
old had a visitor, Charles D'Arcy, Archbishop of Armagh and
Primate of All Ireland. Old friends, they talked about many
things. When Carson told D'Arcy that after his long, incredibly
fulfilling and exciting life, he was comforted by what he
was taught at his mother's knee like:
"For God so loved the world, that he gave his only
begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish
but have everlasting life." John 3:16.
The Primate responded, "Carson, if you believe that
that's enough."
The chorus of "Be in time ..... " has been sung
frequently and separately, as an earnest evangelistic appeal
to "come to Christ."
"Be in time. Be in time .....
When the voice of Jesus calls you,
Be in time ...
If in sin you longer wait,
You may find no open gate
And your cry be just too late,
Be in time ... "
The hymn - I see no reference to its author - reminds us
that the constant call of Christ to people is to follow Him.
It is the continuous plea from Christians and the Church,
and the response is crucial to everyone who hears it. The
urgency in the hymn is not heard much these days. But new
life in the churches will come only when their primary purpose
is to bring people to faith in Christ. That is what church
growth is all about.
Many are acquainted with the "appeal". It is integral
to the preaching of evangelists, not many of them as well
known as John Wesley, George Whitefield, W P Nicholson and
Billy Graham, some are just "ordinary" pastors and
ministers. Commitment to Christ, in response to an appeal,
has been the way to many who have proved their honesty and
sincerity by their changed lives thereafter.
Whatever the attitude to the appeal - it is not favoured
by those who see it as insensitive, invasive and coercive
- it is used successfully still, regularly or occasionally,
in churches whose growth is evident.
The appeal often has the accompaniment of hymns and choruses
which emphasise the brevity of life and the certainty of death,
but offer the promise of a better life which comes from faith
and trust in Christ by Christian character and conduct.
"Be in time .... is a good example of this genre. It
makes you think. If need be you can be in time, for that is
the effect of faith and trust in Jesus Christ.
Rev. Canon Dr. S.E. Long
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