Lyrics
Ring the bells of heaven! There is joy today,
For a soul returning from the wild!
See, the Father meets him out upon the way,
Welcoming His weary, wandering child.
Glory! Glory! How the angels sing,
Glory! Glory! How the loud harps ring,
'Tis the ransomed army, like a mighty sea,
Pealing forth the anthem of the free.
Ring the bells of heaven! There is joy today,
For the wanderer now is reconciled;
Yes, a soul is rescued from his sinful way,
And is born anew, a ransomed child.
Ring the bells of heaven! Spread the feast today!
Angels, swell the glad triumphant strain!
Tell the joyful tidings, bear it far away!
For a precious soul is born again.
Public domain hymn text (1866). Words by William O. Cushing.
The Story Behind the Hymn
William O. Cushing was a Baptist and later Congregationalist minister whose active pastoral career was cut short by his wife's death and his own declining health, after which he turned his energy almost entirely to writing hymn texts rather than preaching from a pulpit.
He went on to produce some three hundred hymn texts over the remainder of his life, often working closely with well-known composers of the era who set his words to music, since his own health limited how actively he could otherwise serve.
He wrote 'Ring the Bells of Heaven' in 1866, drawing directly on the parable of the lost sheep and the prodigal son in Luke 15, where a father, and by extension all of heaven, rejoices openly over the return of someone who had wandered away.
The tune was composed by George F. Root, a highly prolific composer of the period best remembered today for his American Civil War songs, who also wrote extensively for churches and Sunday schools throughout his long career.
Rather than addressing the sinner directly or dwelling on repentance itself, the hymn takes an unusual angle, describing the celebration from heaven's side of the story, imagining bells ringing and angels singing at the very moment one wandering soul turns back.
That choice gives the song an unusually bright, celebratory tone compared to many revival-era hymns of personal conviction, since its focus rests entirely on rejoicing rather than on the struggle or guilt that might precede a return to faith.
The hymn found a lasting home in Sunday schools and youth gatherings, where its energetic, bell-like refrain of 'Glory! Glory!' made it especially suited to enthusiastic group singing, carrying forward Cushing's central image of heaven bursting into celebration over a single returning soul.
