“Pass It On”
Henry Burton’s famous hymn, “Pass It On,” was inspired by a story relating to the early life of the Rev. Mark Guy Pearse, noted as a preacher and a writer, and who died just a few months before Dr. Burton. The latter married a sister of Mr. Pearse. How he came to write this hymn was related in The British Weekly.
“Returning from school in Holland, Pearse once found himself on a steam packet bound from Bristol to Hayle in Cornwall, having had a hearty supper, and later finding that he had reached the limit of his finances. The steward was inclined to be severe, but on hearing the lad’s name he changed his tone. Pearse’s father had recently helped the steward’s mother in a difficulty, now the opportunity had come for the old debt to be repaid. The steward paid the supper bill with the remark, ‘Now pass this on to some one else.’”
This furnished the inspiration for the appealing lines:
“Have you had a kindness shown?
Pass it on!
’Twas not given for thee alone—
Pass it on!
Let it travel down the years,
Let it wipe another’s tears,
Till in heaven the deed appears,
Pass it on!
Did you hear the loving word?
Pass it on!
Like the singing of a bird?
Pass it on!
Let its music live and grow,
Let it cheer another’s woe,
You have reaped what others sow—
Pass it on!
. . . . . . . . .
Love demands the loving deed!
Pass it on!
Look upon thy brother’s need,
Pass it on!
Live for self, you live in vain;
Live for Christ, you live again;
Live for Him, with Him you reign—
Pass it on!”[20]
CHAPTER VIII
Songs of Salvation
It has been rightly observed that the three ideas most frequently expressed by Jesus are translated by the words lost, last, least. He constantly repeated the message that the lost shall be found, that the last shall be the first, that the least shall be the greatest. This is the Gospel of the World’s Saviour who saw possibilities in what others called hopeless lives. He appealed to what was latent in them and secured a response from the despised, the outcast, the depraved. To all appearances they were incapable of better things but Jesus knew better and He was not disappointed.
These unfortunate individuals belong to the “broken earthenware” of humanity. Scarred by sin, hurt by temptation, haunted by fear, torn by passion, repressed by prejudice, their lives have been redeemed by the Saviour, and transformed. So much so that their present has not the slightest resemblance to their past, and their future has the glow of greater progress toward holiness and happiness. As long as such results are obtained by the Gospel it is certainly good news to all classes and conditions, and should be broadcast to earth’s remotest bounds. Here are some recent proofs of the glory of the divine grace.
There are no hopeless cases as seen in the instance of one who was