'All's Well!'

by John Oxenham.

FOREWORD

For those who were chiefly in my heart when these verses came to me from time to time--our men and boys at the Front, and those they leave behind them in grievous sorrow and anxiety at home--my little message is that, so far as they are concerned--"ALL'S WELL!"

Those who have so n.o.bly responded to the Call, and those who, with quiet faces and breaking hearts, have so bravely bidden them "G.o.d speed!"--with these, All is truly Well, for they are equally giving their best to what, in this case, we most of us devoutly believe to be the service of G.o.d and humanity.

War is red horror. But, better war than the utter crushing-out of liberty and civilisation under the heel of Prussian or _any other_ militarism.

Germany has avowedly outmarched Christianity and left it in the rear, along with its outcla.s.sed guns and higher ideals of, say, 1870, its honour, its humanity, and all the other lumber, useless to an absolutely materialistic people whose only object is to win the world even at the price of its soul.

The world is witnessing with abhorrence the results, and, we may surely hope, learning therefrom The Final Lesson for its own future guidance.

The war-cloud still hangs over us--as I write, but, grim as it is, there are not lacking gleams of its silver linings. If war brings out the very worst in human nature it offers opportunity also for the display of the very best. And, thank G.o.d, proofs of this are not wanting among us, and it is better to let one's thought range the light rather than the darkness.

What the future holds for us no man may safely say. Mighty changes without a doubt. May they all be for the better! But if that is to be it must be the work of every one amongst us. In this, as in everything else, each one of us helps or hinders, makes or mars.

If, in some of these verses, I have endeavoured to strike a note of warning, it is because the times, and the times that are coming, call for it. May it be heeded!

That the end of the present world-strife must and will mark also the end of the most monstrous tyranny and the most hideous conception of "Kultur" the world has ever seen, no man for one moment doubts.

But that is not an end but a beginning. Unless on the ashes of the past we build to n.o.bler purpose, all our gallant dead will have been thrown away, all this gigantic effort, with all its inevitable horror and loss, will have been in vain.

It rests with each one among us to say that that shall not be,--that the future shall repair the past,--that out of this holocaust of death shall come new life.

It behoves every one of us, each in his and her own sphere, and each in his and her own way, to strive with heart and soul for that mighty end.

JOHN OXENHAM.

PART ONE: "ALL'S WELL!"

G.o.d IS

G.o.d is; G.o.d sees; G.o.d loves; G.o.d knows.

And Right is Right; And Right is Might.

In the full ripeness of His Time, All these His vast prepotencies Shall round their grace-work to the prime Of full accomplishment, And we shall see the plan sublime Of His beneficent intent.

Live on in hope!

Press on in faith!

Love conquers all things, Even Death.

WATCHMAN! WHAT OF THE NIGHT?

Watchman! What of the night?

No light we see,-- Our souls are bruised and sickened with the sight Of this foul crime against humanity.

The Ways are dark---- "I SEE THE MORNING LIGHT!"

--The Ways are dark; Faith folds her wings; and Hope, in piteous plight, Has dimmed her radiant lamp to feeblest spark.

Love bleeding lies---- "I SEE THE MORNING LIGHT!"

--Love bleeding lies, Struck down by this grim fury of despight, Which once again her Master crucifies.

He dies again---- "I SEE THE MORNING LIGHT!"

--He dies again, By evil slain! Who died for man's respite By man's insensate rage again is slain.

O woful sight!---- "I SEE THE MORNING LIGHT!

--Beyond the war-clouds and the reddened ways, I see the Promise of the Coming Days!

I see His Sun arise, new-charged with grace Earth's tears to dry and all her woes efface!

Christ lives! Christ loves! Christ rules!

No more shall Might, Though leagued with all the Forces of the Night, Ride over Right. No more shall Wrong The world's gross agonies prolong.

Who waits His Time shall surely see The triumph of His Constancy;-- When, without let, or bar, or stay, The coming of His Perfect Day Shall sweep the Powers of Night away;-- And Faith, replumed for n.o.bler flight, And Hope, aglow with radiance bright, And Love, in loveliness bedight, SHALL GREET THE MORNING LIGHT!"

FOR THE MEN AT THE FRONT

Lord G.o.d of Hosts, whose mighty hand Dominion holds on sea and land, In Peace and War Thy Will we see Shaping the larger liberty.

Nations may rise and nations fall, Thy Changeless Purpose rules them all.

When Death flies swift on wave or field, Be Thou a sure defence and shield!

Console and succour those who fall, And help and hearten each and all!

O, hear a people's prayers for those Who fearless face their country's foes!

For those who weak and broken lie, In weariness and agony-- Great Healer, to their beds of pain Come, touch, and make them whole again!

O, hear a people's prayers, and bless Thy servants in their hour of stress!

[Five million copies of this hymn have been sold and the profits given to the various Funds for the Wounded. It is now being sung all round the world.]

For those to whom the call shall come We pray Thy tender welcome home.

The toil, the bitterness, all past, We trust them to Thy Love at last.

O, hear a people's prayers for all Who, n.o.bly striving, n.o.bly fall!

To every stricken heart and home, O, come! In tenderest pity, come!

To anxious souls who wait in fear, Be Thou most wonderfully near!

And hear a people's prayers, for faith To quicken life and conquer death!

For those who minister and heal, And spend themselves, their skill, their zeal-- Renew their hearts with Christ-like faith, And guard them from disease and death.