GOD AND HIS VOICE
From the voice of Christ and the voice of the cross it is not far to hear the voice of God either in life or in John Oxenham's books. Behind the cross and behind the Christ stands the Father, and a treatment of this great poet's writings would not be complete if one did not quote a few excerpts from his writings to show that God was ever present "keeping watch above his own."
The first note we catch of the Father's voice is in "The Call of the
Dead":
"One way there is—one only—
Whereby ye may stand sure;
One way by which ye may understand
All foes, and Life's High Ways command,
And make your building sure.—-
Take God once more as Counselor,
Work with Him, hand in hand,
Build surely, in His Grace and Power,
The nobler things that shall endure,
And, having done all—STAND!"
The Vision Splendid.
And as the poet has walked the streets of America and elsewhere and has seen the service flag, which in "Each window shrines a name," he has felt God everywhere. In "The Leaves of the Golden Book" he comforts those who mourn:
"God will gather all these scattered
Leaves into His Golden Book,
Torn and crumpled, soiled and battered,
He will heal them with a look.
Not one soul of them has perished;
No man ever yet forsook
Wife and home, and all he cherished,
And God's purpose undertook,
But he met his full reward
In the 'Well Done' of his Lord!"
The Vision Splendid.
So it is that over and over we hear this note, wrung from the experiences of war, that those who give up all, to die for God's plan, to take the cross in suffering that the world may be better; these shall have life eternal. And who dares to dispute it?
In "Our Share" we are admonished that we must find God anew: