CHRIST IN FLANDERS

Dominion, Volume 9, Issue 2687, 5 February 1916, Page 3

CHRIST IN FLANDERS

We ha<l forgotten You, or very nearly— You did not "seem ■to touch us very nearly— ■ Of course we thought about You -now and then; ;• j Especially in any time of trouble--IWo knew that you were good in time of trouble — But we are very ordinary men. •

ind there were always other things to . thiuk of—y* ; There's lots of things a man has got to think, of— His work, his homo, his pleasure, and his wile; ind so we oply thought of You on Sunday—. Sometimes, perhaps, not even on a Sunday- . Because there's always lots to fill one's life.

I And, all the -while, in street or lane or byway— In country lane, in city 'street, or byway— * You walked among us, and we did not

see. Your feet were bleeding as You walked

our pavementsHow did we miss" Your Footprints on our pavements?— Can there.be other folk as ( blind as we? tsow we remember; over here in Flanders— - . ' (It isn't, strange to think of You in Flanders)—' This hideous; warfare seems to make things clear. We never thought about Tou much in England— But now that we are far away from England—.' We have no doubts) we know that You are here. You helped-us pass the jest along 'the trenches— : Where, in' cold blood, we waited in the trenches— You touched its ribaldry and made it fine. -• •Fou stood beside us in our pain and \ weakness— We're glad to think You understand our weakness— - Somehow it seems to help us not to whine. We think about You kneeling in the Garden— ih! God! the agony pf that dread Garden— - We know You prayed for -us upon the Cross. " If anything could make ns glad to bear it— 'Twould be the knowledge that You willed to bear itPain—death—tlie uttermost of human loss. jTJiough we forgot You—You will not forget us— We feel so sure that You will not forgot • us— But stay witli us until this dream is past. \ml so we ask for courage, strength, and pardonEspecially, I think, we ask for pardon— And that You'll stand beside us to the last. —L.W„ in "The Suectator,"