II.

Jerusalem, 1917

_No incident of the Great War gripped the imagination of the Christian world so much as the taking of Jerusalem in December, 1917, by General (Lord) Allenby. Though an incident in war, it yet had in it the promise of peace, since no shot was fired against the Holy City and the victorious commander entered the city on foot without parade of war._

Jerusalem 1917

O Mother, with the halo round thy brow, Yet conscious of the Cross which looms so near-- What is the grim surprise which greets thee now? What spectre grips thy maiden heart with fear?

What is it that, with half-averted face, Thou seest sweep across the holy land, Where all the towers and domes of David's race From age to age in silent witness stand?

How ill, meseems, become those sacred fields The tramp of warriors and the blast of war, The gleam of steel and shock of swords and shields, The noise of cannon booming from afar!

Is this the peace the angels sang when high The glory burst upon the shepherds lone? Is this the promised dawn when all the sky Flamed with good news from Heaven's Almighty Throne?

Yet constant shines the Star from out the dark, Heaven's finger touching earth with silvery ray. Though Time tell of despair and misery stark, Eternity assures us of the day.

O Mother with the sword within thy breast, The Child Divine within thine arms may see, E'en from thy lap, the issue sure, the rest For man appointed after victory.

And when, in later years, He shall ascend The painful Cross, He shall be satisfied, And all the travail and the strife shall blend In manhood, saved, redeemed, beatified.

O Child, in Mother's arms thus nurs'd and held, Give us from love like her's to wake and rise, Till from the Cross we see the dark dispell'd, The City of God descending from the skies.

Give us Thy courage firm, Thy patience long, Thy willingness to suffer for the right; O give us of Thy faith, Thy love so strong, The vision of the victory of the right.

Jerusalem, encompassed with arms, Shall yet become the city of the free, And discord, hatred, war, and war's alarms Shall disappear for all eternity.