the
Lord is gathering, and it shall fall and break the cup, and your
iniquity, which seems to you as pleasant wine, shall be poured out upon
you, and shall be as molten lead. And you, O priests, who say, Ha, ha!
there is no Presence in the sanctuary--the Shechinah is nought--the
Mercy-seat is bare: we may sin behind the veil, and who shall punish us?
To you, I said, the presence of God shall be revealed in his temple as
a consuming fire, and your sacred garments shall become a winding-sheet
of flame, and for sweet music there shall be shrieks and hissing, and
for soft couches there shall be thorns, and for the breath of wantons
shall come the pestilence. Trust not in your gold and silver, trust not
in your high fortresses; for, though the walls were of iron, and the
fortresses of adamant, the Most High shall put terror into your hearts
and weakness into your councils, so that you shall be confounded and
flee like women. He shall break in pieces mighty men without number,
and put others in their stead. For God will no longer endure the
pollution of his sanctuary; he will thoroughly purge his Church.

"And forasmuch as it is written that God will do nothing but he
revealeth it to his servants the prophets, he has chosen me, his
unworthy servant, and made his purpose present to my soul in the living
word of the Scriptures, and in the deeds of his providence; and by the
ministry of angels he has revealed it to me in visions. And his word
possesses me so that I am but as the branch of the forest when the wind
of heaven penetrates it, and it is not in me to keep silence, even
though I may be a derision to the scorner. And for four years I have
preached in obedience to the Divine will: in the face of scoffing I have
preached three things, which the Lord has delivered to me: that _in
these times God will regenerate his Church_, and that _before the
regeneration must come the scourge over all Italy_, and that _these
things will come quickly_.

"But hypocrites who cloak their hatred of the truth with a show of love
have said to me, `Come now, Frate, leave your prophesyings: it is enough
to teach virtue.' To these I answer: `Yes, you say in your hearts, God
lives afar off, and his word is as a parchment written by dead men, and
he deals not as in the days of old, rebuking the nations, and punishing
the oppressors, and smiting the unholy priests as he smote the sons of
Eli. But I cry again in your ears: God is near and not