afar off; his
judgments change not. He is the God of armies; the strong men who go up
to battle are his ministers, even as the storm, and fire, and
pestilence. He drives them by the breath of his angels, and they come
upon the chosen land which has forsaken the covenant. And thou, O
Italy, art the chosen land; has not God placed his sanctuary within
thee, and thou hast polluted it? Behold, the ministers of his wrath are
upon thee--they are at thy very doors!'"

Savonarola's voice had been rising in impassioned force up to this
point, when he became suddenly silent, let his hands fall and clasped
them quietly before him. His silence, instead of being the signal for
small movements amongst his audience, seemed to be as strong a spell to
them as his voice. Through the vast area of the cathedral men and women
sat with faces upturned, like breathing statues, till the voice was
heard again in clear low tones.

"Yet there is a pause--even as in the days when Jerusalem was destroyed
there was a pause that the children of God might flee from it. There is
a stillness before the storm: lo, there is blackness above, but not a
leaf quakes: the winds are stayed, that the voice of God's warning may
be heard. Hear it now, O Florence, chosen city in the chosen land!
Repent and forsake evil: do justice: love mercy: put away all
uncleanness from among you, that the spirit of truth and holiness may
fill your souls and breathe through all your streets and habitations,
and then the pestilence shall not enter, and the sword shall pass over
you and leave you unhurt.

"For the sword is hanging from the sky; it is quivering; it is about to
fall! _The sword of God upon the earth, swift and sudden_! Did I not
tell you, years ago, that I had beheld the vision and heard the voice?
And behold, it is fulfilled! Is there not a king with his army at your
gates? Does not the earth shake with the tread of horses and the wheels
of swift cannon? Is there not a fierce multitude that can lay bare the
land as with a sharp razor? I tell you the French king with his army is
the minister of God: God shall guide him as the hand guides a sharp
sickle, and the joints of the wicked shall melt before him, and they
shall be mown down as stubble: he that fleeth of them shall not flee
away, and he that escapeth of them shall not be delivered. And the
tyrants who have made to themselves a throne out of the vices of the
multitude, and the unbelieving pri