::R1716 : page 21::

WHAT THE PRINCE OF PEACE MIGHT SAY,
IF HE WOULD SPEAK TO-DAY

“I have come, and the world shall be shaken
Like a reed at the touch of my rod,
And the kingdoms of men shall awaken
To the voice and summons of God.
No more through the din of the ages,
Shall warnings and chidings divine
From the lips of my prophets and sages
Be trampled like pearls before swine.

“Have ye ‘seized’ all my lands and my cattle?
Would ye keep back from labor her meed?
Would ye challenge the outcasts to battle,
When they plead at your feet in their need?
And when clamor of hunger grows louder,
And the multitude prays to be fed,
Will ye answer with prison and powder
The cries of your brothers for bread?

“I’d turn from your altars and arches
And the mockings of steeples and domes,
To join in the long, weary marches
Of the poor ones bereft of their homes;
I’d share in the sorrows and crosses
Of the poor, the hungry and cold,
For dearer to me are their losses
Than your mines and your altars of gold.

::R1716 : page 22::

“I will wither the might of the Spoiler,
I will end the reign of his hate;
The servants of Sin shall no longer
Be prospered in Church and in State.
Aye, the prayers of the poor are ascending
To be written with lightnings on high!
And the wails of all captives be blending
With bolts that shall leap from the sky.

“Then the thrones of your kings shall be shattered,
And the captives and surfs shall go free;
Then I’ll harvest from seed that I scattered
On the borders of blue Galilee.
Yea, I come not now as a stranger—
Lo, my reapers shall sing through the night,
Till the star that stood over the manger
Shall cover the world with its light.” —Selected.

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— January 15, 1898 —