The Fourth Prophecy, called Unrest

The voice of the Spirit to the children of the flesh,–
This is darkness,–to be enslaved by sin;
This is light,–to be free from sin.
There is a place of darkness,
A dwelling - place of deep darkness,
And they who abide there cry out of their unrest,
They cry and are not heard, because their cry is of self;
They call upon their God, but the silence is not broken;
The echo of their own voice they hear, and it affrights them.
And they remain in their sins.
And remaining in their sins, they shall cry,–
"We have sown wheat and have reaped straw,
We have ploughed, but we have no produce of our labor,
And lo! the Great Famine is upon us.
We stored away much grain, but the rats have devoured it;
We put away much fruit, but it has decayed, and the long winter is before us;
We bartered, and acquired much gold, yet we perish,
For some the thief has stolen, and the rest is moldy.
What shall we purchase, having no Bread?
There is no Bread, and no seller of Bread;
We die, and there is none to save us!"
And again, in their deep bitterness, they shall say,–
"We have toiled mightily, but we have no reward;
That which we built is destroyed,
That which we made secure is undermined,
And all our wonderful works are crumbling away.
We ate and slept, but now we are afflicted,
We made sacrifices, yet now we are deserted,
We built ourselves pleasant mansions, and there is no rest in them.
Our sorrows are as the deep seas,
Our miseries are as the great mountains,
Our woes are many, and our pains are great.
There is no cure for our diseases,
There is no relief for our sorrows,
We are weary, and there is no rest!"
So shall they cry, and they shall not be heard;
So shall they suffer, and shall not be relieved;
And they shall seek for rest, and shall not find it;
For in the place of darkness,
In the dwelling-place of deep darkness,
There is no remedy,
There is no redress,
There is no salvation.
Where self is lord and king there is no peace.
Ye who are in the way of impurity,
Ye who are the subjects of self,
Listen, though ye understand not.
Hear,–for the day cometh when the precepts of the prophet are remembered,
And his words are burnt into the heart with brands of fire,–
Where there shall come upon you the night which is more than darkness,
The hunger which is more than famine,
And the deprivation which is more than death,
When Love shall be crucified, and hatred be set free,
When peace shall be banished, and strife be glorified.
When righteousness shall be mocked, and confusion shall flourish,
And the voice of the prophet is no longer heard;–
When that time comes, and ye cry, and are not heard,
Suffer, and are not relieved,
Sorrow, and are not comforted,
Remember this,–
He that rouseth himself early seeth the sun rise,
He that watcheth diligently and taketh a light, findeth his way out of the darkness,
And he that striveth with an uncomplaining heart, is crowned with the Crown of Peace.