THE PROPHECY OF MAYENCE.

Taranaki Daily News, 10 January 1917, Page 7

THE PROPHECY OF MAYENCE.

BOOM OF THE HOHE.YZOLLERXS. Whence conies the so-callea Mayence Pmphecy, and when was it made'! No one knows. Tt, takes its name from the town of Mayence (or Mninz). wher<#it was preserved in a monastery founded by St. Hildejrarile; butiit cannot well be considered a forgery afte-' the event, an k was published as long ago as 18.V. and aroused considerable, interest at once. Very soon, however, people ceased tf.lking ,of it in Germany, because it predicted the end of the Hohenzollerns; but in Alsace and Lorraine they repeated it in secret, dreading the annexation which it foretold for 45 years, and anticipating their final deliverance, which should come in 191(1.' The terms of this celebrated prophecy are so strikingly definite that we give them in full, to enable the reader to observe for liimself its disturbing agreement with the facts.

''When the little people of the Order shall feel themselves strong enough to shako off the yoke of their protector, and the barley shall be in tin. ear, their King, William, will go Forth against Austria. He shall go forth from victory to victory, even to the gates of Vienna, hut a word from the great Emperor of the West shall make the hero tremble on tlie field of victory; and the barley shall not be harvested when "lie shall sign peace, shake oil' every yeke, and return in triumph to Ms country.

"But, behold, between the fourth harvest and that of the oats a great noise shall summon the to arms; a formidable war, having with it an extraordinary number of engines, which bell itself only could 1m vo invented, shall take the road to the West.

"Woe unto thee, great nation; woe t(i you who have forsaken,, the rights of God and man. The God of Annies has forsaken you, and who shall aid you ?

'•'Napoleon 111., at first despising his adversary, shall soon turn back to the People's Oak, where lie shall disappear, never to return.

"In spite of the heroic sf,and of the French, a multitude of 'ol.'.e, yellow and black soldiers shall overrun a great part of .France. "Alsace and Lorraine shall be torn away from France for a generation and a half.

"Frenchmen will only take courage again against themselves—or, agc.ir.st their nature.

(This passage is hardly intelligibli The French text is: l.es Francais ::e reprendronts courage que centre ovixmes).

"Woe unto thee, great city, v.'oe nntr thee, city of vice; steel and fire shall follo\v fire and famine. "Courage, true hearts, the reign or darkness shall end before its devices are accomplished. "But now comes the day of mercy A prince of the nation is in the midst oi you.

"This is the man of salvation, the v/ise, the invincible; he shall count his undertakings by his victories. "He shall chase out the enemy from France, lie shall go from victory to victory, till the day of Divine justice.

"Til that day he shall lipve seven kinds of soldiers against three on the field of linchcs des Bouleaux, between Ham, Woer! and Paderhorn.

"Woe unto you, people of the North; your seventh generation shall answer for your crimes. Woe unto you, people of tile East; you shall multiply cries of mourning and shed innocent blood. Never was seen such an army; never was heard so great a noise! "Three times the sun shall pass over the heads of the armies, and shall not be seen for the fog of smoke. "At last the chief shall gain the victory; two of his inemies shall ilee towards the Far East. "William, the second of the- name, shall be the last King o'' Prussia; he shall have no other successors than a King of Poland, a Jving oi Hanover, and n King of Saxony,