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PETER and ANDREW mending their nets.
PETER. NEVER was such a marvellous draught of fishes | |
| Heard of in Galilee! The market-places | |
| Both of Bethsaida and Capernaum | |
| Are full of them! Yet we had toiled all night | |
| And taken nothing, when the Master said: | 5 |
| Launch out into the deep, and cast your nets; | |
| And doing this, we caught such multitudes, | |
| Our nets like spiders’ webs were snapped asunder, | |
| And with the draught we filled two ships so full | |
| That they began to sink. Then I knelt down | 10 |
| Amazed, and said: O Lord, depart from me, | |
| I am a sinful man. And he made answer: | |
| Simon, fear not; henceforth thou shalt catch men! | |
What was the meaning of those words?
ANDREW. I know not. | |
| But here is Philip, come from Nazareth. | 15 |
| He hath been with the Master. Tell us, Philip, | |
What tidings dost thou bring?
PHILIP. Most wonderful! | |
| As we drew near to Nain, out of the gate | |
| Upon a bier was carried the dead body | |
| Of a young man, his mother’s only son, | 20 |
| And she a widow, who with lamentation | |
| Bewailed her loss, and the much people with her; | |
| And when the Master saw her he was filled | |
| With pity; and he said to her: Weep not! | |
| And came and touched the bier, and they that bare it | 25 |
| Stood still; and then he said: Young man, arise! | |
| And he that had been dead sat up, and soon | |
| Began to speak; and he delivered him | |
| Unto his mother. And there came a fear | |
| On all the people and they glorified | 30 |
| The Lord, and said, rejoicing: A great Prophet | |
| Is risen up among us! and the Lord | |
Hath visited his people!
PETER. A great Prophet? | |
| Ay, greater than a Prophet: greater even | |
Than John the Baptist!
PHILIP. Yet the Nazarenes | 35 |
Rejected him.
PETER. The Nazarenes are dogs! | |
| As natural brute beasts, they growl at things | |
| They do not understand; and they shall perish, | |
| Utterly perish in their own corruption. | |
The Nazarenes are dogs!
PHILIP. They drave him forth | 40 |
| Out of their Synagogue, out of their city, | |
| And would have cast him down a precipice, | |
| But, passing through the midst of them, he vanished | |
Out of their hands.
PETER. Wells are they without water, | |
| Clouds carried with a tempest, unto whom | 45 |
| The mist of darkness is reserved forever! | |
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PHILIP Behold he cometh. There is one man with him | |
I am amazed to see!
ANDREW. What man is that? | |
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PHILIP. Judas Iscariot; he that cometh last, | |
| Girt with a leathern apron. No one knoweth | 50 |
| His history; but the rumor of him is | |
| He had an unclean spirit in his youth. | |
It hath not left him yet.
CHRISTUS, passing. Come unto me, | |
| All ye that labor and are heavy laden, | |
| And I will give you rest! Come unto me, | 55 |
| And take my yoke upon you and learn of me, | |
| For I am meek, and I am lowly in heart, | |
| And ye shall all find rest unto your souls! | |
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PHILIP. Oh, there is something in that voice that reaches | |
| The innermost recesses of my spirit! | 60 |
| I feel that it might say unto the blind: | |
| Receive you sight! and straightway they would see! | |
| I feel that it might say unto the dead, | |
| Arise! and they would hear it and obey! | |
Behold, he beckons to us!
CHRISTUS, to PETER and ANDREW. Follow me! | 65 |
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PETER. Master, I will leave all and follow thee. | |
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