| |
| Jos.—I TOOK His Body from the tree, | |
| Wrapped it in linen decently, | |
| And many times I bent my knee | |
| Before I buried Him. | |
| |
| Nic.—I took of aloes and of myrrh, | 5 |
| That I might aid thee to inter | |
| That Holy Thing in sepulchre; | |
| We were two Nethenim. | |
| |
| Jos.—I had a sepulchre of stone, | |
| Wherein afore was buried none: | 10 |
| In this I laid Him all alone; | |
| The stone did many seal. | |
| |
| Nic.—I stood afar when in my sight | |
| The crosses rose upon the height, | |
| And fretted with their forms the light | 15 |
| Above the dreadful hill. | |
| |
| Jos.—I am a noble counsellor, | |
| God’s kingdom have I waited for, | |
| But was not of the council, nor | |
| After the deed of them. | 20 |
| |
| Nic.—A ruler of the Jews am I; | |
| And His disciple secretly; | |
| I pleaded, that He should not die, | |
| Before the Sanhedrim. | |
| |
| Jos.—Riches have I in Arimathy. | 25 |
| For it is said in prophecy | |
| That he among the rich should die: | |
| That prophet I fulfil. | |
| |
| Nic.—Three years afore I came by night | |
| To visit Him, who did invite | 30 |
| The weary to a burden light, | |
| And all the sick did heal. | |
| |
| Jos.—I was within the temple when | |
| He scourged away the throng of men; | |
| It was at the beginning then | 35 |
| Of all His ministry. | |
| |
| Nic.—I learned His doctrine in my mind, | |
| His kingdom, that should be confined, | |
| To those of water and of wind | |
| New-born by mystery. | 40 |
| |
| Jos.—And I remember and can tell, | |
| When He the temple purged so well, | |
| How many said that Israel | |
| Did now their King possess. | |
| |
| Nic.—That King should be, He said to me, | 45 |
| Raised not on throne but on the tree | |
| As Moses made the serpent be | |
| Raised in the wilderness. | |
| |
