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NICODEMUS. THE STREETS are silent. The dark houses seem | |
| Like sepulchres, in which the sleepers lie | |
| Wrapped in their shrouds, and for the moment dead. | |
| The lamps are all extinguished; only one | |
| Burns steadily, and from the door its light | 5 |
| Lies like a shining gate across the street. | |
| He waits for me. Ah, should this be at last | |
| The long-expected Christ! I see him there | |
| Sitting alone, deep-buried in his thought, | |
| As if the weight of all the world were resting | 10 |
| Upon him, and thus bowed him down. O Rabbi, | |
| We know thou art a Teacher come from God, | |
| For no man can perform the miracles | |
| Thou dost perform, except the Lord be with him. | |
| Thou art a Prophet, sent here to proclaim | 15 |
| The Kingdom of the Lord. Behold in me | |
| A Ruler of the Jews, who long have waited | |
| The coming of that kingdom. Tell me of it. | |
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CHRISTUS. Verily, verily I say unto thee, | |
| Except a man be born again, he cannot | 20 |
Behold the Kingdom of God!
NICODEMUS. Be born again? | |
| How can a man be born when he is old? | |
| Say, can he enter for a second time | |
| Into his mother’s womb, and so be born? | |
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CHRISTUS. Verily I say unto thee, except | 25 |
| A man be born of water and the spirit, | |
| He cannot enter into the Kingdom of God. | |
| For that which of the flesh is born, is flesh; | |
| And that which of the spirit is born, is spirit. | |
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NICODEMUS. We Israelites from the Primeval Man | 30 |
| Adam Ahelion derive our bodies; | |
| Our souls are breathings of the Holy Ghost. | |
| No more than this we know, or need to know. | |
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CHRISTUS. Then marvel not, that I said unto thee | |
Ye must be born again.
NICODEMUS. The mystery | 35 |
| Of birth and death we cannot comprehend. | |
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CHRISTUS. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and we hear | |
| The sound thereof, but know not whence it cometh, | |
| Nor whither it goeth. So is every one | |
Born of the spirit!
NICODEMUS, aside. How can these things be? | 40 |
| He seems to speak of some vague realm of shadows, | |
| Some unsubstantial kingdom of the air! | |
| It is not this the Jews are waiting for, | |
| Nor can this be the Christ, the Son of David, | |
Who shall deliver us!
CHRISTUS. Art thou a master | 45 |
| Of Israel, and knowest not these things? | |
| We speak that we do know, and testify | |
| That we have seen, and ye will not receive | |
| Our witness. If I tell you earthly things, | |
| And ye believe not, how shall ye believe, | 50 |
| If I should tell you of things heavenly? | |
| And no man hath ascended up to heaven, | |
| But He alone that first came down from heaven, | |
| Even the Son of Man which is in heaven! | |
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NICODEMUS, aside. This is a dreamer of dreams; a visionary, | 55 |
| Whose brain is overtasked, until he deems | |
| The unseen world to be a thing substantial, | |
| And this we live in, an unreal vision! | |
| And yet his presence fascinates and fills me | |
| With wonder, and I feel myself exalted | 60 |
| Into a higher region, and become | |
| Myself in part a dreamer of his dreams, | |
A seer of his visions!
CHRISTUS. And as Moses | |
| Uplifted the serpent in the wilderness, | |
| So must the Son of Man be lifted up; | 65 |
| That whosoever shall believe in Him | |
| Shall perish not, but have eternal life. | |
| He that believes in Him is not condemned; | |
| He that believes not, is condemned already. | |
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NICODEMUS, aside. He speaketh like a Prophet of the Lord! | 70 |
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CHRISTUS. This is the condemnation; that the light | |
| Is come into the world, and men loved darkness | |
| Rather than light, because their deeds are evil! | |
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NICODEMUS, aside. Of me he speaketh! He reproveth me, | |
| Because I come by night to question him! | 75 |
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CHRISTUS. For every one that doeth evil deeds | |
| Hateth the light, nor cometh to the light, | |
Lest he should be reproved.
NICODEMUS, aside. Alas, how truly | |
| He readeth what is passing in my heart! | |
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CHRISTUS. But he that doeth truth comes to the light, | 80 |
| So that his deeds may be made manifest, | |
That they are wrought in God.
NICODEMUS. Alas! alas! | |
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