He shall come to us Judæans! Up, and let us seek Him!
ALL
Aye, let us seek Him!
JOHN
Think ye that He will permit Himself to be found by you? Ye miserable creatures full of mutiny and revolt! Who are ye that ye should alter the course of the world's history by a hair's breadth? When the time for His harvest is ripe, then He shall appear to you of His own free will in glory as the Lord of Hosts. The four cherubim shall ride before Him on caparisoned horses, with flaming sickles in their hands.... Whatsoever hath been planted in sin and hath grown up rankly, that shall be mown down, root and branch; whatsoever hath reared itself against Him shall be trampled upon. Therefore, ye men of Israel, root up the weeds that flourish and encumber your bodies, so that ye do not rot, and in your corruption are not swept away with your polluters when He draweth near with the seven-coloured rainbow about His head. He Who shall come must come [reflectively], must come!
ONE OF THE CROWD
Rabbi, we have repented of our sins. We pray day and night, and our bodies are emaciated from fasting. Say, what more can we do?
SCENE IV
The same. Josaphat. Matthias.
JOHN