The mission—The second Two

(The Saviour of the World, Vol III Book IV Poem XLV)

These other Two to city came;
In crowded streets they would proclaim
Him, came the multitude to teach;
Here, like their Master, would they preach:
A haughty scribe gibed and passed by;
Priest, arrogant, aloud did cry,—
“These ignorant, why come they here
Us to instruct, and have no fear?”
The people hear the scornful word
Their rulers speak: lightly deterred,
They quit the men whose words had seemed
Touched with a glory they had dreamed.
Alone, rejected, stood the Two,
But yet their mission would pursue:—
“In yonder street, perchance, there be
Men less averse to Christ; go we
And tell them of that gracious Lord
Who bade us hither with His Word.”
They spake, but no man stopped to hear;
Full of diverse concerns appear
The poor and rich alike; what heed
Give they to tales of “lamp” and “seed,”—
Such themes were as an idle song,
Powerless to stay that busy throng!
They, sorrowful, departing, must
Shake from their shoes that city’s dust.