About God’s universal Sunshine [from Part I]
![About God’s universal Sunshine [from Part I]](/woodcuts/1704Luik1/00033345.jpg)
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: About God’s universal Sunshine [from Part I]
Scripture Reference:
- Malachi 4 (further images / scripture text)
Description: Jesus and the Soul watch the sun rise over the mountains. Jesus is wearing an aureole and the Soul is depicted as a young woman in a long dress. The Dutch artist and poet, Jan Luiken (1649-1712) was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem and composing the poem that accompanies it.
Poem: The Soul desires to be translucent with the Light of God.
The daybreak welcomed with longing,
By all that lives, flows through the whole sky,
And in the light imprisons the darkness,
So the earth is unlocked and enriched;
My Soul is night; thou, Jesus, my beloved,
Art day; why can thy Sunshine
Not flow through and devour my darkness,
As we are still close to each other?
The obstacle is not thine, but mine,
As thou, O light! that conquers all light,
And can do nothing, but glitter and glisten,
Through all that thou dost find thin and open.
There a mountain, of many shortcomings
And images, admitted through the senses,
Must thrust its high crown into the clouds,
Which casts a dismal shadow on my Soul.
Alas if that were gone! Then my heart would bloom,
And like a Meadow, stand with fruit and flowers.
My powerful God, thou must pull down the wall,
Even if thou wouldst with storm destroy the crown.
God’s Answer:
"Awake thou that sleepest, and arise from the dead, and Christ shall give thee light" (Ephesians 5:14).
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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