The Wrong Reign
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Wrong Reign
Scripture Reference:
- Romans 6 (further images / scripture text)
Description: A man [the Spirit] is bent under the weight of a person [the Flesh], who is dressed with royal insignia and holds the World, in the form of a globe with a cross on top, in his left hand while the edge of his cloak is being held up by Death and Satan. In the background are various ruins. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649-1712), whose initials are at the lower right, was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem and for the poem that accompanies it (below). The attendant scripture text is Romans 6:16.
Poem:
Stand calmly still and look;
Don’t you know that greatest King?
So boldly and courageously mounted?
That is the world’s flesh and blood,
Swollen from his pride,
Named also Might, and Pomp, and Pleasure.
Oh, my! How is the Spirit bent!
From coarse flesh so much oppressed!
Alas! what have you taken upon you!
Voluntarily such a grand slave,
That will not benefit the Noble Soul
Whereto has your situation come!
Oh poor, withered and thin Spirit,
Wretched horse of the fat beast;
What has become of thine Nobility?
How thou dost bear it, through sand and dirt,
Throw off thine vain Rider,
So as to live free and unburdened.
Servant of the world and its sins,
With his retinue! That is too dreadful!
Where will that finally end?
The train that follows from behind,
And pleases us not at all,
They threaten with a sad end.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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