The Separation
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Separation
Scripture Reference:
- Luke 3 (further images / scripture text)
Description: A man is in the process of winnowing. Behind him grain is threshed in a barn; in the left background chaff is burnt in a big fire. 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 Luke 3:17.
Poem:
The good parts are gathered in the barn,
The bad parts are thrown into the fire:
Oh Man! of vanity and sins!
Regard thyself, and then abstain,
From becoming the unworthy chaff,
So that thou art not found too light.
The wheat-grain, heavy with flour,
Is allotted to the Sower’s hand,
But the empty husk uplifted,
And tossed around in the air,
Takes a contemptible flight,
Driven by the winnow’s little breeze.
Become heavy from Piety,
So that thou canst not be blown away,
By the blowing of the Lord’s Wrath,
And thou, filled with true virtue,
Mayest remain in his love,
Gathered as Heaven’s grain,
And thence into God’s pleasing bread.
Oh Man! this difference is great.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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