The Drunkenness
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Drunkenness
Scripture Reference:
- 2 Corinthians 4 (further images / scripture text)
Description: A man taps an alcoholic drink from a fountain in the form of the World, while six individuals opposite him empty their beakers or are already asleep as a result of the alcohol. Behind the man, the half-hidden Satan shows himself. 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 2 Corinthians 4:3-4.
Poem:
The Enemy who keeps himself in the background,
And who tirelessly brings doom to mankind,
Enjoys seeing everyone tap from the world’s wine barrel,
Since that beverage makes wisdom flee,
And as a result the mind’s-wheel begins to spin,
And this way he can more easily entrap them.
Because Drunkenness is without awareness,
Does not look ahead, for that which will pull him down,
So that he as required can save or defend himself,
But raves and wanders in confusion,
And doesn’t know who, or where, or what there is,
And what Deception, will finally teach him.
O, Grape-juice, which desire makes taste so good,
Thou art not alone in causing drunkenness,
But earthly desire and worldly love,
As this and that, of various kinds,
Gathered in thine Beaker from the world’s Barrel,
Cause incompetence, intoxicate judgment and mind.
Thus the eternal Well-being is not looked upon,
Thus Death and Hell is not feared.
So one rambles in senseless mazes,
And in the meantime passes the Golden time,
(Whose fruitfulness demands sobriety)
Till regret and suffering appear from their burrows.
To turn then to the path of wisdom,
Pass up that barrel, and this beaker,
As the Enemy’s country demands a sober mind,
In order, un-entangled, carefully, free and loose,
To elude the fox’s ambush and snare,
And to gain the inheritance of eternal Salvation.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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