The Pot-Hanger
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Pot-Hanger
Scripture Reference:
- Revelation 3 (further images / scripture text)
Description: Just as a pot may be suspended too high over the burning fire for the food to cook, so the fire that burns in the soul needs opportunity to have its effect. God does not want a people who are lukewarm in their devotion (Revelation 3:15-16). 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 wrote the accompanying poem.
Motto: It’s hanging too high.
Poem:
Suspend it lower, closer over the fire,
So that from being lukewarm, it boils;
We mean the lukewarm Nature of the Heart,
And the Fire that is still offered,
From God’s mercy-rich hand,
That fire, lit in the conscience
That burns in the Souls’ foundation,
To cook for thee the eternal Meal.
Suspend it lower, before it is too late,
And before thou regretest it too late,
Before the fire departs from thy Hearth,
And lets thee become utterly cold.
Oh Lukewarm, weak Vessel of the Heart,
Accustomed to hang so high,
That thou dost not catch the fire’s power,
For a constantly boiling life,
That is hot and fiery of Spirit,
To once obtain the Eternal Inheritance,
It has long enough thus been lukewarm,
It has long enough thus hung high!
Descend and become suspended low,
So that thou dost become high with God.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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