About finding oneself and about sincere zeal [from Part I]
![About finding oneself and about sincere zeal [from Part I]](/woodcuts/1704Luik1/00033339.jpg)
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: About finding oneself and about sincere zeal [from Part I]
Scripture Reference:
- Psalms 35 (further images / scripture text)
Description: The Soul, portrayed as a young woman in a long dress, is terrified when she meets a three-headed monster, carrying a sickle in his left hand and fire in his right hand, in the desert. The Monster is the personification of Death, Hell, Flesh, the Devil, and Sin.
Poem: The Soul finds herself.
When I lost the world’s comfort,
I found myself in a Desert;
There appeared a horrid Monster,
Put together from horrors and sins.
Now we see the enormous difference,
And how we are the opposite of the Lord;
We find flesh and our own will,
Which desire against God and his will.
We find the Devil, Hell and Death,
And all that is horrible to God;
What advice, in this highest need?
We find it thus: If God would not have invited us,
And have drawn us, we would nevermore dare,
For shame, to come before his holy countenance.
Oh woe! Oh alas! my God, my Lord!
What has seized the place of the heart!
The Old Man, that wicked child,
Driven on by the regiment of Stars,
Is close friends with the Devil,
They are two, who take heed of my life.
Oh trampler of Snakes stand by me,
I, poor Soul, I fight for thy honor:
I for my God, and God for me,
Thus shall we yet brave the enemy.
God’s Answer.
"Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow" (Isaiah 1:18). "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matthew 11:28).
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker and Clazien van den Bergh)
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