The Evening: Time Runs Out
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Evening: Time Runs Out
Scripture Reference:
- Jeremiah 13 (further images / scripture text)
Description: In front of their house, two men observe the twilight. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649–1712) was responsible for drawing this emblem and composed the poem that accompanies it. The etching was executed by Jan Luiken or his son Casper Luiken (1672-1708), who had used this image in an earlier work, which may be found in the Digital Image Archive under the call number 1699Weig. The attendant scripture text is Jeremiah 13:16.
Motto: It steadily becomes late, With everyone’s state.
Poem:
The World’s pleasant wonder,
With all its glorious jewels,
Sets with the evening Sun,
And is clothed in mourning:
The rest and desire of the world’s life,
Possessed by the world’s heart,
Must in death give up its luster,
And be covered with a sad blackness.
A night that will not clear up again:
He who then hates the dismal darkness
And would rather not endure it forever,
Should see that he escapes such danger;
Through the cleansing of the soul’s eye,
(That is covered with the things,
That keep true seeing hidden,)
And thus begets a fairer state;
So that at the Evening of life,
When the light of the World sets,
The Spirit is given the view,
Of that which stands in the Light of life.
A World that is worthy to select,
So that when life’s evening falls,
The eye will not lose light,
When it will view God.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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Rights Status: No Copyright - United States
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