The Chest
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Chest
Scripture Reference:
- Proverbs 15 (further images / scripture text)
Description: According to the attendant scripture (Proverbs 15:16), the wealth gathered into a treasure chest is no substitute for the fear of God and all the good that brings. The poem accompanying this illustration notes that a steel chest with all its locks and keys is mere vanity compared to the treasure chest of the soul, which is secure even through death. 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: Yet, it can’t hold it.
Poem:
The Iron chest, which so faithfully locks,
Is Keeper of the treasures:
O Man! Take care of thy heart’s Chest,
That other one is only Vanity,
And even disappears with this Time,
And afterward leaves a gnawing pain.
But the Heart, the Noble human heart,
If that became a Chest of wealth,
Outfitted with various locks,
Against Theft by the old Serpent,
And the World’s cunning behavior,
Then wealth would be enjoyed.
Because that is the right Chest,
Whose supply will not fail,
In times of want and need,
Yes even, in the Hour of Death,
When all other wealth fled,
Then its stuff and coins count as payment before God.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
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