The Young Calf: One Learns from Damage and Disgrace
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Young Calf: One Learns from Damage and Disgrace
Scripture Reference:
- John 5 (further images / scripture text)
Description: Two farmers push a calf into a ditch to teach it to avoid the water in the future. The ditch runs close to a farm with more cattle. A village with a church can be seen in the background. The Dutch artist and poet Jan Luiken (1649-1712), whose initials are at the lower right, was responsible for drawing and etching this emblem, as well as for the poem that accompanies it (below). The attendant Scripture text is John 5:14.
Motto:
If thou hast only half an Intellect,
Then thou doest not differ from the Calf.
Poem:
The young Calf, lying in the ditch,
Has become frightened of the ditch,
So that it then afterwards takes heed:
Man, from the body’s adversities,
Has often suffered much sorrow;
And yet does not take heed,
So as not to fall again into the ditch,
That is the worst of all;
That deep ditch of Death and Hell!
It is often indeed intended,
But once arisen from the sickbed,
One sees again the old game.
Yet, man deals with many things,
Which are above the Calf’s comprehension,
But they are only things from this Time,
In clay, mud and dust of the earth,
And therefore also of little value,
So one only loses the best part.
The Noble human life,
Should not yield to the cattle,
But should with a most faithful guard,
(As it has tasted sorrow and suffering)
Avoid the Eternal sorrow of the heart,
In the deepest and dirtiest ditch.
(Translation by Josephine V. Brown, with editorial assistance from William G. Stryker)
.
Click here for additional images available from this book.
Request a high-resolution file (fees apply)
Rights Statement: The online edition of this work in the public domain, i.e., not protected by copyright, has been produced by Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Rights Status: No Copyright - United States
Pitts Theology Library provides copyright information as a courtesy and makes no representation about copyright or other legal status of materials in the Digital Image Archive.