The Grill
Author: Luiken, Jan, 1649-1712
Image Title: The Grill
Scripture Reference:
- Ephesians 5 (further images / scripture text)
Description: The woman cooking fish on a grill offers a lesson in morality: Just as the fish could have avoided the baited hook and so the grill, so people can enjoy the kingdom of God by avoiding the lures of the devil (Ephesians 5:6-7). 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: Think in the long term.
Poem:
Had the fish swum past the bait,
It would not have ended like this.
From under the knife, over the fire:
O Worthy Soul don’t be lured,
By the Bait, offered by Satan,
For which treat one pays a heavy price.
He knows how to cover the hook,
To pull you, through his cunning,
With a seductive manner,
(From God’s Mercy-rich streams,
In which thou couldst reach thy Salvation)
Into Hell’s Eternal fire.
Given this threatening Misery,
It pays to turn your desires away,
From the World’s offered pretense:
O Man! Keep this always in mind,
So as not to be deceived in the end,
Thus shalt thou be truly happy.
(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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