Scenes of the Early Christians (1722) - Page 12

SCENES OF THE...
1.

First Scene.

Happy are those who worldly vanity

With true earnestness despise,

From whom, however much she flatters our heart with a semblance of delight,

No true pleasure is to be expected.

Though a King displays his splendor on an illustrious throne,

Honored by his subjects,

He is himself a subject to the anxieties, which the crown

Often make him hate;

Indeed, even if one possessed all earthly joy as his own,

What could it truly give us?

A single moment robs us of that imagined treasure

At the end of our life.

A Christian strives for joy that never fades,

And God through His grace

Offers him, when His light shines in the dark heart;

He, before it is too late,

Renounces worldly joy for that of Paradise,

And dares in fearful times,

However much he is persecuted, to the praise of the great God,

To confess the name of Prince Jesus;

Upon this confession, Christ’s Bride A traditional theological term for the Church. receives him,

As one of her members;

Then the church pours out a vessel of blessing-oil original: "zegenöly"; referring to the spiritual anointing and grace bestowed upon a new believer.,

In hymns of praise and prayers.

The vocabulary below highlights key terms used in the Dutch text regarding spiritual devotion and the rejection of worldly status.
Vocabulary: Scenes/Tableaux, vanity, delight/pleasure, King, Christian, Paradise, Jesus, Christ’s Bride (the Church), blessing-oil, hymn of praise.