Hemelvaert
The Departure of the Prince
The speaker laments the ascension of Christ, questioning if his departure leaves the faithful vulnerable and abandoned in their struggle.
O chariot of Israel, with your horsemen—where are you taking our Prince?✦ O comfort of all the weak? Are you so fully the refuge of those you bought?✦1 Will you remain so ready to help them? Do you abandon them in the fight, champion of your people?
The Cry of the Suffering Church
A vivid, visceral description of the physical suffering and martyrdom endured by the faithful at the hands of tyrants.
Do you throw them as dishes to the tyrants—boiled and roasted, their muscles torn out with tongs, their veins drained dry, their nerves stretched taut on grills and funnels?2
Ascending to Eternal Joy
The speaker calls upon the ascended Christ to draw the hearts of the faithful away from the vanity of the world toward his eternal presence.
O Dove, look down below; fly to our hearts, and snatch them as your prey out of these mortal things; and shortchange the world, and leave her nothing below except what the last worm can glut its lusts on.3 O you who from this moment on are in endless joy—be here, and from this moment on lead us where you are.✦
Read the original Latin
O Wagen Isräels met uwe Ruyter-knechten, Waer voert ghy onsen Vorst. ô, aller swacken troost? Zijt ghy zoo toeverlaet der geenen die ghy koôst? Blijft ghy hun soo te hulp? verlaet ghy haer in 't vechten, Voorvechter van dijn volck? werpt ghy se tot gerechten Den dwingelanden toe, gesoden en geroost, Haer spieren uytgetanght, haer' ad'ren uytgeoost, Haer' zenuwen gesnerpt op roosteren en trechten? O, Duyve, siet om leegh; vlieght onse herten toe, En rucktse voor dijn aes uyt dese sterflickheden; En deelt de wereld mis, en laet haer niets beneden Dan daer de leste pier sijn' lusten in voldoe. O die van nu af aen in 't endeloose bly zijt, Weest hier, en voert ons soo van nu af aen daer ghy zijt.
Scripture echoes
- ↩2Kgs.2.12 — And Elisha saw it, and he was crying out, 'My father, my father! The chariotry of Israel and its horsemen!' And he saw him no more. Then he took hold of his garments and tore them in two pieces.
- ↩1Cor.6.20 — For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.
- ↩John.14.3 — And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again and take you to myself, so that where I am, you also may be.
Notes
- 1 ↩koôst = bought/purchased (past of kopen); rendered as 'bought' in the biblical redemption sense rather than commercial purchase.
- 2 ↩gerechten = dishes/courses (meals for the tyrants); roosteren en trechten = roasting-grates and funnels, instruments of torture. Graphic early-modern martyr imagery kept concrete.
- 3 ↩Duyve (Dove) may address the ascending Christ, the Spirit, or the soul's beloved under dove-imagery; left as Dove without doctrinal narrowing. deelt de wereld mis = give the world short measure / shortchange it.
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