The Beauty of Christianity

John Donne’s (1572-1631) poem The Bait is a poem about the winsome appeal of Jesus Christ, his teachings, message and life. Here at Well Read Christian we take the truth of Christianity’s attractive nature to heart, and even though arguments and critical thinking are essential, there is a beauty to the Christian viewpoint that advocates sometimes forget. We would like to share with you our vision––and the poem––in this episode.

EPISODE NOTES
Come live with me, and be my love, 
And we will some new pleasures prove 
Of golden sands, and crystal brooks, 
With silken lines, and silver hooks. 

There will the river whispering run 
Warm’d by thy eyes, more than the sun; 
And there the ‘enamour’d fish will stay, 
Begging themselves they may betray. 

When thou wilt swim in that live bath, 
Each fish, which every channel hath, 
Will amorously to thee swim, 
Gladder to catch thee, than thou him. 

If thou, to be so seen, be’st loth, 
By sun or moon, thou dark’nest both, 
And if myself have leave to see, 
I need not their light having thee. 

Let others freeze with angling reeds, 
And cut their legs with shells and weeds, 
Or treacherously poor fish beset, 
With strangling snare, or windowy net. 

Let coarse bold hands from slimy nest 
The bedded fish in banks out-wrest; 
Or curious traitors, sleeve-silk flies, 
Bewitch poor fishes’ wand’ring eyes. 

For thee, thou need’st no such deceit, 
For thou thyself art thine own bait: 
That fish, that is not catch’d thereby, 
Alas, is wiser far than I.

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