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229 RELIGIOUS ENCYCLOPEDIA 8chaumer Boheffier schools, 1884; and in 1885 was appointed bishop of Wisby. He was member of the house of nobility in the Swedish parliament, 1865-66; and in 1901 represented his university and country at the Yale bicentennial. He is the author in Swedish of "The Ontological Evidence of the Existence of God" (Upsala, 1863) ; "The Preparations of the Theo logical Rationalism" (1868); "Church Catechising" (1869); "Theological Symbolics " (1877-79); "From the Court into the Sanctuary" (Stockholm, 1879), and "The Fight for the Peace" (1881). SCHEFFER, shef'fer, JACOB GYSBERT DE HOOP: Dutch ecclesiastical historian and leader of the Mennonites in Holland; b. at The Hague Sept. 28, 1819; d. at Amsterdam Dec. 31, 1893. He studied theology at Amsterdam and Utrecht, in tending to become a Mennonite preacher, but took a lively interest in literary questions, and was one of the founders in 1844 of the Vereeniging voor oude Nederlandsche letterkunde. His interest in art and letters was evident throughout his life, as when he edited Navorscher (the Dutch "Notes and Queries"). From 1848 to 1859 he was a Mennonite preacher at Hoorn, Groningen, and Amsterdam. Then he be came professor in the seminary of the Algemeene Doopsgezinde Soci6teit. With the elevation in 1877 of the Amsterdam AthencTum to the rank of a university, he was appointed to the chair of Old Testament exegesis and early Christian literature, while he continued to lecture on the history of the sect and practical theology in the Mennonite semi nary. His most important work was done in the field of church history, in the interest of which he edited (1870-80) with Willem Moll the periodical Studien en Bijdragen. In this first appeared his principal production, the Geschiedenis der Kerkhervorming in Nederland van haar ontstaan lot 1631 (2 vols., Am sterdam, 1873), a definitive treatment of the begin nings of Dutch Protestantism. A number of studies in the history of the Mennonites, many of them appearing in the Doopsgezinde Bijdragen, which he edited from 1870 to 1893, showed re markable industry and acuteness. A third depart ment of his studies dealt with the Brownists, or English Independents settled in Holland, from whom came the "Pilgrim Fathers" (see CONGREGA TIONALISTS), and Scheffer made important contribu tions to the history of these people (in the Ver slagen der Koninklijlce Akademie). Scheffer was next led to take up the history of baptism by immersion, which he treated in the Verslagen of 1882. His researches led to the abandonment of the old Baptist theory of an uninterrupted succession of the doctrine of immersion from the apostles, and their importance has been recognized by the best modern Baptist authors, such as Newman and Lehman. No one among the Mennonites was better known abroad than Scheffer, whose work brought him into correspondence with many foreign scholars. At home he occupied for thirty years a position of great influence among the members of his communion, whose activity he promoted in manifold ways. Throughout his life he was an adherent of the liberal theology of what was formerly known as the "Gro ningen School." Though devoted to his own re- ligious body, he never assumed that this alone pos sessed the truth or forgot proper consideration and charity toward other churches. He was an admi rable type of the liberal, highly educated, thought ful Dutch Mennonite. S. CRAMER.
BmLjoQRAPHY: Sketches of his life are by Rogge, in the " Yearbook " of the Dutch Royal Academy of Sciences for 1894; and by A. Winkler Prins, Leyden, 1894; cf. Doopagezinde Bijdragen, 1895, pp. 1 aqq.
SCHEFFLER, shef'ler, JOHANN (ANGELUS SILESIUS) : German mystic and poet; b. at Breslau 1624; d. there July 9, 1677. He studied medicine at Strasburg (1643-44), in Holland (1644-17), and Padua (1647-48). In Holland he became acquainted with Jacob Boehme's theosophical and mystical writings, brought from Silesia by Abraham von Franckenberg. On his return (1649) he became physician to the aealous Lutheran count, Sylvius Nimrod von Wdrttemberg-Oels, at Oels in Silesia. He was intimate with Franckenberg, which probably led to his dismissal. Upon the death of Franekenberg (1652), he wrote an elegy, Ehrengeddchtnis, which contained, in the style of Boehme, the main ideas of all his later writings. In 1652 he went to Breslau, and became a member of the Roman Catholic Church, at the same time assuming the name Angelus, from a Spanish mystic of the sixteenth century. He gave the reasons for his conversion in his Grundliche Ursachen (Olmiitz, 1653). In his desire for mystical union with God he was repelled by the Lutheran religion as represented in the court.preacher at Oels, through its objection to the contemplative life and asceticism; and he thought to obtain freedom in the Roman Catholic Church, which stood for the communion of the saints and seemed to be the embodiment of the Holy Spirit. In Mar., 1654, he became court physician to Emperor Ferdinand III., an honorary office without duties or emoluments, but exempting him from difficulties in consequence of his change of confession. He lived quietly at Breslau, engaged in a comparative study of doctrines and the preparation of his literary publications. The only incident reported of this period was that he led a pilgrimage (1656) to the convent of Trebnitz, three miles distant.
In 1661 the brooding mystic suddenly issued forth as a fanatical controversialist against Protestantism. He entered the order of the Minorites and received ordination as a priest. He received strong support from Sebastian von Rostock, the vicargeneral of the archdukes of Austria, who were successively bishops of Breslau. At the vicar's instigation, an imperial edict was issued for the restoration of the Corpus Christi procession, at the first occurrence of which Scheffier carried the monstrance. The impending peril from the Turks brought forth a tract, Von den Ursachen der turkischen Ueberziehung and Zertretung des Volkes Gottes (Neisse, 1664), in which he ascribed the danger to the divine judgment upon the apostasy of the Protestants. After the conclusion of peace he wrote Christschrift von den herrlichen Kennzeichen des Volkes Gottes, in which he claimed the defeat of the Turks as proof that only a Roman theocracy could help Christendom. Counterblasts came from Chris-