[See page image]

Page 230

tian Chemnitz (q.v.) and Adam Schemer, and a long and bitter polemical feud ensued. Schefller was appointed court-marshal and councilor to Sebastian von Rostock, now bishop-prince and imperial supreme commander in Silesia. The consequence was that Schefiier's polemics of impassioned enmity acquired peculiar significance and were read all over Germany. Of these he issued fifty-five in twelve years; thirty-nine were selected by himself and published posthumously under the title Eccleaiologia (Neisse, 1677).

Scheffier attained more permanent fame as a poet. One of his two principal works was Johannis Angeli Silesii Geistreiche Sinn- and Sehl=sreime (Vienna, 1657). It contained in five books 1,410 epigrams with superscriptions, consisting of two, four, and rarely more Alexandrine verses. An appendix contained ten sonnets. These, with two poems of considerable length, five epigrams in quatrain, and 246 in couplets, form the sixth book of the second edition known as Cherubinische Wandersmann (Glatz, 1674). In this work Scheffier's theosophical and mystical wisdom of life is expressed in brief, terse sentences. Man's goal should be unity with God obtained by absorption in him; and God is love. Man experiences God not by thought but by becoming what God is, by renunciation, patience, humility, and love. The work is more metaphysical in character than ethical or dogmatic. Though it is obscure and not without self-contradiction in form, exposing the author to the charge of pantheism, yet much is contained that is truly profound. For many thoughts he makes acknowledgment to predecessors; namely, Augustine Bonaventura, Jan van Ruysbroeck (qq.v.), Heinrich Harpius, and especially Johann Tauler (q.v.), but he leaves out Valentine Weigel and Jakob Boehme, evidently because the book was issued under Roman Catholic censorship. His book of spiritual hymns is still more famous, Heilige Seelenl=t oder geistliche Hirtenlieder der in ihrem Jesum verliebten Psyche gesungen von Johann Angelo Silesio and von Herrn Georgio Josepho mit ausbundig seh6nen Melodien geziert (Breslau, no date). It consisted of three books containing 143 hymns, each with a melody. It appeared in 1657, and the same year a fourth book with thirty-two hymns and melodies was added. A second edition (Breslau, 1668) appeared with 205 hymns. The subject matter of these hymns consists of love and yearning of the soul for Jesus and the worshipful wonder at his glory; and they are of the pietistic, personal kind, characteristic of the subjective dotage of the mystics. The various hymnals of the later seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, especially that of the Unity of the Brethren, contained many selections, which disappeared during the period of rationalism. In the recent Evangelical hymn-book the best ones reappear; such as "Ich will dich lieben meine Stdreke" (1657), " Liebe die du mich zum Bilde" (1657), "Mfr nach spricht Christ= unser Held" (1668), "Ach 8agt mfr nicht von Gold and Schdtzen" (1$57), and 'Jesus ist der sehonste Nam" (1657). Another book of poems is the Sinnliche Beschreibung der vier letzten Dinge (Sehweidnitz, 1675). His poetical works were collected in two vols. by D. A.

Rosenthal (Regensburg, 1862.) ; and Selections from his Rhymes was published in English by P. Carus (Chicago, 1909).

From his hymns and poems many translations into English have been made, though rarely do these embrace more than parts of the originals. Noted among these are "Earth has nothing sweet or fair," by Miss Cox; "Make my heart a garden fair"; "Jesus is the highest name," by A. T. Russell; "Morning Star in darksome night," by Miss Winkworth; and "Where wilt thou go? since night draws near," by A. Crull. (CARL, BERTHEAU.)

BiBwoaBAPBY. A. Kahlert, Angelus Silesius, line litterarhistorische Untersuchunp, Breslau, 1853 (best); J. J. Rambaeh, Antholoyie christlicher Gesdnge, iii. 90 sqq., Altona, 1819; W. Schrader, Angelus Silesius and seine Mystik, Halle, 1853; G. Schuster, in ZHT, 1857, pp. 427 eqq., F. Kem, J. Schefers Churubinischer Wanderenuann, Leipsic, 1888; E. E. Koch, Gexhichte des Kirchendiedee, iv. 3 sqq., Stuttgart, 1868; W. Lindemann, Angelus Silesius, Bild tines Konvertiten, Dichters and Streidtheolopen, Freiburg, 1878; A. Seltmann, Angelus Silesius and seine Mystik, Breslau, 1898; R. von Kralik von Meyerawalden, Anpqlus Silesius and die christliche Mystik, Frankfort, 1902; W. Nelle, Geschichte des deutachen evanyelischen Kirchenliedes, pp. 141 sqq., Hamburg, 1904; - idem, Johann Schefer, ib. 1904; ADB, i. 453-458; Julian, Hymnolopy, pp. 1004-07; KL, x. 1785-87.

SCHEIBEL, shai'bel, JOHANN GOTTFRIED: German Lutheran; b. at Breslau Sept. 16, 1783; d. at Nuremberg Mar. 21, 1843. He was educated at the University of Halle (1801-04); became minister at Breslau 1804-18; and theological professor in the University of Breslau after 1818. Scheibel's open profession of the plenary inspiration of the Scriptures and of the doctrines of the Lutheran Church on justification, original sin, and the real presence of Christ in the Lord's Supper was quite unusual and occasioned no little antagonism; but though his mode of expression was involved and not popular, he gradually gathered a following of believing, positive Christians from all classes about himself. Religion seemed to him something readymade, and not only what was revealed, but what was evident to him, seemed to him important and necessary. His faith was the certainty that the matter in question was contained in Scripture. His first publication, Einige Worte fiber die Wahrheit der ehristlichen Religion (1815), was an attack upon the rationalistic criticisms of the Bible and of the doctrines of creation and atonement. In his Untersuehungen fiber Bibel and Kirchengeschichte (1816) he pleaded especially for the authenticity of the OldTestament books. He became a sturdy opponent, after 1814, of the movement for the union of the Lutheran and Reformed Churches in Prussia, mainly in his anxiety for the Lutheran view of the Eucharist. When the synod at Breslau began the consideration of a new church order, he felt constrained to make a closer study, the result of which was Allgemeine Untersuchung der christlichen Verfatsungs- arid Dogmengeschichte (Breslau, 1819). The pastoral epistles of Paul, he claimed, revealed a government of elders from the instructing and lay classes, which also, he thought, Luther contemplated. His severe strictures on the agenda of union of King Frederick Wilhelm III. led to his suspension in 1830. Forbidden to take any official position as