Scheffler, Johann Angelus, an eminent mystic of the seventeenth century, better known as "Angelus Silesius," was the son of Stanislaus Scheffler, a Polish nobleman, who was compelled to leave his fatherland because of his adherence to Lutheranism. He was born in 1624 at Breslau, Silesia. He was early enamored of the writings of the mystics, and became a disciple of Jacob Boehme. He entered the medical profession, and in 1649 received the appointment of private physician to the Duke of Wurtemberg-Oels. The Lutheran clergy regarded Scheffler as a heretic, and, finding no sympathy in them, he went to the Roman Catholic Church. He now became private physician to the Emperor Ferdinand III., but soon abandoned his profession and entered the priesthood, returning to Breslau, where he died July 9, 1677. Most of his hymns were written before he became a Roman Catholic. Of twenty-five hymns by him in common use, we have here only one, a translation by [97]John Wesley.

I thank thee, uncreated Sun 267