nd comfort in the words, "It is better to hope unto death than to die
in unbelief." On the day of his death he requested that Hebrews 7:9 be
read to him. When asked how he felt, he replied: "The Lord has settled my
account. Lord Jesus, make also me ready." A little later he said in a
whisper: "It is well with me. The mountains shall be moved, and the hills
shall tremble, yet the grace of God shall not depart from me, and His
covenant of peace shall not be moved."

A Hymn Classic by Scheffler

Thee will I love, my Strength, my Tower,
Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;
Thee will I love with all my power,
In all Thy works, and Thee alone;
Thee will I love, till Thy pure fire
Fill all my soul with chaste desire.

I thank Thee, uncreated Sun,
That Thy bright beams on me have shined;
I thank Thee, who hast overthrown
My foes, and healed my wounded mind;
I thank Thee, whose enlivening voice
Bids my freed heart in Thee rejoice.

Uphold me in the doubtful race,
Nor suffer me again to stray;
Strengthen my feet with steady pace
Still to press forward in Thy way;
That all my powers, with all their might,
In Thy sole glory may unite.

Thee will I love, my Joy, my Crown;
Thee will I love, my Lord, my God;
Thee love beneath Thy smile or frown,
Beneath Thy scepter or Thy rod.
What though my flesh and heart decay?
Thee shall I love in endless day.

Johann Scheffler, 1657.

A ROMAN MYSTIC AND HYMN-WRITER

In Johann Scheffler we have the singular example of a man who forsook the
Lutheran Church to become a Romanist, but whose hymns have been adopted
and sung by the very Church he sought to oppose and confound.

Scheffler was a contemporary of Gerhardt and Neander. He was born in
Breslau, Silesia, in 1624. His father, Stanislaus Scheffler, was a Polish
nobleman who had been compelled to leave his native land because of his
Lutheran convictions. Young Scheffler became a medical student at
Strassburg, Leyden, and Padua, returning to Oels, Silesia, in 1649 to
become the private physician to Duke Sylvius Nimrod of Wuerttemberg-Oels.

During his sojourn in foreign lands he had come in contact with the
writings of various mystics and he began to lean strongly toward their
teachings. At Oels he began to flaunt his separatist views by ab