Johann’s fa­ther, Stan­is­laus Scheff­ler, was a mem­ber of the Pol­ish no­bil­i­ty, but was forced to leave his home­land be­cause of his ad­her­ence to Lu­ther­an­ism. Jo­hann at­tend­ed Eliz­a­beth’s Gym­na­si­um in Bres­lau, than en­rolled as a med­ic­al stu­dent at the Un­i­ver­si­ty of Strass­burg in 1643. The next year, he went to Ley­den, and in 1647, to Pa­dua (PhD & MD 1648). He then re­turned to Si­le­sia, where in 1649 he be­came the pri­vate phy­si­cian of Syl­vi­us Nim­rod of Würt­tem­burg-Oels.

The Duke was a staunch Lu­ther­an, and his court preach­er, Chris­tian­toph Frei­tag, ad­min­is­tered the ec­cles­i­as­tic­al af­fairs of the dis­trict ac­cord­ing to strict Lu­ther­an or­tho­doxy. Scheff­ler, who in Hol­land had be­come ac­quaint­ed with the writ­ings of Ja­kob Böhme, and had been a per­son­al friend of Abra­ham von Frank­en­berg, ed­it­or of Böhme’s works, soon found that the spir­it­u­al at­mo­sphere of Oels did not suit him. Jo­hann re­signed his post in 1652 and re­turned to Bres­lau. There he be­came ac­quaint­ed with the Je­su­its. In 1653 he joined the Ro­man Ca­tho­lic church, and took the name An­ge­lus.

In 1654, Emp­er­or Fer­di­nand made Scheff­ler the Im­per­i­al Court Phy­si­cian, but the ti­tle was pure­ly hon­or­ary, and Scheff­ler re­mained in Bres­lau. In 1661, Scheff­ler joined the or­der of St. Fran­cis, and was al­so or­dained priest at Nies­se, Si­le­sia (now Nysa, Poland). In 1664, he was ap­point­ed Rath and Hof­mar­schall to his friend Se­bast­i­an von Ros­tock, the new­ly cre­at­ed Prince Bi­shop of Bres­lau. Af­ter the bi­shop’s death in 1671, Scheff­ler re­tired to the mon­as­tery of St. Mat­thi­as in Bres­lau.

• Julian, pp. 1004, 1680
• Telford, pp. 70-71

1. Ach Gott, was hat vor Herr­lich­keit
2. Ach, sagt mir nicht von Gold und Schätz­en
3. Ach, was steh’st du auf der Au
4. Auf, auf, O Seel’, zuf auf, zum Streit
5. Dein’ eigne Liebe zwing­et mich
6. Der edle Schäf­er, Gott­es Sohn
7. Die Sonne kommt her­an
8. Du un­ver­gleich­lich’s Gut
   • O God, of Good the Un­fa­thomed Sea
9. Grosser Kö­nig, dem ich diene
10. Ich will dich lieb­en, meine Stärke
    • I Will Love Thee, All My Trea­sure
    • Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Glo­ry
    • Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tow­er (Wes­ley)
    • Thee Will I Love, My Strength, My Tow­er (Wink­worth)
11. Ihf Engel, die das höchste Gut
12. Jesu, ew’ge Sonne
13. Jesu, komm doch selbst zu mir
    • Dearest Je­sus, Come to Me
    • Jesu, Je­su, Come to Me
    • Jesus, Je­sus, Come to Me!
    • Jesus, Come Thy­self to Me
    • Jesus, Je­sus, Vi­sit Me
    • Jesus, Sav­ior, Come to Me
14. Keine Schön­heit hat die Welt
15. Liebe die du mich zum Bilde
    • O Love, Who Formedst Me to Wear
16. Meine Seele willt du ruh’n
17. Mir nach, spricht Christ­us, un­ser Held
    • Come, Fol­low Me, the Sav­ior Spake
18. Morgenstern der fin­stern Nacht
19. Nun nimm mein Herz, und all­es was ich bin
20. O du al­ler­lieb­ster Gott
21. Schau’, Braut, wie hängt dein Bräu­t­i­g­am
22. Soul Where­in God Dwells, The
23. Tritt hin, o Seel’, und dank’ dem Herrn
24. Weil ich schon sch’die gold’­nen Wang­en
25. Wie lieb­lich sind die Woh­n­ung­en
26. Wollt ihr den Herr­en find­en
27. Wo willt du hin, weils Ab­end ist
28. Zeuch mich nach dir, so lauf­en wir

1. Culbach
2. Keine Schön­heit Hat die Welt