“If any clergyman needs a spiritual guide, let him choose Scriver. He is the preacher for preachers, full of consolation and encouragement to the well-meaning, but a storm of hail to the faithless and slothful pastor.”

“His works had entirely disappeared out of the booksellers’ shops, when some stray copies of them, almost entirely decayed, and secretly valued by their owners as the legacy of pious ancestors, but generally despised, ridiculed, and rejected, fell into the hands of some Christian and judicious men, who were not deterred from reading and examining them, either by the dust which time had accumulated on their boards, or yet by the partially antiquated language of the contents. They instantly felt that the Spirit of God and of genuine Christianity, breathed out of the sallow pages, – and began to vie with each other, and with his admirers of a bygone age, in praising and applauding the author.” — From the introduction.

Level of Difficulty: Primer: No subject matter knowledge needed.

Christian Scriver (1629-1693) lived his early years during the trying times of the Thirty Years’ War. He was educated at Rostock (1647). In 1653, archdeacon at Stendal; 1667, preacher at Magdeburg, where he served for 23 years, refusing repeated honorable calls to Berlin, Stockholm, etc. In 1690, he was persuaded to accept a call as chief court-preacher, at Quedlinburg, Saxony, where he died of apoplexy, April 5, 1693.

Scriver was unquestionably sound in his Lutheranism, though he earnestly protested against the mistakes which were becoming more and more pronounced in the church of his time. Together with Heinrich Müller, he was called to prepare the way for the Pietism of the succeeding period, which was a reaction against the dead orthodoxy which had become characteristic of the Lutheran Church. [source: Jacobs, Henry Eyster, ed. (1899) The Lutheran Cyclopedia.]

Contents

• Praise for Scriver
• About The Lutheran Library
• Contents
• Preface by Lutheran Librarian
• American Publishers’ Note (From the 1859 Edition)
• Translator’s Preface (From the 1859 Edition)
• Dedication
• Author’s Address to the Reader
• 1 The Dial-Plate
• 2 The Snowball
• 3 The Cold
• 4 Snow
• 5 The Money Scales
• 6 The Drowned Man
• 7 The Two Mirrors
• 8 The Sensible Wife
• 9 The Poverty of the Children of the Rich
• 10 The Open Smelling-Bottle
• 11 The Diamond
• 12 The Church Spires
• 13 The Mote in the Eye
• 14 The Lock
• 15 The Golden Candlestick
• 16 The Drinking Cup
• 17 The Monk in Solitude
• 18 The Unknown Friend
• 19 The Copy-Line
• 20 Dancing
• 21 The Watchmaker
• 22 The Blushing Child
• 23 Mutual Aid
• 24 Raiment
• 25 The Milky Way
• 26 The Magnet
• 27 Hans Priem
• 28 The Fruit Trees
• 29 Going to Church
• 30 The Notebook
• 31 The Post
• 32 The Sailors
• 33 The Bed of Flowers
• 34 The Violet
• 35 The Cabinet of Curiosities
• 36 The Lost Object
• 37 The Lute
• 38 Second Meditation on the Lute
• 39 The Picture
• 40 The Straight and the Crooked Tree
• 41 The Sun-Dial
• 42 The Deer
• 43 Election
• 44 The Trees in Winter
• 45 The Mole
• 46 The Listener
• 47 The Eye that Does Not See Itself
• 48 The Young Lamb
• 49 The Best Chamber
• 50 The Soaring Lark
• 51 The Hen
• 52 The Earthen Clod
• 53 Subsided Mud
• 54 The Child’s Gift
• 55 The Stork
• 56 The Transplanted Lime [Tree]
• 57 The Plant in the Cellar
• 58 The Rose
• 59 The Caged Bird
• 60 The Trees in Blossom
• 61 The Trees in Blossom, and the Bees
• 62 The Caterpillars
• 63 The Caterpillar’s Nest
• 64 The Walnut Tree
• 65 The Cloud of Tribulation
• 66 The Father
• 67 The Flower Pot
• 68 Frailties
• 69 The Weeping Damsel
• 70 The Invalid
• 71 The Swallow
• 72 The Hewn Willows
• 73 The Wounded Stag
• 74 The Folded Hands
• 75 The Hop Plant
• 76 The Rod
• 77 Death
• 78 The Marriage
• 79 The Clouds
• 80 The Shooting Match
• 81 The Silkworm
• 82 The Rye in Flower
• 83 Thistles
• 84 Transplanted Trees and Flowers
• 85 The Bird in the Hands of Children
• 86 The Center
• 87 Dust
• 88 The Swarm of Bees
• 89 The Withered Flowers
• 90 The Bee Made a Prey
• 91 The Stubborn Tree
• 92 The Sun
• 93 Second Mediation on the Sun
• 94 The Weed
• 95 The Double Flowers
• 97 The Vine
• 98 The Burning-Glass
• 99 The Grafts
• 100 The Orphans
• 101 Soul Venders
• 102 The Incognito
• 103 The Brook
• 104 The Bad Crop
• 105 The Orange Tree
• 106 The Dismantled House
• 107 Man and his Savior
• 108 The Pearl Necklace
• 109 Second Meditation on the Pearl Necklace
• 110 The Foul Vessel
• 111 A Strange Sea
• 112 The Entertainment
• 113 The Fruitful Tree
• 114 The Harvest
• 115 The Artificial Picture
• 116 The Microscope
• 117 Tuning a Lute
• 118 The Bee
• 119 Heaven
• 120 Tears
• 121 The Ants
• 122 The Strange Bargain
• 123 The Children’s Cup
• 124 The Sheep
• 125 The Generous Tree
• 126 The Mill
• 127 The Damaged Bell
• 128 Ingratitude
• 129 The Light
• 130 Second Meditation on the Light
• 131 Third Meditation on the Light
• 132 The Trembling Poplar
• 133 The Mendicant
• 134 Laughter
• 135 The Disconsolate Man
• 136 Why God permits Sin
• 137 After-Pains
• 138 The Blinded Bird
• 139 Gray Hairs
• 140 The Coin
• 141 The Magnitude of the Heavenly Bodies
• 142 The Contract
• 143 Palpitation Of The Heart
• 144 Second Meditation on The Heart
• 145 Books
• 146 The Savings-Box
• 147 Blind Man’s Bluff
• 148 Invisible Writing
• 149 The Difficulty of Faith
• 150 The Cipher
• 151 The Number Before The Cipher
• 152 The Watch
• 153 The Ring
• 154 Second Meditation on the Ring
• 155 Wheat
• 156 Loss of Memory
• 157 The Death Of The Christian
• 158 The Altar
• 159 The Bill of Exchange and Riches
• 160 The Pillow
• 161 Second Meditation on the Pillow
• 162 Third Meditation on the Pillow
• 163 Beauty
• 164 The Conception Of A Portrait
• 165 The Only Child
• 166 The Will
• 167 Another Will
• 168 The Satiated Child
• 169 Washing the Hands
• 170 Dross and Chaff
• 171 The Enemy
• 172 The Division
• 173 Second Meditation on the Division
• 174 God and the World
• 175 The Wasp
• 176 The Clock
• 177 Sweet Wine
• 178 The Grubs In The Bee-hive
• 179 The Bier [a coffin along with its stand]
• 180 The Ropemaker
• 181 The Vine
• 182 The Best Dish
• 183 Servants
• 184 The Fragrant Death’s Head
• 185 The Thoughts
• 186 The Child Learning to Walk
• 187 The New Suit Of Clothes
• 188 The Water-drop
• 189 The Dark Night
• 190 Angry Alms
• 191 The Sore
• 192 The Tangled Yarn
• 193 The Journey
• 194 The Child At Play
• 195 The Morning Star
• 196 The Royal Entrance
• 197 The Circles On The Water
• 198 The Paper-mill
• 199 The Show-Dish
• 200 The Christian Without A Cross
• 201 Good Weather
• 202 Taking Pills
• 203 The Bird Of Prey
• 204 Feeding The Hens
• 205 The Conclusion
• Copyright Notice

Publication Information

• Lutheran Library edition first published: 2018-05-22
• Updated: v6.2021-04-09
• Copyright: CC BY 4.0