Benjamin Schmolck, the author of the favorite hymn “My Jesus, as thou wilt!”, was born in Brauchitsdorf, Silesia, December 21, 1672. It is registered in the Calendar as St. Thomas' Day, and Schmolck says that it often led him, in the troubles of his spirit, to think of the wounded side and the bleeding nail-prints of his Saviour. He was contemporary with a kindred spirit and lyric poet, John Anastasius Freilinghausen, born the same month, though two years later, and dying two years earlier, and on the same day of the month with himself. His father, Martin Schmolck, was for twelve years associate-pastor at Schniedsberg, where he wedded Rosina Dehmel, daughter of Martin Dehmel. In 1665, the senior Schmolck was made pastor of Brauchitsdorf, Liegnitz, a village of some eight hundred inhabitants, where he remained forty-seven years; a man fatherly, faithful, and indefatigable in his office. Benjamin, the hymn-writer, was his fourth child; and him the father solemnly dedicated to the work of the Christian ministry, baptising him on the fourth day after his birth.