The New Year's page for the year 1653 is entitled Kämpf wider Dich, so schlahest Mich and, like most of its kind, was a joint work by Conrad Meyer, who provided the image, and Johann Wilhelm Simler, who wrote the text. The theme is the inner struggle of a person with himself, a self-struggle between virtue and instinct, mind and body, as is made clear in the image and text.

Paul Michel describes it as follows in the latest monograph on Conrad Meyer: The "monster" on the left of the picture resembles the seven-headed beast from the Apocalypse [from the Gospel of John], which all people meet reverently and rides on "Great Babylon, the mother of fornicators and of all abominations on earth". Her enticements are bosom, cup, bag, book (perhaps a secular novel). It can be assumed that individual animal elements are allegorically related to certain vices: the snake crowned with peacock feathers as an allegory of arrogance, the donkey as an allegory of sloth, the lion as an allegory of anger, the pig for unchastity, the goat for avarice, etc. The fantasy is as fascinating as it is repulsive; today we would speak of the superego's fearful ideas, which are projected in this way to trigger defense mechanisms. While in the text of the Apocalypse the whole world pays homage to the monster and the idolaters worship the beast, Meyer sets an armed fighter against it.

The image of the knight together with the text refers to Ephesians 6, 11-18: "Put on the armor of God, that you may be able to stand against the wiles of the devil", where an allegorical armor of the soldier of Christ is described: Thus the belt symbolizes truth, the armour righteousness, the shield faith, the helmet salvation and the sword the word of God.

In the top right-hand corner, it is anticipated how the virtuous knight will then be crowned by an angel (2 Timothy 2:5). The small picture on the right is an illustration of Jesus' logion of the splinter and the beam: "But why do you see the splinter in your brother's eye and do not perceive the beam in your own eye?" (Matthew 7:3). So it's not just about fighting, but also about recognizing your own weaknesses. This is the only way to understand the headline of the New Year's page. And if you look closely, the man accused by the accuser with the splinter in his eye is standing in front of a pig trough, an allusion to the pompous prodigal son (Luke 15, 11-32), who has recognized his weaknesses and turned back. A picture within a picture within a picture.