A Crown For Elizabeth
F.H. Murray
Table of Contents
Foreword
There are many well known Elizabeth’s in history but not many boys and girls have even heard of the Princess Elizabeth of this story.
Her story might just have been buried away in musty old encyclopedias had not Frances Bevan rescued it from oblivion and woven it through her book "Sketches of the Quiet in the Land.”
That book is now unobtainable and Mrs. Murray has done a real service in reviving the story of how the Princess who didn't want to be Queen won a crown.
RUTH SHELDRAKE
Chapter 1: Elizabeth's Childhood
There have been many Elizabeth’s who wore crowns. Almost everyone knows about the beloved Queen Elizabeth of England and the charming Princess Elizabeth. Perhaps you know about the great Queen Elizabeth who ruled England in the sixteenth century. She was called the Virgin Queen, and the state of Virginia, in the United States, was named in her honor by the brave men who came to this wild, new land to explore and settle it. Many boys and girls, too, know the story of the Princess Elizabeth who was the daughter of King Charles I and lived in England many, many years ago. At that time there was a great deal of trouble in England and there were wars and fighting everywhere. That was why the little Princess Elizabeth was a prisoner in the big Carisbrooke Castle when she was twelve.
The only friend that the princess was allowed to take into her castle prison with her was a book, but it was the very best Book a little girl in such an unhappy place could have. It was the Grand Old Book about which boys and girls sing:
The Grand Old Book! The Grand Old Book!
You'll find the words of comfort
Wherever you may look.
In sorrow or in pain,
Its promises are plain,
So keep on believing in the Grand Old Book!
Princess Elizabeth did just that. She kept on believing in the Grand Old Book. She read in it of the Lord Jesus Christ who came to save His people from their sins. She read that He had said, "Suffer the little children to come unto me, and forbid them not: for of such is the kingdom of God." She came to Him and believed that He died to save her. Then one morning when she was very tired of being a prisoner and needed "words of comfort" she went again to the Grand Old Book. She read, "I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also." Surely these were "words of comfort" and a "plain promise" to a tired little princess who was in sorrow. She put her finger on the place and closed her eyes. Perhaps she went to sleep resting on that promise; no one knows. At any rate, when the attendant came into the room a little later the princess seemed to be asleep, but she would not waken. When they looked more closely they saw that she had gone to be with the Lord Jesus-to that place which He had prepared for her.
Although her story is a very interesting one, she is not the Elizabeth of our story. This Elizabeth was a cousin of that Princess Elizabeth, and was born far away from England in a beautiful old castle at Heidelberg, Germany, in 1619.
The year 1619 was long ago. It was the year before the Pilgrims came in the "Mayflower" to Plymouth Rock, and started their colony in North America. In that long-ago time in England, where King Charles' little daughter, Princess Elizabeth, lived, and in Germany, where the Princess Elizabeth of our story lived, there was a war, and many fathers and big brothers and uncles marched away to be soldiers.
The same Book which brought words of life and hope to Princess Elizabeth when she was a prisoner in Carisbrooke Castle, the same Book which revealed eternal life through the Lord Jesus Christ to Princess Elizabeth of Heidelberg Castle, is still the same wonderful Book today. The Bible can bring to boys and girls of today the same message of salvation and hope it brought to those who read and believed it in those days of long ago.
Princess Elizabeth's father was Frederick V, the king of Bohemia, one of the German states, and her mother was Princess Elizabeth Stuart, the daughter of King James 1 of England and the sister of King Charles I.
When the princess was a very little girl her father's enemies came and the family had to flee from the beautiful castle home above the wide sunny valley of the Neckar River. From place to place they fled before their enemies and the little princess finally was given into the care of her grandmother.
This grandmother reminds us of a grandmother of long ago-Grandmother Lois, who taught her little grandson, Timothy, the Holy Scriptures which are able to make even a child wise unto salvation. Elizabeth's grandmother, Juliane, did the same thing. She thought that the Bible was the most important book for a little girl to study, so she taught Elizabeth from Scripture and also from the Heidelberg Catechism. This catechism was a series of questions and answers which were intended to teach children the great truths of the Bible. Some of the statements in it were very fine and these the little princess memorized.
At the age of eight she went to live again with her parents who had found a haven from their wanderings at the Hague. Here the little girl found herself a member of a large family among which she felt like a stranger. There were three sisters and nine brothers most of whom she knew not at all.
Her sisters, Louise and Henriette, thought her a very strange, quiet little girl, who loved books more than was necessary. They said she was "so like her grandmother." Her mother considered her children a necessary nuisance and much preferred the company of her many dogs and pet monkeys to that of her husband or her children. She was also very fond of her horses and liked nothing more than a good hunt. She spent much of her time at her country house, and left her family in the care of numerous governesses, tutors, and nurses. The little princess found life now very different from what it had been with her grandmother, and she longed to return to the life she had known in happier days-days spent with her books and her quiet lessons.
In her brother Henry, a year older than she, Elizabeth found a beloved companion. Here was one who could share her playtime-her books-and her thoughts. She in turn shared with him the lessons which he had to learn-lessons from which she, as a girl, was exempt. To the amazement and scorn of her sisters she studied Greek, Latin, mathematics, philosophy, and all the things it was considered necessary for a prince to know.
One night sorrow came to the princess-such sorrow as she had never known. Henry, the dearest of the family, was drowned. It seemed to Elizabeth that the sunshine had gone out of her life forever. Although she had learned many Scripture promises from her grandmother, she knew them only in her head, not in her heart, and so she had nothing to comfort her in her sorrow. If she had only known and trusted the Lord Jesus Christ she would have found Him "a very present help in trouble." She would have known God as the "God of all comfort," as Paul calls Him in his letter to the Corinthians. So, you see, merely knowing God's Word does not make us know and trust the Lord Jesus: we must believe it. None of Elizabeth's other brothers or sisters had loved her as Henry had loved her, and none of them had understood her thoughts and hopes as he had. In her loneliness Elizabeth turned more and more to her books.
Then, four years later, sorrow came again to trouble Elizabeth. This time her father, whom she had learned to love dearly, was taken by death. More than ever Elizabeth pondered the questions of life and death. What is life? What is death? Elizabeth did not know. She had never become acquainted with Him who is the Author of Life, and so she tried to find answers to her questions in the philosophies and writings of men, wise in the knowledge of this world, but knowing not God's wisdom. She could not find the answer to her questions. She did not go to the Word of God which could have answered them for her.
She would have learned from the Bible that death is separation. Spiritual death is separation from God. Adam and Eve were driven from the presence of God when they sinned. Eternal death is eternal separation from God and from the light of His presence. Death, both physical and spiritual, is the result of sin. She would have learned that life, both physical and eternal, is the gift of God; that eternal life comes by accepting Him who could say of Himself, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
Elizabeth sought comfort from many books instead of the Book, and found nothing that could give peace in her heart and rest for her soul.
In the first chapter of Corinthians we read many things concerning man's wisdom. God's judgment of man's wisdom is summed up in this sentence: "The foolishness of God is wiser than men." That means that the very wisest things man can say or think are far, far below anything God thinks. God, who made this world, and everything in it, knows much more than all the wise men of this world can discover. Wise men have discovered the laws of gravity and centrifugal force, and these have influenced many great and marvelous inventions; but since the creation of the world God has known them, even before the creation of the world, for He established these laws in the beginning.
Men have studied the stars, and have learned many wonderful things about them. Astronomers can measure the distance between them and the earth; they can predict accurately, long in advance, where a certain star will be in the sky at a given time, for men have recorded their movements with much precision. But God made all the stars and holds them all in their places. He not only knows how they move, but He is the One who makes them move in regular and orderly fashion.
So it is in every branch of science and learning known to man. Whatever wise men have discovered, or may yet discover, about the great and scientific things of this world, their knowledge can never approach God's, for He made all these wonders of the universe.
To everyone who would be truly wise, God gives this word of instruction: "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom" (Prov. 9:10). Many people who think themselves very wise, and who are considered very learned by their fellow men, have not even the beginning of wisdom in God's sight because they do not reverence and believe Him!
Thus Elizabeth passed her childhood, accumulating a vast store of learning, yet puzzled and bewildered by the great unanswered questions of eternity which troubled her heart.
Chapter 2: Elizabeth's Religion
In spite of the many misfortunes and sorrows which befell the queen of Bohemia, Elizabeth's mother, her court at the Hague was a gay and lively one. As soon as the young princesses became old enough to leave the care of their governess or tutor they became part of this pleasure-seeking company. At fifteen Princess Elizabeth made a charming addition to her mother's court. Her shining black hair fell gracefully back from a well shaped forehead. Her complexion was described by her rather envious sister, Sophia, as "dazzling." Her sparkling brown eyes and beautiful cherry-red lips won the admiration of everyone at the court. She was merry and gay, yet in her secret heart lay the unanswered questions which as a child she had sought to solve-questions of eternal things which, because she could not find their answer, she seldom dared to consider.
One frequent visitor to the court was Elizabeth's cousin, Frederick William, who later became the Great Elector of Brandenburg. With him Elizabeth spent many of her happiest hours and they became deeply attached to each other. Many years later Frederick William remembered these happy hours and was a help to Elizabeth when she needed a friend.
Another visitor to the royal family was King Wladislaus IV of Poland. He was very popular, both at this court and among his own people. Very successful in Poland's war against Sweden, and a just and wise ruler over his kingdom, he was loved and honored by all his subjects. Here, at the court of the queen of Bohemia, he found her daughter, Elizabeth, the greatest attraction of the many which made his visit exceedingly enjoyable. He paid homage to her grace and beauty, but marveled most of all at her great learning. What a queen she would make for his people! Watch as he would he could not detect one queenly virtue lacking in this beautiful princess of the Rhine. But a king who wages war successfully has much to do besides enjoying himself, and so King Wladislaus returned home and Elizabeth gave her attention to other friends and admirers.
But bits of information about this remarkable princess came, one way and another, to the attention of the warring king: a new report of her learning; a story about her extreme cleverness; a tale of her charming wit. Again he thought, What a queen she would make for Poland! At last he decided that a wise and worthy queen was very important to the welfare of his people, so he sent an embassy to the court of the queen of Bohemia, to lay at the feet of Elizabeth the crown of Poland and with it the heart and fortune of good King Wladislaus IV!
The messengers arrived in royal splendor at the court at the Hague. Their beautiful velvet cloaks seemed to catch the very sunshine and hold it in their deep, thick pile. Their sleek and shining horses revealed royalty in every graceful line. Their appearance befitted the important message they bore.
The princess listened graciously to the ardent declaration. Her heart thrilled as the heart of any girl would at such a proposal. It was a decision that needed careful consideration.
Elizabeth learned that she would have to forsake her Protestant religion if she became the queen of Poland. This was required by law, but it was a detail that could be easily arranged! Instantly she remembered the old Heidelberg Catechism which her grandmother had taught her when she was a very little girl. Everything in her mind and heart revolted at the thought of giving it up.
Virtually the whole civilized world of that time was divided over the question of religion. More than a hundred years before this, Martin Luther had given the Bible to the German people in their own tongue. Many of these people truly believed in the Lord Jesus Christ and were saved. Many others, however, saw only that which was wrong in their mother church and accepted the creed of the Protestants without accepting the Savior of whom it spoke. The Thirty Years' War in Germany, which resulted in slaughter and looting which has seldom been equaled in this world's history, was a war between the Catholics and the Protestants. In England the party which was in power persecuted and cruelly tortured the other. In France the Huguenots were hunted and slain and banished. Because of its religious zeal the Inquisition in Spain reached untold heights of torture.
This definite line of demarcation was not absent in Princess Elizabeth, and when she realized that she would have to give up her Protestant religion if she wore the crown of Poland, she chose at once to retain her religion and refuse the earthly crown.
When the ambassadors from King Wladislaus saw that their entreaties were in vain they left the Hague and carried the very firm, emphatic "No!" of Princess Elizabeth to their master. He was not prepared for this answer and did not wish to accept it as final. Again he sent other men to make a more persuasive appeal but they met with no more success. The princess was fixed in her decision. She was determined never to be anything other than a member of the Reformed Calvinistic Church of the Netherlands. If the king could not marry her as such he could go elsewhere to seek a wife. For three years the admiring king sent embassies and entreaties, but only in vain. Again and again he received the same answer.
At last he saw the case was hopeless and so he took Elizabeth's advice and married an Austrian princess. When that was settled, Elizabeth determined never again even to think of marriage. She shut herself up with her books, her religion, and her unhappy heart-and found no comfort or joy therein.
She was like the poor, unhappy man who traveled that dangerous road from Jerusalem to Jericho. We read of him in Luke 10. He fell among thieves and was robbed and left half dead beside the road. A priest, who represented the religion of that day, came along the road. The wounded man lying by the roadside was probably filled with hope. Surely this priest would help him. But did he? No, indeed! We read that he saw him and passed by on the other side. What a disappointment to the suffering man who was longing for help!
And so it was with Princess Elizabeth. She gave up the crown of a great country and the love of a kind and honorable man for the sake of her religion, but her religion failed to give her the peace that she so much desired.
So it is with everyone who thinks he can gain salvation by religion. Trusting in one's religion is trusting in one's self and trusting in his ability to measure up to God's requirements, even when God has plainly told us that "all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God." What God really wants men to do is to believe on His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Anyone who trusts in anything else-even religion-is like the wounded man on the Jericho road who depended on the priest to help him; he is like the princess who thought she would find peace and rest in her religion, although she did not know the Lord Jesus Christ.
Chapter 3: Elizabeth's Friends
One of the laws of physics is that water seeks its own level. The same principle applies to people and is put into words in an old proverb which says, "Birds of a feather flock together." Those who are very learned like to associate with others who have a great amount of knowledge. Soon after King Wladislaus decided there was no hope of persuading Elizabeth to change her religion and become his wife, she met Anna von Schurmann, the wonder of her day for intelligence and learning.
Elizabeth knew many languages but Anna knew more. She could write fluently and correctly in the purest Latin, Greek, French, and Hebrew, and was well versed in Arabic, Syriac, Coptic, English, and Italian, besides her native Dutch and German. She was known as the greatest linguist of her time or of all time past, and it is doubtful if there has been a greater. She was known also as a great mathematician, scientist, artist, musician, engraver, singer, and wood carver. In addition to all these accomplishments she was very efficient in all the household arts of her day, especially needlework. We marvel that this knowledge could be possessed by one person, but we stand in awe and reverence before the God who created a mind with such possibilities!
Learned men from distant places came to Utrecht to converse with this remarkable woman, and royalty was honored by her friendship. The queen of Poland, who had taken the place Elizabeth might have had, and the queen of Sweden both desired to meet her but instead of sending her a summons to appear at their courts, as was the usual custom, they journeyed to her home and paid tribute to her learning.
Of more importance in the life of Anna than any of this honor and praise which men heaped upon her was the memory of a sunny afternoon when she was a very little girl. It was then that Anna von Schurmann trusted the Lord Jesus Christ as her Savior. Both of her grandfathers had been exiled for the sake of the Gospel, and they had seen many dear to them suffer torture and death because they would not deny their crucified yet risen and living Savior. Her own father had been taken from his home in the Netherlands to escape the persecutions of Alva, the cruel Spanish tormentor of the Church.
They had gone to Cologne, and there a wise and kind nurse knew that if little girls must learn lessons on a hot summer day, they could do it much more comfortably beside a brook than anywhere else. Taking little Anna and her Heidelberg Catechism, she had gone into the cool woods to teach the little girl her lesson. The Catechism was rather difficult for such a small student but learn it she must, so the nurse asked the question, "What is thine only comfort in living and in dying?" As Anna gave the answer, "I am not my own, but I belong to my faithful Savior, Jesus Christ," the truth of what she said gripped her young heart. She had often heard how the Lord Jesus died on the Cross for her sins and now she took Him for her own Savior and realized that she belonged heart, soul, and body to Him. From that time she loved to read His Word and her heart burned when she heard the stories of those martyrs who had died for Him.
When Anna was fifteen her father died and she and her mother removed from Cologne to the old home at Utrecht in the Netherlands. Here she heard the preaching and teaching of Dr. Voet, a true Christian who opposed the evils which prevailed in the so-called Church of his day. Anna not only listened attentively to his sermons but she studied theology and Semitic languages under him.
When Elizabeth found this friend, a kindred spirit who shared her love for learning, she rejoiced greatly. She decided to become as nearly as possible like Anna, her ideal. They became close friends and spent many days together-happy days for them both. When they could not be often together they exchanged letters frequently. Never since the death of her brother had Elizabeth enjoyed such a friendship as this.
Although Elizabeth had a very dear friend who knew the Lord Jesus as her Savior, yet Elizabeth herself knew Him not, and she could not find real peace until she did. There must be a personal relationship between a sinner and the Savior to bring that peace. The Lord Jesus said, "I am the good shepherd, and know my sheep, and am known of mine" (John 10:14). He is the Good Shepherd who saw us as wandering sheep, going every one in his own way; and He came from heaven's glory to save us. To save us He had to do far more than any human shepherd ever had to do to find a lost and straying sheep. He had to go to the Cross and not only lay down His life for us, but He must pour out His soul unto death and bear all God's righteous judgment against sin. Only those who receive Him as their own Savior can truthfully say, "I am His and He is mine.”
About this time Rene Descartes, the famous French philosopher and mathematician, was introduced at the court of Elizabeth's mother. His philosophies were so deep and profound that they baffled even the most learned men he knew, but Princess Elizabeth drank them as a thirsty man drinks water. She became his devoted pupil, and thought at last to find the answer to the perplexing questions of life and death.
Mathematics only, of all the things he had been taught, seemed to him to have a reasonable foundation. He made many contributions to this science, notably in the field of geometry. Everything else, he said, lacked a foundation. One day this thought came to him: "I think, therefore I am." The sureness of it startled him and upon that basic truth he built a great system of philosophy. He wrote a lengthy book on the principles of philosophy and dedicated it to his admiring student, Elizabeth. She often worked far into the night studying his writings and solved the problems he gave her. How much more satisfying and how much more simple would she have found her problems if she had really believed the "word of God, which liveth and abideth forever." Here she could have found indeed a sure foundation.
One day, while Descartes was working on his great book, he visited Elizabeth's friend, Anna, and found her studying her Hebrew Bible. He told her that he was astonished to find anyone with a mind like hers wasting her time over anything so unimportant. Anna replied that she considered the study of the Bible of the greatest importance; whereupon the philosopher, considered by the world very wise, told her that he, too, had once endeavored to study the Holy Scriptures but had found them indefinite and confusing! He advised her to spend time more profitably, not knowing that of such men as himself the Lord Jesus said, "What shall it profit a man, if he shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?" (Mark 8:36).
Anna regarded the man with pity rather than respect and resolved never again to be in his company. In her diary for that day she wrote under the title of "The Lord's Benefits" this notation: "God turned away my heart from that profane man, and used him to make me give myself up more wholly to Himself." So often thus God makes even the wrath of men to praise Him.
Perhaps all we who are saved could take a lesson from Anna in acknowledging thankfully each day the Lord's many benefits to us, as the Psalmist did: "Blessed be the Lord, who daily loadeth us with benefits, even the God of our salvation. Selah.”
From this time Elizabeth's friendship for Anna waned. She preferred Descartes and his letters to her old friend, and their visits together and their happy correspondence came to an end.
When Descartes finished his book and dedicated it to Elizabeth, Anna felt she could not forbear warning her friend of the danger of believing and following this man instead of relying on God's Word. But Elizabeth ignored her friend's entreaties and persisted in her own way-the way which seemed right unto her "but the end thereof are the ways of death.”
Sorrows came thick and fast to Elizabeth soon after this. Her brother Philip killed a Frenchman who was paying court to their mother and had to flee for his life. Shortly afterward he was killed. Her beautiful sister, Henriette, died; her brother, Maurice, was lost at sea; and her uncle, Charles I, was beheaded as the result of political wars in England.
Descartes' philosophy was poor comfort for the sorrowing princess and when in the following year, he, too, died she felt utterly alone. Her friendships with the great of the earth had brought her no more peace and rest than did her learning or her religion. As yet Elizabeth could not say,
On the Lamb my soul is resting;
What His love no tongue can say;
All my Sins, so great, so many,
In His blood are wash'd away.
Sweetest rest and peace have filled me,
Sweeter praise than tongue can tell;
God is satisfied with Jesus,
I am satisfied as well.
Conscience now no more condemns me,
For His own most precious blood
Once for all has washed and cleansed me,
Cleansed me in the eyes of God.
Filled with this sweet peace forever,
On I go through strife and care,
Till I find that peace around me
In the Lamb's bright glory there.
Chapter 4: Elizabeth's Salvation
When the Peace of Westphalia brought an end to the Thirty Years' War in 1648, the Rhineland possessions of Elizabeth's father were restored to her oldest brother, Charles Louis. Two years later Elizabeth, returned to Heidelberg Castle from which she had been taken when a small child. How everything was changed! The war had brought ruin and desolation to the sunny valley.
Elizabeth's brother, Prince Edward, and her sister, Sophia, were also at the castle; but they were not congenial companions and their relationship was not at all pleasant. They complained that they had wanted her to cheer them and all her lively talk and merry ways were gone.
Charles Louis restored the old University of Heidelberg and desired to enlighten the students in principles of philosophy, so a dear friend of Descartes was brought to the university. Elizabeth welcomed him gladly and supplemented his classes with private instruction to the students. The lengthy letters she had received from Descartes served well in explaining many difficulties in the professor's lectures. She found a measure of solace and contentment in her work which she had not known. For ten years she continued thus, earning for herself such a reputation for learning that no other princess had equal fame among the wise and educated people of her day. Yet in spite of her fame she knew nothing of having her name written in the "Lamb's Book of Life" with out which her eternal destiny must be the "blackness of darkness forever." This reminds us of a stanza of the poem about the noble lady saved through the preaching of Mr. Brownlow North:
Then up spake the devil boldly,
“The kingdoms of earth are mine.
Fair lady, thy name, with an envied fame,
On its brightest tablets shall shine.
Only give me thy soul, and I'll give thee the whole,
Earth's honor and wealth to be thine.”
One day Elizabeth was invited to the home of her uncle at Krosse to attend the wedding of her beautiful cousin, Elizabeth Charlotte. There she saw some notes on Dr. Kock's lectures on the Song of Solomon. These belonged to her aunt who was a devoted believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. Elizabeth was very much interested in these notes and requested that a copy of them be made for her. Dr. Kock, hearing of this, published his lectures and dedicated the book to the princess. She was exceedingly interested and started to study the Bible in earnest. It was indeed to her "words of life and beauty.”
The princess saw the mystery of godliness. She recognized in the Lord Jesus Christ not only the Creator and Upholder of this marvelous universe, but the Author of Life. She heard Him say, "I am the way, the truth, and the life: no man cometh unto the Father, but by me.”
At last Elizabeth had found the Truth. She had found real peace and rest. After her many years of questioning and wondering, after her many attempts to solve the perplexities and mysteries of life, how sweet it was to rest upon the unerring Word of the eternal God and to find perfect peace in Him! She found in Christ the peace which her religion failed to give her, the joy which she had not found in her vast learning, and the comfort which she could not receive from the philosophy of Descartes.
Elizabeth returned again to Heidelberg, but she found that accepting the Lord Jesus Christ as her personal Savior and giving Him His rightful place as Lord and Master in her life had changed her entire outlook. No longer could she teach young students that they could find ultimate peace and satisfaction in their own minds, for she knew that these were to be found only through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. She soon left Heidelberg and went to Cassel where her cousin, Hedwig Sophie, was rejoicing in like precious faith. Here she spent five happy years in fellowship with her cousin who had not only a great faith, but also a great mind and could study and converse with Elizabeth on the same plane.
Chapter 5: Elizabeth's Guests
After the five happy years at Cassel, Elizabeth was appointed abbess of Herford by her cousin Frederick William, the Great Elector. This gave her jurisdiction over the ancient abbey and included many privileges and considerable wealth. She was now responsible to no one on earth but the emperor of the great empire. Soon after her arrival at Herford she thought of her old friend, Anna von Schurmann, whose last communication with her had been a warning about believing the doctrine of Descartes in opposition to the Bible. The warning had gone unheeded and the sweet friendship had lain forgotten through many long, unhappy years. Now Elizabeth knew the Savior of whom Anna had spoken with love and reverence. Now she, too, found in the Bible the satisfaction and joy that she could not find in the books of learning which had formerly been her delight.
She inquired about Anna and found that she was a member of a community of Christians living under the leadership of a powerful preacher, John de Labadie. They lived as nearly as possible after the manner of the Early Church, spending much time in prayer, meditation, and worship.
As a youth Labadie had been trained in a Jesuit college, but as he learned more and more from God's Word he felt burdened by the unscriptural and sinful practices of his fellow Jesuits. When he protested that such conduct was not in accordance with the Holy Bible he came into disfavor with his superiors and was finally released from the order. Then, with a freedom he had not known, he went about preaching the Word of God. Great crowds came to hear him, and many heard and believed the Gospel. He encouraged the people to secure and read the Bible, or at least the New Testament. The Jesuits were very bitter toward him and persecuted him constantly, driving him from place to place. He had many narrow escapes from death at their hands for they even secured a company of soldiers from Queen Anne of Austria to hunt him to the death. But everywhere he went he preached the love of God and salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ.
At one time Labadie was given refuge by Viscount de Castets, a Protestant nobleman, and here he lived quietly for two months. During that time he saw that the Protestant Castets lived such godly lives that his old prejudice against Protestantism was broken and he began to study the teaching of the Reformed Church. Before long he saw that among the Protestants he would be free preach and teach the truths for which he was hated and persecuted by the Jesuits, so he was received into the Reformed Church.
But here also he found many things which were not in accord with the Word of God as he knew it and he was often in controversy with those in authority. However, he could preach with a measure of freedom. He was invited to be the pastor of the French Reformed Church in London, and started on the journey to England. On his way he stopped at Geneva, the old stronghold of Protestantism, and found the city in a terrible condition. The meeting houses were almost empty; the taverns were filled; the Lord's Day was an occasion for feasting and drunkenness; gambling was the chief sport of the townspeople. Labadie decided to stop there instead of going to London.
God marvelously blessed the preaching of His Word and soon the city was changed. Now the taverns were almost empty and the crowds flocked to hear the sermons of this unusual preacher. Gambling became almost unknown; the trades people became honest and the magistrates, just. The Gospel was having the same effect on the people of Geneva that it had on Zacchaeus long ago; and for the same reason, because "the Son of man is come to seek and to save that which was lost." It would have the same effect on the people and on the cities of today if it were believed, for the Gospel is still the "power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth.”
As in the early days of the Church, Satan caused opposition when there were times of special blessing, so he did again. Many of the Reformed preachers became jealous of Labadie, then suspicious, then openly antagonistic. They did not agree with him in the doctrine that only those who were saved through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ should be allowed to partake of the bread and the wine at the Lord's Supper. They did not believe his teaching that the Lord Jesus was going to return some day. They did not like him, when he prayed, to express his own thoughts and needs to God, but thought he should use only the prayers in the prayer book that had been prepared. We know that according to the Bible, Labadie was right in many things.
In 1 Cor. 11:23, 26 we read how the Lord Jesus instituted, or started, the Lord's Supper. There we read that "the Lord Jesus the same night in which he was betrayed took bread: and when he had given thanks, he brake it, and said, Take, eat: this is my body, which is broken for you: this do in remembrance of me. After the same manner also he took the cup, when he had supped, saying, This cup is the new testament in my blood: this do ye, as oft as ye drink it, in remembrance of me. For as often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do show the Lord's death till he come." Certainly one who did not know and believe in the suffering and death of the Lord Jesus for him could not see in the bread and the wine the testament of his Lord's sacrifice. God says in the same chapter: "But let a man examine himself, and so let him eat of that bread, and drink of that cup. For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, eateth and drinketh [judgment] to himself, not discerning the Lord's body.”
He speaks of His coming again in that same passage for He says, "Ye do show the Lord's death till he come." The manner of His coming for His people is more fully shown in 1 Thess. 4:13-17 where we read: "But I would not have you to be ignorant, brethren, concerning them which are asleep, that ye sorrow not, even as others which have no hope. For if we believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with him. For this we say unto you by the word of the Lord, that we which are alive and remain unto the coming of the Lord shall not prevent them which are asleep. For the Lord himself shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God: and the dead in Christ shall rise first: then we which are alive and remain shall be caught up together with them in the clouds, to meet the Lord in the air: and so shall we ever be with the Lord." In many other Scripture passages we find the truth of His coming for His people.
When we pray, God wants us to speak to Him of what is in our hearts, for He says in Phil. 4:6, "In everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God," and in 1 Thess. 5:17, 18 He says, "Pray without ceasing. In everything give thanks." Surely everything in our lives, all our reasons for rejoicing, all our cares and difficulties and needs, could not have been known to the men who wrote prayers in prayer books. Only God could know all these. Sometimes even we who are saved do not know how to pray as we ought, but the Holy Spirit makes intercession for us.
Labadie had deep convictions as to his beliefs he would not stop preaching them, so the men of authority told him he would have to leave their organization. This he was ready to do for the Truth's sake, so with those of his congregation who believed as he did he started a community of Christians who had no name but were known only as Christians, and tried to live as nearly as possible like the early Christians lived in New Testament times.
Anna von Schurmann had heard of this group of believers and was drawn to them as their teaching was a deliverance from the deadness of the professing church at that time. She finally became one of them. She was vastly changed from the young woman who had delighted in this world's learning and acclaim. She realized that more important than anything in this life is the life to come.
The visit of Descartes many years before, had produced the desired effect in her life. She had turned more and more to the study of God's Word and now found sweet fellowship with Labadie and his congregation.
Such an assembly, however, was not in favor with most of the religious bodies of the day. Magistrates were aroused to issue edicts against them and they were compelled to move from one place to another. When Princess Elizabeth at her Abbey of Herford heard of them, she was deeply interested. After some acquaintance with them she invited the entire company to occupy the rambling old buildings of her estate. Here they could have complete freedom of worship under the rule only of Elizabeth and the Roman emperor.
They arrived at Herford on a cold, bleak November day, and what a mixed assembly it was! John de Labadie, the great preacher who was either dearly loved or bitterly hated by all who heard him; Anna von Schurmann, the wonder of the whole world for her great learning; ladies of high rank and large fortunes; trades people; tanners; cobblers; working people of all kinds. Elizabeth welcomed them warmly and said, "My house is open to all who love the Lord Jesus.”
Although Elizabeth was very cordial to the Christians, the people of Herford felt otherwise. They regarded the company as "awful Dutchmen," and "mad Quakers, "and pelted them with mud and refuse as they walked to the abbey. The next day a deputation from the mayor and town corporation called on Elizabeth to demand that she send her friends away immediately. She refused to even consider such a demand, so they sent an appeal to the Great Elector. Elizabeth had anticipated such a move and had obtained the consent of her powerful cousin before her guests arrived.
The company settled down to enjoy its freedom under Elizabeth's protection. There were many old buildings connected with the abbey which were furnished to accommodate them. They met together morning and night for prayer and Bible study. Sometimes Labadie taught them the Scripture lesson and occasionally one of the other men taught. They met together unmolested to break bread and partake of the cup of wine in remembrance of the Lord's death, at the same time looking forward to His coming again.
Not long after the Christians' arrival at the abbey, Elizabeth's sister, Sophia, came to visit her. Sophia did not know the Lord Jesus and did not delight in the study of His Word. She did not enjoy Labadie's preaching which classed her with common sinners and told her that she needed a Savior, the same Savior that would save all these common working people which her sister loved and she despised. Sophia refused to believe such a message, and lost no opportunity to ridicule and find fault both with the preacher and the congregation.
On one occasion she said to Elizabeth, "You are crazy to surround yourself with such rabble when you might entertain the royalty of the world if you chose. Do you forget that yours is royal blood?”
Elizabeth answered, "These are the royalty of heaven, a far higher line than our family has ever known. I feel honored by their friendship." Then said Sophia, "Remember that our mother was Elizabeth Stuart. And remember, too, that Queen Anne is getting old and has no heir. Have you ever thought that you might be chosen to be the next queen of England?”
Elizabeth replied that she was perfectly happy in her present condition and had no desire to become the queen of England. The throne and crown of England had no more appeal to her than the throne and crown of Poland had had many years before; perhaps not as much.
Great was Sophia's surprise at such a statement. She exclaimed, "You do not care to be the queen of England! If I could only know that 'Sophia, Queen of England' would be carved on my tombstone, I would be the happiest woman in the world.”
Years afterward Sophia almost realized that ambition. She was chosen to succeed Anne in the event of the latter's death, but Sophia died two months before Anne, and so her son became king and was known as George I. Although she could not be called queen of England, she was the mother of England's king.
In spite of the quiet, godly lives of Elizabeth's guests the people of the village refused to change their opinion of them and when, after a prolonged correspondence with Frederick William, the Great Elector, they understood that he would do nothing about sending away his cousin's friends, they sent an appeal directly to the emperor. That austere man sent Elizabeth a mandate to banish her friends at once from her property. This she ignored except to notify Frederick William that the council of Herford had scorned his authority.
An exchange of letters followed but the visitors were not molested further until they had been at Herford three and a half years. Elizabeth then went to Berlin to plead their cause in person. During her absence Labadie and his people decided not to cause more inconvenience and trouble to their beloved benefactress, so they gathered their belongings together and departed from Herford. They went to Altona, in Denmark, where the king had proclaimed religious freedom for all his kingdom.
There at Altona, Labadie died about a year and a half later, having given this testimony just before his death: "I thank and praise God for His countless benefits to one so unworthy; for which I adore Him and thank Him with my whole heart, and especially that by His Spirit and the mighty power of His grace He made me to be a Christian, and brought me to the knowledge of Himself, as Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. Further, that by His leading and guidance He has brought me to the knowledge of the truth which is according to godliness, and to the true worship of Himself in the Spirit.
“I desire also to bear witness that I believe in His divine Word as it has pleased Him to reveal it to us in the whole Bible, and especially in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, With my whole heart I attach my signature to this Word of God, dictated by Him through His Spirit, and by His Spirit understood and explained.
“And I would especially declare that the faith of which I speak is the faith of the latter years of my life.”
A year after his death, Anna von Schurmann also died, rejoicing to the last in her Savior.
Chapter 6: Elizabeth's Crown
When Elizabeth returned to Herford she was very sad to find that her friends had departed. She had found much comfort and joy in their companionship, and her house had been filled with songs of praise. God never intended His people, under ordinary circumstances, to isolate themselves from other Christians. He always encourages them to meet together. He has a portion for us, and says, "Gather the people together and I will give them water" (Num. 21:16).
“Wherefore be ye not unwise but understanding what the will of the Lord is" (Eph. 5:17). He says also, "And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works: not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching" (Heb. 10:24-25). In many other portions He instructs His people to gather together.
Elizabeth was not happy without Christian friends around her. She began to seek true believers from various places and offered them a refuge at the abbey. Many there were in those days who needed such a haven, for large numbers were being persecuted and driven from their homes. It made no difference to Elizabeth whether these unfortunate people were French, English, German, Dutch, or any other nationality. Neither did it matter whether they were rich or poor. Elizabeth said, as she had said before, that her heart and home were open to all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Herford remained a bright and blessed center of Christian life, and Elizabeth rejoiced to use the position and wealth with which God had entrusted her, to His glory and to the untold blessing of His people.
She was visited there by William Penn, who founded the state of Pennsylvania, and by George Fox, Robert Barclay, and other notable Quakers. These men found in her simple and sincere devotion to her Lord a source of great joy and thanksgiving. In his book, "No Cross, No Crown," William Penn gives us a word picture of Elizabeth at Herford. He writes: "She had a small territory which she governed well; she would constantly, every last day in the week, sit in judgment, and hear and determine causes herself, frequently remitting her forfeitures where the party was poor or meritorious; and which was excellent, though unusual—she would temper her discourses with religion. Though she kept no sumptuous table in her own court she spread the tables of the poor in their solitary homes. Abstemious in herself, and in apparel devoid of all vain ornaments, her mind had a noble prospect, her eye was to a better and more lasting inheritance than could be found below.”
Thus Elizabeth passed several happy, useful years at Herford. She died there in the year 1680, rejoicing during her last illness that she would soon be in the presence of Him who loved her and gave Himself for her; the One who had given her true peace and joy after the years of sorrow, uncertainty, and bewilderment-even her blessed Lord Jesus Christ, in whose presence there is fullness of joy for evermore. Deeply mourned by the poor of her territory and by the persecuted and afflicted, she was buried at Herford, and over her grave was raised a monument to "Elizabeth, descended from the Electors Palatine of Germany and the Kings of Great Britain.”
Although Elizabeth refused the crown of Poland and did not desire the crown of England, to which she could have advanced a claim, shall we say that she never attained a crown? No, indeed! Hers was a crown far more enduring than these-the crown of righteousness of which Paul speaks in 2 Tim. 4:8, and the crown of life, of which James tells us in James 1:12.
James says, "Blessed is the man that endureth temptation: for when he is tried, he shall receive the crown of life, which the Lord hath promised to them that love him.”
Elizabeth truly loved the Lord, and because she loved Him, she loved also all those who were His.
Paul declares with assurance, "Henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous judge, shall give me at that day: and not to me only, but unto all them also that love his appearing.”
Certainly Princess Elizabeth qualified for that crown, for it cannot be doubted that she loved and longed for the appearing of her Lord. Now she is with Him and "In thy presence is fullness of joy." She is awaiting that time when we will be altogether made perfect, when all the redeemed will form that group around the throne in heaven, and will sing the new song of Revelation 5-a song which will far surpass those which she enjoyed at Herford. What a privilege to be in that innumerable company of saints, who without the hindrances of infirmities of our present condition can enjoy to the full the perfect fellowship around the throne of the Lamb.
Everyone who will believe God when He tells us that we are sinners, lost, guilty, and deserving only judgment, and who will accept the Lord Jesus Christ as his own personal Savior will be given the same eternal crown that Elizabeth received.
Chapter 3 Appendix: Labadie (by John L. Erisman)
Labadie lived during the century after the great activity of the Spirit, of God in raising up men to bring out the great truths of the Reformation such as "Justification by faith," "Chosen in Him," "One Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus," etc., such as Luther, Calvin, Zwinglie and others proclaimed.
During the one hundred years following this great work, that which had had such a bright beginning had become mixed up with the world and sunk down to its level. Its state was that described in the address to Sardis of Rev. 3:1, "A name that thou livest and art dead.”
Labadie evidently was one raised up by the Spirit of God to call to the attention of the church "Remember therefore how thou hast received and heard and hold fast and repent" (Rev. 3:3).
He did not have the clearness of certain truths which were brought out two hundred years later; such as "There is one body," the Lord being in the midst of the two or three gathered unto His name, the heavenly calling of the church, the coming of the Lord to take His people out of this world, etc. He did not have the truth as to the special place that the first day of the week should have with His people. He maintained that Sunday was no holier than any other day because his life was a continual Sabbath.
It was his thought to go back to the way that the early church started out at Jerusalem where they had all things common, not realizing that this state of the church did not continue in the account given in the Acts after the failure manifested in Acts 5 and 6. It evidently was not compulsory at any time from Peter's words to Ananias, "Whilst it remained, was it not thine own?" It seems apparent from Acts 12 that many had their own homes for we read of "The house of Mary... where many were gathered together praying." Then in Acts 1:1: 29 and 2 Cor. 9:7 each had their own funds and were responsible to the Lord as to how they used them.
Labadie prophesied that the beginning of the reign of the kingdom of Grace would take place in the year 1666. At Geneva he revived his views in regard to the approach of Christ's reign upon earth, and of his own claim to divine inspiration.
Nevertheless Labadie was sincere and devoted and apparently was used of the Lord in proclaiming the word of the gospel.
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