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 10:1414I 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 8:3636For 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.