IT was a strange but joyful meeting between the two old friends, who had parted as girls, and as the wonders of their age for human learning. Now had the old things passed away, and all things had become new. Anna had but a few months before burnt all the books and papers written by her in her days of philosophy and science. Nothing remained for either but Christ and Him crucified.
Anna must have her due. That she was carried beyond the bounds of the simple walk with God taught us by the Spirit in the Word we cannot but see. But others, with more wisdom and less love, might easily be found.
Elizabeth had taken the precaution of gaining the full consent of the Great Elector to her strange importation of the Labadists. But she had not thought it necessary to consult the town council or the clergy of Herforel, nor even to give them any intimation of the arrival of this unaccountable party. Strange rumours had meanwhile reached these worthies of the wild ways of the " mad Ouakers."
It was on a November day that they arrived, and found the streets of the little town lined with curious spectators, who looked at them with disgust and horror. A shower of stones and mud was their first welcome to Herford.
Next day a deputation came to the abbey from the mayor and corporation to protest against the invasion of " the Dutchmen." Elizabeth refused to receive the deputation, but sent a private message to assure them, as friends and neighbours, that they had nothing to fear from the new arrivals.
The council then sent a complaint to the great Elector. Elizabeth told them they might complain if they chose, but that she, as a princess of the holy Roman Empire, was accountable to no one but the emperor, and that she advised them to keep quiet, unless they wished her to keep them in order by a troop of dragoons.
A long correspondence followed between Elizabeth and her cousin Frederick William, who, with every desire to act kindly and indulgently, felt constrained to tell her of the scandalous stories he had heard of these " Quakerish people."
The Elector had good reasons for his scruples. Labadie and his first disciples had for a time openly taught that marriage was an earthly relationship unsuited to Christians. That a half-enlightened convert from Jesuitism should have taught this is not surprising. Nor has it been uncommon for Christians, who ill understand what it is to walk in the Spirit, to regard all earthly relationships as belonging to the "old man," thus confusing nature and the flesh. Labadie therefore did not reflect that natural relationships, as well as spiritual relationships, are formed by God. He had thought and acted as though the spiritual relationship of believers to one another as children of God, and therefore as brothers and sisters, was alone to be taken into consideration.
It was for this reason he formed his community, as we have seen, of men and women who were to live tog-ether as the children of one family. But this state of things speedily came to an end. Yvon had confided to Labadie some time before the removal to Herford that he wished to marry one of the young Dutch ladies who had joined the community. Labadie himself owned to a wish to marry one of the Sommerdyk sisters. Having, however, taught that marriage is beneath the calling of a Christian, Yvon and Labadie had to reconsider their theories. The conclusion they arrived at was, that marriage is too sacred a relationship for any who are not Christians. But lest this change in their principles should be misunderstood, they committed the folly of marrying privately, and keeping the whole matter a secret. It may be too that the Quaker theory, that Christians should be married privately amongst themselves, had some weight with Labadie, " For priests or magistrates," wrote William Penn, "to marry, or join any in that relation, is not according to Scripture. For it is God's ordinance, not man's."
It is not to be wondered at, that as time went on, many evil reports had spread far and wide to the discredit of Labaclic, and what was more important, to the dishonour of Christ. The council of Herford forbade the tradespeople to sell anything, even bread, to the ill-conducted Quakers.
Elizabeth's troubles now became many and great. She wisely insisted that all the marriages amongst the Labadists should be made public, the ceremony being performed afresh according to the usual forms. She also insisted that her guests should have perfect freedom of worship, and she delighted to take part in their meetings, and to read and talk and pray with them, to the great disgust of many of her relations and of the townspeople.
Anna describes the joy and thankfulness of her friend " that God had called her to be the hostess and the protectress of a Church gathered out of true believers." " She said to me once," writes Anna, " that she no longer believed the truths they taught on account of what I and others had told her, but because she had heard and learnt herself that they were taught of God and were true servants of Christ. And what wonder that she found in their preaching those unsearchable riches which they gave forth without any preparation of human study, whereas the other preachers racked their brains over books to produce dry sermons with hard labour, and that which they preached was artificial and not natural.
" But these servants of God not only threw new light upon well known truths, but the truth flowed forth from them as a clear stream which could not but flow.
"And the princess could not but observe this, and also their simple, pure, and joyous life, which was a perpetual preaching of the Gospel to all whose eyes were not blinded."
We can readily believe, however, that to those who had neither eyes nor cars for Him whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him, Elizabeth and her guests were a perplexity and a wonder. That a princess who had been the favourite pupil of Descartes, who had, as Descartes said, more clearly comprehended him than any philosopher in Europe, and who had afterwards learnt the Scriptures from the great and learned Dr. Koch, should now allow herself to be taught by " smiths, tailors, shoemakers, and saddlers," was a standing marvel, not to the world alone, but to orthodox Christians.
Even the good princess Hedwig Sophia, who loved and respected Elizabeth so truly, felt constrained by her conscience to write to the Great Elector, after having received an imploring appeal from the council of Herford, to entreat him to do what he could to save Elizabeth from her friends. But the Elector still replied he was taking time to gain information respecting them, as he would not act merely upon idle rumours.
The Labadists being now freed from all restraints, and having unlimited liberty of worship allowed them, went a step further than separating themselves from the mixed communion of the Established Churches. They met together to break bread, as in the days of the apostles. But ignorant as they were of many truths of the Bible, they often overlooked the distinction between Old Testament worship and that which is in the Spirit and in truth.
On one occasion they expressed their gladness by dancing, after the example of David. They said their happiness was so great they could not but dance. Even the venerable Labadie, and the demure Anna, joined in this unworthy expression of Christian joy.
It is an unwelcome task to relate the follies of these really devoted people, but to omit all mention of them would be to represent them under false colours, They had the same phases of folly which we know too well in our own experience, though our foolishness may take another shape than theirs, But let none of those cast a stone at them, whose excitement can be awakened only by the things of this world, and who, as regards spiritual matters, have absolutely nothing which could disturb the dead level of their existence.
For those who have passed from death to life, the record of these spots and stains in a Christian course are as beacons that have their use. And perhaps the injury done to the cause of Christ by those who have naturally no sense of the ridiculous, is not often regarded as a sin. It is, to say the least, a proof that the soul is, so far, not in communion with God, nor led by the Spirit of God, but that the flesh, in every such case, has gained the upper hand.
In the case of Labadie, we must bear in mind that his early training had accustomed him to a sensational worship, and that there is but a short step from many Romish ceremonies to actual dancing, In fact, in some Spanish cathedrals, in the present day, religious dances are performed on certain occasions by choristers; and grotesque processions attended by military bands have been usual in Roman Catholic towns. It seems very difficult to our fallen nature to detach the idea of worship from material sights, sounds, and movements ; and in the present day we have ample proof of this, even amongst English Christians.
We have at this point a glimpse of the life at Herford, as it appeared to one who had no key to the mystery.
Soon after the arrival of the Labadists, Elizabeth had a visit from her sister, the Electress Sophia, who brought with her a German doctor of theology from Osnabruck. Sophia was much amused at the Herford household. The German theologian looked on with stern contempt. Elizabeth had to listen to her sister's jokes, and to the doctor's bitter remarks, with more patience than she could have acquired from the philosophy of Descartes.
Soon after the arrival of the Electress, an addition to the party was made by a visit from the Crown Prince Charles, only son of Charles Louis, who brought with him a learned chamberlain named Hackenberg, who had seen much of the world at various European Courts, but was now to have an experience of a Court which was not of the world.
"We were very curious," he writes, " to find out something more of this new apostle, and of the ways and means by which he fascinated the minds of men. At dinner many questions as to this were asked by the Princess Sophia, and Labadie's life was very freely commented upon.
"Elizabeth put a stop to our loquacity, and assured us we were doing great injustice to the holy man. When we replied that he had raised commotions at Orange and Geneva and elsewhere, she said that was the invention of reckless men, who blackened him with shameless lies."
Many other accusations were brought by these well-mannered guests against Elizabeth's "apostle," to which she replied by defending him warmly. And when they asked "by whose authority this most ambitious of all men dared to form a new Church," Elizabeth replied, says Hackenberg, " that it was she who brought these heavenly and godly people from Holland, that she was independent, and could allow them their liberty if she chose."
" Next day," he continues, "we all betook ourselves to Labadie's house. The first thing we saw was Fratilein von Schurmann, very shabbily dressed. She gazed at us with her languid eyes. We were taken into her room, where many beautiful objects attracted our attention—pictures painted by the most learned lady, in which art vied with nature, also wood carvings and wax models with speaking expression, which roused our admiration.
" Meanwhile an old man entered the room with slow and solemn pace, with an engrossed expression, as though all sorts of unimaginable divine thoughts occupied his mind, otherwise of very insignificant appearance. In a word, one saw at once he belonged to that class of mortals who are inspired by some better spirit, and being exalted above the earth, are in closer communication with the Deity.
" This man saluted our prince by a flattering speech, describing in eloquent terms the piety of his aunt Elizabeth. Then he launched out into a solemn discourse, and philosophized at length about divine love, and the fall and the ignorance of the human race. By this description you will have recognized Labadie.
"We all stared hard at him, and our superintendent disputed with him for a whole hour without coming to a point. Then Elizabeth, weary of these clamours, put a stop to it, and invited both of them to breakfast.
"Here the disputations were renewed. Labadie was charged with depriving women of all ornaments and jewels, and disturbing and terrifying their weak minds by forcing his pious notions upon them. Under shabby dreses they had all the same, proud and self-satisfied hearts. Further, he taught people there were no indifferent actions, but everything that was not directly for the glory of God was a great sin and crime, which was contrary to sound reason. And what shameless impudence was it to consign everybody to eternal punishment who would not fall in with such ludicrous superstition as to be a follower of Labadie !
" Moreover, he declared that nobody should go to the Lord's Supper unless they had the forgiveness of sins, and were saints.
"And was it not the height of folly and absurdity to regard oneself as born again, and as being holy, whereas the heart of man is always deceiving itself, and hiding the worst states of mind under strict and pious ways ? "
" Labadie answered," says Elackenberger, "as did his friends, by many long speeches," apparently very incomprehensible to the Princess Sophia and her party. " It all came to this : People must leave the world in order to live with Christ, and believers must avoid all contact with unbelievers for fear of being spotted and stained, and they must have their thoughts continually occupied with God and heavenly things."
" Schluter added," says Hackenberger further, "that he had lived three years in the Palatinate, and had never seen there as much as one pious pastor or professor." This speech was received with shouts of laughter, which the prince put an end to by requesting Labadie to collect his community, and preach them a sermon, as he should like to hear from the pulpit all he had to say. We therefore all adjourned to Labadie's house, where the women and girls, (pretty little creatures) all came in, together with a number of tailors, sailors, and grimy-looking tanners. It was surprising to see no well-dressed or gentlemanly man in this brilliant assemblage of women.
" Scats were placed in all haste, the second psalm was sung, and the text given out, " No man can serve two masters " (Matt. 6:2424No man can serve two masters: for either he will hate the one, and love the other; or else he will hold to the one, and despise the other. Ye cannot serve God and mammon. (Matthew 6:24)), and thereupon this juggler held forth, in a long and offensive declamation, that none were to be reckoned amongst the members of Christ who were still polluted by the world, or burning with any other love or desire than that which the Spirit of God enkindles in the souls that are born again.
" The sermon ended with a special appeal to the young Prince Charles, restored, as the preacher said, by the goodness of God to the home and the dominions of his ancestors, and to whom therefore the voice of God was speaking, calling him out from this present evil world to serve the Lord."
Hagenbacker however was more intent on observing the audience, and was amused to find that the words of Labadie moved and touched them, so that some of them " shed abundant tears."
"But as for ourselves," he adds, " we went home to the abbey filled with astonishment, and during dinner we entertained ourselves with a variety of jokes over this ludicrous piety, and could not express our-wonder that girls of the highest families, blooming with youth and beauty, and with ample fortunes, should be so utterly insane as to yield up their souls to the most miserable and useless of preachers, despite the entreaties of parents and lovers,
" Some of us said it was a species of hysteria, or the sort of insanity that leads other people to hang themselves. Others said that a course of Schwalbach or Pyrmont waters would put them to rights; whereupon the Princess was highly indignant, and told us it was the wickedness of our hearts which led us to ascribe to a diseased body the work of the Holy Spirit.
"But the Princess Sophia, who was a woman of good sense, silenced the excitement, renewing it however soon after, by explaining that her sister Elizabeth had found out the way to unite hospitality and parsimony in her choice of so cheap a party of guests, for in her position she was naturally expected to do something in the way of entertaining."
This remark, proceeding from a guest at Elizabeth's table, and from one who was called " the most accomplished lady in Europe," seems to have ended the conversation, leaving Elizabeth in possession of the reproach which is greater riches than the of Egypt.