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ELIZABETH , PRINCESS PALATINE. 161
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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« Paet Ii. The Imperial Abbey Of Herford...
piety—can entertain a doubt , that , in spite of Ms unworldly creed , the teaching of William Penn would incline as little to the visionary
and mystic as that of Descartes himself . The great Quaker felt as he says , " a weighty concern for the Princess Elizabeth , whose
goodness had led her somewhat astray in the matter of Labadie . " Letters had passed between them , and more than once " her ear was
pleased with the thee and thou of the Quakers , " for " visiting friends" found their way to Herford . In 16 77 William Penn , on
two occasions , spent some days at the Abbey , during a visit he made to Germany . He was affectionately received , held religious
meetings , and advised the princess and her ladies on many subjects . " They listened" he says , " with an earnest and tender attention" to
, his solemn warnings against " will-worship , and the workings , strivingsand images of their own mind and spirit . " We are not called
, to dream , nor to an imaginative sloth , nor to look beyond the cares and duties of daily life ; these we are called strictly to fulfil , not for
the satisfaction of our consciences , not for self-praise , or for approval from without . In the lowliest things , as in the highest , we are
servants of a Great Master . Let us look to it that we work His ¦ work actively , honestly , and simply . Such , was the creed Penn
Impressed both personally and by letter upon the princess . This guidance did much to restore her mind to a healthier tone . She
gave up her transcendental speculations , resumed her former pursuits , interested herself again in procuring rare books and manuscripts
to enrich the Abbey library , and kept up an intercourse with Malebranclie and Leibnitz , —the latter was already the friend of
So _|) liia of Brunswick . To the close of her life she maintained an active correspondence with Penn . And this very morning , as we
left the shaded quiet of the old library where we had been looking over itthe spirit of those letters seemed to make the bustling ,
money- , getting and money-spending world into which we came back somewhat mean . So high the aims , so earnest the words , so
deep and humble tlie tone which marks them throughout , from the first letter Penn sends as a farewell before leaving Germany after
his visit to Herford , to this written in January 1680 , with " Vale in ccternum" at its close .
Vale hi _cefernum—a solemn last farewell ! And such it was to be . On the 11 th of the next month the minster bell was tolling
heavily over Herford , hushed and grave that day . For yonder in the abbeyso the Burgomaster records" our liege lady , the abbess
Elizabeth , , Princess Palatine , being sixty , -two years of age , has this morning yielded up her soul unto God . "
We give , as an appropriate ending to this sketch , an extract from a touching memorial of the princess , added by Penn to the
second part of his essay , "No Cross , no Crown . " "The late Princess Elizabeth of the Rhine claimeth a memorial in this
discourse , her virtue giving greater lustre to her name than her quality , which , yet was of the greatest in the German Empire . She
vol . ix . _x
Elizabeth , Princess Palatine. 161
ELIZABETH , PRINCESS PALATINE . 161
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Citation
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English Woman’s Journal (1858-1864), May 1, 1862, page 161, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/ewj/issues/ewj_01051862/page/17/
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