so, and in chastest surprise exclaims, "How can this be, seeing I am a virgin?" This exquisite touch of heavenly simplicity is more really a coronation of Mary than all the elaborated honors of the Romish virgin worship. And now follows a saying of divinest mystery: The angel answered and said unto her, "The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee: wherefore also the holy thing which is begotten shall be called the Son of God." And now behold a picture of sublimest trustfulness. Remembering how much this prophecy of the overshadowing Spirit involves, what tragical condition on Mary's part, what exposure to misunderstanding and dark insinuation, what loss in eyes of men of that honor dearer to woman than life itself-remembering all this, how sublimely trustful the virgin's answer: "Behold, the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word!" I do not think that there is in all history a lowliness so celestial, a trust so nearly infinite. Such is the story of the annunciation to Mary. The scene itself has been made the theme of numerous pictures, some of them among the highest triumphs of Christian art. Nor need we wonder at it; for there is not a more exquisite scene in sacred story. And now let us seize on some of its salient features, and ponder the lessons they teach. And, first, survey the character of Mary as in- Character of dicated in the story of the annunciation. "Hail, thou that art highly graced ! The Lord is with thee!" Mary. It is, indeed, an Ave Maria, the only true Ave Maria of the church of Scripture. What a contrast to the false Ave Maria, the Ave Maria of the church of tradition: "Hail, Mary, full of grace; the Lord is with thee! Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit of thy womb, Jesus! Holy Mary, mother of God, pray for us sinners, now, and in the hour of death. Amen." Still more idolatrous is the blasphemous adoration of Bonaventura's Psalter: "We praise thee, mother of God! . . . All the earth doth worship thee, the spouse of the eternal Father! All the angels and archangels, all thrones and powers, do faithfully serve thee. To thee all angels cry aloud, with a never ceasing voice, Holy, Holy, Holy Mary, mother of God! . . . The whole court of heaven doth honor thee as queen. Thou sittest with thy Son on the right hand of the Father. . . . In thee, sweet Mary, is our hope; defend us evermore! Praise becometh thee! Empire becometh thee! Virtue and glory be unto thee for ever and ever!" But the nadir of blasphemy was not reached till December 8, 1854, when Pio Nono from his pontifical throne in St. Peter's announced the dogma of the Immaculate Conception, that is, the dogma that the Virgin Mary herself was conceived and born and continued through life absolutely without sin, original as well as actual. How different all this elaborate Virgin from the simple representation of her in the holy records! Not the favorer of men is she, but the favored of God; not the mother of grace, but grace's daugh adoration of the ter; not the enthroned above women, but the Say of me as the angel said, "Thou art Whose height, misplaced, may pierce me like a shame How prophetic a warning against Mariolatry, that Mrs. Browning. Divine Son's own words: It came to pass that a Luke xi, 27, 28. certain woman out of the multitude lifted up her voice, and said unto him, "Blessed is the womb that bare thee, and the breasts which thou didst suck!" But he said, "Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God, and keep it!" And again: While he was speaking to the multi- Matt. xii, 46–50. tudes, behold, his mother and his brothers stood without, seeking to speak with him, but could not for the throng; and it was told him. But he answered and said, "Who is my mother, and who are my brothers?" And stretching forth his hand toward his disciples, he said, "Behold my mother and my brothers! For whosoever shall do the will of my Father who is in heaven, he is my brother, and sister, and mother." Nevertheless, a peculiar sacredness will evermore attach to the name and character of Mary of Nazareth. And most justly. For she alone of *Non mater gratiæ, sed filia gratiæ.-BENGEL. Isaiah vii, 14. John Keble. all earth's women was permitted to become the mother of the Divine Man. And her whole character, as disclosed in the occasional hints of the holy memoirs, seems to have been in beautiful harmony with that august destination. Pensive, guileless, pure, gentle, meek, affectionate, trustful, reverent-in Mary of Galilee, as the fittest of women, was fulfilled, after centuries of waiting, the glowing vision of evangelic prophecy. Behold, a virgin shall conceive, and bear a son, Ave Maria! blessed maid! Who can express the love That nurtured thee, so pure and sweet, For Jesus' holy dove? Ave Maria! mother blest, To whom, caressing and caress'd, Clings the Eternal Child; Ave Maria! thou whose name Yet may we reach thy shrine; With love and joy like thine. Bless'd is the womb that bare him-bless'd But rather bless'd are they Who hear his word and keep it well, The living homes where Christ shall dwell, But turn we now to a diviner theme. Ponder The for a moment with sacred awe the ineffable mystery of the incarnation, the Word made flesh, divinity and humanity in one person, the Divine Man. Man. Divine Incarna tion a Philosophical Necessity. Such an incarnation is a demand of human The reason. Assuming that man is a fallen being (alas! who can deny it?); assuming also that he desires salvation :-an incarnation—that is, a Godman--is a logical necessity. The argument in brief is this: Given a lost world, desiring salvation; Given the law, Like begets like and nothing but like: And the conclusion is inevitable-he who saves a lost world must be above nature and also in nature, supernatural and natural, divine and human. Or the argument may be put in a briefer form, thus: Needed a God to touch man; Needed a man to touch God: Needed a God-man to touch God and man. That is to say: Needed in order to man's salvation a Divine Man, such as Jesus of Nazareth claimed to be. And all this, be it observed, is a priori; the inevitable conclusion of human reason in advance of any divine revelation. And the story of the annunciation to Mary meets this logical, philosophical necessity. First, it gives us a God: "The Holy Spirit shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall |