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when the suspicions of Herod had been once awakened, then and not till then a couple of paupers, come from Bethlehem with a young Child with them, would increase them. Spies might be stationed in the temple or elsewhere, to catch up every thing which could bring to light the object of the Magians' inquiry. Simeon and Anna to Herod would probably seem doting old people: and the few religious folk that looked for a Redeemer, were not likely to tell Herod's friends about things they might be sure they would feel no spiritual concern for. The only thing of much weight against this opinion is, that it takes away a good argument for holy poverty. It used to be argued by devotional writers, that Mary and Joseph spent in charity all the Magi had given them, and were thus obliged to offer the offering of the poor. But if like St. Lawrence they preferred mercy to sacrifice on this theory, surely upon the other they may also supply an argument to shew, that when God's honour requires a journey, or other expense, he will provide the means. It shall be assumed then, without burdening a practical treatise like the present with chronological discussions, that the Purification took place before the arrival of the wise men. This assumption, which seems thoroughly well founded, will be found to throw great light upon the conduct of our Lady upon that occasion.

2. It may be asked, "what reason could there be for the purification at all? Mary, according to all

b The difficulty raised from Luke ii. 39. is so small, when compared with the difficulties of the other theory, as not to be worth considering at length. They might be said to return

to Galilee, because they intended at the time to do so, and eventually did so after the flight into Egypt, which St. Luke omits.

that has been said, would have contracted no impurity, moral or physical, by bringing the Onlybegotten into the world: why then subject herself to a law, which was made not for the clean, but for the unclean?' Is not this a proof, that there must be some flaw in your argument, be it where it may ? Either you must make the Virgin to require purification; or, if she did not require it, you make her hypocritically go through a religious ceremony, which was a farce, if she did not want purification."

3. Unfortunately, this argument, like so many others against equivocation in act or word, hits our Lord in plain English as hard as it does our Lady. In the same way you might say, Either our Lord required the baptism of repentance, which was all John had to give; or if he did not require it, it was a farce his being baptized at all. Nor can you urge that he had as the source of grace a power of hallowing creatures, and so of hallowing water for the washing away of sin: for this will not on your theory justify his hallowing it in a way calculated to make people think him a sinner, and in need of repentance. It may then fairly be said, if he who was

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from Gen. i. together.

This style of argument might perhaps claim some antiquity for itself, if we had the whole of the argument in the words which follow: "I have shewn clearly," says Ammon of Adrianopolis, "the blasphemy into which the Arians fall, when they say, that Mary the Mother

of God had need of the sacri-
fices offered, according to the
Law, for women that have had
a child." ap. Cyril. ad Regin.
p. 50.
See below, part iii.
chap. 4.

God, for the sake of seeming like other men, was baptized with the baptism of repentance, then Mary, who was not God, nor holy, except by participation of God's holiness, might put on the appearance of one of the ordinary daughters of Eve. So again when Christ paid the tribute money, he knew perfectly well that he was Lord of the creation, although his doing so would make the receiving officers think him an ordinary man. Why might not Mary pay to God that which made no false impression on God or her own conscience, but solely on the receiving priest? There is nothing immoral in doing as other people do for the sake of seeming like them, whenever it is prudent to do so: and of. course it never is prudent to do so, when they do what God forbids.

4. The question then resolves itself into this, what was it which made it prudent for Mary to appear like a sinner, and be numbered by men with the transgressors? To give the whole account of the matter may not be by any means easy, but one answer which is simple enough may be made : Herod was suspicious and cruel, and she was bound not to do any thing which might give him an occasion of falling. Exceptions attract notice, and get talked of: if the people in the neighbourhood got to know that Mary had not been purified, it might have been noticed, and have come to Herod's Prudence then dictated the performance of all the ordinary rites, and the avoidance of every appearance of singularity. If, on the contrary, the purification had taken place after the arrival of the Magi, it would not have been prudent to appear in Jerusalem at all with the Child: if one of Herod's people had enquired whence they came, and had found this out, it would have been fatal to the

ears.

Child, unless by his divine providence he had prevented his own death in some special manner.

As

it was, there seems very good reason to think, that the apocryphal account of the murder of Zacharias is true, and that he was slain after all between the temple and the altar. It is an early tradition®, and though the reasons of it are differently given, it is the only account which will render our Lord's threat to the Jews intelligible. For there can be no doubt, that as our Lord begins with Abel' the first martyr, with whose murder the Jews had no direct concern, so he would end with the very last murder with which they had a direct concern. In the conflict of tradition with opinion we may set aside the latter: and if St. Jerome is only giving his opinion when he treats this as an apocryphal dream, he seems to be reckoning without his host. In his exemplary zeal against apocryphal books, he forgets what the plain and obvious sense of the Gospel requires, and transfers the murder spoken of to a period several centuries before Christ, and then himself quotes an apocryphal book to maintain his own view. Taking it for granted then that Zacharias did suffer, we have a Scripture proof of the need of prudence upon Mary's part, without going to the statesmanlike selection of facts presented to us by the wily Josephus".

e

Tromb. iv. p. 86. and iii.

p. 285.

There is a tradition, that Adam was buried in Golgotha: so Abel's blood might cry from thence against the Jews, he probably being buried thereabouts also. Vide Bened. ad Append. August. Serm. 6. Ephrem, iii. p. 499. or O. T. p. 328.

8 "Josephus being desirous to train up the heathen by probabilities to a good conceit of his nation, and those things which were written of them, hee must not laie too great a task upon their belief; and therefore still, when his history leads him to the mention of a strange thing, hee alwaies tempers the discourse with a con

5. This being so, we may now proceed to consider the events that took place upon this occasion. Simeon was directed by the Holy Spirit to come into the temple, and when his parents brought in the Child Jesus to do for him according to the custom of the law, and were going to put him in the priest's hands for the purpose, Simeon " also took him into his arms, and blessed God, and said" the Nunc dimittis. It is pretty plain from this, that Simeon was not a priest himself, but probably belonged to some school of the prophets. The Nunc dimittis might not excite the attention of the priest, who very possibly hurried through his work, and went off as soon as his part of the business was over-or, if really a religious man, would be as little likely to tell Herod's party as Simeon himself. An irreligious man might have looked upon the whole party as a very shabby set out, and thought Simeon a pious old monk, who was gossiping in Scripture phrase about something or other. No doubt in both dispensations, abundance of priests might be found to deal with sacred things in this way. He thought, perhaps, he had left the old man to have his gossip out, with this shabby couple; if he chose to take an interest in them, well and good; let him have his

venient mixture of possibilities: and howsoever it sometimes endangers the main matter, yet we shall seldom find him reporting a wonder sincerely; but having warily taken off that which could seem incredible, hee proposes the action under such easy circumstances as shall make it concord with human reason and common apprehension." John

Gregory, Tracts on the Septuagint, p. 42. For those who have no relish for this racy passage of a protestant writer, Baronius i. p. 93. may be cited, who says, ex ipsiusmet scriptis ... eum apertâ luce ostendimus mendacissimum. Gesenius, if I remember right, in his Geschichte der Heb. Spr. makes his Hebrew scholarship very questionable.

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