iBERKELElTN 
 LIBRARY 
 
 NiVERSITY OF J 
 CALIFORNIA^/ 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER 
 
 RETREAT ADDRESSES 
 
 ON 
 
 THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 
 
 AS TOLD IN THE GOSPELS 
 
 With an appended Essay on the Virgin Birth 
 of our Lord Jesus Christ 
 
 BY THE 
 
 RT. REV. A. C. A. HALL, D.D. 
 
 Bishop of Vermont 
 
 NEW YORK 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 AND LONDON 
 I8 94 
 
COPYRIGHT, 1894, BY 
 LONGMANS, GREEN, AND CO. 
 
 THE CAXTON PRESS 
 NEW >ORK 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 ON THE LIFE OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN MARY 
 
 PAGE 
 
 I. THE PREDESTINATION OF THE VIRGIN 
 
 MOTHER i 
 
 II. HER TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION . 20 
 
 III. THE ANNUNCIATION 39 
 
 IV. THE VISITATION 58 
 
 V. THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS 
 
 CHRIST 76 
 
 VI. THE PURIFICATION 101 
 
 VII. THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT . . . .120 
 VIII. THE LOSING AND FINDING OF THE 
 
 HOLY CHILD 141 
 
 IX. THE MARRIAGE FEAST AT CANA . .162 
 X. THE VIRGIN MOTHER AT THE CROSS . 186 
 XI. THE VIRGIN MOTHER WAITING FOR 
 
 THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST . 205 
 
 357 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 I HAVE been repeatedly urged to publish 
 these Meditations, which in substance have 
 been several times given in Retreats for 
 Women on both sides of the Atlantic. I 
 had thought to write out the Addresses 
 afresh from notes taken on different oc- 
 casions, but this has proved impossible. The 
 notes which were taken with considerable 
 fulness, but by no means verbatim, at a 
 Retreat for the Guild of the Epiphany (a 
 society of Churchwomen engaged in educa- 
 tional work), in the Chapel of the Sisters of 
 Bethany, London, in January, 1892, are here 
 printed, after careful revision as regards 
 
 vii 
 
Vlll PREFACE. 
 
 their matter, but with manifold imperfection 
 of literary form. 
 
 However, the Addresses are intended 
 now, as when delivered, to serve as sugges- 
 tions for meditation and prayer, rather than 
 as finished discourses. In this way I trust 
 they may prove helpful. 
 
 The Essay on the Virgin birth of our 
 Lord Jesus Christ, which is printed as an 
 appendix, was written for a clerical society 
 in the spring of 1891, and was published 
 at that time in The Church Eclectic. It 
 gives the grounds for accepting the literal 
 statement of the Creed which is taken for 
 granted in the Meditations. 
 
 A. C. A. H. 
 
 BURLINGTON, VERMONT, 
 August, 1894. 
 
INTRODUCTORY MEDITATION. 
 
 THE PREDESTINATION OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 WE will take for the general subject of 
 our Retreat, as the starting-point of our 
 Meditations, the life of the Blessed Virgin 
 Mother, as presented to us in the pages of 
 the Gospels. 
 
 So we will think in our several medita- 
 tions of different scenes and mysteries in 
 her life, as recorded in the Gospels; of her 
 Predestination; her Training for the mani- 
 festation of God's high purpose; of the 
 Annunciation by the Angel; of her Visita- 
 tion; of the Birth of the Holy Child and the 
 accomplishment of the Mystery of the Incar- 
 nation ; of her Purification and the Presenta- 
 tion of her Child in the Temple; of the 
 Flight into Egypt, and the return to Naza- 
 reth; of the scene in the Temple when her 
 Child was twelve years old. Then we will 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 think of her at the beginning of His Minis- 
 try, at the Marriage Feast at Cana of Galilee; 
 of her standing at the foot of the Cross; of 
 the absence of her name from those to whom 
 the Lord showed Himself after His Resur- 
 rection; and, lastly, we will take leave of 
 her in the Upper Chamber, waiting on her 
 knees in prayer for the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. 
 
 And in thus directing our thoughts to her, 
 it will not be so much with the view of con- 
 sidering her unique and personal honour, 
 but, rather, of regarding her as the type and 
 pattern of the Church collectively and of 
 every individual soul in whom Christ is to be 
 born by the Spirit's power. 
 
 So does our blessed Lord place her before 
 us. You will remember how it is told us by 
 St. Luke* that, when He was preaching to 
 the multitude, a woman, struck by the 
 power and beauty of His teaching, ex- 
 claimed with enthusiasm: " Blessed is the 
 womb that bare Thee, and the paps which 
 Thou hast sucked!" and how our Lord 
 
 * St. Luke xi. 27, 28. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 
 
 turned the encomium pronounced on His 
 Mother: " Yea, rather," He says, "blessed 
 are they that hear the Word of God 
 and keep it." He is not denying His 
 Mother's honour, but only referring, that 
 honour and praise to its truest, deepest 
 cause. 
 
 Thus St. Augustine says, " She is more 
 blessed in that she bore Christ in her heart 
 by faith, than in that she conceived Him in 
 her womb according to the flesh." And 
 St. Ambrose, "According to the flesh, the 
 Mother of Christ is but one; according to 
 the Spirit, the fruit which all bear is Christ." 
 And so you will remember on another occa- 
 sion, where our Lord is told that His Mother 
 and His brethren are standing without, de- 
 siring to speak with Him, He asks, "Who is 
 My mother, and who are My brethren?" 
 And, then lifting up His hands over His dis- 
 ciples, He says: "Whosoever shall do the 
 will of My Father which is in Heaven, the 
 same is My brother and sister and 
 mother ; " * at once repudiating any merely 
 * St. Matt. xii. 46-50. 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 natural relationship that would interfere with 
 His Heavenly Father's work, and at the 
 same time declaring that all may have a 
 share in Mary's highest prerogative. 
 
 Joy to be the Mother of the Lord, 
 
 And thine the truer bliss, 
 In every thought, and deed, and word, 
 
 To be forever His. 
 
 Ave Maria ! thou whose name 
 All but adoring love may claim, 
 
 Yet may we reach thy shrine; 
 For He, thy Son and Saviour, vows 
 To crown all lowly, lofty brows 
 
 With love and joy like thine. 
 
 Bless'd is the womb that bare Him bless'd 
 The bosom where His lips were press' d, 
 
 But rather bless'd are they 
 Who hear His word and keep it well, 
 The living homes where Christ shall dwell 
 
 And never pass away. * 
 
 I. It is in this light that we are 
 going to think of the Blessed Virgin 
 as the pattern and figure of all the faith- 
 ful; for consider (and we will take this 
 
 * Christian Year. Poem for the Annunciation. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 
 
 as the first point in our meditation) how 
 all the mysteries of Our Lord's Incar- 
 nate Life are intended to have their counter- 
 part in the spiritual experience of the faith- 
 ful. Remember how constantly this thought 
 is brought before us in the Collects of the 
 Prayer Book, e. g. in those for the Annun- 
 ciation, Christmas, Easter Eve, and the 
 Ascension. For us He was born, that we 
 might be re-born in Him ; for us He died, 
 that we might die with Him to sin and the 
 world and self; for us He rose, that in Him 
 we might rise to newness of life; for us He 
 ascended, that with Him we might also 
 in heart and mind thither ascend, and with 
 Him continually dwell. So, pre-eminently, 
 in the mystery of the Incarnation, Mary's 
 name stands in the Creed, not merely as one 
 honoured above all women, but as the pattern 
 of all in her humility, purity and obedience, 
 which made her meet to conceive Christ by 
 the Spirit's power, to become the Mother of 
 the Lord. 
 
 And this very mystery of the Incarnation 
 is to be re-enacted in our own experience. 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 How is that? The Son of God, One with 
 the Father, becoming Man, one of us, of 
 Mary's substance, by the Spirit's power, is 
 to be born in us ! What is our Christian life 
 for what are all the Sacraments for, but for 
 this, that the Glorified Incarnate Son may 
 take of our substance, our nature, our tal- 
 ents, and may be born in us by grace, that 
 we may have His Life reproduced in us ? 
 Nothing short of the Life of the Eternal Son 
 of God the Holiness, the Purity of God, is 
 the standard at which we are to aim ; that is 
 to be reproduced in our circumstances: the 
 Divine Perfections are to be translated, re- 
 produced in our life, our home, our trials, 
 our difficulties, our age of the world; He is 
 to be really and truly Incarnate of our sub- 
 stance ! Ah ! see how the Incarnation really 
 gives to us the standard of Christian life. 
 
 And this is to be true of every individual 
 experience; not only of the Church, but of 
 each one of us. Let us ask ourselves, What 
 is the special likeness of Christ that He 
 would reproduce in me ? What are the fea- 
 tures of His Life that He calls me to imi- 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 
 
 tate ? What pattern would He set before 
 me in my work, my circumstances, my 
 difficulties ? What are the inspirations of 
 grace that He would urge me to cultivate 
 and cherish ? Ah ! I come into Retreat 
 to see how this is to be carried out, how His 
 Life is to be re-enacted more truly than ever 
 in my experience how He is to be born in 
 me by the Spirit's power. 
 
 So we are to think how the Mysteries of 
 Our Lord's Incarnate Life are to have their 
 counterpart in our own spiritual experience. 
 
 II. Consider, secondly, Mary's predestina- 
 tion and ours. 
 
 1 ' Known unto God are all His works from 
 the beginning of the world."* It was prob- 
 ably God's original, eternal purpose that 
 His Son should become Incarnate and 
 assume our human nature, quite apart from 
 the after necessity of restoring that nature, 
 of the beating down of man's foes, and of 
 making reparation for the offence against 
 the Divine Majesty. We may believe that 
 * Acts xv. 18. 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 it had ever been the will of the Eternal 
 Word to become man, to unite the creature 
 with the Creator, to manifest Himself in the 
 flesh. He had manifested Himself in nature 
 already; He willed a further manifestation 
 of Himself in man, whom He had made "in 
 His image and likeness;"* in "the fulness 
 of time" He meant to be born in man's 
 nature, and in it to accomplish the Divine 
 purpose in its fulness, to act out the Divine 
 Perfections in human circumstances. 
 
 And then sin came in and modified that 
 original plan, of Almighty God. It still held 
 on, but oh, what a change was rendered nec- 
 essary in the accomplishment of God's Pur- 
 pose ! Think what it would have been, had 
 there been no sin to meet, to make repara- 
 tion for. Think how the whole Life of the 
 Incarnate Son would have been one unbroken 
 joy; using all His faculties in carrying out 
 the Father's will; ruling all the world 
 according to the Father's pleasure ! But sin 
 came in ; and it must be conquered, at what- 
 ever cost; the ruined nature must be re- 
 * Gen. i. 26. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 
 
 paired, Satan's chains wrenched apart; the 
 Seed of the woman must crush the serpent's 
 head, at the expense of His own heel 
 being bruised in the encounter; He must 
 do battle with our spiritual foes and set us 
 free. 
 
 But God's purpose lasts on; the same re- 
 sult is attained in the end, though by a dif- 
 ferent route. Instead of being a Man of Joy 
 from the Cradle to the Ascension, He became 
 * ' a Man of Sorrows and acquainted with 
 grief," * until the battle had been fought out 
 and redemption won, and He "was crowned 
 with glory and honour."! 
 
 Ah! and just so must it be in our own 
 experience. God had a purpose for each one 
 of us, a work for each one to do, a place for 
 each one to fill, an influence for each one to 
 exert, a likeness to His dear Son for each 
 one to manifest, and, then, a place for each 
 one to fill in His holy Temple. And His 
 purpose for us was clear from all eternity; 
 He saw it at the Font of regeneration, when 
 He started us on our course; and then, 
 
 * Isaiah liii. 3. f Ps. viii. 5 ; Heb. ii. 8-io. 
 
io THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 alas ! alas ! how have we to lament the loss 
 and the misuse of those gifts of nature and 
 of grace! How have we thwarted God's 
 purpose, come short of His expectation ! 
 
 Yet He has not cast us off with our sin; 
 " He has devised means that His banished 
 be not expelled from Him."* And, as He 
 devises means whereby the fallen race may 
 be brought back to Him through the Passion 
 of His Incarnate Son; so, in individual lives, 
 the path of penitence is necessary; we have 
 to struggle on, in our individual experience, 
 as did once our great Representative. We 
 have to come back; God will accomplish His 
 original purpose, though He will modify 
 and adapt His plan. His purpose lasts on ; 
 we must rise to that in the end, or who can 
 say that He will not cast us away ? We may 
 not say, " God's purpose is too high for me; 
 I cannot rise to it; I will take something 
 else ! That which I might have risen to so 
 easily, had I been faithful to His inspira- 
 tions, docile to the indications of His will, 
 . within and without, is too great for me 
 
 *2 Sam. xiv. 14. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION: 11 
 
 now ! " Alas ! we have to climb a rough 
 path now, to travel by a more circuitous 
 road; but it will lead to the same goal at 
 last. Praise to His Name ! He did not cast 
 us off 
 
 When all was sin and shame 
 A second Adam to the fight 
 And to the rescue came ! * 
 
 It is just the same with our own individual 
 lives. Penitence, then, and Hope, we may 
 take as the primary lesson of our Retreat. 
 In our self-examination let us see how far, 
 how sadly far, we have failed to correspond 
 with what we knew to be His will for us. 
 Well might we become discouraged and 
 reckless as we look back. But no ! Hope 
 comes in to save us from the snare. As a 
 means of reconciliation the Passion of the 
 Incarnate Son came in to accomplish God's 
 purpose and original plan for man. Even 
 so His purpose for me lasts on and shall be 
 accomplished; through penitence and strug- 
 gle the likeness of the Eternal Son shall be 
 fashioned in me. 
 
 * " Dream of Gerontius^ By J. H. Newman. 
 
12 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 III. Once more. Think of God's purpose 
 standing sure and being accomplished, in 
 spite of long delay and many apparent dis- 
 appointments and reverses. The promise of 
 the Redeemer, "the Seed of the woman,"* 
 Who should reverse the defeat which our first 
 parents had sustained at the hands of the 
 enemy, given along with the sentence pro- 
 nounced on man's disobedience and sin, is 
 clung to by Eve; when Cain was born, she 
 thought, ' ' I have gotten The Man from the 
 Lord " f that seed to which He pointed. 
 Ah ! what disappointment ! In Cain she sees 
 but the aggravation of her own sin; the 
 parents had broken away from love to God, 
 their child from love to his brother. So sin 
 spreads. 
 
 So think, as sin becomes worse and worse, 
 how the promise seems further and further 
 off. Yet by the Prophets it is made more 
 and more clear as time goes on. Though 
 so long delayed, in the end the promise of 
 God is found to have stood firm, the "Seed 
 of the woman," the Virgin-born appears; 
 
 * Gen. iii. 15. f Gen. iv. I. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 13 
 
 God has been true to Hi word. Man needs 
 to have patience, to be subjected to long dis- 
 cipline ; but God never takes back His word. 
 Remember that text at the beginning of St. 
 John's Gospel, commonly misunderstood as it 
 stands in our ordinary version : " The light 
 shineth in darkness, and the darkness com- 
 prehended it not." * We ordinarily under- 
 stand it of the darkness not taking in the light 
 not comprehending it not assimilating it. 
 Of course darkness cannot assimilate light, 
 or it would cease to be darkness. The right 
 meaning is, "the light shineth in the dark- 
 ness, and the darkness overcame it not " as 
 we read in the margin of the Revised Ver- 
 sion, "did not overtake it" The idea is of 
 a little flame shining in the darkness, and 
 the gloom around seeming now and again to 
 threaten .to extinguish it. But it is not over- 
 whelmed, it shines on ; and at last the light 
 blazes forth and illuminates the world. Yes; 
 the Word of God is "the light which lighteth 
 every man that cometh into the world, "f 
 He shines, however dimly, in every man's 
 
 * St. John i. 5. t St - J ohn i- 9- 
 
14 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 reason and conscience, amid all their dark- 
 ness, prejudice, disobedience and sin, while 
 it seems continually as if the darkness were 
 about to extinguish that little flickering 
 spark of light. So was it with God's prom- 
 ise. At the time of the Flood all flesh had 
 "corrupted his way upon the earth,"* and 
 yet God's word holds on ; the light revives. 
 Israel goes into Egypt; and it seems as if 
 the promise given to Abraham is to be over- 
 whelmed in Egyptian darkness and sin. But 
 no ; it lasts on ; the light appears to die out, 
 but it is seen again. Again in the Babylon- 
 ish Captivity all seems to be swallowed up ; 
 but no, it lasts on, it is not overwhelmed; 
 when the world was at its darkest and drear- 
 iest, things right themselves; and then, at 
 last, the light blazes forth to disperse the 
 darkness, though Israel is given up to the 
 hope of an earthly Messiah, and only just a 
 few, like Simeon and Anna, Mary and 
 Joseph, and the disciples of the Baptist, are 
 waiting for redemption in Israel, the promise 
 is fulfilled, the Seed of the woman comes at 
 
 * Gen. vi. 1 2. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 15 
 
 the expense of His toil aiid Passion to work 
 out man's redemption. 
 
 And so is it in our individual experience. 
 That illuminating light of conscience, quick- 
 ened by regenerating grace, seems in some 
 of us, at times, to be all but blotted out. But 
 no ; that inspiration which pursued us so lov- 
 ingly, in spite of all our disregard of its 
 warnings, shining out now and again, through 
 the sins of our life, is not extinguished ; it is 
 still there, it would not let us have peace ; it 
 is capable of being fanned into a burning 
 flame which will disperse all the darkness 
 around. Think, then, as you prepare for a 
 review of past experiences, of this wonderful, 
 long-suffering patience of God, bearing with 
 us individually, as with the human race 
 collectively; learn from it patience in deal- 
 ing with others, hopefulness with regard to 
 those who are committed to your charge; 
 and when all seems to be going wrong, 
 when all seems to be dead, hold on to them 
 still, as God has held on to you. The little 
 spark O cherish it; there is something good 
 in that child; hold on to it; that spark is not 
 
1 6 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 overwhelmed yet; nay, with careful cherish- 
 ing it shall yet burst out into a flame, and, 
 in God's good time, disperse the surround- 
 ing gloom. 
 
 Learn, then, the lesson of patience and 
 hopefulness, from Mary's predestination and 
 ours, from God's purpose, and, in the end, 
 its sure accomplishment. "Wait for the 
 vision;" and "though it tarry," still, "wait 
 for it;" for, in the end, "it will surely 
 come."* 
 
 One more lesson in connection with, and 
 in illustration of, the same truth. Have 
 you ever noticed in this light the genealogy 
 at the very beginning of St. Matthew's Gos- 
 pel ? Sometimes one has wondered at the 
 long list of names, dry and uninteresting, 
 standing at the forefront of the New Testa- 
 ment what business has it there ? Ah ! 
 just look. It does, indeed, stand in the fore- 
 front of the Gospel, full of " good news" for 
 those who have eyes to see! Run through 
 these names; choose out the female names; 
 there are four before you come to the name 
 
 * Habak. ii. 3. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 17 
 
 of Blessed Mary, and eah one has a horrid 
 blot. There is the name of incestuous 
 Tamar; of Rahab, the harlot; of Ruth, one 
 of an accursed nation; and of Bathsheba, 
 the adulteress, who had been the wife of 
 Uriah. Through that stained genealogy, 
 the Holy Seed comes! God shows us that 
 He can bring out of a stained line a perfect 
 work; that He can " bring a clean thing out 
 of an unclean; "* the light is not swallowed 
 up in darkness; the promised Seed of the 
 Woman has come the Incarnate Word of 
 God. 
 
 We look back upon our past life, like that 
 stained record, that blotted genealogy, on 
 sins of one kind and another of wasted op- 
 portunities, of carelessness and of indiffer- 
 ence, and we are tempted to despair; we 
 think, "What is the use of my trying, of 
 my cherishing a high standard ? I had bet- 
 ter give up ! " No ; at the end of that 
 stained record, that blotted genealogy, 
 stands the name of the Virgin Mother of 
 the Incarnate Son, of Him who came to 
 
 * Job xiv. 4. 
 
i8 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 save His people from our sins, to change the 
 course of our life, to purge away our earthly 
 stain, to make us pure instead of earthly, 
 disciplined instead of self-indulgent, gentle 
 and meek instead of wilful and wayward. 
 Think of the promise of God standing sure ; 
 think of the perfect holiness, at last re- 
 vealed, the work of the Spirit to sanctify 
 all our sin-stained descent a gift that 
 has washed away that which soiled our 
 life. 
 
 Yes; there are sure mercies awaiting us, 
 if only we will return. Think of the words 
 of the Prophet Jeremiah: "Thus saith the 
 Lord .... Ye shall seek Me and find 
 Me, when ye shall search for Me with all 
 your heart."* 
 
 Let me give the Scripture references for 
 the passages I have quoted: 
 
 i. Our Lord's words concerning His Blessed Mother, as 
 the type and pattern of the faithful. St. Matt. xii. 49, 50 ; 
 St. Luke xi. 27, 28. 
 
 ii. And in connection with those words of Our Lord, the 
 words of St. Paul about the reproduction of the Birth of 
 Christ in our own experience. Gal. iv. 9; Ephes. iii. 17. 
 
 *Jer. xxix. 10-14. 
 
HER PREDESTINATION. 19 
 
 iii. The verse about the Light Shining in darkness, and 
 the darkness overwhelming it not. .$"/. John i. 5. 
 
 iv. The stained genealogy. St. Matt. i. 
 
 v. God's promise of His sure mercies to those who desire 
 to seek and to return, and to those who seek Him with all 
 their heart. Jer. xxix. 10-14. 
 
 And now, with the thought of God's pur- 
 pose concerning Blessed Mary, and of His 
 purpose for ourselves; of His purpose known 
 to Him from the beginning; of His knowl- 
 edge of us, both in His predestinating love, 
 as He would make us, and as we really are, 
 let us kneel and repeat Psalm cxxxix. 
 
SECOND MEDITATION. 
 
 THE TRAINING OF BLESSED MARY FOR HER 
 VOCATION. 
 
 LET us meditate upon the training of 
 Blessed Mary. Contemplate her as a child, 
 studying the Old Testament Scriptures. 
 
 Almighty God, Who hast a work for each 
 of us to do, a place for each of us to fill; 
 have mercy upon us, we beseech Thee, as we 
 draw near to Thee, lamenting all our unfaith- 
 fulness and our want of correspondence with 
 Thy holy will. Help us to yield ourselves 
 in loving trustfulness to Thy holy leading; 
 grant us to know what Thou wouldst have 
 us do ; and give us grace and power faith- 
 fully to fulfil the same, that so we may 
 grow in Thy knowledge and love; through 
 Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen. 
 
 Our Father. 
 
 We take for our leading thought through- 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 21 
 
 out our meditations the example of Blessed 
 Mary as the type and pattern of all the faith- 
 ful in whom Christ is to be formed by the 
 Spirit's power. 
 
 In our Introductory Meditation we thought 
 of Blessed Mary's predestination, and of 
 ours; of God's eternal purpose, and how it 
 was accomplished; and of His will for the 
 manifestation of His Son in us. Now we 
 will go on to consider her training for her 
 vocation, and ours. 
 
 In thinking of her childhood and early 
 years, there is room, of course, for a wide 
 range of imagination ; legend has been busy 
 concerning her youth. We will leave all 
 that on one side. All through the Retreat 
 we will try and keep close to the Gospel 
 record. Three points, however, are dis- 
 tinctly suggested by the thoughtful con- 
 sideration of St. Luke's narrative of the 
 Annunciation and Visitation three points 
 which throw light on Mary's previous history : 
 
 i st. Her preparation. " The Lord is 
 withthee."* 
 
 *St. Lukei. 28. 
 
22 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 2d. Her previous dedication of herself 
 to God's undivided service, implied in her 
 response to the Angelic Salutation. 
 
 3d. Her knowledge of God's Word, shown 
 in the Magnificat. 
 
 I. First, we will consider Mary's uncon- 
 scious preparation for her vocation, which yet 
 God knew all along. 
 
 From the first He had had His purpose; 
 ' ' the seed of the woman should bruise the 
 serpent's head." * 
 
 He foresaw her, He foreordained her, He 
 was watching over her, He was preparing 
 her; but, all the while, she grew up in per- 
 fect unconsciousness of the great vocation 
 which was in store for her. If it could be 
 said of St. Paul that he was * ' a chosen ves- 
 sel;"! f Jeremiah, " Before I formed thee 
 in the belly I knew thee; and before thou 
 earnest forth out of the womb I sanctified 
 thee, and I ordained thee a prophet unto the 
 nations; " J and of John the Baptist, that he 
 was sanctified from his mother's womb; so 
 *Gen. iii. 15. f Acts ix. 15. 
 
 JJer. i. 5. g St. Luke i. 15. 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 23 
 
 surely we may apply to Blessed Mary those 
 words, "from the bowels of my mother hath 
 He made mention of my name."* Accord- 
 ingly, not only her Nativity, but her Concep- 
 tion also is commemorated by the Church, 
 although the manner of her sanctification is 
 not defined. God did not choose her be- 
 cause she was naturally fitted, but He fitted 
 her because He chose her. He always fits 
 and prepares those whom He chooses, if only 
 they will be true and faithful to His purpose 
 as He makes His will known to them, step 
 by step. Deus coronat dona sua in nobis. 
 It is God's own gift that He crowns in us, 
 not only in heaven, but on earth, as each 
 grace is given in reward for some previous 
 grace corresponded with ; and that previous 
 grace is the gift of God. So Mary was 
 "filled with grace ;" not "full of grace" as 
 a source, but filled with grace, as a choice 
 receptacle. God Himself had been prepar- 
 ing her; she herself, all the while, perfectly 
 unconscious ; growing up in Nazareth, living 
 her simple child's life "as a lily among 
 
 *Is. xlix. i. 
 
24 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 thorns,"* growing up sweet and beautiful in 
 that rough place of evil repute, coneerning 
 which it was said, ' ' Can any good thing 
 come out of Nazareth ? " f that little pro- 
 vincial town, notorious for the lawlessness 
 and depravity of its inhabitants; " un- 
 known " to earth, "yet well known" to 
 heaven; God watching over her, preparing 
 her; and Mary all the while unconscious. 
 
 So is it with each one of us. God has 
 His purpose for each one. We do not come 
 into the world at haphazard to find some 
 place to fill, some work to do; God has His 
 plan for each one; "known unto God are 
 all His works from the beginning. "J He 
 has arranged our circumstances, our environ- 
 ment, our inheritance, our combination of 
 talents, the presence of this gift, or the 
 absence of that all have been taken into 
 account by God, ordered and overruled by 
 that Wisdom which ' * reacheth from one 
 end to another, mightily and sweetly order- 
 ing all things. " 
 
 * Cant. ii. 2. f St. John i. 46. 
 
 J Acts xv. 1 8. \ Wisdom viii. I. 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 25 
 
 Going back to our earliest years, think 
 when we were Baptized, incorporated into 
 the Body of Christ, how He gave us our 
 name and place in His regenerate family. 
 Our Baptismal name is sacramental; not 
 only because it tells of our regenerate posi- 
 tion, but it is itself a sort of sacrament, an 
 outward sign of a great spiritual reality; it 
 tells of the special purpose God has for each 
 one of us, of the likeness to His Well-be- 
 loved Son that He would have produced in 
 us, as Christ is born in each of us by the 
 grace of the Holy Spirit. And, by degrees, 
 as life advances and develops, that name, 
 which expressed God's purpose for each, is 
 spelt out, syllable by syllable, almost letter 
 by letter, till we come to know fully what 
 that name stands for. At our Confirmation 
 or our First Communion; at some great 
 upheaval of our life, some disappointment, 
 sorrow or trial; or when spiritual things 
 first shine out as very real, e.g. at our first 
 Retreat or our first Confession, God shows 
 us something of what He would make of our 
 life of what we should do with the powers 
 
26 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 He has given us; we learned a fresh syllable, 
 as it were, of our Baptismal name. We 
 learn that there is something we can do 
 some place we are to fill yes, and some- 
 thing, perhaps, that is shut out from us; 
 that we are not intended for this or that. 
 1 i I am learning God's purpose and mind for 
 me." And so, in deeper spiritual things 
 by the advice of friends, the warnings and 
 counsels of spiritual guides, by the voice of 
 conscience in all these ways God is making 
 more plain what He would have me seek after, 
 what special features of His Son's Life He 
 would have me reproduce. It is only gradu- 
 ally revealed; in mercy He withholds all 
 that He sees we could not yet bear. It 
 would startle us and stun us were we to 
 know all that is before us; the height of our 
 vocation would overwhelm us; were we to 
 see the difficult steps by which that height is 
 to be attained, it would cause us to de- 
 spair ! 
 
 Did we but see 
 
 When life first open'd, how our journey lay 
 Between its earliest and its closing day; 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 27 
 
 Or view ourselves, as we one time shall be, 
 Who strive for the high prize ; such sight would break 
 The youthful spirit, though bold for Jesu's sake. 
 
 But thou, dear Lord ! 
 
 Whilst I traced out bright scenes which were to come, 
 Isaac's pure blessings, and a verdant home, 
 
 Didst spare me, and withhold Thy fearful word, 
 Wiling me year by year, till I am found 
 A pilgrim pale, with Paul's sad girdle bound.* 
 
 So it was with Blessed Mary. Had she 
 known the unique honor for which she was 
 intended, the prerogative that should be hers, 
 that she should be the Mother according to 
 the Flesh of the Eternal and Only Begotten 
 Son, she must have shrunk back dismayed. 
 But she was gradually led on: " What I do, 
 thou knowest not now, but thou shalt know 
 hereafter."! Ah! how many meanings 
 those words of our Lord have ! The way by 
 which God leads us seems often to be so 
 dark, so puzzling, so unmeaning! Those 
 trials, those perplexities why are they ? 
 "Thou shalt know hereafter" what this or 
 that was meant for this check, that disap- 
 pointment "what I do" the urging on to 
 
 * J. H. Newman, in Lyra Apostolica. f St. John xiii. 7. 
 
28 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 this or that way of perfection which would 
 have raised you from earthly hopes to some- 
 thing higher; or the warning voice, which 
 if you had followed you might have avoided 
 this or that habit which did not destroy, per- 
 haps, but which marred and lowered your 
 spiritual life, blurred the conscience, and 
 kept you back from perfect truthfulness, 
 perfect purity! Alas! " thou knowest not 
 now, but thou shalt know hereafter" not 
 only in another world, but here, as we wake 
 up and see how, if only we had been faithful 
 to God's voice, we might have been saved 
 this or that stain, this or that wound, which 
 can only now be healed by long and severe 
 discipline of penitence. Ah! if I had only 
 followed this or that inspiration of con- 
 science been true to those means of grace 
 made the most of those educational advan- 
 tages how much more capable I might 
 have been now; how much more I might 
 have effected, not only for myself, but for 
 others! I see now what I might have be- 
 come but for my own disobedience or negli- 
 gence or disregard of warnings. 
 
 t 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 29 
 
 "What I do, thou knowest not now." 
 Yes; and there is a brighter side to this. 
 As we look back and see this or that thing 
 this little disappointment that little trial 
 how God wove it into our life, how it fitted 
 in with God's great purpose, and by it we 
 were led on to something better and higher. 
 Think of Blessed Mary being led on, step by 
 step, and all unconsciously. "The Lord is 
 with thee," the Angel said, and therefore He 
 can come to thee in closer and more won- 
 drous fashion. 
 
 What is needed ? Just one thing on our 
 part fidelity, loving correspondence. He 
 knows what He is working for, and it shall 
 surely be accomplished, if only we do not 
 thwart His purpose. "Whosoever hath, to 
 him shall be given."* Step by step we are 
 led on, by a real process of evolution, one 
 grace giving birth to another, each step 
 making the next more easy and more nat- 
 ural; each step we miss making the next 
 more difficult. Ah ! let us look back and see 
 God's dealings with us, praise Him for His 
 
 *St. Matt. xiii. 12. 
 
30 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 loving care and providence, bewail our want 
 of correspondence with. His leadings, and 
 brace ourselves with loving earnestness for 
 whatever we have now to do, however hard 
 and difficult, to make up for our past failures. 
 
 II. Think of Mary's previoiis dedication of 
 herself to the service of God. It seems clear 
 from her response to the Angel, "How 
 shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? " * 
 that she had as a girl dedicated her maiden- 
 hood entirely to God's service; otherwise 
 her response has no meaning. If she had 
 been just about to enter upon the marriage 
 state under its ordinary conditions, the 
 promise of a child would have been natural. 
 She might have wondered how it could 
 come about that she should have the honour 
 of being the mother of the Messiah ; but she 
 asks, "How shall this be," that I become a 
 mother, " seeing I know not a man ? " 
 
 It is not an inquiry of scepticism or doubt, 
 like that of Zacharias, but of true and 
 modest testing of the Angelic message. 
 * St. Luke i. 34. 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 31 
 
 The promise fires all her ambition, but how 
 can it be harmonized with her previous vow 
 the entire dedication of herself ? In 
 prayer and meditation she had learned of a 
 closer spiritual fellowship with God, and 
 for this she had risen above the great ambi- 
 tion of Jewish women, to be, at least, in the 
 line of the Messiah's maternal ancestry. It 
 was this hope which made a single life or 
 barrenness to be considered a curse or a 
 disgrace among Jewish women. Mary had 
 risen above that; she had foregone that 
 great hope ; she looked for ' ' a place and a 
 name better than of sons and of daughters;" * 
 she had consecrated herself wholly to God 
 that she might wait upon Him without dis- 
 traction. And because she had foregone 
 that great hope, because she had responded 
 to a higher call, and sought a deeper spirit- 
 ual grace, God gives her the other blessing 
 also ; she shall be the Virgin Mother of the 
 Messiah, of God's Incarnate Son ! 
 
 And so in our own life we must be sepa- 
 rated from lower things; not only from 
 *Is. Ivi. 5. 
 
32 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 things that are wrong and bad, but from 
 things that are in themselves innocent and 
 good, but which might prevent our rising up 
 to things greater and higher. Blessed Mary 
 is separated from the world before she is con- 
 secrated to God; and so must it be with us. 
 This applies not only to the dedicated life of 
 " Religious. " In many things, in one way 
 or another, we may, any of us, have to give 
 up some great hope, some possibility, some 
 sphere of influence that opens out before us; 
 we might have it, we might keep it, but, 
 somehow, we feel it would not be quite con- 
 sistent with our dedication to God. " I am 
 kept back from this or that opportunity 
 this or that cherished plan of advancement 
 in the world this or that development of 
 my faculties and talents by a higher duty to 
 which God has called me. I have to work 
 for those near and dear to me. I might get 
 on in this or that sphere of usefulness, but I 
 am held back by conscience ; I must give up 
 something good for something that is really 
 better." 
 
 God, be sure, is never outdone in generos- 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 33 
 
 ity. " There is no man that hath left house, 
 or brethren, or sisters, or father, or mother, 
 or wife, or children, or lands, for My sake, 
 and the Gospel's, but he shall receive an 
 hundredfold now in this time, houses, and 
 brethren, and sisters, and mothers, and chil- 
 dren, and lands, with persecutions; and in 
 the world to come eternal life." * 
 
 Think of the sacrifices to which God has 
 called you in the past; see how they have 
 been blessed ; how God has led you on by this 
 or that dedication of yourself or of your tal- 
 ents, to something higher and better. 
 
 Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his " Golden 
 Grove," advises us to make note of four 
 great extraordinaries in our lives, and in our 
 seasons of special spiritual exercises to bring 
 them out before us. 
 
 i. The great and shameful sins into which 
 we may have fallen, in order to excite a 
 deeper repentance for them. 
 
 ii. The greater and more excellent acts of 
 virtue that, by God's grace, we have been 
 enabled to perform, in order that we may 
 
 * St. Mark x. 29, 30. 
 
34 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 learn what we can do now, by God's grace, 
 from the consideration of what we have done 
 in the past. 
 
 iii. The more singular graces and blessings 
 He has vouchsafed to us, to kindle our lov- 
 ing gratitude. 
 
 iv. The special vows and promises we have 
 made to God ; that we may consider how far 
 we have been true and faithful, in the 
 past, and set ourselves to greater faithfulness 
 in the time to come. 
 
 Dwell on that second point. Consider 
 what God has enabled you to do in the past. 
 Don't in coming into Retreat dwell too 
 much on the shame and humiliation our sins 
 have brought upon ' us; there must, of 
 course, be the humbling of ourselves as we 
 come face to face with the past; but hope 
 look up ; your past may be a pledge of what 
 God will do for you in the future. Think of 
 the grace He has given you, the holy inspira- 
 tions He has breathed into you, and how 
 " He who has begun a good work in you will 
 perform it," if only you are true and faithful.* 
 * Phil. i. 6. 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 35 
 
 III. Consider what must have been Mary's 
 study of God's Word in her early years, 
 as shown by the Magnificat. At the Visita- 
 tion, when St. Elizabeth saluted her with 
 such reverence, " Blessed art thou among 
 women, and blessed is the fruit of thy 
 womb. And whence is this to me, that 
 the mother of my Lord should come to 
 me ? " * Mary at once breaks out into her 
 song of thanksgiving the evening Canticle 
 of the Church throughout all ages the 
 Magnificat. 
 
 And the Magnificat is all based upon Han- 
 nah's song of thanksgiving, as recorded in 
 i Sam. ii. Mary does not try to be original, 
 her mind is steeped in Holy Scripture ; the 
 spiritually-minded Hannah inspires Mary, 
 and the more spiritually-minded Mary knows 
 how to make the words her own, to adapt 
 them and apply them with fuller meaning 
 and in thanksgiving for a greater Gift than 
 that which called forth Hannah's song of 
 praise. All that comes from Mary's lips 
 wells up from her heart, but all is based on 
 * St. Luke 1.42, 43. 
 
36 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 the Old Testament psalm. The Spirit uses 
 His former utterances ; the Magnificat is the 
 New Testament edition of the Old Testa- 
 ment canticle. 
 
 Consider how our mind and heart ought to 
 be familiarized with God's former utterances ; 
 how in joining in the Divine Liturgy, the 
 Psalter, and in all the utterances of the 
 Church, we ought to be learning, not merely 
 phrases of devotion for our own devotions 
 and private use, but how they should be to 
 us a real means of approach to God, and 
 we should adapt them to our own personal 
 use. "He that hath an ear, let him hear 
 what the Spirit saith to the Churches." * Let 
 the Spirit bring our minds into harmony 
 with the minds and hearts of the saints of all 
 ages. In this text we have the reconciliation 
 of two truths that nowadays are so often 
 thought to be contrary the Spirit speaking 
 to the Church generally, and to ourselves 
 individually. What the Spirit saith unto us 
 will be in harmony with what He has said to 
 others; we can test what we think He says 
 
 * Rev. ii. 29. 
 
TRAINING FOR HER VOCATION. 37 
 
 to us by its harmony with that which He has 
 said to others. 
 
 And this applies to the use of manuals and 
 books of devotion; let us seek to be abso- 
 lutely real and natural in our use of them. 
 It matters not how good they are, whether 
 Bishop Andrewes', or Bishop Cosin's, Bishop 
 Ken's, or Bishop Taylor's their words are 
 not our own, and in many instances perhaps 
 are too high for us, we have not yet risen to 
 them. Use them if you please, but do not be 
 content with just using them; adapt them, 
 assimilate them, appropriate them. A man- 
 ual of devotion that is used just as it is 
 printed is not worth much ; it ought to have 
 ever so many lines scratched out, and many 
 others written in; it must be adapted and 
 assimilated by different persons according to 
 their several needs. Ah ! make your prayers 
 real ! * * I am approaching the Living God. 
 He has His intention, His mind, His voca- 
 tion for me. I am to approach Him in my 
 devotions with my own needs, and sins, and 
 joys, and hopes." 
 
 So take these three points for meditation, 
 
38 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 drawn from the story of the Annunciation 
 and the Visitation : 
 
 i. God's preparation of Blessed Mary for 
 her vocation; her previous training, her grad- 
 ual preparation for it ; herself, meanwhile, all 
 unconscious ; God working out everything to 
 its great end. 
 
 ii. Her previous dedication of herself. 
 
 iii. Her study and application of God's 
 word; giving us an example of reality in 
 devotion, in drawing near to God. 
 
 Let us repeat Psalm xxv. 
 
THIRD MEDITATION. 
 
 THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 MARY. 
 
 LET us meditate on the Annunciation. 
 
 Behold the Angel coming with his lofty 
 salutation to Mary in the lowly home of Naz- 
 areth: " Hail, thou that art highly favoured, 
 the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou 
 among women." And Mary, as she surren- 
 ders herself to the Divine vocation, says, 
 ' ' Behold the handmaid of the Lord ; be it 
 unto me according to thy word." * 
 
 O Almighty God, Who hast fashioned us 
 to carry out Thy purpose, that Thy Son 
 might be manifested in each one of us; 
 grant us each one, now and ever, to listen to 
 Thy voice and so to yield ourselves to the 
 operation of Thy Blessed Spirit that we may 
 indeed be conformed to the Image of Thy 
 Blessed Son, that Thou mayest be glorified 
 * St. Luke i. 28-38. 
 
 39 
 
40 THE" VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 in us, and that we may find acceptance with 
 Thee at the last, through the same Thy Son 
 Jesus Christ our Lord, Who liveth and reign- 
 eth with Thee and the Holy Ghost, ever One 
 God, world without end. Amen. 
 
 We have meditated on the training and 
 preparation of Blessed Mary for her great 
 vocation. We come now to consider the 
 story of the great crisis of her life, when (i) 
 the Angel announced God's will and purpose 
 for her, and (2) Mary responded, "Behold 
 the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me 
 according to thy word." And then (3) the 
 consequence followed, the Divine purpose is 
 accomplished '" the Word was made flesh," 
 of her substance, "and dwelt among us." * 
 
 Let us consider in the story the three 
 great lessons of: i. Her prudence; ii. Her 
 consent ; iii. Her self -oblation. 
 
 I. Consider the Prudence of Blessed Mary. 
 
 Think of her first recorded word. Truly, 
 she realized the description in the Book of 
 Proverbs of the virtuous woman who 
 
 * St. John i. 14, 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 41 
 
 "openeth her mouth with wisdom, and in 
 her tongue is the law of kindness " * 
 "She openeth her mouth with wisdom." 
 The Angel comes with his lofty saluta- 
 tion, "Hail, thou that art highly favoured, 
 the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou 
 among women ; " and Mary, in her modes- 
 ty and lowliness, is troubled at his salu- 
 tation, ' ' and cast in her mind what manner 
 of salutation this should be." She is ut- 
 terly unconscious of the high dignity, the 
 wondrous destiny that awaits her. The 
 Angel goes on with the promise of a Son; 
 " Fear not, Mary, for thou hast found 
 favour with God. And behold, thou shalt 
 conceive in thy womb, and bring forth a 
 Son, and shalt call his name Jesus." And 
 then she is perplexed and she asks, "How 
 shall this be, seeing I know not a man ? " 
 The question is not one of scepticism or of 
 doubt; but of modest inquiry, of a desire to 
 test before she accepts the Angelic mes- 
 sage ; and so it is treated in an entirely differ- 
 ent way from the question of Zacharias, 
 
 * Prov, xxxi. 26. 
 
42 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 "What shall be the sign?" In condescen- 
 sion to his weakness God gives him a sign ; 
 but the sign manifests God's displeasure at 
 his unbelief; he is struck dumb; he goes out 
 of the temple unable to speak, or even to 
 bless the people in God's Name; he can 
 only make a sign. When at the child's cir- 
 cumcision he acts in faith and obedience, 
 and gives the name which the Angel had 
 foretold, he recovers his speech. 
 
 There is nothing of this in Blessed Mary; 
 she only wonders how this great and blessed 
 promise can be reconciled with her existing 
 obligations. Her espousal to Joseph is only 
 for the shelter and protection of her dedi- 
 cated maidenhood, and she cannot under- 
 stand the wondrous promise until the Angel 
 explains that it shall be accomplished with 
 no violation of her holy estate: "the Holy 
 Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power 
 of the Highest shall overshadow thee,"* 
 etc. Then, as soon as the way is made 
 clear, and the difficulty removed ; or, rather, 
 when the promise is seen not to conflict with 
 
 *St. Luke 1.35. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 43 
 
 her obligations, immediately follows her 
 entire self -surrender ; without hesitation she 
 replies, " Behold the handmaid of the Lord; 
 be it unto me according to thy word." * 
 
 Now we are to imitate Blessed Mary in 
 her prudence. When suggestions come to us, 
 whether of doctrine or of practice, we are to 
 test them. When some new form of service, 
 some new rule of devotion or of self-dis- 
 cipline, or some new belief is presented to 
 us, we are not to swallow it down with one 
 tremendous gulp, nothing of the kind ; we 
 are to ask the question, How is this to be ? 
 How is this new belief to be reconciled with 
 what God has already taught me? Can this 
 idea be reconciled with the obligations that 
 are already laid upon me ? We are to be on 
 our guard lest we be seduced (as was Mother 
 Eve) by Satan transforming himself into an 
 angel of light and coming to us with mes- 
 sages flattering to our self-love. Do not 
 swallow down as true everything you hear 
 in a sermon ; test it. The Bereans were com- 
 manded when they searched the Scriptures 
 *St. Luke 1.38. 
 
44 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 to see " whether these things were so."* 
 And St. John says we are to " try the spirits 
 whether they are of God."f So with this 
 message Is it from heaven an angel of 
 God or is it a seducing spirit ? Is this fair 
 promise to lead me aside from the strict path 
 of duty or obedience ? Our reason must 
 always justify our obedience. This is not 
 rationalistic; reason is never contrary to 
 faith. What is faith, after all ? It is but 
 reason illumined by the Spirit of God. 
 Faith reveals to us that which reason alone 
 could never guess; or faith makes certain 
 what reason made very probable. Faith and 
 reason can never contradict one another; 
 reason and conscience are God's voice in the 
 human soul, and God can never contradict 
 Himself. The Word, who is Incarnate in the 
 fulness of grace and truth, is ''the Light 
 which lighteth every man that cometh into 
 the world. " J Faith is like a telescope, which 
 enables us to see distant objects which the 
 naked eye could never discern, or which it 
 could only see dimly and in outline. So 
 
 * Acts xvii. ii. f I St, John iv. i. J St. John i. 9. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 45 
 
 faith enables to see clearly that which reason 
 only has a glimmer of. Faith never contra- 
 dicts reason, nor creates the object which it 
 reveals any more than the telescope creates 
 the object made visible in the distance. 
 
 Just so is it with regard to matters of prac- 
 tice. We may be so easily deceived. This 
 or that spiritual project comes before us 
 some suggestion of greater strictness, per- 
 haps; and yet it may be only to foster pride. 
 We overreach ourselves, undertaking some- 
 thing that we can never accomplish; or we 
 undertake some distant duty, neglecting that 
 which God has placed close to us in our fam- 
 ily or with our friends. " From the deceits 
 of the world and the flesh and the devil, 
 good Lord, deliver us ! " From self-love, and 
 from all that leads us aside from the plain 
 path of duty and obedience, good Lord, 
 deliver us ! 
 
 Our Blessed Lord's Temptation shows us 
 the need of this testing, for to such tempta- 
 tions He was exposed; for instance, to antici- 
 pate the close of His Fast :* to claim protec- 
 
 * St. Matt. iv. 3, 6, 9. 
 
46 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 tion in a way not promised; to snatch at 
 power for a good use, but not in God's 
 way. 
 
 How often are we deceived like Mother 
 Eve, instead of putting the question, like 
 Blessed Mary; so that, when that is ans- 
 wered, we can go on to the second step. 
 "Now, I know this comes from God, so I 
 must go on and do the will of God." What 
 we take up lightly we let go lightly; but if 
 we pause and test the matter, then we shall 
 have ground and cause for obedience. 
 
 But how may we test these things and be 
 delivered from self-deception ? 
 
 We have two safeguards, i. By cherish- 
 ing a spirit of constant faithfulness. * ' My 
 sheep," says our Lord, "hear My voice."* 
 They are My sheep already. When I come 
 to the sheepfold and call, they recognize My 
 voice. And why ? Because they have so 
 often heard it before. Yes; as we listen 
 and obey, we learn to distinguish the voice of 
 God from all other voices ; from that of our 
 own self-love, and from all seducing spirits. 
 
 * St. John x. 27. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 47 
 
 It is as when we hear the voice of some 
 dearly-loved friend in the midst of a crowd, 
 it sounds above all other voices, it rings out 
 distinct and clear "I know that voice; I 
 have heard it so often before; I could not 
 mistake it." Just so it is with the faithful 
 soul ; it has gained, by listening and obeying, 
 the power of discerning God's voice from all 
 other voices ; it has learned to distinguish it 
 from the seductive voices of the world. So 
 constant faithfulness gives us the power 
 of recognition and discrimination. 
 
 2. Again, what God says will always be in 
 harmony with what He has already said ; for 
 God cannot contradict Himself. The new 
 vocation, the new teaching, which comes 
 from Him, will be the legitimate development 
 (not the contradiction) of previous teach- 
 ing; it will be consistent with all that has 
 gone before. He will not call in different 
 ways. True, He may keep us waiting, and 
 by so doing He may be preparing us for His 
 call to enter upon something in the future 
 that we cannot yet take in hand, and we 
 have to wait until the outward tokens of His 
 
48 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Providence correspond with the inward call 
 of Grace; then, when the two coincide, we 
 have a perfect moral assurance. For in- 
 stance : A young woman thinks she has been 
 drawn by God to devote herself to the Relig- 
 ious Life; yet at present she has other 
 duties to fulfil. In her home, perhaps, there 
 are younger children to teach and care for ; 
 or parents who need her aid and sympathy ; 
 or perhaps the express will of others hold 
 her back ; she has checks. Then she has no 
 right to enter upon this new experience. 
 Let her by all means cherish the thought 
 and keep herself free from other ties; she 
 may be training herself in exercises of 
 prayer and self-discipline for a more entire 
 dedication of herself; but not, remember, by 
 acting as a sort of demi-semi Sister of Mercy 
 with rules and practices unsuited to her ac- 
 tual position, instead of being a loving sister 
 or a good daughter in the world. Do your 
 duty perfectly, soundly, in whatever state 
 God has placed } r ou, and then you will be 
 ready to be called on to whatever else He 
 has in store for you. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 49 
 
 And so with the call to the Priesthood. 
 There is an earnest desire in a young man to 
 devote himself to the ministry; but he has 
 not the intellectual gifts, or the training 
 necessary for it; and so he is held back. 
 But the thought has not come to him for 
 nothing, and it is not to be lightly put aside ; 
 no, it is intended to lead him on to some 
 higher self-dedication, to a more recollected, 
 devoted life, to whatever God may have in 
 store for him. We may be mistaken as to 
 the outward form in which any call is to be 
 realized, but its inner spiritual significance 
 remains. 
 
 So think of those two safeguards with 
 which we are to be armed against deluding 
 self-love, and enabled to discern God's will 
 for us, as we consider the example of 
 Mary's prudence, as she asks, "How shall 
 this be ? " i. e. how is it to be reconciled 
 with existing obligations ? 
 
 II. Let us go on to consider her answer in 
 her second word, and learn a lesson from her 
 Consent. 
 
50 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Having been assured, she says " Behold 
 the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me 
 according to thy word." * It was in Mary's 
 power" to have refused. The Incarnation 
 might have been delayed, and another instru- 
 ment would have to be found, furnished and 
 prepared for God's work. The Creator will 
 not act in this great mystery without the 
 creature's full consent. The Omnipotent 
 stands on ceremony with his own finite 
 creature; He waits for Mary's consent. 
 
 Yes; God has raised us to too great a 
 dignity to use us as mere blind instruments 
 for His purpose, whether for the carrying out 
 of some great external work, or for the 
 accomplishment of His work within the 
 soul. He has bestowed on us the awful but 
 blessed prerogative of Free Will. Here is 
 the explanation of that which so often per- 
 plexes us about temptation. " Why does 
 God allow evil ? If he wants me to be good, 
 why does He allow it to be possible to be 
 bad?" The answer is plain: We cannot 
 be really good without the possibility of 
 * St. Luke i. 38. 
 
THE ANNUNCFATION. 51 
 
 being bad. We might serve God with all 
 the mechanical obedience of the heavenly 
 bodies ; but the simple obedience of a little 
 child is immeasurably above that, because it 
 is not a mechanical but a moral obedience. 
 So God would have us become good by 
 choosing goodness, not as slaves, but as 
 friends, who choose justice, goodness, obedi- 
 ence, and so become just, good, and obedi- 
 ent. We become that which we choose. So 
 did the blessed Angels become good; they 
 passed through their probation, they chose 
 God, and they stood firm in grace ; the others 
 refused refused God as the Law of their 
 being, and they are forever parted from Him. 
 And so man has to choose, throughout the 
 probation of his earthly life. God never 
 forces our will. He comes to us, as He sent 
 the Angel Gabriel to Blessed Mary, waiting 
 for our consent ; as He came to Matthew at 
 the receipt of custom ; he was called to fol- 
 low Jesus, he might have remained a tax- 
 gatherer, but by an act of willing obedience 
 " he left all, rose up and followed Him." * So 
 
 * St. Luke v. 28. 
 
52 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 was the rich young man called; the choice 
 was given him, he was unwilling, and so he 
 was allowed to go away sorrowful.* So was 
 Judas called. The Master spent on him all 
 His loving care; he falls away because he 
 was not "obedient unto the heavenly vision" 
 granted him.f God never, never forces our 
 will. Herein is holiness in doing the will 
 of God, in being conformed thereto; herein 
 is sin in withholding self from the will of 
 God. It matters not what the subject-mat- 
 ter may be ; it may be in some tremendous 
 struggle, or in some trifling concern that the 
 choice comes; if conscience tells us this or 
 that is wrong, and we do not heed, it is the 
 breaking away from the will of God. The 
 vocation comes, God speaks plainly, lovingly, 
 entreatingly, but He won't constrain us; He 
 will have the homage of our loving choice. 
 Think of this as true, not only in the great 
 crises of life, in times of some moral up- 
 heaval, some great conversion, but it is like- 
 wise true in the continual actions of daily 
 life. It is true, also, as regards our recep- 
 
 * St. Luke xviii. 23. f Acts xxvi. 19. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION: 53 
 
 tion of sacramental grace. The Angel 
 comes, as he came to Blessed Mary, that we, 
 like Blessed Mary, may yield ourselves in 
 order that God's work of grace may be ac- 
 complished in us; but we must work along 
 with God. We thought of the necessity of 
 real, personal communion with God in 
 Prayer; so must it be in the reception of 
 the Sacraments; they do not act as charms; 
 they have their place, they are means to 
 ends, but they are not ends in themselves. 
 Never confound means with ends. The 
 Sacraments are the covenanted means of 
 grace, but we must " open our mouth wide " 
 if we would be filled; we must come with 
 right dispositions, we must ' ' hunger and 
 thirst after righteousness, " * if we are to be 
 filled. Thus, for instance, in making con- 
 fession; it is not the mere going, or the 
 recounting our sins that avails; we must 
 come with real sorrow and desire for par- 
 don ; we must for our part put away the sin 
 by true repentance that Almighty God may 
 put it away on His part by an act of forgive- 
 *St. Matt. v. 6. 
 
54 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 ness and cleansing. Absolution will never 
 stand in place of contrition. There is no 
 more deadly snare than confession without 
 repentance. There is an old Latin motto 
 which says : Tanta gratia quanta dispositio 
 the grace we receive will be in proportion to 
 the dispositions with which we come. " Open 
 thy mouth wide, and I will fill it."* We 
 must yield ourselves to the operations of the 
 Holy Spirit; laying the skin of our soul bare, 
 so to speak, that the Finger of God may 
 touch and heal and cleanse it. 
 
 So think of the lesson of Mary's Consent 
 her yielding of herself to the Divine 
 vocation. 
 
 III. Think of the Self -Oblation of Blessed 
 Mary, and what that consent involved. 
 
 She must have foreseen something of what 
 the acceptance of the Angel's message in- 
 volved. In her study of the prophetic Scrip- 
 tures she must have gained some real knowl- 
 edge of what the Messiah was to be, and of 
 the nature of His work. She had not a 
 
 * Ps. Ixxxi. 10. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 55 
 
 mere earthly conception of His career, such 
 as the Scribes and Pharisees had. She must 
 have known that the Messiah was to be "a 
 Man of Sorrows and acquainted with grief."* 
 She must have known that the shadow of 
 the Cross would fall on those near to Him, 
 that the Mother of the Man of Sorrows must 
 be the Mater Dolor osa; that, in some way or 
 another, the sword would pierce her own 
 soul.f She must have seen, too, in rapid 
 forethought, what the acceptance of the 
 Angel's message involved for her in the near 
 future the shame the hard thoughts the 
 suspicion of her fall ah! how exquisitely 
 painful to her pure soul! But it is God's 
 call, and at whatever cost it must be 
 obeyed. Yes; think what was involved in 
 those words of self -surrender. " Be it unto 
 me according to thy word." Mary ac- 
 cepted the sacrifice of that which is dearer to 
 a young maiden than her very life, and here- 
 by she becomes pre-eminently the heroine of 
 Isreal, the ideal daughter of Zion, the per- 
 fect type of human receptivity in regard to 
 
 *Is. liii. 3. f St. Luke ii. 35. 
 
56 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 the Divine work. She shows herself to be 
 indeed a true daughter of Abraham, the 
 father of the faithful, ready to go forth 
 wherever God directs, even to unknown 
 lands to darkness, perplexity and shame ! * 
 So we, too, have to yield ourselves to the 
 Divine vocation ; to a greater strictness of life, 
 to some work of charity, some fuller mani- 
 festation of the truth of God, at the expense 
 of obloquy, at the cost of separation from 
 those near and dear to us and God knows 
 what it costs us to cut ourselves off from 
 them! Yet it must be done; we must act, 
 like Blessed Mary, on the principle of faith, 
 leaving consequences to Him. Mary could 
 not see how she was to be carried through or 
 provided for; but she knew that He was 
 faithful who had called her, and she placed 
 herself in His hands. Is there any more 
 comfortable word in Holy Scripture than 
 this: "Faithful is He that calleth you, 
 who also will do it." f Because He is faith- 
 ful, strength will be given sufficient to 
 carry out that which is commanded. 
 
 * Godet on St. Luke's, f I Thess. v. 24. 
 
THE ANNUNCIATION. 57 
 
 There must be neither eager, vain, pre- 
 sumptuous snatching at high things; nor a 
 cowardly holding back when God calls. 
 
 We will test the suggestion that comes to 
 us. When once we are assured that it is 
 from God, there is only one response we 
 can make, 
 
 ' * Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it 
 unto me according to thy word!" "Lord, 
 what wilt thou have me to do ? " * 
 
 With such thoughts let us repeat Psalm 
 xvi. 
 
 *Actsix. 6. 
 
FOURTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE VISITATION OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN 
 MARY. 
 
 LET us meditate upon the Visitation of the 
 Blessed Virgin Mary. Contemplate Mary 
 singing the Magnificat in the house of Zach- 
 arias and Elizabeth. 
 
 O Almighty God, Who hast called us near 
 to Thyself in the covenant of grace, and hast 
 bestowed upon us countless gifts of grace, 
 grant us, we pray Thee, so to meditate on 
 all Thy goodness that we may return to 
 Thee the homage of our loving gratitude; 
 and, praising Thee for Thy mercy in the 
 past, may learn to trust Thee for the time 
 to come. 
 
 Our Father. 
 
 All the subjects on which we have already 
 meditated in connection with the early life 
 of the Blessed Virgin Mary her predestina- 
 
THE VISITATION. 59 
 
 tion, her training, and the Annunciation 
 all these belong to the Joyful Mysteries of 
 the Incarnation, as they are called, as dis- 
 tinguished from the Sorrowful Mysteries, in 
 which she shared the Passion of her Son; as, 
 in the Glorious Mysteries, she shared His 
 Triumph. 
 
 And the mystery of the Visitation, on 
 which we are now to meditate, is pre-emi- 
 nently a Mystery of Joy. Mary hastens to 
 communicate her wondrous joy to her cousin 
 Elizabeth, and to congratulate her relative on 
 the joy that has come to her after such long 
 waiting. And Elizabeth welcomes St. Mary 
 with reverent joy. " Blessed art thou 
 among women, and blessed is the fruit of 
 thy womb. And whence is this to me that 
 the mother of my Lord should come to 
 me ? " * Her unborn child recognizes the 
 unborn Saviour, and at Mary's salutation 
 the babe leaped in his mother's womb for 
 joy; while Mary bursts out into her canticle 
 of joy "My soul doth magnify the Lord 
 and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my 
 * St. Luke i. 48. 
 
60 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Saviour." The whole visit is a time of joy, 
 beginning and ending with a canticle; be- 
 ginning with Mary's Magnificat, and ending 
 with Zacharias' Benedictus, in which he 
 poured out the result of all those medita- 
 tions which had filled his mind during that 
 nine months solitude and silence, in which 
 he had been, as it were, keeping his Retreat, 
 pondering the ancient prophecies which the 
 Angel told him were about to be fulfilled; 
 and in the fulfilment of which his promised 
 son was to play so prominent a part as the 
 herald of the Messiah. Dwell upon the holy 
 joy of those three months which Mary spent 
 in the house of Zacharias and Elizabeth; 
 think of the converse between those holy 
 souls during that time. 
 
 So let us think of Mary's joy, and of its 
 lessons for ourselves. 
 
 I. Consider the Magnificat as the expres- 
 sion of her joy, called forth by Elizabeth's 
 recognition, which gives a sanction, as it 
 were, to what the Angel had said, and by 
 which Mary's own faith is confirmed. 
 
THE VISITATION. 61 
 
 And Mary's joy is to be a lesson of joy for 
 us: 
 
 Our Lady sings Magnificat 
 
 In tones surpassing sweet ; 
 And all the Virgins bear their part, 
 
 Sitting about her feet 
 
 not merely in heaven, but in the kingdom 
 of heaven on earth. Mary is the cantrix of 
 the Church on earth, and all saints take up 
 the canticle which she begins " My soul 
 doth magnify the Lord. ' ' The Magnificat is 
 the first canticle of the New Testament, 
 standing in the Gospel story before Zacha- 
 rias' Benedictus, or Simeon's Nunc Dimittis, 
 or the Angels' Gloria in Excelsis, just as it 
 begins each festival in Church, as ' * the 
 evening and the morning are the first day,"* 
 giving tone and key, as it were, to all the 
 days of our life. 
 
 Think of Mary singing the Magnificat, 
 (i) as the representative of humanity, the 
 second Eve; (2) as the representative of the 
 Church, in thanksgiving for the Incarnation. 
 Think of her singing the Magnificat as an 
 
 * Gen. i.. 
 
62 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 act of praise for all the gifts of grace and 
 for the hope of glory vouchsafed to us. 
 (3) Think of her singing the Magnificat as 
 an act of homage, of personal thanksgiving 
 for the great things God had done for 
 her. 
 
 And with her we are to join in singing 
 Magnificat, (i) for all humanity; (2) for 
 the Church collectively ; and (3) for ourselves 
 individually. Two great causes for personal 
 joy are shadowed forth in the Magnificat, for 
 Mary and for us. 
 
 i. It is the expression of Mary's joy for 
 what God had done for her in His choice of 
 her; for her unique privilege of being the 
 Mother of the Incarnate Son " all genera- 
 tions shall call me blessed." 
 
 And so for ourselves also. Think of our 
 vocation, of God's predestination and elec- 
 tion of us, to be born in a Christian land, 
 within reach of the Sacraments and means 
 of grace, to a growing and fuller apprecia- 
 tion of all the treasures and fruits of grace 
 stored up in the Catholic Church. Think of 
 our sheltered homes, our educational advan- 
 
THE VISITATION. 63 
 
 tages, our spiritual privileges. And what 
 am I, that I should have been singled out to 
 be born in a Christian land rather than in 
 Central Africa, and in the Catholic Church 
 rather than under some imperfect system; 
 that I should have been baptized in infancy 
 and brought within reach of all the gifts of 
 grace provided for me? "Ye have not 
 chosen Me, but I have chosen you." * What 
 am I, that such loving kindness should have 
 been shown to me ? Do we thank God for 
 the gifts of grace which surround us so 
 commonly, or do we take them as a 
 matter of course ? Do we join in the 
 thanksgiving, that God has * ' called us to 
 the knowledge of this grace and faith in 
 Him?"f 
 
 Jesu, what didst Thou find in me, 
 That Thou hast dealt so lovingly ? 
 
 ii. Then think of the second great cause 
 of personal joy, for ourselves as well as for 
 Blessed Mary. 
 
 It was her act of praise for the beginning 
 *St. John xv. 1 6. f Baptismal Service. 
 
64 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 of God's work in her, and she is confident 
 that He will accomplish and perfect that 
 which He has begun. 
 
 And we are to thank Him for what He has 
 done in and for us ; not only for His gifts of 
 grace all around and about us, but for His 
 work within. As we thought in an earlier 
 meditation, and as Bishop Jeremy Taylor 
 tells us, we are not only to meditate on the 
 shameful sins into which we have fallen, but 
 we are also to praise Him for all the acts of 
 virtue we have been enabled by His grace 
 to perform. Ah ! yes; don't think it humility 
 to disparage grace, but thank God for what 
 He has done in and by you ; don't shut your 
 eyes to it ; it is the part of true humility to 
 look every fact in the face, to see it in its 
 true light ; to recognize every gift of nature 
 and of grace, and then to realize our re- 
 sponsibility for the right use of all, our 
 responsibility to God from whom they come, 
 and to our fellow-creatures for whom they 
 are bestowed. It is not humility to shut 
 our eyes to any, fact. Yes; " He that is 
 mighty hath done to me great things" 
 
THE VISITATION. 65 
 
 Mary refers all to Him "and" therefore 
 "holy is His Name." 
 
 St. Paul recognizes this, how God had 
 worked in Him; he had "laboured more 
 abundantly than all " the other apostles 
 " yet not I, but the grace of God which 
 was with me." * 
 
 Learn, then, the lesson of thanksgiving. 
 It is due to God, it is due to yourselves. 
 Thanksgiving for the past makes us trustful 
 in the present and hopeful for the future. 
 What He has done is the pledge of what He 
 will do. You notice how St. Paul, in all his 
 epistles, after his introductory salutation, 
 thanks God for all that He has already done 
 in those to whom he had ministered; and 
 then, in the strength of that thanksgiving, 
 he is full of assurance that He who has be- 
 gun a good work in them ' ' will perform it 
 until the day of Jesus Christ." f 
 
 See how in the Lord's Prayer, before we 
 ask anything for ourselves, we are taught to 
 say, "Hallowed be Thy Name." We are 
 first to thank God for what He has done; 
 
 * 1 Cor. xv. 10. f Phil. i. 6. 
 
66 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 and then, after this, we go on to ask, in sim- 
 ple, childlike trust, for all we need. 
 
 Our petitions are often so faint because 
 our thanksgiving is so lacking. What 
 strength should praise and thanksgiving 
 bring into our lives! What causes for 
 thanksgiving we have! shelter and protec- 
 tion in our early years, opportunities and 
 advantages for preserving our innocence 
 and cleansing us from evil ! Both are due to 
 "God our Saviour," in whom we rejoice. 
 He recalled me when I wandered. He re- 
 ceived me when I returned; He raised me 
 when I fell, He upheld me when I stood. 
 " My soul doth magnify the Lord." 
 
 Think, then, how our life ought, in- 
 deed, to be a life of joy, brought so near 
 to God. "The joy of the Lord is your 
 strength." * 
 
 Think of those words from Nehemiah as 
 affording a sort of antiphon to the Magnifi- 
 cat the Song of Christian life " the joy of 
 the Lord is your strength." Ah! cherish 
 that thought. Don't let your Christian life 
 
 * Nehem. viii. 10. 
 
THE VISITATION. 67 
 
 be sad; don't let it create an impression of 
 sadness or gloom on any around you. 
 
 Think of the Offices and Services of the 
 Christian Church, how full of joy they are. 
 Think of the great Eucharistic Feast, where- 
 in we show forth in glad exultation Christ's 
 Death and the great things He hath done, 
 and thank Him for His Glorious Resurrec- 
 tion. And in the Offices of the Church, 
 what a large proportion of praise there is in 
 the Psalms and Canticles ! And then, in the 
 strength of that praise, we offer supplica- 
 tions. The law of worship is to be the law 
 of life. We are to go forth from the wor- 
 ship of the sanctuary to render the service of 
 our daily life ; Mary's Magnificat giving the 
 key to the Christian life as it stands in the 
 very forefront of the New Testament to a 
 life of joy. The Christian life should be 
 " steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, and 
 rooted in charity." * 
 
 That is the mark impressed on it from the 
 very first, at the Baptismal Font. How 
 often have we been untrue to it ! Even in 
 
 * Baptismal Service. 
 
68 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 our penitence there is to be joy; however 
 far off we may have wandered, even to a 
 far country, yet when we have set our faces 
 to return, and are turned in the right direc- 
 tion, the gleams of light from our Father's 
 Home will shine through the darkness 
 of the night; and, looking toward the 
 Father's Home, we may be glad even in our 
 penitence. " I will arise and go to my 
 Father." * 
 
 II. Consider Mary's joy overflowing at the 
 Visitation. She hastens on the hint of the 
 Angel to Elizabeth, as the old Collect for 
 the festival of the Visitation says, ' ' for mu- 
 tual consolation;" she congratulates her 
 cousin on the joy that has come to her; 
 and gives her cause for still higher joy, as 
 she tells the Angel's message to herself. 
 
 In the Magnificat Mary's joy soon passes 
 from the thought of herself, to that which all 
 generations are to gain through her, to what 
 God will do for His people through her and 
 by her. And here we are to learn a lesson : 
 * St. Luke xv. 1 8. 
 
THE VISITATION. 69 
 
 as the joy of the Lord enters into our lives 
 we are not to be selfish, to hug our own joy. 
 "Ah, I can thank God I am safe!" The 
 experiences vouchsafed to us are not to be 
 for ourselves only, but for others. Think of 
 St. Paul's words, "Whether we be afflicted, 
 
 it is for your consolation or 
 
 whether we be comforted, it is for your con- 
 solation and salvation." * Yes, all our expe- 
 riences are to quicken our sympathy for 
 others that we may be able to impart to 
 others that which God has bestowed on us. 
 Think of what St. John says: " These things 
 write we unto you . . . that your joy 
 might be ull."f 
 
 That is the very law of the Church's mis- 
 sion, for every man and woman in the Church 
 to do our part to call others into the same 
 fellowship in which we are seeking to abide, 
 to lead others to the means of grace we our- 
 selves prize, to warn them against the dan- 
 gers the reality of which we have ourselves 
 learned, to lead them along paths we our- 
 selves are treading. 
 
 *2Cor. i. 6. fi St. John i. 4. 
 
70 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Think of the years of education, the tal- 
 ents, the influence, the sheltered home, the 
 protection in early years that have been 
 vouchsafed to you in order that you may im- 
 part your knowledge and influence, your 
 purity and faith to others also. All our gifts 
 of nature and of grace are bestowed upon us 
 for our mutual good. This is true Christian 
 Socialism; not the silly Communism that 
 would drag all down to one mean level; but 
 the recognition that all gifts coming from a 
 common Father, are bestowed for the com- 
 mon good of all the children of that Father. 
 All our gifts are to be exercised and culti- 
 vated for the good of all ; we have no busi- 
 ness to use and keep any for our own selfish 
 gratification, but we are to use all for the 
 common good. Others have a right to ex- 
 pect from us what our common Father has 
 bestowed on us. They have a right to share 
 my joy. We are stewards of God's manifold 
 gifts, which are all bestowed for the com- 
 mon good. So let me ask myself, " Have I 
 done this ? Has my Christian joy, my faith, 
 my education, overflowed like Mary's joy to 
 
THE VISITATION. 71 
 
 others ? " See how the spirit of the Incarnate 
 Saviour was at once shown forth in 
 Mary. He came down from Heaven to 
 earth "for us men and for our sal- 
 vation," that we " might have life and 
 have it more abundantly."* He fills her 
 with His own Spirit of love. " In her 
 tongue is the law of kindness." And we, 
 too, are to be Christophers Christ-bearers 
 bringing Him to gladden others' lives. 
 Think of this in guild-work, in parish-work, 
 in any missionary enterprise. I, like Mary, 
 am to carry Christ to others, that, as the 
 spirit of the Incarnation was shown forth in 
 Mary at the Visitation, so the power of the 
 Incarnation may be shown forth in my con- 
 tact with others, as in hers, as we bring 
 Christ to them, and Christ brings life and joy. 
 "When Elizabeth heard the salutation of 
 Mary, the babe leaped in her womb for 
 joy."f Yes; there is to be no selfishness, 
 no isolation in our Christian life, we are to 
 rejoice in others' good. So think of the 
 mutual consolation of Blessed Mary and 
 * St. John x. io. f St - Luke 44' 
 
72 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Elizabeth. "Come hither and hearken 
 unto me, all ye that fear God, and I will 
 tell you what he hath done for my soul. " * 
 That is the spirit of the Visitation. Christ 
 in me is to overcome my natural shyness. 
 We English people have a healthy dislike to 
 cant, we don't wear our hearts on our 
 sleeves ; but we stand in the opposite danger 
 of having a false shame in matters of relig- 
 ion. Let us try to put aside our natural re- 
 serve and shyness, and be ready to commu- 
 nicate to others that which we value for 
 ourselves, that which makes life tolerable 
 amid all our sorrows, that which has given 
 us light in its dark places, that which has 
 cheered us when otherwise we should have 
 sunk down in sorrow and despair. " O 
 praise the Lord with me, and let us magnify 
 His Name together." f This is the spirit of 
 the Visitation. 
 
 III. Think of Mary's joy in the midst of 
 outward sorrow as exemplified by her Mag- 
 nificat. 
 
 * Ps. Ixvi. 1 6. f Ps. xxxiv. 3. 
 
THE VISITATION. 73 
 
 Ah ! it is all well enough in that quiet, 
 contented home in Hebron, with sympa- 
 thizing friends to whom an Angel has been 
 with a message of joy. But soon she is to 
 go back to Nazareth, to face the shame and 
 disgrace that awaited her Joseph's suspi- 
 cion, the finger of scorn "pointed at her by 
 that rough, rude population "ah! she is 
 no better than others !" Yet she sings Mag- 
 nificat; she trusts herself to God's loving 
 care, because " tribulation worketh patience, 
 and patience experience;" what we have 
 endured teaches us what we can endure ; and 
 experience begets hope, and that hope will 
 not fail or disappoint us because of the 
 "love of God shed abroad in our hearts 
 by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us."* 
 
 Think of cherishing that spirit of "joy in 
 the Lord" in the midst of outward sorrow; 
 in temptation, in failure, in times of anxiety 
 or bereavement, of dulness of faith; still 
 protesting the most real belief in spite of 
 deadness of feeling; showing that true love 
 is deep down in the will, not merely on the 
 * Rom. v. 3-5. 
 
74 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 surface of the emotions. While " without 
 are fightings, and within are fears,"* the 
 Magnificat is still the utterance of the Chris- 
 tian heart, just as every day on Ash 
 Wednesday and on Good Friday just as 
 much as at Christmas and at Easter the 
 Church sings Magnificat at Evensong, in 
 different tones indeed and with different 
 antiphons and settings, but the Magnificat 
 is never to be put out of our life; in our 
 joys and in our sorrows we are still to look 
 up and " magnify the Lord, and to rejoice in 
 God our Saviour." To look around may 
 cause dismay, to look up brings rest and 
 peace. 
 
 And when is the Magnificat sung ? Why, 
 as evening is drawing on, and the shadows 
 close in, and earthly joy and brightness 
 fade away: that is the time to sing the 
 Magnificat, and let "joy in the Lord" be 
 the strength of our lives; "hidden secret- 
 ly in His tabernacle from the strife of 
 tongues; " f like Paul and Silas at midnight 
 singing praises to the Lord, J and their 
 
 * 2 Cor. vii. 5. f Ps. xxxi. 20. \ Acts xvi. 25. 
 
THE VISITATION. 75 
 
 praises opened the prison doors. Ah! how 
 often that may be true in our lives. The 
 prison-house seems fast, and difficulties are 
 insurmountable; but only let us sing and 
 praise God, and the doors are open and a 
 way is made for us to escape. "At mid- 
 night," said the Psalmist, "I will rise and 
 give thanks unto Thee." * " Rejoice in the 
 Lord alway, and again I say, Rejoice ! " f 
 
 i. Think, then, of Mary's joy, and of the 
 Magnificat as giving the key to the Christian 
 life. 
 
 ii. Of her joy overflowing to others, giv- 
 ing us the pattern of communicating and 
 sharing our gifts with others. 
 
 iii. Of Mary singing the Magnificat in the 
 midst of anxieties, teaching us, in whatever 
 circumstances we find ourselves, to look up 
 and " rejoice in the Lord." 
 
 Let us say Psalm ciii. 
 
 * Ps. cxix. 62. f Phil. iv. 4. 
 
FIFTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST OF 
 HIS VIRGIN MOTHER.* 
 
 LET us meditate upon the Birth of Our 
 Lord Jesus Christ of His Virgin Mother. 
 
 Behold the stable-cave of Bethlehem, where 
 Mary, when the days were accomplished, 
 brings forth her First-born Son, and wraps 
 Him in swaddling clothes, and lays Him in 
 a manger. And listen to the song of the 
 angels as they throng around in wondering 
 adoration, <* Glory to God in the highest, and 
 on earth peace, good- will towards men." f 
 
 By the Mystery of Thy Holy Incarnation, 
 by Thy Holy Nativity, good Lord Jesus, 
 deliver us from our earthliness, from the 
 lust of the flesh, from the lust of the eye, 
 and from the pride of life. Conform us 
 more and more to Thine own Likeness, as 
 
 *See Essay in the Appendix. f St. Luke ii. 6-14. 
 76 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 77 
 
 Thou dost make us, by Thy gifts of grace, 
 partakers of Thy Divine Nature; that in 
 Thee we may find acceptance with the 
 Father, both now and at the last; with 
 Whom, in the Unity of the Holy Ghost, 
 Thou livest and reignest One God, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 Our Father. 
 
 In the old Service Books the Office for 
 Christmas Day contained a " Memorial of St. 
 Mary at the full accomplishment of the Mys- 
 tery of the Incarnation." And these are the 
 words of the Antiphon: " Behold, all things 
 are fulfilled which were spoken by the Angel 
 concerning the Virgin Mary." 
 
 "The days were accomplished that she 
 should be delivered." * 
 
 Nine months have passed since the Angel 
 came with his wondrous message; the 
 Eternal Word has been enshrined within 
 her; the Holy Ghost has gradually fashioned 
 of her substance that Human Body with all 
 its faculties and powers, and the Word has 
 * St. Luke ii.6. 
 
78 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 been " made Flesh."* The Creator has 
 assumed a created Nature. It is a mystery 
 before which we can only bow in adoration ; 
 and yet this mystery is the pattern of our 
 own spiritual life ; the historical mystery of 
 the Incarnation is to have its counterpart in 
 our own spiritual experience. And so we 
 will meditate on the Birth of Our Lord Jesus 
 Christ of his Virgin Mother, and its spiritual 
 lessons ; we will consider the truth of the In- 
 carnation and how it is to be re-enacted in us. 
 
 We will see how to build up ourselves, our 
 moral and spiritual life, upon the foundation 
 of our most holyfaith.f We shall note the 
 value of clear, dogmatic expression of the 
 truth, as we carefully consider certain points 
 of doctrine and the lessons contained in 
 them. 
 
 What is the truth of the Incarnation? 
 
 There are four great points we have to 
 keep in mind, and each has its spiritual les- 
 son for our life. 
 
 i. He who is born is Very God, of One 
 Essence with the Father. 
 
 * St. John i. 14. f St. Jude xx. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 79 
 
 ii. He is Very Man, of the substance of 
 the Virgin Mary, His Mother. 
 
 iii. These two Natures, the Divine and the 
 Human, are indissolubly linked together in 
 the Unity of His One Divine Person. 
 
 iv. All this is accomplished by the oper- 
 ation of the Holy Ghost. The Only-Begotten 
 Son of God is " conceived by the Holy Ghost, 
 born of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 Let us consider each of these truths, for its 
 practical importance. 
 
 I. He who is born is Very God, of One 
 Essence and Being with His Father. 
 
 Mary is truly the God-bearer Theotokos. 
 This title was contended for by the Church, 
 not so much for her honour, as to protect 
 the truth of the Incarnation. She is the 
 Mother, according to His Human Nature, 
 of Him who is God. Yes ; it is not the 
 highest of created intelligences that is born 
 of her ; then the gulf between creature and 
 Creator had not been bridged over; then 
 Heaven and earth had not been really united. 
 No ; it is God who shows Himself in our na- 
 
8o THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 ture; the Very and Eternal Son of God, "by 
 whom all things were made." He, and none 
 other, "was made Flesh and dwelt among 
 us," and manifested a glory that could be- 
 long to none other than "the Only Begotten 
 of the Father, full of grace and truth." * He 
 gives us by the Incarnation a twofold rev- 
 elation; He shows us what God is, and what 
 man, made in God's Image, should be. 
 "The glory of God," says St. Paul, "shines 
 forth in the face of Jesus Christ."! We 
 know now what God is because we know 
 what Jesus was; and what Jesus was on 
 earth, that God must ever be, in His hatred 
 for sin and His love for the sinner; He has 
 translated into language that we can under- 
 stand, the language of human conduct, the 
 Divine perfections. We know now what the 
 Love of God is it means self-sacrifice and 
 compassion; the Holiness of God it means 
 readiness to suffer anything rather than 
 swerve from true obedience. " See in My 
 Life," Jesus Christ says, " See in My Death, 
 the witness, the testimony to the Divine Na- 
 
 * St. John i. 14. f 2 Cor. iv. 6. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 81 
 
 ture!" Yes, from Jesus, and from Jesus 
 alone, we can learn with absolute certainty 
 what God is ; and we learn what man, made 
 in God's Image, may be. Man was made in 
 God's Image that he might be conformed to 
 God's Likeness. 
 
 Just consider for a moment it is a pain- 
 ful thought, and yet it is well to face it 
 consider the absolute impossibility of God 
 assuming the nature of any created being 
 lower than man. He could not have become 
 incarnate in any irrational being, for there 
 would have been nothing for God to fill up ; 
 there would be no correspondence between 
 the creature and the Creator. God, who is 
 Love, can only take the nature of one who, 
 as a moral being, is made in His Image and 
 is capable of reproducing that Love. Man 
 can do this because of his natural capa- 
 city for corresponding with the Divine 
 Nature. 
 
 Let us learn from this a true missionary 
 zeal : to do all that we can both at home and 
 in the world, by prayer and by labour, to 
 win men to their restoration to God's Image, 
 
82 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 to be conformed to His Likeness. " O God of 
 all the nations of the earth, remember the 
 multitudes of the heathen who, though cre- 
 ated in Thine Image, are perishing in their 
 ignorance; and grant that by the labours 
 and prayers of Thy Holy Church, they may 
 be delivered from all superstition and unbe- 
 lief, and brought to worship Thee through 
 Him whom Thou hast sent to be our Sal- 
 vation, the Resurrection and the Life of 
 all the faithful, Thy Son Jesus Christ our 
 Lord."* 
 
 And what does this mean for ourselves? 
 We are made partakers of the Divine 
 Nature. We are not partakers of a holy 
 man, but, as St. Peter says, " of the Divine 
 Nature; " f we are made, really and truly, 
 " children of God." This is no mere expres- 
 sion of fondness, but it tells of actual rela- 
 tionship. Not that we are made partakers 
 of His Infinity, or of His Eternity, but 
 of His Moral Nature His Justice, His 
 Love, His Purity, His Righteousness. 
 These I am to set before me ; nothing short 
 * St. Francis Xavier. f 2 St. Peter i. 4. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 83 
 
 of this; this is the standard for Christian 
 life. So in my daily life I am to ask, " How 
 would Christ have acted in my circum- 
 stances ? How would He have me act ? 
 How would Christ fulfil my duties, do my 
 work, fill my place, meet my difficulties, turn 
 to account all my capacities and opportuni- 
 ties ? " This is to be the law and inspiration 
 of my whole life ; not only of my outward 
 acts, but of all my inward thoughts and de- 
 sires. There is to be a manifestation of 
 the Divine Nature in me. 
 
 II. The Eternal Son of God, of One 
 
 Nature with the Father, was made Very 
 Man, of the substance of the Virgin Mary 
 His Mother. " He took not on Him the 
 nature of Angels, but He took on Him the 
 seed of Abraham." * He was really and 
 truly made Perfect Man, of His Mother's 
 substance, having a likeness to her; really 
 and truly deriving from her that Body in 
 which He lived, in which He died, in which 
 He now reigns; the Holy Spirit fashioning 
 *Heb. ii. 16. 
 
84 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 that Sacred Humanity of His Mother's sub- 
 stance. Not only was He Son of Man, but 
 " of the seed of Abraham," and " of the seed 
 of David." * He had a real strain of ances- 
 try running down to Him. 
 
 (i.) Consider how He was made " Perfect 
 Man." Taking, first, all the different ele- 
 ments of our human nature; not merely a 
 Human Body, but a reasonable Soul; a Mind 
 with memory, understanding, and imagina- 
 tion; a Heart with every true human affec- 
 tion, of love, and of hatred against evil. He 
 loved His Mother, His friends at Bethany; 
 He loved His own specially chosen friend, St. 
 John, His bosom companion, with a particu- 
 lar, individualizing love.f He looked around 
 with anger and indignation at the hardness 
 of heart and hypocrisy of the Pharisees. I 
 Affections of joy and sorrow belonged to 
 that Human Heart; He rejoiced with ex- 
 ceeding joy, and His Soul was " exceeding 
 sorrowful, even unto death. " {j " For the 
 
 * Rom. i. 3. f St. John xi. 5; xiii. 23. 
 
 J St. Mark iii. 5. 
 
 \ St Luke x. 21 ; St. Matt. xxvi. 38. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 85 
 
 joy that was set before Him He endured the 
 Cross, despising the shame." * " Who in the 
 days of His flesh, offering up prayers and 
 supplications with strong crying and tears 
 unto Him that was able to save Him from 
 death, was heard for His reverence."! Every 
 true human affection was found in the 
 Sacred Heart of Jesus Christ, Very God and 
 Very Man. 
 
 And every affection of ours is to be sancti- 
 fied, not one cut off; every one is to be bap- 
 tised, christened, exercised in true Christian 
 energy. 
 
 And He had a Human Will, so distinct 
 from the Divine Will, with which, neverthe- 
 less, it ever beat in harmony, that He could 
 say, " Father, not My will, but Thine be 
 done."! 
 
 So every element of our nature, every fac- 
 ulty of ours, from the lowest to the highest, 
 is to be brought under the control of relig- 
 ion ; no one part of it is to be left outside ; 
 the body is to be trained for God's service, 
 the mind disciplined and brought under the 
 
 * Heb. xii. 2. f Heb. v. 7. J St. Luke xxii. 42. 
 
86 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 yoke of Christ, the affections chastened, the 
 will is to be at once strengthened and con- 
 trolled. All the different parts of our life 
 home-life, social-life, our work and our 
 prayer all the subject-matter of life is to be 
 penetrated with religion. Is this so, in all 
 the details of my life ? Or am I leaving 
 religion for Sunday, and letting domestic 
 matters remain outside its influence ? Am I 
 careless in my accounts, unpunctual in my 
 duties, untidy in little matters ? With a 
 Christian we might almost say the difference 
 between "secular" and "religious" is 
 abolished. "The Word," than which 
 naught is higher, "is made flesh," than 
 which naught is lower, so that " whether we 
 eat or drink, or whatsoever we do " we can 
 "do all to the glory of God," because we 
 can do all in the Name and after the ex- 
 ample of Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Son of 
 God.* 
 
 Think, then, of this law of sanctification 
 for the whole of human nature and the whole 
 of human life. 
 
 * i Cor. x. 31 ; Col. iii. 17. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 87 
 
 (2.) Again; the Son of God was made 
 Very Man, Perfect Man ; not only assuming 
 our nature in its integrity, but taking it and 
 using it according to the laws of human 
 nature, and so, subject to its limitations. 
 The finite is not made infinite because the 
 Infinite Person used it. There were restric- 
 tions in His Life as Man. In His human 
 nature He could die; He needed food and 
 rest; He was subject to fatigue. Why 
 should people find a difficulty in accepting 
 any limitations to our Lord's Human knowl- 
 edge? He, the Eternal Word, knew all 
 things; but why should we shrink from the 
 thought that, as the Almighty Power of the 
 Eternal Word was restrained so that it did 
 not at all times overflow His Body, and 
 miracles were not the ordinary law of His 
 Life, but were reserved for great moral occa- 
 sions ; so it was with the Infinite Wisdom of 
 the Eternal Word; it was restrained from 
 overflowing the Human Mind? For the 
 purposes of His mission His Mind was Di- 
 vinely illuminated. Christ came to teach 
 the truths it concerned man to know ; about 
 
88 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 God His Being and Character; about man 
 his origin and destiny, the true standard of 
 his life, his relation to God and means of 
 approaching Him; all this it was necessary 
 for us to know. But Christ did not come to 
 teach all those subjects that are on the bor- 
 der-land, so to speak, of religion historical, 
 scientific matters, and so on. His mission 
 was to teach religion, and for that purpose 
 He inspired His Human Soul. 
 
 So think how, in our individual life, we 
 are to accept the limitations that Almighty 
 God has imposed upon each of us. It is an 
 accepted fact that all cannot do the same 
 thing; all have not the same powers, mental 
 or bodily. We are responsible for using the 
 gifts that He has given us. Christ is to be 
 manifested in our nature, in our gifts, in our 
 limited sphere and capacities, whatever these 
 may be. There is one limitation we must 
 all accept. We are not presumptuously to 
 overtax our strength, or to disregard our 
 health, or the dangers which may come from 
 overstraining mind or body, heart or spirit. 
 
 Again. He became Very Man, Perfect 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 89 
 
 Man, passsing through all the stages of hu- 
 man life and development. He was subject 
 to the law of growth; His body grew in 
 stature, His mind likewise advanced in wis- 
 dom St. Luke says so, and more that He 
 not only " increased in wisdom and stature," 
 but also "in favour with God and man."* 
 There was a moral and a spiritual develop- 
 ment in the Humanity of the Eternal Son. 
 Does this startle anyone? Is it inconsistent 
 with His being Very God? Why? Everyone 
 will at once acknowledge the difference be- 
 tween the perfection of innocence the blame- 
 lessness of childhood and the perfection of 
 ripened manhood when temptation has been 
 met and overcome. There is a peculiar and 
 attractive sweetness and grace attaching to 
 the innocence of a little child; and yet, if 
 that life be cut off in childhood, we feel that 
 something is lost ; that innocence might have 
 developed into mature development; there 
 has been no budding forth of all those gif ts 
 and graces that existed in germ. 
 Just so was it with Jesus Christ. His Hu- 
 *St. Lukeii. 52. 
 
9 o THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 manity was flawless from the first; from the 
 cradle it was perfect according to God's 
 original design; all was in perfect cor- 
 respondence with the Divine Will, every im- 
 pulse of that nature was holy; yet Holy 
 Scripture tells us that "He learned obedi- 
 ence by the things which He suffered." * He 
 was perfected through suffering; He mani- 
 fested an experimental perfection; He met 
 temptation and overcame it, and so devel- 
 oped the contrary virtues. That Human 
 Nature was more and more made the Instru- 
 ment of the Divine Will, in obedience to 
 which He increasingly manifested fresh 
 graces and virtues, as ' ' through the Eternal 
 Spirit He offered Himself without spot to 
 God."f 
 
 Just so is it to be with our life; we 
 must be content to grow to perfection; 
 we must be humble. and we must be patient; 
 we can't become saints all at once ; we can't 
 fly from earth to heaven; no, we have to 
 climb rung after rung of the ladder, passing 
 from stage to stage; we must be content to 
 * Heb. v. 8. f Heb. ix. 14. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 91 
 
 be first "babes in Christ," fed with milk and 
 then with solid meat.* How often we ignore 
 this law with ourselves and with others ! 
 How impatient we are with those committed 
 to our care in matters of secular learning! 
 or in matters spiritual, in dogmatic teaching; 
 perhaps we ourselves have just grasped some 
 point, and now we cannot think how others 
 can be so stupid, so blind, as not to see 
 what is clear to us! We are not content 
 that others should grow. We need patience 
 with ourselves and with others; we are 
 apt to want to be great saints, or nothing at 
 all! 
 
 Ah! Jesus gives us the lesson: " First 
 the blade, then the ear; after that the full 
 corn in the ear." f 
 
 See how this is represented to us in the 
 Sacraments. Baptism is styled by our Lord, 
 "the New Birth, "J i.e. it is the planting 
 of the germ of spiritual life, which is to be 
 carefully guarded, watchfully cherished, and 
 by degrees developed. 
 
 *i Cor. iii. 2; Heb. v. 13, 14. fSt. Mark iv. 28. 
 \ St. John iii. 3. 
 
92 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Again, the Sacrament of Christ's Body and 
 Blood is our spiritual food. Food is to be 
 assimilated, and by it we gradually gain 
 strength. We sometimes hear it said that 
 "one Communion is enough to make a 
 saint ! " Well, if one Communion is enough, 
 one Communion was not intended to make a 
 saint. If God had so intended, the Blessed 
 Sacrament would not have been given us as 
 "food," and under the outward form of the 
 ordinary daily food of the people of the land 
 bread and wine. It is the "Bread of 
 Life,"* Jesus says; and by receiving Com- 
 munion after Communion our spiritual life 
 is to be nourished, strengthened and devel- 
 oped; our sinful bodies being made clean by 
 contact with, by being interpenetrated by, 
 His own Sinless Body; and our sin-stained 
 souls more and more washed in His most 
 Precious Blood; He, more and more, by His 
 grace dwelling in us; and we, more and 
 more, by faith, by obedience, by love, dwell- 
 ing in Him. 
 
 So the lesson we learn from this thought 
 
 * St. John vi. 33. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 93 
 
 is Patience patience with ourselves and with 
 others; and Humility. This we may well 
 learn from the consideration of our Lord in 
 His Sacred Humanity gradually growing up 
 to perfection. 
 
 III. Let us consider, shortly, how the Two 
 Natures, the Human and the Divine, are 
 joined together in One Person. " Not by con- 
 fusion of Substance, but by Unity of Per- 
 son," as the Athanasian Creed says. 
 
 Yes, so is it, remember, in the Blessed 
 Sacrament. Note the analogy between the 
 Incarnation and the Holy Eucharist. It is 
 a common devotional expression to speak of 
 * ' the miracle of the Blessed Sacrament. It 
 is, really and truly, no miracle at all. It is a 
 mystery. A miracle involves the suspension 
 of the ordinary laws of nature by the inter- 
 vention of some higher law. But this is not 
 the case with the Blessed Sacrament. If the 
 Bread and Wine, according to the common, 
 vulgar idea of Transubstantiation, ceased to 
 be, were changed into the Body and Blood 
 of Christ, if one natural substance took the 
 
94 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 place of another natural substance, this would 
 be a miracle; as at Cana, when the water 
 was made wine; or, supposing our Lord in 
 the wilderness had done as Satan suggested, 
 and changed the stones into bread; this 
 would have been a miracle. There is noth- 
 ing of this in the Holy Eucharist. The 
 Bread and Wine remain exactly what they 
 were before ; their taste, touch and smell are 
 the same, and they are liable to decay. For 
 purposes of nature, for the nourishment of 
 our lower life, they remain precisely what 
 they were before. But by consecration by 
 the Word and Spirit of God they are made 
 vehicles for enshrining and communicating 
 another and a higher Substance, i.e. the 
 Body and Blood of Christ, to be the nourish- 
 ment of our spiritual life. ' ' The bread that 
 we break, is it not the communion of the 
 Body of Christ ? The cup which we bless, 
 is it not the communion of the Blood of 
 Christ ? " * It is the consecration and taking 
 up of earthly elements to serve a heavenly 
 and spiritual purpose. 
 
 *i Cor. x. 1 6. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 95 
 
 And just so is it in the Incarnation. 
 There is no miracle, but a great mystery in 
 the Union of the Divine and Human Natures 
 in One Person. God is not changed into 
 man, and the Manhood is not made Divine ; 
 but Human Nature, in its perfection, is 
 taken up into the Divine in the Person of 
 Christ, without any change or impairing of 
 His original dignity. And He acted in that 
 Human Nature in strict conformity with its 
 laws. The only miracle about the Incarna- 
 tion was in the Virgin Birth in the man- 
 ner of His entrance into the world.* 
 
 And just so it is in our own spiritual life. 
 " I am crucified with Christ; nevertheless I 
 live, yet not I, but Christ liveth in me." 
 The communication of grace does not take 
 the place of my personality, it does not ex- 
 tinguish my human life ; but it is given to me 
 to enable me to live more truly a true human 
 life; to live indeed under restraint, the " old 
 man is crucified; " but I am not destroyed by 
 that crucifixion of my old nature; "never- 
 
 * See Bible Teachings (on St. John vi.) by the Rev. R. M. 
 Benson, ch. xxiii. 
 
96 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 theless, I live " more truly, more fully, more 
 freely, "yet not I" according to my own 
 natural impulses and desires, "but Christ 
 liveth in me," the real motive and power of 
 my life, " and the life which I now live in 
 the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, 
 who loved me and gave Himself for me." * 
 
 IV. One point more. The Union af the 
 Divine and Human Natures in the Person of 
 the Eternal Word is effected by the Spirit's 
 Power. Christ was "conceived by the Holy 
 Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." Mary was 
 His sole earthly parent ; and so the entail of 
 original sin is cut off. 
 
 Here we have the one difference between 
 our Lord's Human Nature and our own. 
 In Him there was simply the development of 
 holiness, the going ' * from strength to 
 strength," from one virtue to another; 
 there were no rebellious elements to re- 
 strain, no wrongful tendencies to overcome. 
 In us "the flesh lusteth against the spirit, 
 and the spirit against the flesh, "f With us 
 
 * Gal. ii. 20; Rom. vi. 6. f Gal. v. 17. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD JESUS CHRIST. 97 
 
 there must be not only the formation of good 
 habits, but the undoing of evil ones; the 
 "putting off" more and more, of "the old 
 man," the "putting on," more and more, of 
 "the new."* So we have this additional 
 reason for cultivating humility and patience. 
 
 Ah ! life is so difficult, so hard, because we 
 have to bear the consequences of past sins. 
 It is so hard to keep from wandering 
 thoughts in prayer, because I have let my 
 imagination have its own way. I have 
 allowed this or that evil thought, contrary 
 to love, or to purity, or to humility, to get 
 possession of my heart, and now it claims its 
 place there; it has to be put out by force. I 
 have to unravel the tangle of my past life, as 
 well as to weave habits of holiness. 
 
 "Conceived by the Holy Ghost, born of 
 the Virgin Mary." Yes; it is not by human 
 or by natural means that the birth of the Son 
 of God in our nature is effected, either in 
 the historical Incarnation, or in its spiritual 
 re-enactment in our own experience. "As 
 many as received Him, to them gave He 
 * Col. iii. 9, 10. 
 
98 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 power to become the sons of God, who 
 are born, not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God."* 
 There is the counterpart in our spiritual 
 experience of the miraculous conception of 
 Him who was "born of the Virgin Mary." 
 " Not by might, nor by power, but by My 
 Spirit," saith the Lord of Hosts. "f The 
 Angel came with the message, and Joseph 
 had to guard both the Mother and the Child; 
 but neither Gabriel nor Joseph had aught to 
 do with the formation of the Child; that 
 was by the Spirit's power. J 
 
 And some minister of God may come to 
 us with the word of vocation, or some friend 
 may be the guide of our spiritual life, but 
 the Spirit of God alone can produce the life 
 within. Remember it in your life, in the 
 regard of all earthly instrumentality; the 
 priest may be the holiest, the guide the 
 wisest, the friend the dearest; they may 
 help, but the utmost they can do is what 
 Gabriel and Joseph did for Mary; the Spirit 
 must communicate life. 
 
 * St John i. 12, 13. t Zech. iv. 6. J St. Luke i. 35. 
 
BIRTH OF OUR LORD.JESUS CHRIST. 99 
 
 And as in your life, so in your work; 
 you can but do what Gabriel did and Joseph ; 
 you cannot create spiritual life in others ; 
 you can guard it, you can bring this and 
 that one under the influence of the Spirit 
 of God; you can do as the bystanders did 
 at the grave of Lazarus; you can remove 
 the stone out of the way, in order that Jesus 
 Christ may have the chance, so to speak, of 
 getting at that soul. But He is the Res- 
 urrection of those who are spiritually dead 
 as well as the Life of those who live.* 
 
 Don't try to impress yourselves too much 
 on others; it is too much the tendency of 
 human friendship. Do not try to play the 
 part of human father to Jesus Christ in the 
 soul; learn to stand by, and let the Spirit 
 do His work. We are not so much to go be- 
 fore the human soul as to follow after it. 
 We are not to seek to mould others accord- 
 ing to our own pattern, but to render 
 them mobile and plastic to the Spirit's 
 dealing; encourage them to follow Christ, 
 to be obedient and docile to His Word ; that 
 
 *St. Johnxi. 39, 25, 26. 
 
ioo THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 His likeness may be reproduced in them, as 
 in us, by the operation of the Holy Spirit of 
 God. 
 
 Think, then, of this Mystery of the Incar- 
 nation : 
 
 i. That we are made partakers of the 
 Divine Nature. 
 
 ii. That the Divine Life is to be mani- 
 fested in our life and in our circumstances. 
 
 iii. And that all this is to be by the 
 Spirit's power. 
 
 "Oh!" you say, "this is something too 
 high for me to rise to ! " Remember Mary 
 shrank and shuddered at the message; but 
 the Angel said, "Fear not, Mary," for "the 
 Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the 
 power of the Highest shall overshadow 
 thee." 
 
 Let us say Psalm ci. 
 
SIXTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE PURIFICATION OF THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Let us meditate upon the Purification of 
 the Blessed Virgin Mary. 
 
 Contemplate the Mother, standing in the 
 Temple Court, holding her Child in her 
 arms, waiting to offer Him to the Lord, and 
 to present the offering for her purification. 
 
 O Almighty God, most Holy and most 
 Merciful, purge us, we pray Thee, from all 
 defilement of flesh and spirit, that we may 
 worthily draw nigh to Thee in prayer and all 
 the means of grace, and be more and more 
 purged from evil; that so, as living mem- 
 bers of the mystical Body of Thy dear Son, 
 we may find acceptance with Thee now and 
 at the last, for His sake in Whose Name we 
 pray. 
 
 Our Father. 
 
 We have come to the consideration of 
 
 101 
 
102 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 another Mystery of Joy, the last of the 
 Joyful Mysteries; with a note of warning 
 and prediction of coming woe in the words 
 of Simeon "a sword shall pierce through 
 thy own soul also."* 
 
 It was a great day for Blessed Mary when 
 she took her Child, God's own Son in our 
 nature, to present Him, the offspring of her 
 womb, to His Heavenly Father in the 
 Temple; and when she too herself for the 
 first time after His Birth and the accom- 
 plishment of the Angel's message, entered 
 the courts of the Temple. We may be sure 
 she sang her Magnificat over again, as her 
 solemn thanksgiving for the great things 
 God had done for her and in her. 
 
 I. Let us think of her now in the Purifi- 
 cation, as giving us an example of diligence 
 and perseverance in God's worship, and in 
 the use of the means of grace. 
 
 The Law of Purification and Presentation 
 did not strictly apply to her case and that 
 of her Child. There was no need of purifi- 
 
 * St. Luke ii. 35. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 103 
 
 cation in that Child-bearing; she had con- 
 tracted no stain; in that Birth there was 
 nothing in the least degree contrary to per- 
 fect purity, for He was "conceived by the 
 Holy Ghost, born of the Virgin Mary." 
 Nor was there any need of redemption in 
 His case ; He was indeed Himself the Priest 
 and Victim, the First-born Son Who, by the 
 sacrifice of Himself, was to redeem all. 
 Neither was there any need in His case of 
 the Circumcision the rite that was a badge 
 of sin, and told of the need of mortifying 
 unruly desires. In Him there was nothing 
 that swerved from perfect correspondence 
 with God's design. But no dispensation had 
 been given, so no exemption was claimed. 
 
 So it was with our Lord at His Baptism. 
 He came to Jordan with the rest to receive 
 that which was a sign of the washing away of 
 sin, in order that He might "fulfil all right- 
 eousness,"* not Himself to receive cleans- 
 ing, but to sanctify water to the mystical 
 washing away of our sin. We have a simi- 
 lar example of this diligence in using the 
 
 * St. Matt. iii. 15. 
 
104 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 means of grace in Mary's yearly visit to the 
 Temple. It was not of obligation on the 
 woman's part, as it was with men ; but she 
 did not excuse herself, or urge the plea 
 that it was difficult to leave her Child at 
 home with the rough crowd at Nazareth, or 
 that there was no need for her to go up to 
 the Temple where the services were so per- 
 functorily performed; she was better em- 
 ployed at home with her Child ! Ah ! what 
 plausible reasons might have been urged! 
 but none were used. His parents went 
 yearly to the feast.* Blessed Mary gives us 
 an example of diligence, of faithfulness and 
 earnestness in seeking God in all appointed 
 means of grace. 
 
 Then let us examine our regularity in the 
 use of the means of grace times of prayer, 
 sacraments, fasting-days, rules of self- 
 denial, and so on. And not only our dili- 
 gence, but our earnestness in our use of 
 them ; coming to the Sacraments with right 
 dispositions, with a real spiritual appetite, 
 with "hunger and thirst after righteous- 
 * St. Luke ii. 41. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 105 
 
 ness."* Do we seek to excuse ourselves, 
 asking, "Need I?" "Must I?" This 
 surely is not a Christian question. A bet- 
 ter would be, "May I?" "Is there any 
 means by which I may serve [God better, 
 by which I may express more truly my 
 loving sorrow for past sin ? " We are not 
 to serve in the spirit of bondage, but as 
 loving children in the spirit of adoption. f 
 Let us set before us Blessed Mary as an 
 example of diligence and earnestness in 
 approaching God, in the use of all the means 
 of grace. 
 
 II. Consider the reward of this diligence 
 and faithfulness, of which we have the 
 pledge and example in the Purification. 
 "Unknown" she is, "yet well-known." { 
 She goes up to the Temple like any other 
 mother, but she is recognized by Simeon 
 and Anna, and she receives a further con- 
 firmation of her faith in their recognition. 
 And they too had been purified by long 
 discipline and waiting, and now their faith- 
 
 * St. Matt. v. 6. f Rom. iii. 15. J 2 Cor. vi. 9. 
 
io6 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 fulness is rewarded by the vision vouchsafed 
 to them. They had waited long years, look- 
 ing for redemption in Jerusalem, and Sim- 
 eon had received the promise that he should 
 not pass away till all was fulfilled, until he 
 had seen the Lord's Christ. There was so 
 much that was perfunctory in the Temple 
 rites; still they persevered, and lifted up 
 their hearts to God. And in the end they 
 are rewarded; Mary comes to the Temple, 
 and their spiritual vision is illumined. 
 Simeon sees that Mother, and in her Child 
 he recognizes the Lord's Christ, come to 
 redeem the world. It is the pure the meek 
 who "see God."* He takes Him up in 
 his arms and sings his Nunc _Dimittis % and 
 blesses the parents. Ah ! see the reward of 
 patient waiting on God. 
 
 Sometimes some of you are tempted to 
 give up attendance at Church, or at the 
 Sacraments, because the ministration is so 
 irreverent, or because so much is lacking. 
 "It is so little to my taste, I had better 
 absent myself altogether." No; if others 
 * St. Matt. v. 3. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 107 
 
 are cold, go and be a centre of devotion 
 yourself; if others absent themselves, be the 
 more regular and earnest yourself; look 
 through the unworthiness of the minister to 
 Him Who is the Great High-Priest, Who 
 stands in the midst of the seven golden 
 candlesticks that symbolized the Universal 
 Church, Who holds in His Hand the seven 
 stars that represent the Priesthood of the 
 Church.* Look to Him for the reward of 
 your faithful attendance, your devout wor- 
 ship. " In every place " and rite " where I 
 record My Name, I will come unto you and 
 bless you."f And so in your own private 
 devotions. It may be your prayers are dull 
 and dead; your meditation is irksome a 
 waste of time, it seems ; you have no light. 
 Ah, but Simeon and Anna had waited a 
 long, long time before the Vision came at 
 last and repaid all their waiting ; so ' ' though 
 the vision tarry, wait for it ; because it will 
 surely come, it will not tarry. " J God keeps 
 us waiting for the answer to our prayer 
 (not only for external benefits, but for spir- 
 * Rev. i. 13, 1 6, 20. f Ex. xx. 24. J Hab. ii. 3. 
 
io8 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 itual graces also), not because He is grudg- 
 ing in His gifts, but because He would 
 develop in us a greater capacity to receive. 
 
 So learn the lesson of faithful, patient, 
 persevering diligence; and see the reward 
 that in the end comes. 
 
 III. Consider the reason of the delay on 
 Blessed Mary's part in going up to the 
 Temple. 
 
 It was not until forty days were past, six 
 weeks since the Birth of her Child, that 
 she visits the Temple. Why not before ? 
 Bethlehem was but a little way from the 
 Holy City. 
 
 She waited " until the days of her Purifi- 
 cation were accomplishd. " O how she 
 longed meanwhile to go into the courts of 
 the Lord ! * ' O how amiable are Thy dwell- 
 ings, Thou Lord of Hosts ! My soul hath a 
 desire and longing to enter into the courts 
 of the Lord ; my heart and my flesh rejoice 
 in the living God ! " * Have we such long- 
 ings ? not merely to enter into the earthly 
 
 * Ps. Ixxxiv. I, 2. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 109 
 
 sanctuary, but for some nearer approach to 
 God in the spiritual life; to be able to speak 
 more freely to Him in prayer; to hear His 
 Word more clearly speaking in our con- 
 science; to have our faith more clear and 
 strong those mists of doubt and temptation 
 rolled away; to be free from that clinging 
 temptation which is haunting us and dogging 
 our path ? Ah ! but wait patiently * ' until 
 the days of purification are accomplished," 
 until the days of discipline are over; until a 
 greater clearness of conscience and purity of 
 heart may enable us to hear His Voice 
 speaking to us. 
 
 Think of Mary's obedience to the Law 
 concerning Purification, as laid down in Lev. 
 xii., which subjected the mother after child- 
 bearing to a ceremonial cleansing from her 
 defilement. All these provisions of the cere- 
 monial Law are ^full of spiritual significance. 
 They were intended as object lessons before 
 the eyes of the people witnessing to the holi- 
 ness of God and the need of holiness in ap- 
 proaching Him. Just as contact with a 
 leper or with death communicated ritual de- 
 
THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 filement and needed ceremonial purification, 
 so was it with the handing on of life. It 
 was the handing on of a tainted, marred 
 nature ; not as God originally made it, but fal- 
 len and disordered. Therefore it involved de- 
 filement, and cleansing was required. The 
 rites for purification after childbirth wit- 
 nessed to original sin. Ah ! we have need 
 to remember that quite as much for our en- 
 couragement as for warning. We are not 
 unf alien creatures in an unf alien world; it is 
 not safe for us to use all the pleasures that 
 are in themselves innocent. We have a nat- 
 ural tendency to sink down to earthly things ; 
 and the world, in its fallen condition, has a 
 tendency to drag us down in our fallen con- 
 dition ; to act as a screen shutting God out 
 from our sight. There is therefore need of 
 self -discipline, of self-denial in this and that 
 particular, of keeping under the body, of 
 losing the lower to gain the higher 
 life. 
 
 And think what a lesson of comfort there 
 is here! God knows all that; He knows the 
 condition of our fallen nature, and He takes 
 
THE PURIFICATION. ill 
 
 all into account. He knows its drift, how 
 easily we go astray; how the flesh is weak 
 even when the spirit is willing. We must 
 come before Him in humble, penitent ac- 
 knowledgment of our fallen estate, con- 
 fessing and bewailing not only our sin but 
 our sin fulness. ' ' In sin hath my mother 
 conceived me;" therefore, "make me a clean 
 heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within 
 me."* 
 
 Scripture expresses our experience. The 
 lower nature wars against the higher; " the 
 flesh lusteth against the spirit and the spirit 
 against the flesh, so that ye cannot do the 
 things that ye would." f "The good that I 
 would, I do not; but the evil which I would 
 not, that I do." "I see another law in my 
 members, warring against the law of my 
 mind, and bringing me into captivity to the 
 law of sin which is" in my members." J 
 
 I am sure that the distinction between 
 "sin" and "sinfulness" is a very important 
 and a very helpful one. So often a day 
 passes, and we come to our self-examination 
 
 * Ps. li. 5, 10. f Gal. v. 17. | Rom. vii. 19, 23. 
 
112 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 at night, and we are not conscious of having 
 committed any sin during the day. Then 
 people get terribly frightened, and they 
 think, " Dear me, what a state I must be in, 
 to think I can have passed a day and not be 
 able to find a sin ! " But let us not disparage 
 the work of the Holy Ghost. What is the 
 use of the grace of God, if it is not to keep 
 us from sin ? What is Holy Communion 
 for, but to keep us clean from sin ? There 
 ought to be many days on which we 
 commit no definite sin of thought, or 
 word, or deed. Perhaps we have had 
 no special temptation. Or perhaps grace 
 has been extremely powerful: you have 
 felt it playing about you, you have 
 been conscious of a higher power within. 
 But notwithstanding this, we know that all 
 has not been quite right within; there are 
 the workings of evil there of meanness, of 
 jealousy, of self-indulgence; they have not 
 come to a head, they have not been brought 
 to a point, but they are there. " Though I 
 have not sinned, I feel there has been the 
 need of a strong hand to keep these work- 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 113 
 
 ings of evil down. I know I carry about a 
 sinful nature !" 
 
 So let us remember this distinction 
 between " sin " and " sinfulness," and beg of 
 God gradually to cleanse us from our sinful- 
 ness as well as from our sin. 
 
 This helps us to understand the distinction 
 between the special cleansing given us in 
 Absolution, and the cleansing power of the 
 Body and Blood of Christ in Holy Com- 
 munion. Absolution is especially for the 
 doing away of sins. Where a sin has come 
 in and clogged my spiritual life and hindered 
 the free flow of regenerate life, absolution 
 is the putting forth of a spiritual power to 
 break down the barrier, and to cleanse away 
 that which clogs the spiritual life. But Holy 
 Communion we are to come to that after 
 repentance, with our sin forgiven and our 
 conscience at ease, by our own drawing near 
 to God and making our peace with Him, or, 
 if need be, by special confession and priestly 
 absolution. On the other hand, the Blessed 
 Sacrament of the Altar is for the cleansing 
 of our sinfulness, for the infusion of our 
 
ii4 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Lord's holy Nature to remedy all the defile- 
 ments of our fallen nature, " that our sinful 
 bodies may be made clean by His ' all-holy * 
 Body, and our ' sin-stained ' souls washed 
 in His most precious Blood by the com- 
 munication of His life." 
 
 Think how we may have to wait, like 
 Blessed Mary, for some nearer approach to 
 Him, some deeper sanctification of our 
 spiritual life, some fresh entrance into the 
 Temple of the Lord, until, at last, the days 
 of our purification are accomplished ! Some- 
 times we are so lacking in patience and 
 humility we want to die right off! We 
 don't know what need there is of purging 
 first, of cleansing within and without. We 
 have to wait for the resurrection of the body 
 and the entire rectifying of our nature to 
 usher in the life of the world to come; and 
 meanwhile we must use all the means of 
 grace at hand, all the sacraments, all the 
 disappointments and trials of life, all the 
 friction and vexations of life, that our earth- 
 liness and selfishness may be more and more 
 done away. And then, when all the discipline 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 115 
 
 of life is done, there is still the purification 
 of the intermediate state the seeing our- 
 selves as we are, as we see Him in His glory. 
 " I have heard of Thee by the hearing of the 
 ear, but now mine eye seeth Thee; where- 
 fore I abhor myself, and repent in dust and 
 ashes,"* in ever deepening penitence, until 
 at last in perfected penitence we find per- 
 fected purification, and enter the Temple of 
 the Lord to present the Christ-child formed 
 within us, in our life, our talents, our 
 gifts, our circumstances, by the Spirit's 
 power. 
 
 Once more, consider the spiritual signifi- 
 cance of the special law of purification after 
 childbearing to which the Blessed Mother 
 was subject, as laid down in Levit. xii. We 
 find that in the case of purification after the 
 birth of a man-child (with which we are 
 alone concerned) there were these two 
 stages, symbolical of two stages of progress 
 in the spiritual life. First, for seven days 
 the mother was excluded from fellowship 
 with ordinary society. On the eighth day 
 * Job xlii. 5. 
 
ii6 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 the mother entered on the second stage of 
 her purification; she was restored to the 
 company of her fellows, she was allowed to 
 enter upon social intercourse; but still for 
 thirty -three days more she was excluded 
 from participation in the Temple rites; she 
 could not yet enter the Temple of the 
 Lord. 
 
 So, remember, there are stages of purifi- 
 cation in our spiritual experience. There 
 is a ceasing to do evil, then a learning to do 
 well; a putting off of the old man and his 
 deeds, and a putting on of the new man 
 which after God is created in righteousness 
 and true holiness.* There are two conver- 
 sions of which St. Bernard speaks. He says 
 that there is need of conversion from the 
 world to self ; like the prodigal son, who 
 "came to himself" and found the world 
 unsatisfying; and then there is the second 
 conversion, from self to God ; first we have 
 to gain a true possession of ourselves, and 
 then to use that possession in giving our- 
 selves to God, losing sight of self in seeking 
 
 * Ephes. iv. 22-25. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 117 
 
 the glory of God and the good of our 
 brethren. So again we learn of the pro- 
 gressive stages of spiritual development. 
 Don't hurry people, don't drive the flock too 
 fast and hard, and don't be impatient with 
 your own slow growth. And in the divi- 
 sions of the days of purification we may find 
 a spiritual signification. The seven days 
 will represent the Old Testament dispensa- 
 tion the purgative way, under the Law. 
 Then, on the eighth day, when the Saving 
 Name is given, that is closed. But there are 
 thirty-three days more a day for each year 
 of the earthly life of the Incarnate Son, 
 so making up the number forty, in Holy 
 Scripture signifying the full number of pro- 
 bation and discipline. Yes, we are to follow 
 the Lord in all the stages and departments 
 of His life in the hidden life at Nazareth ; 
 in His tempted life in the wilderness ; in His 
 social life with His disciples and His friends 
 at Bethany; in His ministerial life, "going 
 about doing good," spending and being spent 
 for others ; ever full of compassion for us in 
 our needs, in toil for others, in works of 
 
n8 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 mercy, corporal and spiritual; in His devo- 
 tional life, in His nights of prayer, in His 
 early mornings given to communion with His 
 Heavenly Father, in His lifting up His eyes 
 to Heaven in the midst of work, putting 
 Himself in conscious communion with His 
 Father. And then, likewise, in His suffering 
 life. Ah! yes; to follow Him in each of 
 those thirty-three days, in each stage and de- 
 partment of His life ; to set Him before us 
 in each department of our life, in our domes- 
 tic life, in our devotional life, in all the ex- 
 periences of sorrow and suffering that may 
 befall us. Ah! Blessed Lord, grant that I 
 may truly follow Thee step by step, as Thou 
 dost present Thyself to me as my perfect 
 example; day by day putting off the old 
 man, and imitating Thee, becoming more 
 and more conformed to Thy perfect likeness ; 
 in the purgative way and the illuminative 
 way filling up the days of my purification, 
 till in the unitive way I may present the 
 fruit of grace formed within me, and in the 
 Temple courts may sing Magnificat for the 
 great things that Thou has accomplished. 
 
THE PURIFICATION. 119 
 
 " For He that is mighty hath magnified me, 
 and holy is His Name ! " 
 
 Let us say Psalm xxvi. 
 
SEVENTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 
 
 Let us meditate upon the Flight of the Holy 
 Family into Egypt. Contemplate the vision 
 beheld by St. John.* The woman clothed 
 with the sun, with the moon under her 
 feet, and having a crown of twelve stars 
 upon her head; travailing in birth to bring 
 forth the Man-Child which shall rule the 
 world. And see over against her the mon- 
 strous beast, the great red dragon, standing 
 before the woman, ready to devour her 
 Child. And the dragon persecutes the 
 woman and is wroth with her, and makes 
 war with the remnant of her seed which 
 keep the commandments of God and the 
 testimony of Jesus Christ. 
 
 O Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of 
 God, who wast in the world that was made 
 
 * Rev. xii. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 121 
 
 by Thee, and the world knew Thee not; 
 who didst come to Thine own, and Thine 
 own received Thee not;* pardon, we be- 
 seech Thee, all our past resistance to Thy 
 grace, and grant that now henceforth we, 
 falling into rank beneath Thy banner, may 
 show ourselves Thy true servants and sol- 
 diers, ready to bear the opposition of the 
 world, the uprisings of our own fallen 
 nature, and the assaults of Satan, for Thy 
 Name's sake. Do Thou ever guard us 
 from evil, and overrule all contrary things 
 to our good, and enable us to serve 
 Thee faithfully, for Thy mercy's sake, 
 who livest and reignest with the Father 
 and the Holy Ghost, one God, world 
 without end. Amen. 
 Our Father. 
 
 The figure of the woman clothed with the 
 sun, and with the moon under her feet, and 
 having on her head the crown of twelve 
 stars, as beheld by St. John in his vision at 
 Patmos, and recorded in the i2th chapter 
 
 *St. Johni. 10, ii. 
 
122 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 of the Apocalypse, stands for the Church of 
 God in every age, bringing forth Christ to 
 the world. It has nothing whatever to do 
 with the Blessed Mother in her present ex- 
 altation. It may be applied to her as the 
 type of the Church collectively, and of every 
 individual soul among the company of the 
 faithful. She brings forth Christ personally ; 
 the Church is ever bringing forth Christ in 
 the spirit. In every new planting of the 
 Church in the mission-field, in every new 
 religious movement, in every establishment 
 of a guild or religious society, in every fresh 
 individual resolve to live for Christ more 
 faithfully there is the bringing forth of 
 Christ in some fresh manifestation of His 
 grace and truth. 
 
 And over against that figure ever stands 
 the great red dragon, the foe of Christ, ready 
 to destroy the new birth of the Divine 
 life. 
 
 So was it with Israel in Egypt ; so was it 
 with Christ born after the flesh; " Herod 
 sought the young Child's life to destroy it." * 
 * St. Matt. ii. 13. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 123 
 
 So was it with the infant Church ; the Roman 
 empire rose up to blot it out; and when 
 Satan failed by persecution to destroy the 
 seed, he sought to strangle it by heresy or 
 to seduce the Church by worldliness. Ever 
 over against the woman bringing forth the 
 Man-Child stands the great red dragon, seek- 
 ing to destroy His life. So it is in our own 
 experience. We make some special resolu- 
 tion and we find some fresh obstacle. Some 
 new start is made in mission-work; then 
 fresh difficulties and hindrances arise. All 
 this is quite natural ; we are not to be in the 
 least surprised or discouraged. 
 
 I. Consider, first, the necessary antagonism 
 that exists between the Church and the world, 
 the woman and the dragon. It is through 
 the bruising of the heel o the woman's Seed 
 that the serpent's head is to be crushed; 
 it is only through struggle that Redemption 
 is to be gained; it is only through suffering 
 that victory can be effected. 
 
 And, as with the Church, so with the 
 individual. Don't think that any opposi- 
 
124 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 tipn you may meet with in your life or in 
 your work is any necessary sign of God's 
 displeasure; rather it may be the reverse. 
 Satan sees some germ of the Divine Life 
 which, if it be allowed to grow, will work 
 ruin to his kingdom, and he starts up to 
 oppose it. Or the world scoffs and ridi- 
 cules it. Yes ; we are always to expect op- 
 position; it is a sign of the Divine Life 
 asserting itself in a fallen world. So, when 
 He came into the world, when "the Word 
 was made flesh," and "He came unto His 
 own, and His own received Him not," 
 Herod, as the representative of this world's 
 power, sees his own throne tottering and 
 seeks to destroy the new-born King. So it 
 was with our Blessed Lord after His bap- 
 tism. Mark the sequence of mysteries 
 in our Lord's life. After His Baptism, 
 when the heavens were opened above Him, 
 the Spirit was seen descending and resting 
 upon Him, and the voice of the Eternal 
 Father was heard proclaiming, ' * This is My 
 beloved Son;" then, immediately, " He is 
 led into the wilderness to be tempted of the 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 125 
 
 devil." * Before He enters on His ministry, 
 before He works a single miracle, preaches a 
 single sermon, or wins a single disciple, He 
 will constitute Himself "a merciful and 
 faithful High Priest;" "for, in that He 
 Himself hath suffered, being tempted, He 
 is able to succour them that are tempted." f 
 He earns His right to teach and lead. Mark 
 the Temptation before the Ministry, and the 
 Temptation following right upon the Bap- 
 tism. 
 
 There stands the Evil One. " Let us see 
 what it means. Art Thou the Son of God ? 
 What means the proclamation ? Has the 
 Spirit descended on Him ? It shall be 
 wrested from Him ! " 
 
 Ah! we are often discouraged because 
 after receiving some grace some fiery trial 
 assaults us. It is just the time to make 
 the grace our own; as we act upon the 
 grace given, the grace is appropriated and 
 assimilated by us. 
 
 It was so, again, after the institution of 
 the other great sacrament. Jesus leads 
 * St. Matt. iii. 4. f Heb. ii. 17, 18. 
 
126 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 His disciples forth from the upper cham- 
 ber of the Eucharist to share in His Pas- 
 sion, to the 'Gethsemane of spiritual wrest- 
 ling, the Gabbatha of contradiction, the 
 Golgotha of actual suffering and death. Ah ! 
 if we would worthily show forth His death 
 in holy mysteries, we must in our lives be 
 conformed to His example. 
 
 So here Mary, who is brought so near to 
 Him, begins already to share His cup of 
 sorrows; the sword begins to pierce her 
 heart because she is the mother of Him who 
 is "the Man of Sorrows, and acquainted 
 with grief." * Think of Mary's sorrow when 
 the decree goes forth from Herod to de- 
 stroy all the children of Bethlehem, in the 
 hope that among them may be her own 
 Child. That Child, as Simeon says, is set 
 "for the fall of many and for the rising of 
 others in Israel, and for a sign to be 
 spoken against, "f Think of her sorrow, 
 not only for herself; she must share His 
 sorrow; but that, be sure, is not the first 
 thought in her heart. She sorrows for her 
 
 * Isaiah liii. 3. * St. Luke ii. 34. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 127 
 
 Child that His interests should be jeop- 
 ardized; she sorrows for all the mothers of 
 Bethlehem; she sorrows for Herod, too; 
 hating the sin, pitying the sinner. Ah! 
 "many and great are the troubles of the 
 righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out 
 of all."* 
 
 Think then first of the necessary antag- 
 onism between the Church and the world, 
 between Christ and Satan. The Child is 
 born, and the enemy seeks to destroy its 
 life. Be prepared for opposition; don't be 
 surprised at difficulties in your life or in your 
 work. 
 
 II. Consider the example of Detachment ; 
 for that is the lesson we learn from the Flight 
 into Egypt. Think what was involved in it. 
 Three months had passed since the birth in 
 Bethlehem; the Magi had come from their 
 distant homes; the Holy Family are now, 
 comparatively, comfortably lodged at Bethle- 
 hem; the pressure for room caused by the 
 taxing has passed away ; they are no longer 
 
 * Ps. xxxiv. 19. 
 
128 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 in the stable, the Magi found them in their 
 house.* People, too, have become friendly, 
 attracted by the unearthly sweetness of the 
 Holy Family; their attention also had been 
 aroused by the message of the shepherds, 
 and by the coming of the Eastern travellers. 
 Mary is now able to go to the Temple when 
 she pleases; she is in comparative proximity 
 to the Temple while at Bethlehem. And 
 Mary at Bethlehem is in the home of her 
 ancestors; she is of the line of David, his 
 heiress. 
 
 It has been supposed by some that the 
 very stable in which the Saviour was born 
 belonged to the old homestead of David and 
 Jesse; that the little town had grown up 
 around it, and that then it was used as the 
 caravansary of the place. 
 
 Mary is at home in Bethlehem, in a place 
 full of sacred associations. And now all this 
 is to be sacrificed. There comes the message 
 to arise at once, and fly into Egypt into 
 Egypt, where, indeed, there is a considerable 
 colony of Jews, and where they would be free 
 
 *St. Matt. ii. II. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 129 
 
 from Herod's jurisdiction and interference; 
 but it is a heathen country, and associated in 
 the minds of every patriotic Hebrew with the 
 idea of bondage and of Israel's degrada- 
 tion. 
 
 Carry the Child there to such a desolation? 
 Oh, how strange are God's ways! " His ways 
 are not our ways, nor His thoughts our 
 thoughts."* He gives such strange, para- 
 doxical commands, so contrary to what we 
 should have thought! And they go. Ah! 
 think of it. 
 
 Are we called tol eave some Bethlehem ? 
 Are we despatched to some spiritual Egypt ? 
 Are we called to give up some cherished at- 
 traction, some bosom companion, some 
 helpful guide, and sent to some spiritual 
 Egypt to carry our experiences to those who 
 are less privileged than ourselves, to impart 
 to them what God has given to us ? Or are 
 we laid by through sickness, and compelled 
 to give up some cherished work, not for our- 
 selves, but for the good of others ? Are we 
 disqualified by sickness, or by invalidism, 
 
 * Isaiah lv. 8. 
 
130 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 which is worse ? It is like being sent into 
 Egypt. Do we go like Mary, promptly, 
 carrying the child with us ? Or are we in- 
 wardly rebellious, repining, discontented, 
 reluctant ? 
 
 They go "with haste;" they pack up and 
 start at once. Egypt will not be the land of 
 desolation if God bids them go thither, and 
 if they carry the Child with them. Palestine 
 would be no " Holy Land," nor Bethlehem 
 "the house of bread," unless they were 
 there at God's bidding. ' ' No, Lord, let 
 Egypt be my dwelling, at Thy command; 
 not the Holy Land with all its privileges, 
 nor Bethlehem, at my own self-will. Any- 
 where with Thee, O Lord; nowhere without 
 Thee ! " " Lord, I will follow Thee whither- 
 soever Thou goest." * "In all places where 
 I record My Name, I will come unto thee 
 and I will bless thee;" f but at no altar which 
 thou hast devised and erected for thyself, for 
 thine own will- worship ! Are we ready to 
 leave our spiritual privileges and blessings 
 when God in one way or another deprives us 
 
 * St. Luke ix. 27. f Ex. xx. 24. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 131 
 
 of them ? How often we have our perverted 
 ideas of what means of grace and sacraments 
 are to do for us ! We have an idea that all 
 are to support us and to hedge us round; 
 that, while we are weak and tottering, 
 Almighty God will put a strong staff in our 
 hand on which we may lean ! Almighty 
 God will do nothing of the kind. He gives 
 us His sacraments to be our food and 
 strength, so that we may come to live by His 
 indwelling might. 
 
 When from time to time, from one cause 
 or another, we are debarred from the means 
 of grace, then is the time to show what we 
 have gained from them in the past; and that 
 we have not merely enjoyed them, but prof- 
 ited by them. 
 
 Let us think, then, what a lesson of de- 
 tachment Blessed Mary gives us, not from 
 mere natural human associations, but from 
 whatever God sees fit to withdraw from us. 
 
 III. Consider the example of Obedience and 
 its reward that we have in the Flight of the 
 Holy Family into Egypt. 
 
132 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 We may note five points concerning it : 
 
 (i.) The security which comes from obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 Thus the young Child's life is saved. 
 The Angel comes with the warning message, 
 "Herod will seek the young Child's life to 
 destroy it. Arise, flee into Egypt. "J And 
 Joseph obeys ; he takes the young Child 
 and His mother, and the life of Jesus is pre- 
 served. 
 
 Ah ! how often an angel comes to us with 
 a warning word "they seek the young 
 child's life!" that young child of grace in 
 the good resolution you made at the begin- 
 ning of Advent, or at your Christmas Com- 
 munion, or at the opening of the New Year, 
 or in the resolve with which you leave your 
 Retreat. ' ' They seek the young child's life ! " 
 the world, the flesh, the devil, your own 
 besetting sin, your special temptation is lying 
 in wait ; avoid the occasion of evil ! 
 
 How often have we neglected that warn- 
 ing voice which came to us in some inspira- 
 tion the word of a parent, the warning 
 
 J St. Matt. ii. 13. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 133 
 
 of a friend, or the counsel of a spiritual 
 guide! We were allowing ourselves some 
 liberty; the voice said, " Beware! " We dis- 
 regarded it, and the young child received 
 some injury; maybe, it was killed outright. 
 
 Or, on the other hand, the warning came 
 and we listened. " Beware of that evil, 
 avoid that reading, that companionship, 
 that amusement!" It was not in itself 
 wrong, but for us it was seen to be danger- 
 ous. We looked back afterwards, and we 
 saw what a danger we had escaped. And 
 that other, who would not heed, fell into the 
 danger and received a deadly injury. Learn 
 the lesson of prompt obedience, to save the 
 life of the child of grace. 
 
 (ii.) We have the example of unconditional 
 obedience. " Go, flee into Egypt, and be 
 thou there until I bring thee word again." 
 Not for two months, or six, or twelve; not 
 for two years or four. No time is specified, 
 no term is given; but, " until I bring thee 
 word again." 
 
 We must not make conditions with God; 
 and yet we are always trying to do so. "I 
 
134 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 can submit to this, but that I cannot stand ! " 
 ' ' I can take this sickness, but that disap- 
 pointment I cannot bear!" "I can be put 
 aside for this winter, but not beyond! " 
 
 Ah ! there must be no making terms with 
 God; the obedience must be unconditional. 
 " Go. Be ready to do, to be, to bear what I 
 order now, and then thou wilt be ready to 
 do, to be, to bear whatever I have in store 
 for thee in the future." Remember St. 
 Jeanne Chantal's paraphrase of the Lord's 
 Prayer : * * Without ' if, ' without ' but, ' with- 
 out exception, without limit, Thy will, O 
 Lord, be done." Yes; ''flee into Egypt, and 
 be thou there until I bring thee word again." 
 
 (iii.) Then, again, consider how all this 
 trouble came through the wickedness and 
 violence of King Herod. It was that which 
 rendered the Flight necessary. It was his 
 envy, his fear, lest his own usurped sway 
 should come to an end. 
 
 How often do we resent trials that come 
 to us through the mistakes or the faults of 
 others. We say, "If it came directly from 
 the hand of God I could accept it." So we 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 135 
 
 say, and so we think. " But it does not; it 
 comes from the stupidity and perverseness 
 of this or that person ! " What did the 
 Passion of our Lord Jesus Christ come 
 from ? Was it arranged by Heaven ? It was 
 all the work of hell base, false, cruel. 
 " This is your hour and the power of dark- 
 ness,"* said our Lord; and yet, almost in 
 the same breath, "The cup which My 
 Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it ? " f 
 These two words of our Lord at His appre- 
 hension in the Garden represent the two 
 aspects of all sorrow and all suffering. Re- 
 gard it as the cup which the Lord gives, 
 although it may be tendered by an evil hand. 
 God allows many things that He does not 
 inspire, and He will overrule for good all the 
 evil that He allows, if only we will take it 
 aright. "The cup which my Father gives," 
 appeals to all the loving, trustful submission 
 that is in me. ' * This is your hour and the 
 power of darkness," appeals to all that is 
 noble, strong, brave and generous in me. I 
 will not be beaten ; I will stand my ground ! 
 * St. Luke xxii. 53. f St. John xviii. 1 1. 
 
136 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Think of this in any sickness, or misunder- 
 standing, or opposition, any sorrow or suffer- 
 ing that may befall you; think of its two- 
 fold aspect, and how it is to be met in this 
 twofold spirit. 
 
 (iv.) Think of the example of obedience on 
 the part of those set to rule. It is the par- 
 ents who obey, those who are in charge of 
 the Holy Child. They have to show them- 
 selves obedient to the Heavenly Father 
 whom they represent. None are fitted to 
 rule unless they have first learned to obey. 
 Oh, my friends, what a special lesson for any 
 of us who are charged with the care of 
 others ! We have no right to rule unless we 
 can submit ourselves as those under author- 
 ity. Children are to obey their parents, pas- 
 tors, teachers, ''in the Lord;" but these 
 must be in the strict line of representation ; 
 we must be obeying Him if we are requiring 
 obedience from others in His Name; if we 
 are ourselves lacking in obededience, we for- 
 feit our right to rule. 
 
 See what a wonderful example of obedience 
 is shown in the life and conduct of St. Joseph, 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 137 
 
 who was set to be the head of the Holy 
 Family, the guardian of the Blessed Mother, 
 the foster-father of the Holy Child. On 
 every occasion on which St. Joseph is men- 
 tioned in the Gospels, he is acting under 
 obedience. 
 
 (i.) Before our Lord's birth Joseph was in 
 sad perplexity as to the purity and faithful- 
 ness of his espoused wife. It was his duty, 
 according to the Levitical law framed to 
 guard the sanctity of family life, to put her 
 away. He was about to act in obedience to 
 the Levitical law, and, at the same time, to 
 obey the law of kindness in his own heart 
 which urged him to do it privately.* 
 
 (2.) The Angel comes and gives the ex- 
 planation which sweeps away all his fears: 
 "That which is conceived in her is of the 
 Holy Ghost." f He bids him arise and take 
 unto him his wife, and give her shelter and 
 protection. Without hesitation he acts on 
 the Angel's word. In blind faith he accepts 
 the explanation. The world may scoff at 
 his simplicity, but "to the pure all things 
 
 *St. Matt. i. 19. fSt. Matt. i. 20. 
 
138 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 are pure;"* and the loving and the gener- 
 ous can believe in the faithfulness of others. 
 He takes her and shelters her. 
 
 (3.) They go to Bethlehem at the com- 
 mand of Caesar, for the t axing, f He obeys 
 not only the Angel, he obeys God through 
 whatever channel the command comes. 
 The heathen emperor is the civil ruler, and 
 in his sphere he represents Almighty God. 
 
 (4.) The child is circumcised on the 
 eighth day according to the Law; and the 
 Saving Name foretold is given by Joseph in 
 faith,! as the Angel had bidden. 
 
 (5.) On the fortieth day the mother is puri- 
 fied and the Child presented and redeemed. 
 
 (6.) And now at the bidding of the Angel 
 he takes the young Child and His mother 
 and flees into Egypt, and waits there until 
 the Angel comes to tell them that ' ' they are 
 dead which sought the young Child's life." 
 
 (7.) Then in obedience " he returns into the 
 land of Israel." 
 
 (8.) As he returns, when he hears that 
 
 * Titus i. 15. f St. Luke ii. 1-4. 
 
 J St. Matt. i. 21. I St. Luke ii. 21-25. 
 
THE FLIGHT INTO EGYPT. 139 
 
 Archelaus, the cruel son of his cruel father, 
 reigns in Judea, and he is afraid to go thither, 
 in obedience to the Angel's word in a dream, 
 he turns aside to Nazareth.* 
 
 (9.) And afterwards, year by year, he is 
 seen attending the Temple feast at Jerusa- 
 lem, until at last the Child is initiated in the 
 Law.f And then his work is done, and he 
 passes away; the Holy Child needs no longer 
 his guardianship. " Guided by His counsel," 
 He will, at last, " receive him into glory. "J 
 And after a little while that Son whom he 
 had guarded and tended, shall come and 
 claim him in Paradise. 
 
 Thus on every occasion Joseph is seen 
 acting in obedience to the command of God, 
 however expressed, whether directly by in- 
 spiration, or by the word of an Angel, or 
 through the ecclesiastical or the civil law. 
 As one who is set to govern, he is fitted to 
 rule by unhesitating, unconditional obedi- 
 ence. 
 
 (v.) One last word. When we obey God's 
 
 * St. Luke ii. 22, 23. f St. Luke ii. 41, 42. 
 
 I Ps. Ixxiii. 23. 
 
140 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 ^vord, "all things work together for good." * 
 All seemed so unlikely, so contrary, but all is 
 taken into account by Almighty God. All is 
 foreseen and arranged for. By St. Joseph's 
 obedience not only is the Child's life spared, 
 but the old prophecy sees its fulfilment, 
 " Out of Egypt have I called My Son.f He 
 turns aside to Nazareth at the Angel's bid- 
 ding, because it is unsafe to dwell where 
 Archelaus reigns, and another saying of the 
 prophet is fulfilled, "He shall be called a 
 Nazarene."J 
 
 Ah! the things that seem so untoward, 
 that are due to people's sins and Satan's 
 wrath, God will make them all "work to- 
 gether for good;" all sorrows, trials and 
 temptations, yes, and even our falls, if re- 
 pented of. "All things work together for 
 good to them that love God." " His wisdom 
 reacheth from one end to another; mightily 
 and sweetly doth it order all things." 
 
 Let us repeat Psalm IxiiL 
 
 *Rom. viii. 28. fSt. Matt. ii. 15; Hosea xi. I. 
 
 \ St. Matt. ii. 23. \ Wisdom viii. i. 
 
EIGHTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE LOSING AND FINDING OF THE HOLY 
 CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 
 
 LET us meditate upon Mary losing and find- 
 ing the Holy Child in the Temple. 
 
 Consider her remonstrance, as she finds 
 Him after the three days' search. " Son, 
 why has Thou thus dealt with us ? Behold, 
 Thy father and I have sought Thee sorrow- 
 ing."* 
 
 O Lord Jesus Christ, deal with us, we pray 
 Thee, in Thy love and wisdom, as Thou seest 
 to be best for us. Train us by Thy disci- 
 pline ; enable us to grow in Thy knowledge 
 and Thy love; remove from us all that is 
 displeasing in Thy sight; kindle in us true 
 devotion, and an earnest desire to serve 
 Thee. And grant that when the trial and 
 discipline of life is over, we may behold Thee 
 
 * St. Luke ii. 48. 
 141 
 
142 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 in the Heavenly Temple, and in Thy pres- 
 ence may find the fulness of joy. To whom, 
 with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all 
 honour and glory, world without end. 
 Amen. 
 
 Our Father. 
 
 We find Mary again in the Temple some 
 twelve years after we beheld her there at her 
 Purification. She then presented her infant 
 Child to the Lord. Now He accompanies 
 her, a Boy of twelve years old ; and we have 
 to consider a mingled mystery of joy and 
 sorrow. She has a joy almost greater than 
 any she has yet experienced, and a sorrow 
 certainly not less. She had fled from Bethle- 
 hem with Him to preserve His life ; now for 
 a while she has to mourn the loss of Him. 
 During twelve years she had been at the 
 Temple feast; hitherto she had left Him at 
 home, now He accompanies her. He has 
 come of age to be initiated into the Temple 
 rites, to take His part in its ceremonies; He 
 has become a Child of the Law. Think what 
 joy is hers as she takes her Boy in that cara- 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 143 
 
 van of pilgrims from Bethlehem to Jeru- 
 salem ! 
 
 Some of you, perhaps, have experienced a 
 like joy when you have taken your child, or 
 a pupil, or a godchild, to Confirmation or to 
 First Communion. Think of Mary and her 
 Child, and what joy and pride swelled her 
 heart ! Think of the new meaning that came 
 to her in that psalm, when she said, ' ' I was 
 glad when they said unto me, we will go into 
 the house of the Lord. Our feet shall stand 
 in thy gates, O Jerusalem ! " * Think how 
 she knelt by His side in the Temple courts; 
 how they had looked forward to that day, 
 talked about it, and about the Temple rites. 
 And now they see them all enacted. Think 
 of the questions He asks, and of her explana- 
 tions. Think of His voice, as it rings out 
 clear among the voices of the Levites, as they 
 chant David's Psalms. How they seem to 
 gain new meaning as He utters them ! As 
 when a master-musician takes the instru- 
 ment into his hands, and we never knew 
 what sounds it could give forth before; so 
 
 *Ps. cxxii. i. 
 
144 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 the Psalter, on the lips of the Son of Man, 
 rises to a fulness of tone, gains a richness of 
 harmony never known before in the Temple 
 worship. 
 
 Think of Mary's joy at His devotion, 
 at His wisdom, at the questions He asked 
 when being catechized, as it were, by the 
 scribes and lawyers in the Temple court. 
 We are not to think of our Lord as sitting 
 down to teach the doctors such an idea 
 would be altogether preposterous ! The doc- 
 tors sat round in a semi-circle, the pupils sat 
 at their feet, hearing them and asking them 
 questions. But the questions He asked sug- 
 gested meanings such as they had never 
 known; He was giving far more information 
 than He received; they were amazed, and 
 His mother was astonished too; there was 
 an outshining of wisdom in her Boy such as 
 she had not seen before. So think of her joy. 
 
 But remember that we can pray along 
 with our Lord Jesus Christ in a better and 
 more intimate way than was even granted to 
 His Blessed Mother in the Temple. We are 
 incorporated into His mystical Body. His 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 145 
 
 Spirit has communicated to us "the mind of 
 Christ." Not until after Pentecost could she 
 pray "in His Name." We pray not along- 
 side of Him, but with Him, as an indwelling 
 Inspirer. Ah! think of what our prayer 
 should be in the sanctuary, praying along 
 with Christ, as members of Christ, and with 
 the aid of His Spirit. Think what it means 
 to pray in Christ's Name. It does not 
 mean just to tack on Christ's Name at the 
 end of a prayer, as a sort of charm; as 
 though the weak petition that bubbles out of 
 our heart could gain acceptance if so offered 
 in His Name ! No ; to pray in Christ's Name 
 means to pray with Christ's authority; it 
 means to have Christ praying in us ; we 
 praying the prayers He prays praying under 
 the inspiration of our Head. Our prayer is 
 not simply to pass through His Hands, to 
 find an echo in His sacred Heart. No, no; 
 it must be originated in His Heart, and then 
 echoed by us. What does He desire for me ? 
 I must beg from Him the Spirit of grace and 
 of supplication, that I, who know not what to 
 pray for, nor how to ask as I ought, may be 
 
146 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 helped by the Spirit of Christ, that I may 
 think His thoughts, have His desires, and 
 pray along with Him.* Think of this in your 
 private prayers. Think of the reverence and 
 attention that should characterize prayers 
 which are offered along with Christ's inter- 
 cession. Think of yourself as kneeling on 
 one of the lower steps of the Altar Throne 
 on which He pleads on our behalf, gathering 
 up all the prayers that are prayed by His 
 faithful servants on earth and in Paradise. 
 Think of the spirituality that should mark 
 the prayers of Christ's members, who pray 
 along with Him. 
 
 Again, think of prayer at the Holy 
 Eucharist. He joined in prayer and Mary 
 joined with Him, assisting at the Temple 
 sacrifice. We are privileged to join in offer- 
 ing the Sacrifice which is the antitype of 
 all the Jewish sacrifices. The Eucharist is 
 the earthly counterpart of the Heavenly 
 pleading. We contend that the Holy Euchar- 
 ist is the great central act of devotion, that 
 it is the only divinely appointed service of 
 
 * St. John xvi. 23, 24 ; Rom. yiii. 26. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 147 
 
 the Christian Church; that nothing must be 
 allowed to take its place, whatever may be 
 the most convenient arrangement of services. 
 But we so often make a mistake here. 
 The Holy Eucharist is not our great act of 
 worship, because in it we plead and offer 
 Christ as our substitute. He is not our 
 substitute, He is our great Leader and 
 Representative. He did not die that we 
 might not die; He did not suffer that we 
 might lead a self-indulgent, luxurious life! 
 We must arm ourselves with His mind.* He 
 does for us that which, without Him, we 
 could never have attempted, but in which 
 we must share if we would be partakers of 
 the benefits of His life and death. It is 
 not His death as our substitute that we. 
 plead. We gather round about Him, and 
 He leads our devotions. As we show forth 
 His " obedience unto death, "f in His own 
 appointed way; as we plead 
 
 The only offering perfect in Thine eyes, 
 The one, true, pure, immortal sacrifice, 
 
 we must " offer and present ourselves, 
 * i St. Pet. iv. i, f Phil. ii. 8. 
 
148 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 our souls and bodies" along with Him, 
 as our reasonable service to the Father. 
 It is His obedience that God delights in, 
 not His death. God delights not in 
 death; not in mine, or yours, or His dear 
 Son's; but in obedience. It is the will- 
 ingness to suffer in God's cause unto death, 
 the " obedience unto death," with which 
 God is well pleased. That is the offering we 
 show forth in glad thanksgiving and exulta- 
 tion, and at the same time proclaim as the 
 law of life for ourselves to follow, in the 
 Eucharistic mystery. 
 
 Ah! think what our Eucharists involve. 
 There the Head gathers the members about 
 Him; He offers them along with Himself, 
 and the Church offers herself along with 
 Him, the great Head, the Representative of 
 the Christian Society. As we gather round 
 our Leader and assist in the presentation of 
 Him who is both Priest and Victim, He 
 makes us, likewise, ' ' kings and priests unto 
 God and His Father."* 
 
 But if we go forth from our Eucharists to 
 * Rev. i. 6. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE: 149 
 
 live idle, self-indulgent, self-pleasing lives, 
 think, what are our Eucharists but our con- 
 demnation? This is what we plead; this is 
 what God delights in Christ's obedience unto 
 death, and we rule the straight, clear line 
 of His obedience, only to make more plain 
 the crookedness of our own want of corre- 
 spondence with His will ! 
 
 Think, then, of Mary joining with Him in 
 that worship of the Temple ; and let us think 
 of ourselves joining with Him in better 
 fashion in the great Sacrament of the 
 Eucharist. 
 
 Think again, how Mary in that Temple 
 worship gained a new realization of her 
 Son's character and personal dignity. 
 
 And think how we, year after year, festi- 
 val after festival, Retreat after Retreat, 
 are to grow in the knowledge and love of 
 God, and of the things of God ; keeping the 
 old ways, not just in the old fashion, but div- 
 ing down to a deeper significance, rising 
 higher through fresh inspiration ; not recur- 
 ring to them as mere historical events, but 
 as sources of real spiritual power. My Bible 
 
150 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 reading, my spiritual exercises, my Confes- 
 sions, my Communions, my Retreats all are 
 to help me grow in the knowledge and love 
 of God. Am I seeking to gain a newer and 
 truer conception of the things of God, in 
 nature, in providence, in grace ? Are my 
 heart and my understanding kindled with a 
 new knowledge and love of God ? Am I 
 seeking to attain a childlike spirit, while I 
 put away childish things ? There is all the 
 difference in the world between being child- 
 like and childish! We are to "put away 
 childish things,"* childish conceptions of 
 prayer, of God, of the sacraments, of our 
 Christian life; while we retain a childlike 
 spirit of trust and love. All this is diffi- 
 cult. There must be humility, patience, 
 trustfulness and love, if we are to grow in 
 grace. But we are, remember, to offer to 
 God the homage of our mental faculties; we 
 are not to let them grow in secular knowl- 
 edge, while they remain stagnant and undevel- 
 oped as regards the worthiest of all acquire- 
 ments the knowledge of spiritual things. 
 *i Cor. xiii. n. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 151 
 
 Think, then, of Mary accompanying her 
 Son, joining in His prayer, assisting with 
 Him in offering the Temple sacrifice, gain- 
 ing fresh conception of His character, His 
 dignity, and of all spiritual things along with 
 Him. 
 
 II. Then think of the sudden change the 
 sorrowful side of the mystery of that visit to 
 the Temple. Yes ; she experiences now a 
 sorrow greater than that of the reproach of 
 Nazareth, or the anxiety of Bethlehem, or 
 the flight into Egypt. All that was borne 
 with Him, now there is the loss of Him ! 
 
 Ah ! be prepared for changes of experi- 
 ence in the spiritual life. The Magnificat, 
 which was the last recorded utterance of 
 Blessed Mary, is followed by this loving, sor- 
 rowful expostulation; the major key sinks 
 down to its plaintive minor : ' ' Son, why hast 
 Thou thus dealt with us ?" 
 
 So it is in our life ! There is a time of 
 joy, of festival joy, of spiritual joy in 
 Retreat, when the things of God are so plain 
 and clear that we almost seem to see them, 
 
152 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 to lay hold of them ; it seems almost absurd 
 not to live under their control; the super- 
 natural seems the common sense view. 
 
 Then a cloud comes and settles down over 
 us, and we wonder whether it could all have 
 been true. That state of ecstasy was it 
 mere emotion, the effect of the imagination, 
 or of some fascinating companionship ? 
 
 Yes, there are all sorts of vicissitudes in 
 spiritual as in natural circumstances, and 
 many causes contribute to them. We must 
 be prepared for them just as much as we are 
 for changes of climate. Our Magnificat will 
 often sink down to the plaintive expostula- 
 tion with the Lord "Why hast Thou thus 
 dealt with us ? " 
 
 It is worth noticing the sequence of say- 
 ings of the Blessed Mother. There are just 
 seven in the Gospels, which mark out, as it 
 were, the experiences of the spiritual 
 life. 
 
 (i.) There is the word of prudence. " How 
 shall this be ? " * asked, as we have seen, not 
 in doubt, but as testing the spirit, rightly 
 
 *St. Luke 1.34. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 153 
 
 seeking to be assured that the message came 
 from God. 
 
 (ii.) Then, so assured, there comes the 
 answer of simple self -surrender. t c Behold 
 the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me ac- 
 cording to thy word." * 
 
 (iii.) Then, mark, she went to salute St. 
 Elizabeth with the word of loving kindness 
 and of sympathy, f Her great dignity did 
 not make her stand on her rights, or wait for 
 Elizabeth to visit her. Her great joy made 
 her full of loving-kindness. " He that loveth 
 God loveth his brother also." J 
 
 (iv.) Then comes her central saying, in 
 which she pours out her whole soul to God in 
 the Magnificat. 
 
 (v.) Then follows this word the word of 
 loving remonstrance, telling of trials in the 
 spiritual life. " Why hast Thou thus dealt 
 with us ? " || Then follow the two other say- 
 ings, at the marriage at Cana of Galilee, 
 which we shall consider later. 
 
 * St. Luke i. 38. f St. Luke i. 40. 
 
 \ i St. John iv. 21. \ St. Luke i. 46-56. 
 || St. Luke ii. 48. 
 
154 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 (vi.) One, the word of loving intercession, 
 bringing the needs of her friends before our 
 Lord, seeing their difficulty and embarrass- 
 ment. Her own sorrows had made her sym- 
 pathetic; she is quick and eager to relieve 
 others. " They have no wine ! " * 
 
 (vii.) The other, as she retires from the 
 scene as her Son enters on His public work, 
 her word of counsel ''Whatsoever He saith 
 unto you, do it." f 
 
 Look for something corresponding to this 
 in your own life. 
 
 Now the festival is over; the company 
 are returning to Nazareth; the caravan 
 starts; and through some mistake the 
 Child has not been informed ; they start with- 
 out Him. In the great company they sup- 
 pose Him to be with friends and are not 
 alarmed. But the night comes, they bivouac ; 
 and now they find Him not. They search 
 for Him among their friends, and He is not 
 there. Think of the agony of that night and 
 how hastily they retrace their steps to the 
 Holy City the next morning. All that day 
 
 * St. John ii. 3. f St. John ii. 5. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 155 
 
 they search for Him; another night passes 
 and they find Him not; not until the 
 third day do they discover Him in the Tern- 
 pie. 
 
 O think of the sorrow of that three days' 
 search! And is there not something of re- 
 proof in our Lord's answer to His mother's 
 words: "How is it that ye sought Me? 
 Wist ye not that I must be about My 
 Father's business?" Or, rather "in my 
 Father's house" for that, without doubt, 
 is the correct translation. "How is it that 
 ye sought Me? What did you go to the 
 lodgings for? Why did you seek Me in the 
 streets or in friends' houses? Why did you 
 not come to the Temple? You left Me here, 
 and here I am ! " 
 
 Ah ! and so it is continually in our own ex- 
 perience. It is not the Lord who has with- 
 drawn from us, but we from Him. We can- 
 not always have spiritual fervour. Maybe 
 our natural powers have given out the strain 
 was too great. Or maybe our spiritual 
 powers have given out; some temptation 
 came and we gave way to it, we grew lax in 
 
156 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 self-discipline, careless in our prayers; we 
 were not faithful to the inspirations of con- 
 science; we have withdrawn from Him. 
 And then we ask our Lord, " Why hast Thou 
 thus dealt with us ? " And He answers, 
 "Here I am; I was waiting to hear your 
 prayer, to feed you with My word, to give 
 you Myself in the sacrament. ' Return unto 
 Me, and I will return unto you.'* It is you 
 who have changed; it is you who went away 
 from My presence; it is you who deserted 
 My holy Temple. Or, you sought to distract 
 yourself in earthly pleasures and companion- 
 ship, and you have failed ! Ah ! come back 
 to Me, and find in Me the joy and strength of 
 your spiritual life !" 
 
 We are not to be surprised at such experi- 
 ences, nor to be discouraged by them. God 
 tries His chosen servants. He would lead 
 Mary and Joseph to value their treasure more 
 highly, since they have been without Him 
 those three days. Oh, how careful would they 
 be afterwards, not to let Him out of their 
 sight, that there should be no more mis- 
 
 * Mai. iii. 7. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 157 
 
 understanding, but all quite plain and 
 clear. 
 
 And when we have no sensible consolation, 
 when all our spiritual exercises seem dry and 
 dull, all mere forms, and we hardly know 
 how to drag ourselves along in our spiritual 
 life, He would have us cling to Him more 
 closely, since we know how barren and dry a 
 thing life is without Him. "Like as the 
 hart desireth the water-brooks, so longeth my 
 soul after Thee, O God."* 
 
 So think of Mary's joy and sorrow as the 
 type and pattern of your spiritual experi- 
 ence. 
 
 III. Was there not some sense of failure 
 on Joseph's part, of neglected responsibility ? 
 Ought he to have lost sight of the Holy 
 Child ? Ought he to have started without 
 ascertaining that He was in the company, to 
 have trusted to the chance of finding Him ? 
 Think of the remorse of St. Joseph. Mary 
 might have chidden him : * ' It was your part 
 to keep watch over the Boy; you are His 
 * Ps. xlii. i. 
 
158 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 appointed guardian !" And how he must have 
 chidden himself for his thoughtlessness and 
 carelessness. 
 
 Think of that as a sort of typical warning 
 for any of us who are put in charge of the 
 spiritual life of others, when through our 
 neglect or carelessness, or inconsistency or 
 bad example, we lose hold of them the child 
 committed to the parent's care, the soul com- 
 mitted to the priest's guidance and pastoral 
 ministrations, the pupil to the teacher, the 
 god-child to the sponsor and we have for- 
 gotten them, or been careless, self-pleasing, 
 neglectful. ' * Where is the flock I committed 
 to thee? " 
 
 Think of Joseph's remorse, and of our own 
 self -accusation ; and learn the lesson of real 
 carefulness, of earnest fidelity in the dis- 
 charge of any such trust. Pray that you 
 may never, by carelessness or bad example, 
 put a stumbling-block in the way of a soul 
 for whom Christ died. 
 
 Think of our Lord's words in that great 
 High-Priestly prayer to His Father in which 
 He reviews His life and ministry. " I have 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 159 
 
 glorified Thee on the earth."* How? By 
 success ? It was, to all appearances, a ghast- 
 ly failure ! No ; but because ' ' I have fin- 
 ished the work which Thou gavest me to 
 do." Never mind success or failure; out- 
 ward success may be real spiritual failure; 
 and outward failure, if we have been true 
 and faithful, is not failure in the sight of 
 God. " I have manifested Thy Name unto 
 the men whom Thou gavest Me out of the 
 world; Thine they were and Thou gavest 
 them Me" those few that little handful! 
 " Of them have I lost none." 
 
 And those people He has given Me; those 
 few placed under my influence can I say 
 " of them whom Thou gavest me have I lost 
 none, but the son of perdition ? "f There was 
 that limit to the success of Jesus Christ. He 
 could not, He would not force Judas. He 
 will woo, and attract, and allure, but not 
 compel. And there is that limit to our in- 
 fluence; we cannot force any against their 
 will. 
 
 But let us live so as to be able to echo our 
 
 * St. John xvii. 4. f St. John xvii. 12. 
 
160 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Lord's words, " Of them whom Thou gavest 
 Me have I lost none" by carelessness, by 
 want of energy, or by bad example. 
 
 And let us learn the same lesson as regards 
 our own life. We have failed. It has been 
 our own fault; we see it. Our life has 
 grown dull, our faith is less bright, our love 
 less active, and our hope has become clouded 
 over. We have withdrawn from Him; we 
 have not been careful to obey His inspira- 
 tions. " I looked for my beloved, but my 
 beloved had withdrawn himself and was 
 gone ... I sought him but I could not find 
 him; I called, but he gave me no answer."* 
 I am punished for my own faithlessness. 
 Then, "I found Him. . . I held Him and 
 would not let Him go."f I will be more 
 careful, more faithful in my spiritual exer- 
 cises, in my self-examination, in avoiding 
 occasions of evil; more true in all my du- 
 ties. He has chastised me; I have learned 
 " how evil and bitter a thing it is to forsake 
 the Lord." J " But He has not dealt with me 
 after my sins, nor rewarded me according to 
 
 * Cant. v. 6. f Cant. iii. 4. J Jer. ii. 19. 
 
THE HOLY CHILD IN THE TEMPLE. 161 
 
 my iniquities."* "Heaviness may endure 
 for a night, but joy cometh in the morn- 
 ing, "f "Then shall ye call upon Me, . . . 
 and I will hearken unto you. And ye shall 
 seek Me, and find Me, when ye shall 
 search for Me with all your heart. "J 
 
 Let us repeat Psalm xxx. 
 
 * Ps. ciii. 10. f Ps. xxx. 5. { Jer. xxix. 12, 13. 
 
NINTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE VIRGIN MOTHER AT THE MARRIAGE 
 FEAST IN CANA. 
 
 Let us meditate on the example of Blessed 
 Mary at the Marriage Feast of Cana. Listen 
 to her word of intercession, as she brings the 
 needs of the company before our Lord, and 
 says, "they have no wine."* And hear her 
 word of counsel to the servants, "Whatso- 
 ever He saith unto you, do it."f 
 
 O Almighty God, who hast ordained and 
 constituted the services of men and of angels 
 in a wonderful order, and hast incorporated 
 us one with another in the mystical body of 
 Thy dear Son; grant us, we beseech Thee, 
 ever the spirit of loving fellowship, that we 
 may rejoice with them that do rejoice and 
 weep with them that weep, that so, bearing 
 
 * St. John ii. 3. f St. John ii. 5. 
 
 162 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 163 
 
 one another's burdens here, we may be fitted 
 to have our share in the company of Thy 
 saints above, through the same Jesus Christ 
 our Lord. Amen. 
 Our Father. 
 
 Eighteen more years have passed since the 
 last events recorded in the life of the Blessed 
 Virgin Mary; and meanwhile, so far as the 
 Gospel record is concerned, she has been left 
 in silence, pondering over the things she has 
 seen and heard.* 
 
 Now again we have a mystery of mingled 
 joy and sorrow; as if here on earth we were 
 to expect no unclouded happiness, as if our 
 brightest joys were to be dashed with streaks 
 of pain. The Child has developed into the 
 Boy, the Boy has become the Man, and the 
 Man has entered on His public work. We 
 turn from the narrative of St. Luke, which 
 tells of the Infancy of our Lord (gathered 
 probably from the Blessed Mother herself), 
 to the story of St. John. 
 
 And, you will remember, the marriage 
 *St. Lukeii. 19, 51. 
 
1 64 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 feast at Cana was the occasion of St. John's 
 introduction to St. Mary, who from the Cross 
 was made his sacred charge. 
 
 Think what the intercourse between that 
 Mother and her Son must have been during 
 those years at Nazareth. How He had 
 grown up in her presence, and she had ad- 
 vanced in the spiritual life under His eye! 
 We see them now together at the marriage 
 feast. 
 
 I. Consider the example which the Blessed 
 Mother gives us of sympathy with both the joys 
 and the sorrows of others. She was fitted 
 for this by her own experience. Her own 
 deeper experience did not crowd out the 
 thought of others; she had learned to feel 
 for others because she had felt so much her- 
 self. Think of Mary's presence at the mar- 
 riage feast as the expression of her loving 
 interest in other's joys. She can enter into 
 their joys, although she has put aside all 
 ordinary wedding joys for herself. Perhaps 
 the bride was some friend her sister, or her 
 cousin, Mary the wife of Cleophas? It mat- 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CAN A. 165 
 
 ters not ; she is invited, she goes. She does 
 not say, "All this is too earthly, too low 
 for me!" She accepts the invitation and 
 goes to the wedding-feast. She takes an 
 interest in it, she adds to their innocent joy, 
 and cares for their distress when the supply 
 of wine becomes exhausted. 
 
 Ah! think of this; as we become more 
 spiritual, let us take care not to become awk- 
 ward, odd or unnatural. We do such harm 
 to religion in this way! If, in our family, 
 or in society, or in our work, or with our 
 pupils, others cannot look to us for sympathy, 
 then they are repelled from the religion we 
 profess. Surely, the religion of Jesus Christ 
 should make us more truly men and women ! 
 We may have to renounce something that is 
 less good for something that is better, but 
 don't let us try to impose this sacrifice upon 
 others. Don't say, "You must give up 
 going to the theatre because I find it better 
 not to go." Don't be strait-laced with your 
 pupils or your scholars; be large-hearted. 
 Don't be above sympathizing with their 
 interests. You may have more refinement, 
 
166 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 culture, and higher interests than they have ; 
 but these are things that interest them. 
 Keep them from harm, but don't frown on 
 what is harmless, or else they will say, ' ' We 
 will throw off all religion ! " 
 
 There is a grand saying which I have 
 never been able to trace beyond a sermon of 
 Dr. Liddon's : "The real Christian should 
 have a heart of steel towards self, a heart of 
 fire towards God, and a heart si flesh towards 
 his neighbor." All these should go together. 
 Sometimes we forget this and reverse their 
 order, especially in the earlier stages of 
 spiritual development. We forget the heart 
 of flesh, and because we are strict with our- 
 selves, we become hard with others. Or 
 maybe there is the heart of steel towards our 
 neighbor, and no heart of fire towards God, 
 and a heart of very tender flesh towards our- 
 selves and our own indulgences. No, no ; if 
 we are really strict with ourselves, we shall 
 have the heart of flesh for others; just be- 
 cause we know how difficult it is to keep 
 straight ourselves, we shall be ready to con- 
 done with others; and we shall be able to 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CAN A. 167 
 
 sympathize with others because we have 
 learnt by experience our own frailties. 
 
 Do not with your brothers or with friends, 
 be hard and repellent ; let your religion make 
 you more considerate, more loving and 
 attractive, more able to think of and enter 
 into the pleasures and interests of others. 
 
 Think of Mary, the mother of the Eternal 
 Son, at the marriage feast, bringing joy and 
 brightness, shedding an atmosphere of sweet- 
 ness and purity all around her. 
 
 Think of her sympathy with the distress of 
 those who have bidden her to the Feast. 
 She recognizes their need. The scanty 
 household store, which was all that their 
 humble circumstances could afford, has been 
 exhausted, possibly by the unexpected ar- 
 rival of Jesus and His disciples. With a true 
 woman's instinct she sees their embarrass- 
 ment and enters into their distress. She 
 does not say, "Let them feel their earthly 
 need; it will make them appreciate the 
 heavenly better!" She goes to her Son, 
 who also sees the need, and, what is more, 
 relieves it. 
 
168 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Do not smile at what people call " mere 
 philanthropy." Try to raise it to something 
 better. Do not hold in contempt what is 
 done for others, because it is not always 
 done in the best way. It may, perhaps, help 
 them to embrace religion and fit them to 
 receive spiritual truths. How can you ex- 
 pect the starving and naked to rise up to the 
 desire for heavenly things? "That is not 
 first which is spiritual," says St. Paul, "but 
 that which is natural."* Our Lord Him- 
 self when teaching by parables begins with 
 things earthly with what is close at hand ; 
 and then He says that all these things have 
 a meaning deeper and higher. He takes the 
 earthly and says, " Now learn from that 
 from the needs of your body the need that 
 your souls have of refreshing ! " You learn 
 from your duty to your earthly parent your 
 duty to your Heavenly Father. What is the 
 child's first idea of God, but of some one 
 higher, wiser and better than the wisest, 
 greatest, best person it knows its parent! 
 Think of that. A child will gain its first 
 * i Cor. xv. 46. 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CAN A. 169 
 
 idea of God from its earthly parent, who 
 either demands its obedience as a tyrant 
 "defy me if you dare!" or who lovingly 
 trains it and supplies its needs in a better 
 way than it can ask, and who guards it and 
 leads it on to better things. 
 
 So think of Mary, seeing the temporal 
 need of her friends, and setting herself to 
 relieve their anxieties. 
 
 Are we stirred by the sense of others' 
 need ? Think of that word of hers " They 
 have no wine ! " Oh, how it should echo from 
 our heart and lips in prayer ! There is not 
 only the absolute poverty of life, but the 
 joylessness of so many; not only of those 
 whom we ordinarily speak of as " the miser- 
 able classes," but the joylessness of so many 
 in the world of the rich and the worldly. 
 They have money, and they don't know how 
 to spend it ; they have possessions and plea- 
 sures, and they don't know how to use them ; 
 they have no real happiness in their lives 
 " they have no wine! " Oh, how we should 
 try to win them by love, to bring their needs 
 before our Lord, to try in every way we 
 
170 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 can, by our influence, our example, our 
 words of exhortation, to bring joy into 
 others' lives. And there are those who are 
 less fortunate than ourselves. How we 
 should use all the gifts that have been be- 
 stowed upon us for the common good. 
 Your educational advantages, your refine- 
 ment, your culture, your knowledge of liter- 
 ature, your musical talents, your art what 
 are they for ? Simply to make money by ? 
 God forbid! To distinguish you from 
 others ? No gift was ever bestowed in order 
 that the one to whom it was given might 
 be separated from others by that gift ! No ; 
 it is to be a link to bind us together. "I 
 can do something that my brother cannot, 
 therefore he has a claim on me, and I will 
 stand by him." We are made to be neces- 
 sary to one another; and for all the gifts we 
 have, as trustees for the common good, we 
 are responsible not only to Him who has 
 given them, but to our companions and our 
 fellow-men also for whom He has given 
 them. 
 Think. Are we using the advantages 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 171 
 
 that God has given us in trust, for our 
 brethren our scholars ? 
 
 Mary interceded. Ah! she does so now, 
 for those who have no joy, no brightness in 
 their lives; for those who don't know Him. 
 And we must intercede along with her. If 
 we join in her song of praise in the Magnifi- 
 cat, we must unite in her intercessions also, 
 and bring the needs of others before our 
 Lord; and as we bring them, do all we can 
 to supply them. "Give us this day our 
 daily bread," not, "Give me mine!" The 
 Lord's Prayer is not said in the singular, 
 but in the plural. " Meum" and " tuum" 
 are not Christian words; "Pater noster" is 
 the Christian prayer and the law of Christian 
 life and conduct. What we value for our- 
 selves we must seek to spread to others; 
 and what we shrink from ourselves lower- 
 ing surroundings, a tainted atmosphere 
 what we shrink to think of those nearest and 
 dearest to us being exposed to let us do all 
 we can to remove from others. " Lead us 
 not into temptation. Deliver us from evil." 
 Do what you can to sweeten the mental and 
 
172 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 moral atmosphere that surrounds you, my 
 sisters. All can bring others' needs before 
 our Blessed Lord; and then, like Mary, 
 leave Him to supply them as He sees 
 best. 
 
 Then let us go on to Mary's word of ex- 
 hortation. She not only prays, she speaks to 
 the servants her one recorded word of exhor- 
 tation " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do 
 it." See what should be the word of a 
 teacher. Not, as we saw before, trying to 
 impress yourself on others, but to render 
 them plastic to His inspirations, in order that 
 Christ may impress Himself upon them by 
 His Word, by His Spirit, in their conscience. 
 " Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it." 
 Whenever we have the opportunity, let us 
 give the word of exhortation and advice. 
 Do not let us be overcome by shyness or 
 false shame, but speak the word in season. 
 Like the Blessed Mother, point to Him; 
 only, like Blessed Mary let the word of coun- 
 sel be the echo of your own conduct. 
 " Whatsoever He saith unto you" even 
 though it be to fill the pots with water when 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 173 
 
 it is wine that is wanted "do it." She 
 could say that because she had done it her- 
 self. Her word of exhortation is the echo of 
 her own word of self-surrender in response 
 to the Angelic message, giving herself up in 
 simple faith, ' ' Behold the handmaid of the 
 Lord; be it unto me according to thy 
 word." * " How shall I be carried through ? 
 How shall this word be accomplished ? 
 How shall I be protected ?" She did not 
 know, nor did she very much care. God 
 had spoken; He would be true to His word. 
 And "all things spoken by the Angel con- 
 cerning the Virgin Mary were accom- 
 plished." Out of her own experience she 
 could give the word of counsel, " Whatsoever 
 He saith unto you, do it" 
 
 Ah ! if only our words could be seen to be 
 the outcome of our own experience, then 
 they would have real force. But if we are 
 only seeing very plainly what others ought 
 to do, while they see very plainly that we are 
 not doing what we ought to do, then we had 
 better not speak at all. Mary is calling 
 *St. Luke 1.38. 
 
174 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 others to that saintly life in which she seeks 
 to abide. 
 
 So consider the example of Mary's sympa- 
 thy at the marriage feast, seeing their need, 
 and setting herself to relieve it by her inter- 
 cession and her counsel. 
 
 II. Consider Mary's sorrow and discipline 
 at Cana. The scene is one of changed rela- 
 tionships. It is the first time that Mother 
 and Son have met since He left her at Naza- 
 reth to enter upon His ministerial life. Oh ! 
 think of what her sorrow was as He told 
 her He must go; that those days of loving 
 intercourse were over, that He is going to 
 leave Nazareth, to leave her; that the Father's 
 business required it. 
 
 Then ' followed the Baptism, the solemn 
 inauguration to His Ministry by the fore- 
 runner. Then came the forty days' fast, 
 and His fierce struggle with the Evil One. 
 Then the return from the wilderness, when 
 John had pointed Him out to his disciples as 
 the new Teacher: " Behold the Lamb of 
 God, which taketh away the sins of the 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 175 
 
 world ! " * and handed over to Him some of 
 his own pupils whom he had been training 
 for the Christ Peter and Andrew, James and 
 John, Philip and Nathaniel these had been 
 called to be the Lord's disciples. 
 
 And now the Mother and Son meet again. 
 Jesus goes with those disciples to Cana. She 
 sees a change in Him. His bodily frame is 
 wasted with His forty days' fast; His face 
 is lined with the marks of His terrific struggle 
 with the Evil One ; she has a foreboding of 
 what is to follow. They are never again to 
 be together as they were before. He has 
 new interests now ; His disciples are His first 
 thought; they are His intimate companions; 
 they have taken her place ! 
 
 Ah ! think of the sacrifices we are called to 
 make as our friends go from us, or as we are 
 called to leave them. I sometimes think that 
 those who are left behind make quite as 
 great a sacrifice as those who go; as the 
 priest, the missionary, the religious, or any 
 who are called to live a life of separation; 
 and, if so, if they share in the sacrifice, 
 
 * St. John i. 29. 
 
176 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 then, be sure, they share in the blessing too. 
 When that friend or that pupil is called to 
 something beyond you to something to 
 which you are not called, ah ! then think of 
 the sacrifice that Jesus made, and that Mary 
 made when she sent forth her Son. 
 
 Then, think of the check to her natural 
 feelings. She sees Him with the first-fruits 
 of His disciples, and she rejoices that He has 
 such enthusiastic friends; the mother's heart 
 was stirred, of course, for she was a true 
 woman. They tell her about His baptism, 
 of which John had told them ; of the Spirit 
 descending like a dove and resting upon 
 Him ; and of the Father's voice proclaiming, 
 " This is My beloved Son." * They tell her, 
 too, of the Baptist's words, " Behold the 
 Lamb of God, which taketh away the sins of 
 the world," how he had been preparing the 
 way for the Messianic King, and had pointed 
 Jesus out as the Expected One. Her heart 
 is on fire ! Do not think me disrespectful 
 she has a natural ambition (St. Chrysostom 
 says so); she would have her Son to be a 
 
 * St. Matt. iii. 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 177 
 
 King, and she would share His throne! 
 And now she would have Him work a mira- 
 cle. This gives the key to His answer. 
 There is nothing disrespectful, nothing 
 rough, in the reply of Jesus: " Woman," or 
 as we might say, " Lady " [the word is con- 
 stantly so rendered in the Greek plays] 
 " what have I to do with thee ? " But there 
 is an insistance upon a changed relationship 
 ' * What is there in common between you and 
 Me in this matter ? In my private life I was 
 subject to you, as a son to his mother; now 
 
 I have entered upon My public ministry; I 
 am about My Father's business; and that 
 must be done, not in accordance with any 
 partial love, or dictates of natural affection." 
 He severs Himself from her jurisdiction by 
 this word. And how lovingly she takes it ! 
 She turns to the servants and refers all to 
 Him. She points to Him, not to herself: 
 
 II Whatsoever He saith unto you, do it! " 
 Ah! and how often has our Lord dealt 
 
 thus with us. He sends us some check; 
 our heart is set on the accomplishment 
 of some plan, some scheme which prom- 
 
178 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 ises success; not for ourselves only, but 
 for others and God sends us a check. 
 We cannot, as we look back upon it, deny 
 that there was a good deal of self-love mixed 
 up in it; it was our plan, and we were going 
 to have a share in it; it was going to be a 
 credit to us ! And our Lord makes that plan 
 fail; some one else carries it out. Ah! we 
 must be purged from all self-love. So long 
 as God's will is done and souls are helped, 
 what matter whether the work be done by 
 us or by others, in our fashion or in an- 
 other; whether we gain credit and success, 
 or discredit and disappointment ? No mat- 
 ter, so long as the work is done. They have 
 the wine of gladness, and it matters not 
 whether we hold the bottle, or the servants; 
 or whether the work be done in our lifetime, 
 or by others whom He will raise up. We 
 must rise above all petty and personal con- 
 siderations, and we must expect our Lord to 
 send checks in our life and in our work. 
 
 III. Consider our Lord's example at the 
 Marriage Feast of Cana, in His dealings 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 179 
 
 with His Blessed Mother ; His perfect De- 
 tachment and perfect Impartiality. 
 
 (i.) His Detachment. He will not antici- 
 pate the hour which the Father has fixed: 
 "Mine hour is not yet come."* He will 
 not be moved by any mere partial love. 
 "Who is My Mother, and who are My breth- 
 ren ? " f He will not respond to any merely 
 natural claim. So must we make all natural 
 claims subordinate to the heavenly; yet we 
 must love all very, very tenderly. Do not 
 think that love is lessened because it is con- 
 trolled. No, no ; it is strengthened, because 
 all that makes it weak and vacillating is 
 purged away. Strong love is pure. Love 
 Him above all, and all in Him. "Whom 
 have I in heaven but Thee ? and there is none 
 upon earth that I desire in comparison of 
 Thee."! All others, however tenderly I 
 may love them, are as nothing in comparison 
 of Thee ! So in all matters of life learn to 
 put aside preference, while you stand fast by 
 principle. We must distinguish our duty 
 from our pleasure. It is very easy to call 
 * St. John ii. 4. f St. Matt. xii. 48-50. % Ps. Ixxiii. 24. 
 
i8o THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 preference principle ; but as we are ready to 
 sacrifice our preferences, we can stand the 
 more firmly by principle; and others will 
 then learn to respect the principle to which 
 we feel bound to adhere. 
 
 (ii.) Our Lord's Impartiality. He spares 
 not His Mother, because she is so dear to 
 Him. No; heroic souls are dealt with in 
 heroic fashion. Because she is so dear to 
 Him He cannot bear that there should be in 
 her the slightest flaw or imperfection; she 
 must be wholly conformed to the Divine 
 will. 
 
 So if God disciplines us, it is because He 
 loves us. "Whom the Lord loveth He 
 chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom 
 He receiveth." * It is because He loves our 
 best and highest interests. It is because He 
 is so faithful in His friendship that He must 
 warn us against the things that mar our 
 highest perfection. Just so did our Lord 
 deal with His disciples; that was why He was 
 so severe with the chosen three whom He 
 had admitted into the inner circle of His 
 * Heb. xii. 6. 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 181 
 
 friendship, and allowed to be with Him on 
 certain special occasions ; for instance, at the 
 raising to life again of Jairus' daughter, 
 at the Transfiguration, and at the Agony 
 in the Garden. They were specially hon- 
 oured, specially loved, and specially disci- 
 plined. How stern crur Lord was with St. 
 Peter! After his great confession, "Thou 
 art the Christ, the Son of the Living God ! " 
 when he had drawn forth from the Lord an 
 expression of joy " Blessed art thou, Simon 
 Barjona! My work has not been in vain; 
 thou hast learnt the truth I have been trying 
 to teach My disciples, and hast won thy place, 
 to be first among My Apostles and a founda- 
 tion-stone of My Church!" a little while 
 after, when Jesus foretells His Passion and 
 St. Peter would dissuade Him from it, our 
 Lord turns to him with these words, ' ' Get 
 thee behind Me, Satan, thou art an offence 
 unto Me; for thou savourest not the things 
 that be of God, but those that be of men." * 
 He does not say, " Peter has said so many 
 good things, I must pass this by ! " Not so. 
 
 *St. Matt. xvi. 13-24, 
 
182 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 Because Peter had risen to such a height, he 
 cannot be allowed to sink down to a low 
 level. Because he had risen to the appre- 
 hension of spiritual things, he cannot be 
 allowed to speak the things of earth. 
 
 And so was it with the fiery spirit of 
 James and John ; it must be regulated. They 
 would call down fire from heaven on the 
 Samaritans who would not receive their 
 Master;* He sternly rebukes them, "Ye 
 know not what manner of spirit ye are of! " 
 "None of your Old Testament spirit of 
 vengeance here ! I want not the spirit of 
 Elijah! Rise up to My spirit. The Son 
 of Man is come not to destroy men's lives, 
 but to save them. See the manner of My 
 victory, conquering through love, winning 
 through meekness, through self-sacrifice." 
 Yes, His disciples must be disciplined and 
 purged. His special friends must be treated 
 with special discipline. 
 
 Let us expect our Lord to deal thus with 
 us, as a faithful friend, and let us submit 
 ourselves to His loving severity, His prudent 
 
 * St. Luke ix. 54. 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 183 
 
 training, even though He use the surgeon's 
 knife. "Try me, O God, and seek the 
 ground of my heart; prove me and examine 
 my thoughts."* 
 
 And we will try to imitate His faithful- 
 ness, His impartiality in dealing with friends. 
 We are not true to our friends if we are 
 afraid of giving them pain. There are times 
 when we ought to risk giving pain, and not 
 to shrink from it. We must be ready to give 
 pain if we love with real love ; we must love 
 so truly as to be willing even to be suspected 
 at the moment of not loving. We must be 
 faithful in our friendships, not letting our- 
 selves be dragged down by our companions 
 from the high standard to which God is call- 
 ing us. In some instances we have seen, on 
 our knees, quite plainly how we ought to 
 behave under trying circumstances; for in- 
 stance, in some misunderstanding, or when 
 things are going wrong; in church matters 
 perhaps, or in our own family; we see it all 
 and realize how we ought to act, regarding it 
 as an opportunity of showing meekness and 
 
 *Ps. cxxxix. 23. 
 
1 84 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 patience, of overcoming evil with good. And 
 then some one suggests a different line, and 
 we allow the suggestion to stir up all our 
 bad feelings " You can't let that pass! You 
 can't allow yourself to be treated like that! 
 what will come next ? " And so we retal- 
 iate, instead of being true to our conviction. 
 Instead of insisting, as Jesus did, that His 
 friend should rise up to His standard, we 
 sink down to the lower level suggested by a 
 friend, and so fail in loyalty to our God, and 
 also to our friend ! This was our opportunity 
 for bearing witness to what God had shown 
 to us. 
 
 So consider our Lord's example of faith- 
 fulness, and impartiality, and detachment. 
 
 Let us learn with Blessed Mary to sympa- 
 thize with others' sorrows and with others 
 joys, and to set ourselves with real active 
 sympathy and earnest zeal to supply their 
 needs. Let us seek like her to subject our- 
 selves to our Lord's loving training and 
 discipline; and let us strive to be true and 
 faithful to all because we love Him, and 
 
THE MARRIAGE FEAST IN CANA. 185 
 
 because we love them truly and really, in 
 and for God. 
 
 Let us repeat Psalm cxli. 
 
TENTH MEDITATION. 
 
 THE VIRGIN MOTHER AT THE CROSS. 
 
 LET us meditate on the Blessed Mother 
 standing by the Cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. 
 
 Behold her as beheld by Jesus; and listen 
 to His word as He commends His Mother 
 to the loving care of St. John, the beloved 
 disciple, and says, "Woman, behold thy 
 son!" and to St. John, " Behold thy 
 mother!"* 
 
 O' Lord Jesus Christ, King of Saints, Who 
 dost bind us in a blessed fellowship one with 
 another as Thy disciples and as members of 
 Thy mystical Body, grant us, we pray Thee, 
 that loving Thee with a pure love, we may 
 love all others whom Thou dost love, in 
 Thee and for Thee. Grant us to use all the 
 gifts Thou hast bestowed upon us, in nature 
 
 * St. John xix. 26, 27. 
 
 186 
 
AT THE CROSS. 187 
 
 and in grace, for the good of the brethren, 
 that so we may be numbered with Thy 
 Saints, both now and evermore. Amen. 
 Our Father. 
 
 And now the Blessed Mother's cup of sor- 
 row is full. We gaze on the climax of her 
 woe, but only to remember that that depth 
 of woe shall leadTto a higher, more glorious 
 joy than any she had yet experienced. From 
 the Joyful Mysteries we pass on to the Sor- 
 rowful ; and the Sorrowful Mysteries are, in 
 their turn, to give place to the Glorious and 
 Triumphant Mysteries. 
 
 But as she now stands at the foot of the 
 Cross, all else is swallowed up in the contem- 
 plation of that fearful sight. We sing of her 
 as standing by the Cross of her Son, but it is 
 much too solemn and awful a thought for mere 
 sentiment. We behold an illustration of the 
 law of God's dealing with all His Saints, with 
 all whom He calls near to Himself; and those 
 who have a special share in His Son's exal- 
 tation must have a peculiar share in His suf- 
 fering. It is the warning of the Old Testa- 
 
1 88 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 ment ; t ' My son, if thou come to serve the 
 Lord, prepare thy soul for temptation."* 
 And the warning of the Old Testament is 
 taken up and transfigured in the Apostolic 
 hymn of the New Testament, "if we suffer 
 with Him we shall reign with Him."f It is 
 the experience of His Saints. As James and 
 John came and asked for high places in His 
 Kingdom, He puts to them the test, " Are ye 
 able to drink of the cup that I shall drink 
 of?"t As St. Bernard says, "What a 
 shame " and we might add, what an impossi- 
 bility "to be the soft and luxurious mem- 
 ber of a Head that was crowned with 
 thorns ! " So does Christ bring to the Cross 
 of suffering her whom He loved with a 
 peculiar love. 
 
 By the Cross, her station keeping, 
 Stands the Mother mournful weeping, 
 
 Where He hangs, the dying Lord. 
 For her soul, of joy bereaved, 
 Bowed with anguish, deeply grieved, 
 
 Feels the sharp and piercing sword. 
 
 Ah ! think of her sorrow ! " For a mother to 
 be present at the death of a child, an only 
 * Eccles. u. i. f 2 Tim. ii/12. J St. Matt. xx. 22. 
 
AT THE CROSS. 189 
 
 son, and that mother a widow, is an affecting 
 thought at any time, a grief too deep and 
 mysterious for any perhaps quite to under- 
 stand but those who have felt it. But for 
 that Mother of that Son to stand by and see 
 Him condemned to death as a malefactor, 
 crucified between robbers, reviled and in- 
 sulted, to hear Him cry, ' My God, My God, 
 why hast Thou forsaken Me ? ' * and to be 
 unable to minister to Him, this surely is a 
 secret and mystery of anguish as much above 
 what ordinary mothers can understand as 
 their grief is more than can be comprehended 
 by any but mothers." f Hagar sat a good 
 way off and cried, " Let me not see the child 
 die ! " I But Mary stands by the Cross and 
 sees the death of her Son. She does not 
 shriek, or faint, or fall down; she stands 
 there in a majesty of sorrow, " perplexed, but 
 not in despair; cast down, but not de- 
 stroyed." She shares her Son's lot. 
 
 I. Consider her standing by the Cross as we 
 
 * St. Matt, xxvii. 46. f Isaac Williams, 
 
 J Gen. xxi. 16. \ 2 Cor. iv. 8, 9. 
 
190 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 have seen her all through her life, as the 
 representative of the Church, the type and 
 figure of the faithful. Ah ! is she my pat- 
 tern, standing by the Cross ? The Cross is 
 set up in my life, in my family life do I 
 bravely stand by it ? In some bereavement, 
 or in a painful misunderstanding, do I stand, 
 like the Blessed Mother, overwhelmed, 
 maybe, with grief and shame, yet still look- 
 ing up to God, not in bitterness, but believ- 
 ing ? Or is the Cross in our work ? Some 
 failure comes, or disappointment, or pecu- 
 niary anxiety, do we stand by that Cross ? Or 
 it is in our own personal, individual life; 
 temptations assail us, a dark cloud settles 
 down on our soul, spiritual difficulties arise 
 do we give up then ? Or are we found faith- 
 ful ? Do we stand by the Master ? Or, the 
 Passion is renewed in the Church's ex- 
 perience; there are anomalies, difficulties, 
 heresies. But troubles do not call for fret- 
 fulness and impatience; the Church is to 
 be tried, like her Head; she is to share her 
 Lord's humiliation. She is to be like her 
 Master, "unknown" to earth, "yet well- 
 
AT THE CROSS. 191 
 
 known" to Heaven;* "crucified through 
 weakness, yet living by the power of God." f 
 Am I faithful to principle, yet humble and 
 forbearing, not bitter or complaining ? Am 
 I standing, like the Blessed Mother, patient 
 by the cross, not seeking to be rid of it ? Am 
 I standing by her in sympathy, seeing Him 
 suffering in the poor, the sinful and the 
 ignorant ministering to Him in them ? 
 " Inasmuch as ye did it unto one of the least 
 of these My brethren, ye did it unto Me ! " \ 
 Am I standing there in readiness to bear His 
 lot, ready to share His scorn and shame ? 
 And am I standing there in worship, behold- 
 ing the glory of the Cross, the moral beauty 
 of the sacrifice, not in mere admiration or 
 idle sentiment, but rendering the true homage 
 of imitation ? 
 
 Is not Mary learning a deeper lesson than 
 before ? Surely, as she stands by the Cross, 
 she is gaining, as all through her life, a fur- 
 ther revelation of her Son's character, His 
 dignity, His work, His kingdom. The Old 
 Testament Scriptures the Levitical sacri- 
 
 * 2 Cor. vi. 9. f 2 Cor. xiii. 4. J St. Matt. xxv. 40. 
 
192 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 fices, the prophetic types of the Passion 
 now she has the key to many things that had 
 puzzled her. Now she learns that the suffer- 
 ing Messiah is to be the triumphant Messiah ; 
 that He is to reign in meekness, to conquer 
 through suffering. The Apostles had not 
 learned before the true characteristics of His 
 kingdom; they had dreamed of an earthly 
 kingdom, and Mary had shared their 
 thoughts; it would have been impossible 
 for her to be altogether free from them. 
 Now she learns the truth, she learns in what 
 His true dignity consists; she dies with Him 
 to every earthly hope, every mere natural 
 ambition. The Cross was to her, as to all 
 who were to be incorporated into the human- 
 ity of her Son, the key of heaven, the door- 
 way to a better life. 
 
 Think. Are we ready, like Mary, to stand 
 by the Cross, in worship, in readiness to learn 
 its mysteries, to set ourselves to follow in our 
 Lord's steps ? 
 
 II. Think of Mary by the Cross, recognized 
 by our Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 1 ' Now there stood by the Cross of Jesus His 
 
AT THE CROSS. 193 
 
 Mother, and His mother's sister, Mary the 
 wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene. 
 When Jesus therefore saw His mother, 
 and the disciple standing by, whom He 
 loved, He saith unto His mother, Woman, 
 behold thy son ! Then saith He to the dis- 
 ciple, Behold thy mother! " * 
 
 He saw her from the Cross. Ah ! think of 
 what He saw as He looked around! He 
 beheld the soldiers rough, brutal, ignorant 
 with their wine, their dice and their spoils. 
 He beheld the chief priests mocking in their 
 malice, exulting that at last their plan had 
 succeeded, they had got rid of their rival. 
 He saw the penitent robber; He turned to 
 look at him, to accept his confession, and to 
 give him His word of promise. He looked 
 for St. Peter, but St. Peter was not there. 
 He had said he was ready to go with Him to 
 prison and to death, but he had denied Him, 
 and now we may suppose he was ashamed to 
 return and stand by Him. He saw that little 
 band of disciples, mostly women, of all 
 classes, under the guardianship and patron- 
 age of St. John. There was Magdalene, the 
 
 * St. John xix. 25-27. 
 
i 9 4 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 penitent ; Salome, the matron ; and the Virgin 
 Mother. 
 
 Ah! as the Cross is continually reared 
 throughout the ages He looks to see if those 
 whom He has called to be His disciples are 
 standing there. Does He see us standing, in 
 faithful love and courage, by His Cross ? 
 
 See Him faithful in the fulfilment of filial 
 duty to the very end. He had separated 
 Himself from His Mother at His Father's 
 call. But when, on entering upon His 
 Ministry at the Father's call, He subor- 
 dinated earthly ties to Divine obligations. 
 He did not cease to love; He did not oblit- 
 erate His earthly love; human love is only 
 made more pure, more strong, more en- 
 during by subordination to Divine love. 
 Therefore when there was no conflict of 
 claims, His last thought was for His Mother, 
 as He seeks to provide for her, and com- 
 mends her to the loving care of the disciple 
 whom He could trust. 
 
 A Son that never did amiss, 
 That never shamed His Mother's kiss, 
 Nor crossed her fondest prayer : 
 
AT THE CROSS. 195 
 
 E'en from the tree He deigned to bow 
 For her His agonized brow, 
 Her, His sole earthly care.* 
 
 Who, O perfect filial heart, 
 E'er did Thee a true son's part, 
 Endearing, firm, serene ? 
 
 See in this the consecration of all natural 
 ties, the re-hallowing by the Cross of all 
 family affections and kinship. Have all your 
 natural relationships been re-hallowed by the 
 Cross of Jesus re-hallowed at the beginning 
 of a New Year by the cradle of Mary's Child, 
 by Him who became a member, not merely 
 of the human race, but of a human family; 
 who became your Brother to enable you to 
 fulfil all the duties of your family and social 
 life, with love, with purity, with peace ? 
 
 III. Consider the creation of new relation- 
 ships around the Cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ. Mary and John, the mother and the 
 friend of Jesus, are given to one another in 
 a new way, to be something more to one an- 
 other than they had ever been before. John 
 is to play a son's part to the bereaved mother, 
 
 * Christian Year. 
 
196 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 and the mother is to look to him for guid- 
 ance, protection and support, while she gives 
 to him comfort, sympathy and love. Think 
 of the new relationship, the kinship of grace 
 that was formed around the Cross of Jesus. 
 Think of Mary as the representative of 
 the Church, and John, whom Jesus loved, 
 as the type of the individual among the faith- 
 ful. Or of John, as the representative of the 
 priesthood, and Mary as the elect soul com- 
 mended to the care of the ministry. Or see 
 in them two chosen souls, loved by Jesus, 
 drawn nearer to one another as they are 
 drawn near to Him and to His Cross. See 
 here your relationship to the Church, to the 
 ministry, to your fellows. Learn to be all you 
 can to one another. Think of being given to 
 one another by Jesus from the Cross. O the 
 tender love, the respectful ministry we should 
 exercise one towards another ! Think of Mary 
 receiving John at the Cross, and of John re- 
 ceiving Mary. Think of that friend, that 
 pupil, that soul whom you can help, support 
 and cheer, as given you by Christ from the 
 Cross: "Take this child and nurse it for 
 
AT THE CROSS. 197 
 
 Me," He says.* Ah, take all your interests, 
 all your duties, all your charges from the 
 Lord; care for all for Him, love all in Him, 
 and then give back, with purity of intention, 
 all to Him. 
 
 Think of this new alliance between Mary 
 and John, how it is to be reproduced contin- 
 ually in the family of the faithful. Learn 
 what we should be to one another, each to 
 each; Mary giving comfort, as woman can 
 to man, and John giving protection and sup- 
 port, as man to the Blessed Mother. Think 
 of the converse of those elect souls; think of 
 Mary, giving him cognizance of facts in the 
 early life of Jesus which she alone could 
 know; and of John giving her deeper in- 
 sight into the meaning of those facts that 
 her Child was the very Word of God, of one 
 nature with the Father, " by whom all things 
 were made;" that it was He who was made 
 Flesh of her substance, "full of grace and 
 truth, "f 
 
 Think how we should supplement each 
 other's knowledge, be large-hearted, wel- 
 * Ex. ii. 9, f St. John i. 14. 
 
198 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 coming different views of truth, so long as 
 they do not contradict one another balan- 
 cing and supplementing one another. Re- 
 member that truth is infinite, and our minds 
 are very finite. Do not seek to make others 
 see only what you can see; then how very 
 little any would see ! Don't merely tolerate 
 no one wants to be tolerated, it always 
 implies superiority on the part of the one 
 who tolerates ; but generously welcome 
 another's view, it will supplement your own 
 and make it richer, fuller. Learn large- 
 heartedness by the Cross of Jesus Christ. 
 
 IV. Pass on to consider now Marfs share 
 in the Glorious Mystery of the Resurrection. 
 She is not mentioned in the story of the Res- 
 urrection; and that is just the point. She is 
 not mentioned all through the story ! The 
 last we see of her is at the foot of the Cross, 
 when the Lord commends her to the care of 
 the beloved disciple ; then she vanishes 
 from our sight in the Gospel records. 
 Legend has been busy, and Art has stepped 
 in where it has no sanction. In art she is 
 
AT THE CROSS. 199 
 
 represented as assisting at the entombment ; 
 and legend tells the touching story of the 
 Lord appearing first to His Blessed Mother 
 on Easter morning. But how much more 
 grand is the simple statement of the Evange- 
 list: "He appeared first to Mary Magda- 
 lene ! " * Blessed Mary needed no such assur- 
 ance of His Resurrection. She had stood by 
 His Cross, and she knew He would triumph. 
 She knew that that was not the end, that 
 God's promise could not end in failure, that 
 He would not leave His soul in Hades, nor 
 allow His body to see corruption;! that 
 somehow or other death would be over- 
 thrown and the victory won ; that His words 
 would be fulfilled, that He would "rise 
 again."! She had stood there at the Cross, 
 "steadfast in faith, joyful through hope, 
 rooted in charity. " So she is not at the 
 tomb. Nor is she there on Easter morning 
 with the women, to pay, as they thought, 
 the last act of homage to their dead Master, 
 and to embalm the corpse. What was that 
 
 * St. Mark xvi. 9. f Ps, xvi. 10. 
 
 \ St. Matt. xx. 19. I Baptismal Office. 
 
200 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 to her? He is not going to lie in the grave; 
 she will stay at home till word is brought to 
 her that Jesus lives, that He has conquered 
 Death, that He has dispersed His foes! 
 Others may mourn their Master, but she 
 knows that her Son and Lord will triumph. 
 So she needs not a sensible appearance. 
 
 To whom did our Lord vouchsafe a special 
 appearance ? Not to the great saints, but to 
 the penitents ; not to John who stood at the 
 Cross, but to Peter who had denied Him; 
 not to the Virgin Mother, but to the Magda- 
 lene; to Thomas, who could not believe; to 
 the two disciples who were straying off dis- 
 couraged to Emmaus;. to the weak who 
 needed special strength; not to the whole, 
 but to the sick. 
 
 Ah ! don't expect all to be sweetness, com- 
 fort, sunshine, because you are seeking the 
 Lord; rather, the absence of sensible com- 
 fort may be a token of advancing strength. 
 The little child is carried in its mother's 
 arms, but as it grows it is put down that it 
 may learn to w T alk, and stand by its own effort. 
 We are not always to be carried, like chil- 
 
AT THE CROSS. 201 
 
 dren, in the arms of grace ; we are to learn 
 to stand and to walk. 
 
 So think of our Lord's dealings with His 
 Blessed Mother in the days of the Resurrec- 
 tion, and that the absence of any sensible 
 appearance to her was a token of greater 
 spirituality, of stronger spiritual vision, on her 
 part. 
 
 And learn, likewise, the lesson of impar- 
 tiality from His dealings with His disciples 
 how He shows Himself, not to those, if 
 we may say so, to whom it would have been 
 the greatest pleasure to appear; not to John, 
 His bosom friend, not to His Blessed 
 Mother, but to Peter who had denied Him ; 
 to the Magdalene who was weeping at the 
 tomb, and fearing lest the terrible cloud 
 which the presence of the Master had driven 
 away should take possession of her again. 
 She had felt safe in His presence what was 
 to become of her now ? And so she weeps 
 bitter tears at His grave. He must go and 
 comfort her, and tell her that though gone 
 from sight, He would be evermore near to 
 guard and protect her. ' ' I am not come to 
 
202 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 call the righteous, but sinners to repent- 
 ance." * 
 
 And He would have us act in the same 
 way, with the same purity of intention, con- 
 cerning our friends and those who have been 
 committed to our care. Not to do what we 
 should most like, to seek those whom it 
 would give us the greatest pleasure to be 
 with, but those who need us most, who most 
 require our care. 
 
 Think of that lesson of impartiality and 
 contrast it with our own practice. There is 
 this or that girl or child who takes in every- 
 thing that is said you can almost see the 
 lesson taking root; she is so appreciative, it 
 is a delight to teach her ; you give her lots of 
 time, you write to her from all parts of the 
 world ! And there is that other, so dull, so 
 lacking in responsiveness, surrounded by such 
 unfortunate circumstances, in such danger 
 she is so hard to get on with, so difficult to 
 get at, so encrusted with the hard shell of 
 reserve! This one needs all the greater 
 care ; the other is sure to get on ; this one re- 
 
 * St. Matt. ix. 13. 
 
AT THE CROSS. 203 
 
 quires all your prayers, your thoughts, your 
 loving sympathy. Yes ; Jesus went to Mary 
 Magdalene, to Peter, and did not vouchsafe 
 a special appearance to the beloved disciple 
 or His Blessed Mother. Learn the lesson of 
 really acting in His Name, of taking your 
 charge from Him, loving it for Him, and 
 then offering it to Him. 
 
 i. So think of Mary standing by the Cross 
 in her sorrow, sharing her Son's shame and 
 suffering, as the pattern of the faithful soul. 
 
 ii. Think of her as seen by Jesus, and 
 spoken to by Him from the Cross ; and of the 
 hallowing of all natural relationships. Think 
 of the creation of new ties and bonds of 
 grace by His Cross as He gives Mary and 
 John to stand in a new relationship to one 
 another. 
 
 iii. Consider on the day of Resurrection, 
 the absence of Mary's name in the story 
 not to her discredit, but rather to her honor, 
 because she can do without that special mani- 
 festation; she is not dependent upon sensi- 
 ble help; her faith is stronger, her vision 
 clearer. 
 
204 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 iv. Think of our Lord's impartiality as 
 giving- us a law for the discharge of all duties 
 we seek to fulfil in His Name, and for His 
 sake. 
 
 Let us repeat Psalm Ivii. 
 
CONCLUDING ADDRESS. 
 
 THE VIRGIN MOTHER WAITING FOR THE GIFT 
 OF THE HOLY GHOST. 
 
 WE have thought all through the Retreat 
 of the example of the Blessed Virgin Mother 
 as the type and figure of the Church collect- 
 ively and of each individual soul in the com- 
 pany of the faithful. We have dwelt on every 
 instance in which she comes before us in the 
 Gospel narrative, and on her complete sur- 
 render to the will of God. We have thought 
 of her predestination, of her genealogy, of 
 her training in her early years, of the light 
 thrown upon her previous history by 
 her words at the Annunciation; we have 
 thought of the Angel coming to her at 
 the Annunciation, of the accomplish- 
 ment of God's great purpose concerning 
 her. We have dwelt on the Visitation, and 
 on the mutual joy of the Blessed Virgin and 
 
 St. Elizabeth, and on the outburst of that joy 
 205 
 
2o6 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 as she breaks forth into her glad Magnificat. 
 Then on the Birth of the Lord and the ac- 
 complishment of the Mystery that had been 
 foretold. Then there was the Presentation 
 in the Temple and the Purification of the 
 Mother. We passed on to consider the Sor- 
 rowful Mysteries : The flight into Egypt ; the 
 loss of the Child and her words and His on 
 the finding in the Temple; the mingled 
 mystery of joy and sorrow at the marriage at 
 Cana of Galilee. And then we thought of her 
 presence at the Cross and of the significance 
 of the absence of her name from the story of 
 the Resurrection. 
 
 There is just one other occasion, and one 
 only, on which her name is mentioned in the 
 New Testament. In Acts i. 14 we find her 
 waiting with the Apostles in the upper cham- 
 ber for the day of Pentecost. The faithful 
 eleven were gathered together in the upper 
 room where the Lord had celebrated the first 
 Eucharist, and had told them of the promised 
 Comforter. There they had gathered to- 
 gether on Easter Day, and there the news had 
 been brought to them, " The Lord is risen 
 
THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST. 207 
 
 indeed ! " * There He had appeared to them 
 on the day of the Resurrection, and again 
 on Low Sunday. There, after His Ascension, 
 they are keeping their Retreat, and " con- 
 tinuing with one accord in prayer and sup- 
 plication with the women, and Mary the 
 Mother of Jesus, and with His brethren.' 
 They are waiting for the fulfilment of 
 the promise which they had heard of 
 Him. 
 
 The last time we see her she is on her 
 knees in prayer, the type of the Church and 
 of every faithful soul. She has done her 
 work; now she is on her knees in prayer, 
 looking for fuller gifts, not for herself alone, 
 but for others also. Thus we part with her, 
 not as a mediatrix not prayed to not 
 prayed through but prayed with; there is 
 the company of the saints, and Mary in the 
 midst; all are brethren and sisters, praying 
 together in the Body of Christ. See her 
 waiting there, praying with them for further 
 gifts for the Gift of the Holy Spirit, beyond 
 what even she has received before. 
 
 * St. Luke xxiv. 34. 
 
208 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 I. Ah ! think how, in going out of Retreat, 
 you are to go in the spirit of prayer; your 
 last thoughts to be on your knees before God, 
 thanking Him for all He has said and done 
 for you, and looking for some further gifts. 
 Yes, in Retreat spiritual things seem so 
 clear and vivid, so real. We know that the 
 shock will be great on going out into the 
 world ; it is like going out of a hot house on 
 a cold raw morning ; we get a chill, and 
 spiritual cold may be quite as fatal as phys- 
 ical ; it may fly, not to the head, but to the 
 heart. 
 
 We have to cherish the spirit of our Re- 
 treat, and to cherish the retreat exercises all 
 through our ordinary life; in our home 
 anxieties, our social distractions, in all the 
 pressure of our ordinary work and occupa- 
 tions. We are to be, like Blessed Mary, on 
 our knees in prayer, thanking God for all He 
 has given us. " Mary kept all these things 
 and pondered them in her heart." * 
 
 II. Think of her as the true Woman the 
 ideal both of the matron and the maid the 
 
 *St. Luke ii. 19. 
 
THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST. 209 
 
 Blessed Mother on her knees in prayer. The 
 apostles and disciples go forth to their 
 labours, but think of that blessed home where 
 she and John are together. Think how it 
 must have cheered the hearts of the others to 
 know that John was offering the Holy Eu- 
 charist, and Mary assisting at it, pleading for 
 them and for the success of their preaching. 
 Think of their coming back, one by one, and 
 being cheered by the loving care of the 
 Blessed Mother and the beloved disciple. 
 Think of the great apostle St. Paul with 
 all his wondrous powers, being introduced to 
 her. Think of what woman's work should 
 be! not her mere active work, but that 
 other side of it, her influence. Praise God 
 for it. Try to support those who have not 
 the same opportunities for prayer that you 
 have; and let others be gladdened by your 
 intercessions. And let your work be 
 strengthened and tranquillized by the inner 
 devotional side of your life. Don't let work 
 crowd out prayer. Think of the blessings 
 brought down on the Church through the in- 
 tercessions of the Blessed Mother and St. John. 
 
210 THE VIRGIN MOTHER. 
 
 III. Once more. Blessed Mary was wait- 
 ing with the Apostles and Disciples for a fur- 
 ther Gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 The Spirit at the Incarnation had over- 
 shadowed her; but that was an external 
 work. He had, indeed, taken of her sub- 
 stance to fashion the sacred flesh in which 
 the Eternal Son was to live and die and 
 reign ; but now she is looking for something 
 more. That holy manhood had been disci- 
 plined and sanctified by His life on earth, 
 " perfected through suffering," until in the 
 fullness of glory He should sit down at the 
 Father's right hand, thence to send His 
 Spirit on His Church. And now His Spirit 
 is to take of the things of Christ and to give 
 them to Mary ! Now, Mary is to be partaker 
 of Christ's substance. He had taken hers; 
 the Spirit had come upon her at the Annun- 
 ciation ; now, that which she had given is to 
 be given back to her, and that glorified 
 human Body is to interpenetrate her very 
 being; she is to be admitted to a closer 
 union with her Lord far, far closer than 
 that which she had enjoyed during those 
 
THE GIFT OF THE HOLY GHOST. 211 
 
 nine months between the Annunciation and 
 His Birth. Now He dwells in her heart, 
 now she is to be made partaker of His 
 glorified humanity. 
 
 And so think that whatever gifts we have 
 received, there are further gifts in store. 
 Whatever light we have received, there is a 
 still clearer illumination awaiting us. On- 
 ward and upward ! ' * Forgetting those things 
 which are behind, and reaching forth into 
 those which are before " pressing on, year 
 after year, retreat after retreat, through all 
 the varied experience and discipline of life 
 that we may attain ' ' the mark of the prize 
 of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus," * 
 that we may lay hold of that for which we 
 are laid hold of by God;" 
 
 To Whom be glory for ever. Amen. 
 
 * Phil. iii. 13, 14, 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 THE VIRGIN BIRTH. 
 
 No APOLOGY can be needed for venturing to 
 discuss this subject. The question in these 
 days is forced upon us : 
 
 (I.) On what grounds do you believe the 
 miraculous conception of Christ ? (II.) Is 
 it possible or reasonable ? (III.) What is 
 the moral value of the doctrine ? These are 
 the chief forms in which the question is pre- 
 sented to us. Let me offer a few suggestions 
 with regard to each of these points. 
 
 I. Stress is laid on the fact that the mirac- 
 ulous conception is told only by two out of 
 the four Evangelists; that the story takes 
 somewhat different forms in the two Gospels 
 in which it is found ; that St. Mark's Gospel, 
 which is supposed to represent the earliest 
 
 record of our Lord's life, is silent on the 
 213 
 
214 APPENDIX. 
 
 subject ; that nothing is said about it in the 
 remaining books of the New Testament. 
 
 As Dr. Abbott puts it, "Of the nine 
 authors or thereabouts of the different books 
 of the New Testament, only two contain 
 any account, reference or allusion to the 
 miraculous conception." * 
 
 Such is the objection, or adverse argu- 
 ment, so far as Scriptural testimony is con- 
 cerned. 
 
 To this reply may be made : 
 
 (i.) That the point was not one on which 
 the Apostles in their early teaching would be 
 likely to dwell much. Their special func- 
 tion was to be witnesses of what they had 
 seen and heard. Accordingly they insist 
 chiefly and continually upon the actual truth 
 of the Resurrection of their Master a mir- 
 acle, which, being themselves absolutely 
 assured of its truth, they urged as at once 
 (a) the sign and the vindication of Jesus' 
 Messianic claims, and (b) a manifestation of 
 the superhuman dignity of His Person. 
 "Born of the seed of David according to 
 
 * The Kernel and the Husk, p. 267. 
 
APPENDIX. 215 
 
 the flesh, He was declared to be the Son of 
 God with power, according to the Spirit of 
 holiness, by the resurrection from the 
 dead."* 
 
 This preternatural fact, the fulfilment of 
 the "sign" which He had Himself prom- 
 ised,! a fact concerning the reality of which 
 they offered themselves as witnesses, J would 
 carry with it a readiness to accept a fact like 
 the Virgin-Birth concerning which the same 
 sort of evidence was not possible a defect, 
 it may be remarked, which it shares with the 
 paternity of every child of Adam. 
 
 (2.) The silence of the Fourth Gospel on 
 the subject is certainly no difficulty. For, 
 on any theory of its date or authorship, \ it is 
 a supplementary record, and with few excep- 
 tions does not reiterate statements of his- 
 torical fact, which had already been related 
 by earlier Evangelists, and which were by 
 
 * Rom. i. 3, 4. 
 
 f St. John ii. 18 sq. ; St. Matt. xii. 38 sq. 
 
 J Acts i. 22 ; ii. 32, etc. 
 
 I beg that this expression may not be understood as 
 implying any doubt on the writer's part as to the Johannine 
 authorship of the Fourth Gospel. 
 
216 APPENDIX. 
 
 the time this Gospel was written a part of 
 the commonly received belief of the Chris- 
 tian Society. Bearing this in mind, and the 
 general character of St. John's writings, it 
 would seem rash to say that there is "no 
 allusion " to the Virgin-Birth in the Fourth 
 Gospel. The description in the prologue of 
 the spiritual birth of the faithful, "which 
 were born not of blood, nor of the will of the 
 flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God " 
 in close connection with the statement that 
 "the Word was made flesh" would seem 
 to suggest, very probably at any rate, a par- 
 allelism in the Apostle's mind between the 
 spiritual birth of those to whom the Only- 
 begotten Son gave the privilege of becoming 
 sons of God, and His own Birth in our 
 nature.* 
 
 In any case St. John's account of the In- 
 carnation in no way conflicts with the mirac- 
 ulous story related by St. Matthew and St. 
 Luke. Rather, as we may see later, his 
 teaching concerning the Person of the 
 Incarnate Logos is felt to be a natural 
 
 *St. John i. 12-14. 
 
APPENDIX. 217 
 
 explanation of what might otherwise have 
 seemed in them to be fantastic. 
 
 So with regard to St. Mark. Had he 
 given any account of our Lord's early years, 
 there would be some ground for pitting him 
 (so to speak) against St. Matthew and St. 
 Luke. But his story begins with the Bap- 
 tism as the inauguration of Jesus for His 
 public ministry quite naturally, if the tra- 
 dition be true (which there seems no reason 
 for doubting, while there is a good deal of 
 internal evidence in its favor) that Mark's 
 Gospel is practically the putting in writing 
 of Peter's oral teaching. St. Peter begins 
 his account of the Lord's life ("the begin- 
 ning of the Gospel of Jesus the Christ, the 
 Son of God ") at the point where he came in 
 contact with the Christ, handed on to him by 
 John the Baptist."* 
 
 (3.) But St. Matthew and St. Luke, it is 
 said, give different accounts of the miracu- 
 lous conception. We have " two Annuncia- 
 tions," one to Joseph and one to Mary. 
 What of that ? Does it not show as, in a 
 
 * Comp. with St. Mark i., St. John i. 29 sq. 
 
2i8 APPENDIX. 
 
 somewhat different way, the varying ac- 
 counts of the appearances of the Risen 
 Lord the independence of the writers ? 
 And is it not quite conceivable that the two 
 Evangelists give the facts as they had gath- 
 ered them respectively from the only two 
 persons who could be evidence in the mat- 
 ter, Joseph and Mary ? St. Luke, who tells 
 us that he had been at pains to gather in- 
 formation concerning, it may be noted, 
 * * those things which were already surely 
 believed " amongst the disciples from those 
 who from the beginning were eye witnesses, 
 evidently bases his whole account of the 
 early events and mysteries of the Incarna- 
 tion on the testimony of St. Mary, who alone 
 could have furnished him with the facts he 
 relates not with regard to the miraculous 
 conception alone, but throughout his first 
 two chapters. And with this agrees, as has 
 been commonly noted, the different style of 
 that portion of his narrative.* St. Matthew, 
 
 * St. Luke i. 5 ii. 52, being more full of Hebraisms, as 
 would naturally be a literal rendering into Greek of an 
 Aramaic report. 
 
APPENDIX. 219 
 
 on the other hand, tells all in his first two 
 chapters from the standpoint, as we might 
 say, of Joseph. * 
 
 Passing from Scriptural testimony it would 
 seem clear, both from the evidence of early 
 Creeds and from the writings of the Fathers, 
 that the doctrine in question was a part of 
 the original body of Christian teaching com- 
 municated by the Apostles to the Churches 
 they founded, before they committed their 
 oral teaching to writing. On what other 
 theory should we account for the agreement 
 of all early summaries of Christian belief 
 in declaring the Virgin Birth of the Incarnate 
 Son? A challenge may be safely made to 
 produce a single document of this sort which 
 
 * The question of St. Matthew's quotation of Isaiah's 
 prophecy (St. Matt. i. 22 ; Isa. vii. 14) is intentionally passed 
 over, as raising a side issue, which, however interesting, is 
 by no means necessary to the understanding or accepting of 
 the Evangelist's narrative. To suppose that Matthew built 
 his record on Isaiah's prophecy is wholly gratuitous. 
 His phrase " that it might be fulfilled " may mean no 
 more than that he saw in the event a fulfilment of the 
 ancient prophecy, by no means to the exclusion of a more 
 direct, historical reference. Comp. St. Matt. iv. 13 sq. 
 and Isa. ix. I, 2. 
 
220 APPENDIX. 
 
 hints at any other mode of Birth.* Such 
 perfect agreement in substance amid varia- 
 tions of expression could only arise from a 
 common rvnog dida^q \ delivered to the 
 several Churches by their Apostolic founders. 
 Imitation in those days of comparatively 
 scant opportunity for intercourse would have 
 been impossible. 
 
 * It should in candour be said that the Nicene Creed in its 
 original form did not contain any statement on the mode of 
 our Lord's Birth, but simply affirmed that He " came down 
 and was incarnate." The Constantinopolitan Symbol added 
 the words, " Of the Holy Ghost and the Virgin Mary." It 
 has been sometimes argued from this that the Virgin Birth 
 was not regarded as of the same importance in the East as 
 by the early Latin Church. But, not to mention other East- 
 ern authorities, we have in Irenseus (A.D. 180), who repre- 
 sents both East and West, a confession of faith quite explicit 
 on this point : " We believe . . . His Birth of a Virgin 
 and His Passion, and His Resurrection from the dead, and 
 the Ascension into the heavens in the flesh, of the beloved 
 Christ Jesus our Lord," etc. And of this Creed Irenoeus 
 says, " No otherwise have the Churches in Germany believed 
 and delivered, nor those in Spain, nor the Celts, nor those in 
 the East, nor in Egypt, nor in Libya, nor those established in 
 the central parts of the earth," etc. Iren. adv. Haer. 1. i. 10. 
 See Heurtley's Creeds of the Western Church, pp. 7-9, and 
 Maclear's Introduction to the Creeds, pp. 15, 99, 300. 
 
 fRom. vi. 17. 
 
APPENDIX. 221 
 
 One or two quotations may be allowed 
 from the Epistles of St. Ignatius, which in a 
 sense combine the testimony of Fathers and 
 of Creeds, since they give the earliest traces 
 of the different Articles of the Creed as we 
 know them, and as they were evidently 
 already at that time familiar. 
 
 In his Letter to the Trallians * Ignatius bids 
 his disciples, " Be deaf when any man speak- 
 eth to you apart from Jesus Christ, who was 
 born of the race of David, who was the Son 
 of Mary, who was truly born and ate and 
 drank, was truly persecuted under Pontius 
 Pilate, was truly crucified and died in the 
 sight of those in Heaven and those on earth 
 and those under the earth, Who moreover 
 was truly raised from the dead." 
 
 So at the beginning of his Epistle to the 
 Smyrnaeans f Ignatius thanks God that those 
 whom he is addressing are " fully persuaded 
 as touching our Lord, that He is truly of the 
 race of David according to the flesh, but Son 
 of God by the Divine will and power, truly 
 born of a Virgin and baptized by John, truly 
 
 * Trail. 9 (Bp. Lightfoot's translation). f Smyrn. I. 
 
222 APPENDIX. 
 
 nailed up in the flesh for our sakes under 
 Pontius Pilate," etc. 
 
 It is needless to multiply citations (as 
 might of course easily be done) to prove that 
 from the first and throughout Christendom 
 the Virgin Birth of our Lord was a part of 
 Christian belief. If it was not a genuine 
 part of Apostolic tradition, the " corrupt 
 following of the Apostles " must indeed have 
 begun early. And in any case the universal 
 acceptance of the doctrine would seem, if any 
 inspiration of the Christian Society by the 
 Spirit of Truth be believed in, to determine 
 the point. For, be it noted, this is not a 
 question of view but of fact. It is not like 
 views that may be taken of some generally 
 accepted fact, which may well vary in differ- 
 ent ages, as among minds of different degrees 
 of intelligence ; this is a question of fact, or 
 rather (in the mind of those who do not accept 
 the fact) of the translating of an idea (certainly 
 not a very clear one) into an imaginary fact. 
 Can we suppose that the whole Church, to 
 which the guidance of the Spirit of Truth 
 was promised, would have been allowed to 
 
APPENDIX. 223 
 
 make such a mistake, and on such a point, a 
 mistake, too, that has eaten so deep into her 
 thought and life ? The case is not parallel 
 to any of the Old Testament stories with 
 which some might be inclined to compare it. 
 For (a) while none will contend that either 
 St. Matthew or St. Luke were writing alle- 
 gory, or supposed themselves to be aught but 
 chroniclers of fact, (b) the event related was 
 not of by-gone time but of comparatively 
 recent occurrence when they wrote. 
 
 II. To leave the ground of testimony, let 
 us consider the intrinsic reasonableness of the 
 doctrine. Where the doctrine is doubted we 
 may be fairly sure that the doubt springs 
 originally not from a sense of a want of suffi- 
 cient testimony, but from an uneasy feeling 
 in the presence of the miraculous and super- 
 natural, and a desire to minimize this element 
 in Christian teaching. 
 
 The popular objection to miracles as a 
 priori " impossible " is simply shallow. Have 
 we come to such a clear and exhaustive 
 understanding of the " Laws of Nature" 
 that we can attribute to them a rigid inflexi- 
 
224 APPENDIX. 
 
 bility, in which the idea of God is extin- 
 guished and man becomes a machine? In 
 speaking of physical science people are in the 
 habit of using law and cause as if they were 
 interchangeable. But is this so ? Do " the 
 Laws of Nature " mean more than that cer- 
 tain phenomena are observed always to follow 
 one another in regular sequence ? Do they 
 in any way supersede or render unnecessary 
 for causation the action of a Will? Physical 
 science knows nothing of the relation of 
 cause and effect, only of antecedent and con- 
 sequent. Directly we fall back on a Creative 
 Will behind the forces of Nature, the a priori 
 objection to what we call miracles has van- 
 ished. It stands to reason that such a power 
 can" manipulate His own forces, can vary 
 their direction and their results, can produce 
 immediately results that ordinarily are medi- 
 ately effected."* 
 
 What is there then against reason in the 
 
 * See Canon Malcolm MacColl's Ripon Lectures on the 
 Nicene Creed, Christianity in Relation to Science and 
 Morals. Part of his argument on this article I have done 
 little more than condense in the preceding sentences concern- 
 ing miracles. 
 
APPENDIX. 225 
 
 variation, on a great occasion and for a great 
 moral purpose, of the ordinary law of the 
 transmission of life through two parents, 
 especially when, as will not be disputed, we 
 have in the present day, both in the vegetable 
 and animal kingdoms, instances of agamo- 
 genesisf* For the acceptance of Miracles 
 two things only are reasonably required, 
 sufficient evidence and an adequate purpose. 
 I may quote in this connection the words of 
 the late Archbishop Thomson in his General 
 Introduction to the Gospels in the Bible [or 
 Speaker's] Commentary, in which he shows 
 the untenableness of many elaborate hypo- 
 theses concerning the origin of the Gospels, 
 of one of which ''the original document" 
 theory he says that it "has this advantage 
 as a theory that its facts are all derived from 
 the mind, and are therefore practically un- 
 limited; " the supply will always be equal to 
 the demand, f " The argument (Dr. Thom- 
 son says) that miracles are not so much im- 
 
 * See the articles on " Bees " and on " Biology " in the 
 Encyclopedia Britannica. 
 f Page xi. 
 
226 APPENDIX. 
 
 possible as unlikely, that the testimony needs 
 to be very strong to overcome the antecedent 
 improbability of a miracle, has just this much 
 truth in it, that where everything betokens 
 that Nature is running her ordinary course, 
 the interposition of an isolated or aimless 
 miracle could not be looked for, or readily 
 believed. But when Jesus was born in Beth- 
 lehem, when Jesus died on Calvary, things 
 were not in their ordinary course. A won- 
 derful life, and the promise of a wonderful 
 work for man, were accompanied by wonders 
 wrought for men." * 
 
 This point leads to the consideration of the 
 reasonableness of the doctrine, as distinct 
 from its possibility. 
 
 If the Catholic doctrine of the Incarnation 
 be accepted, the miraculous conception seems 
 to follow almost as a matter of course. The 
 expression, * ' the Catholic doctrine of the In- 
 carnation " is used, because in these days there 
 is a good deal of writing and speaking about 
 the Incarnation in which that word like 
 others is used in a sense which, if not un- 
 
 * Page Ix. 
 
APPENDIX. 227 
 
 natural, is widely different from that which 
 historically has belonged to it. If by the In- 
 carnation is meant that on an already exist- 
 ing human person, Jesus, there descended in 
 extraordinary, say in unique, measure the 
 Divine influence, then, of course, the Virgin 
 Birth is (so far as we can see) a wholly un- 
 necessary and gratuitous addition of miracle. 
 But if with Christendom in general, with 
 certainly the great Creeds of Christendom, 
 we begin with a Divine Person, Who, having 
 existed from all eternity, in time was " mani- 
 fested in the flesh " then one might almost 
 say that no other entrance into the world is 
 imaginable than that which the Creed states 
 to have been chosen, ' * Conceived by the 
 Holy Ghost, Born of the Virgin Mary." 
 
 Thus the single Personality of the Incar- 
 nate Word is guarded; a pure and sinless 
 Humanity is secured, exempt from trans- 
 mitted evil, free from all flaw; really one 
 with us in nature, being formed from the 
 substance of the Virgin Mother, while that 
 which was taken from her was wholly fash- 
 ioned by the Spirit of God. St. Paul's doc- 
 
228 APPENDIX. 
 
 trine of " the Second Adam" (Who is 
 "from Heaven"), a fresh starting-point of 
 renewed humanity, would seem really to re- 
 quire the supernatural conception of Him 
 Who is so designated.* 
 
 The same may fairly be urged with re- 
 spect to the absolute Sinlessness of Christ 
 "Holy, harmless, undefiled, and separate 
 from sinners," the "Lamb without blemish 
 and without spot " which is constantly in- 
 sisted on by the Apostolic writers, f Thus 
 intimately and delicately are truths related 
 one to another. Of this a word more pres- 
 ently. 
 
 * I Cor. xv. 45 ; comp. the argument in Rom. v. 12 sq. and 
 2 Cor. v. 14, 15 (R. V.). 
 
 fHeb. vii. 26; I Pet. i. 19. 
 
 Concerning the Singh and Divine Personality of our 
 Lord, see Liddon's Bampton Lectures, pp. 262-7, and the 
 Christmas- day Sermon in the second volume of Newman's 
 Sermons. The following passage, at once eloquent and 
 exact, may be quoted from the Introduction to Dr. Bright' s 
 Addresses on The Seven Sayings from the Cross, pp. 10, II : 
 
 Who, then, is He, the Jesus of the Passion ? He is not a 
 preeminent saint, who responded with a signal readiness to 
 the Divine voice, who realized more worthily than other 
 men " the Divine idea " of human excellence, and to whom, 
 by a laxity of phrase not free from profaneness, men might 
 
APPENDIX. 229 
 
 Here let me quote a paragraph from a ser- 
 mon of Dr. Liddon's on the subject (in his 
 Christmastide volume) * in which he deals 
 with a point often urged in this connection, 
 and (as was his wont) acutely claims as an 
 argument for the truth that which was ad- 
 duced as an objection. 
 
 Doubtless, here and there in the heathen world, there 
 were legends of sages or poets who were born of virgins ; 
 but these legends are related to the history of our Saviour's 
 Birth, as are false to true miracles. As the counterfeit 
 miracle implies the real miracle of which it is a counterfeit, 
 so the idea of virgin birth, here and there discoverable 
 in Paganism, points to a deep instinct of the human race, 
 
 thus ascribe a so-called " moral divinity." No, He is liter- 
 ally and essentially Divine ; He is " the only-begotten Son 
 of God," that is, the one Son by nature, and, because He is 
 thus Son, is " God from God." The " I " in Him, His very 
 Self, His Personality, is Divine, not human ; yet has He con- 
 descended, in His miraculous love, to take our humanity into 
 union with His Person, to assume as His own, from the first 
 moment of their existence, a human body and soul ; and this 
 without the slightest germ of sin, without any possibility of 
 deviation, in the movements of that soul, from the will of 
 the Eternal Father, but with all the innocent instincts and 
 affections of our nature, so that, while remaining unchange- 
 ably God, He could also be " a High Priest able to sympa- 
 thize with our infirmities," etc. 
 
 * Serm. vi. " Born of a Virgin," pp. 95, 96. 
 
230 APPENDIX. 
 
 and to a high probability that the absolute religion would 
 satisfy it. Men felt, Pagans though they were, the oppres- 
 sion and degradation of their hereditary nature ; they longed 
 for some break in the tyrannical traditions of flesh and blood ; 
 they longed for the appearance of some being who should 
 still belong to them, yet in a manner so exceptional as to be 
 able to inaugurate a new era in humanity. Revelation, 
 surely, is not less trustworthy because it recognizes an in- 
 stinct which only led men to do it justice, and which was in 
 accordance with moral truth. 
 
 In regard to another line of thought 
 which has been (curiously, as I must think) 
 urged as antagonistic to the doctrine of the 
 Incarnation, as the Church hath received the 
 same, including this subsidiary point which 
 we are considering the theory or doctrine 
 of Evolution, I should like to refer to Bishop 
 H. M. Thompson's clever and eloquent use 
 of this very theory to illustrate the unique 
 character and person of Christ, in the fourth 
 of his "Bishop Paddock Lectures" on The 
 World and The Kingdom. "The Child in 
 the Manger" is the title of the lecture. 
 "There is a half truth (he says) in the 
 thought of those who imagine the Faith a 
 development. There is a half truth in every 
 falsehood. The Divine Religion has its 
 
APPENDIX. 231 
 
 human side as well as its divine. The 
 * treasure,' in the largest sense, is in earthen 
 vessels. The environment for Christ and 
 for Christianity is developed in what we 
 blindly call the natural order, but the envir- 
 onment does not make Christ." The analogy 
 is perfect between His character and teach- 
 ing, and His Person. 
 
 III. I have already more than once hinted 
 at a part of the answer which I should make 
 to the last question, which it was proposed 
 to consider, Cui bono ? What is the moral 
 value of a belief in the Virgin-Birth of 
 Christ ? Supposing it to be true, what does 
 a man lose who fails to accept it ? What re- 
 lation has it to conduct ? How can it be 
 counted among beliefs necessary to sal- 
 vation ? 
 
 i. The reply which has been already par- 
 tially anticipated is this. Truths have an 
 indirect as well as a direct value. Suppos- 
 ing some to be themselves without immedi- 
 ate bearing on life and conduct, they may 
 guard and protect other truths which have a 
 
232 APPENDIX. 
 
 direct and tremendous moral import. For 
 instance, in this case, the Virgin-Birth I 
 should regard as an integral part of the true 
 doctrine of the Incarnation, as witnessing to 
 our Lord's unique Personality, His sinless 
 and representative manhood, His perfect 
 sacrifice. 
 
 2. Then, again, the analogy between our 
 Lord's Incarnate life and the spiritual life of 
 His people ought not to be overlooked. The 
 teaching of the New Testament writers, of 
 St. Paul more especially, taken up into the 
 devotional thought of the Church, and em- 
 bodied in much of our Prayer-Book lan- 
 guage, is that each mystery of the Lord's 
 Incarnate life has its counterpart in the 
 spiritual experience of the faithful. For us 
 He was born, that we might be reborn in 
 Him. For us He died, that with Him we 
 might die to sin and self. For us He rose 
 again, that in Him we might rise to newness 
 of life. And how was He born? ''Con- 
 ceived by the Holy Ghost, Born of the Vir- 
 gin Mary." It is the law of spiritual birth, 
 for the formation of Divine life within the 
 
APPENDIX. 233 
 
 soul. "Not by might nor by power" not 
 by human resources, or natural means, "but 
 by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." 
 From first to last our sanctification is the 
 work of the Holy Spirit, by His preventing 
 and assisting grace. No friend or minister 
 can do more than Gabriel did, or Joseph 
 announce God's message, to which the soul 
 must itself respond with self-surrender, that 
 the Spirit may accomplish His work, and 
 then guard the life of grace which has been 
 by His overshadowing communicated. 
 
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