for her. The sudden appearance of an angel, the inspired salutation of Elizabeth, seem to come to her but as the bright, shining of the sun, or as a deep melodious chord falls upon the ear. She sees and hears, and welcomes both as messages from her God; and inspired by the Holy Spirit she sings her song of triumph, which the Church has made her own and re-echoed for nearly two thousand years.

From the "Magnificat" we learn more of the character of the Virgin than from any other revelation of her which is vouchsafed to us. To magnify the Lord, to rejoice in God her Saviour, is her first thought and act after being saluted as the Mother of God, followed by a deep feeling of humility. A sense of her own lowliness is an abiding principle, and there is no thought of self even in her exulting words, "All generations shall call me blessed; "

for all glory is ascribed to Him that is mighty, Who had magnified her, and Whose name is Holy. So it has always been and so it will ever be with the meek and lowly of heart who are pronounced "blessed by the Saviour, as also are "they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness," for they are "filled with good things," when " the rich" are "sent empty away."

Little did S. Mary think that her song would be sung on earth by successive generations until the end of time, or that her words breathed forth among the hills of Judea gave to the world a perfect example of exalted humility; for they were an unconscious portraiture of herself, an embodiment of the grace given indeed by God, but made her own by the exercise of her own free will.

As we read the " Magnificat" thought

travels back to an age long past, when the Word of the Lord came to man, and it was written, "Thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, Whose name is Holy. I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also who is of a contrite and humble spirit ; and to the time when the Saviour sat on the Mount and the Beatitudes fell from His gracious lips, for as we read of the "poor in spirit," "the meek," "the merciful," "the peacemakers," "the pure in heart," do we not see that all these qualities combined to form the character of her who was pre-eminently blessed among women, and who was in an especial manner a type of the Church, and the archetype which God has given to the world for the daughters of the Church to study and to imitate.

We may not, in this scene in the life

of S. Mary, pass over without notice the record that Elizabeth's salutation, "Blessed art thou among women," was given with a loud voice; for, as Isaac Williams says, "the loud voice, as the loud voice of our Lord at His death, indicates that it is with Divine not human power that she spake; using the very same words as the Angel had used to her before, for it was the same Holy Spirit that spake in both, declaring the same both by angels and men."

To these words may be added another thought in connection with the foregoing remarks on the union of the supernatural with the natural. The loud voice would seem to indicate God's purpose to make man feel that, powerful as He is in His works which are seen by men, His unseen power is greater; and that the evidence of things revealed by the Holy Spirit is far above that of sight and touch.

And here we are reminded of our Lord's words to S. Thomas: "Because thou hast seen thou hast believed; blessed are those who have not seen and yet have believed." So it is, that until "faith is lost in sight— not our present limited sight, but the full and perfect sight we shall have when we are made like unto the Son of Godthe special benediction rests upon those whose faith grasps higher and deeper verities than the things of sense and sight.

As the higher part of man realizes day by day the illimitable power of its capabilities, so the powers of his visible and material part become dwarfed in his estimation; the unseen to mortal vision becomes real and lasting; the seen, as real indeed, but only transitory, to be cared for and kept undefiled as long as it lasts,—in short, to be regarded as a precious casket, but of lesser value than the jewel it contains.