reply, there might have been a shadow of plausibility in making a superstitious use of what the woman appropriately and reasonably said. Had Jesus, when thus admitted to be the Messiah, not answered as He did, His mother might have been sooner than she was unduly revered by impulsive and thoughtless people. Not far off, she might have been fondly sought, and flattered that very day. But even if the Lord had let the speaker's words go to the multitude, and come to us, without any of His own to guard them, nothing but violent treatment could have made them point as with His tacit approval to the worship of His mother. What they express is admiration of Himself. Felicitating, and perhaps envying, her whose Son He was, the emotional Galilean was honouring the Lord. In itself her cry is good and true, agreeing with Elisabeth's repetition of the angelic salutation, an echo to be respected so far and long as it continues distinct and sober. It has become an incoherent intoxication of sound in the temples of Mariolatry.

Christ did not contradict His justly excited hearer. His mother was happy in having Him for her Son. Perhaps the woman was thinking of a bad child of her own, who made her seem as if cursed from heaven, and wishing that, if only remotely, he resembled Jesus. If we are to worship the mothers of bright and holy men, we may be paying religious honour to ladies of repulsive character, and despising others eminent for intelligence and virtue. A blessed parent and beautiful pattern, Mary is a human being. Let all who like "cry out, in the same language which the poor woman addressed to our Saviour, Blessed is the womb that bore Thee, and the breasts that gave Thee suck!""1 But let none be content to stay on the same level with the daughter of Capernaum before she heard the Lord call her

1 M'Corry.

and all to higher meditations. For truth's sake, the good of the person interrupting, and of His other hearers, the instruction of following generations, our present benefit and salvation, Jesus seized the opportunity to lift the standard of His kingdom. He showed that there was a happiness superior to that of being His mother. Nor did He speak, as Romanists assume, of a blessedness of original sanctity qualifying Mary for her motherly office. He spoke of the blessedness of the obedience to which she and others were privileged to aspire, and at which she was in fact daily aiming. On our first impression from His words He may seem, in His love to the human race, to do violence to His filial feelings, and disparage Mary; but as we think of the tone in which He must have spoken, and carefully weigh what He said, we find that He was indirectly commending her as a possessor of the higher blessedness. "But He said," presenting a portrait of His mother, "Yea, rather, blessed are they that hear the word of God, and keep it." In so doing, Mary enjoyed a happiness above that adverted to by the admiring woman. "More blessed was Mary,' says St Augustine, 'in receiving Christ's faith than in conceiving Christ's flesh;' and St Chrysostom declares that she would not have been blessed at all, though she had borne Him in the body, had she not also heard the word of God, and kept it."1

"of

It is not much to follow the example of the woman the company" when she "lifted up her voice" and spoke of Christ's mother. Aim rather at being what Mary was, according to her Son's description, the possessor of a moral blessedness appreciable by none but the spiritual. What the Heart-Searcher beholds with approval, and angels and the angel-like rejoice to distinguish, is His restored nature

1 Northcote.

and image. The Saviour's answer pointed, not only from the favoured parent to the exemplary saint, but from the Son of Mary to the word of God. Is that all the blessedness that strikes thy mind? A deeper happiness ought to occupy thy thoughts and desires. Such as thou are too ready to adore the creature. Love and serve thy Creator and Redeemer. Acquire Mary's happiness as a believer. Become a scholar of God's Word.

the

It is implied in Christ's saying, if descriptive of His mother, that' she remembered the word of God to ponder it, and by pondering it kept it in remembrance. She meditated upon it as variously pronounced in connection with the birth and works of Jesus, and as spoken directly by the Son of the Highest. Hers was more than an admiring and consenting, it was an accepting and appropriating faith. Why was Christ given? What did His miracles demonstrate and recommend? Why did He go about preaching and healing? What was His aim? She saw and sang Redeemer. "My spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour." To be filled with wonder and emotion is not to attain happiness. They are not the blessed who hunt after eloquence, but "they that hear the word of God, and keep it." To do this is to obey it. Mary became a submissive and dutiful Christian. "Be it unto me according to Thy word," was her continual reply to the Voice of the Father. Merely to hold the Gospel in the hand, catch it in the ear, carry it on the tongue, is perilous trifling. "He that receiveth not My words," said Jesus, "hath one that judgeth him the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day."

The exordium of Christ's Sermon on the Mount of Beatitudes, which could be seen from the spot where He now stood in Capernaum, explains His answer to the woman in

the company, pictures what may be considered His mother's full character, and describes the truly happy. "The poor in spirit,—they that mourn,-the meek,-they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness, the merciful,—the pure in heart, the peacemakers, they which are persecuted for righteousness' sake," are the "blessed." Such is the word of God which the mother of Jesus heeded and illustrated to her eternal delight and profit. Worshipping her is departing from this word, from her own footsteps, and from the path of blessedness.

CHAPTER XII.

KITH AND KIN.

"But He answered and said unto him that told Him, Who is My mother? and who are My brethren? And He stretched forth His hand toward His disciples, and said, Behold My mother and My brethren for whosoever shall do the will of My Father Which is in heaven, the same is My brother, and sister, and mother."— MATT. xii. 48-50.

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For thirty years there must have been frequent conversations in Jerusalem and the country around respecting the Son of David Whose name was in the registers of Bethlehem, and Whom Herod the Great had tried to put to death. The rumour that His friends had escaped with Him was full of interest to all who heard it; and there could not but be stories in circulation, not less impressive if vague or distorted, connecting Him with Zacharias, the shepherds, the Wise Men, Simeon, Anna, and the temple rabbis. With the progress of time, the supposition that He was alive and in concealment, blending with treasured suggestions of prophecy, would produce a general expectation. At length the uneasy population were excited by the report of His discovery at the river Jordan, and of the approving testimony of John based upon the wonders which immediately followed His baptism. They heard that He was drawing disciples to Him, and teaching and doing wonders in Samaria and Galilee. Not afraid, He made His appearance, and preached and wrought miracles, at two successive