THE MOTHER OF JESUS

NOT THE

PAPAL MARY.

CHAPTER I.

THE ANNUNCIATION.

"And the angel came in unto her, and said, Hail, thou that art highly favoured, the Lord is with thee: blessed art thou among women. -LUKE i. 28.

FROM our disgust at the lavish, unscriptural, and irrational homage paid by many to the Virgin Mary, we are in danger of rendering her less respect than other holy women whom the Bible calls us to honour and resemble. If in the particulars preserved concerning Naomi, Ruth, and Hannah in the Old Testament, and Dorcas, Lydia, and the sisters at Bethany in the New, we find not a little to interest and edify us, we may look for instruction into what is on record in the inspired volume respecting the mother of Jesus. We may hope so to pursue her history as to arrive at a just. estimate of her character, and a right appreciation of her position relatively to Christ and the Church. It is not pretended that this has never been done by others. "In his sermons" Elfric of Malmesbury, who flourished in the be

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ginning of the eleventh century, "presented the scriptural history of Mary in opposition to the later fables."1 Many have found it necessary to show the same lamentable contrast, and more will have to do so before the present Italian idol shall have been thrown into the abyss where the ancient goddesses of Rome are buried. Whatever may have been said or written by Protestants during the last eight centuries, it is time for some one to notice the noxious Marian books paraded in our day by Popish publishers in England.

"The Virgin's name was Mary," the same as Miriam, that of the sister of Moses. Determined to find in it a title of glory, some make it signify "The Exalted;" some, "She who enlightens ;" and others, "The Star of the Ocean," and "The Lady of the Sea." Formed of two words, meaning the sea and bitterness, it yields the music of sorrow. She is well called Mary, in view of the bitterness from which her Son redeems mankind; and her personal history was in some respects a sea of bitterness. What bitterness to be unjustly suspected for a time by those who loved her, and whom she dearly loved! How bitter her humiliation when she found herself compelled to sojourn with the Divine Infant in a stable! What a bitter trial of her affection and faith was nearly all the career of Jesus from the manger to the tomb! It was a bitter moment when Simeon said to her, "This Child is set for a sign which shall be spoken against; yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also." Bitter to her was the outburst of Herod's wrath, compelling her hurried flight into Egypt. It was bitter in her own land to see the Lord despised and rejected" because "the Son of Mary.":

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1 Neander.

2 See one of the words in Exod. xv. 23, and Ruth i. 19, 20.
3 Mark vi. 3.

Bitterness to her spirit were all His sufferings and sorrows; and how bitterly her heart was riven when she beheld Him drooping and dying on the cross! Works of art and Romanist books represent her sorrows as seven : Simeon's prophecy, the flight to Egypt, the loss of the Child, the betrayal of Jesus, His crucifixion, His deposition from the cross, and His disappearance at Olivet.

It may be asked why her career included so much bitterness. In the face of Holy Scripture, as will be shown, Roman Catholics almost dare to say that, like Jesus Christ's, her situation was vicarious, and her work atoning. If any but the Son of God could suffer for the world's redemption, what necessity was there for His advent and sacrifice? Among the children of fallen Adam, Mary needed justification and regeneration through His blood; and, with all whom God has spared to responsible years, she required the furnace of temptation. The poison was in her soul of

"The fruit

Of that forbidden tree, whose mortal taste
Brought death into the world, and all our woe."

She was "born in sin," and therefore, not vicariously, "born to trouble." Centuries passed before theologians taught, with no foundation but pious fancy, first that she was purified from sin at the Annunciation, and then that she was originally immaculate.

Her lot was not wholly bitter. Its very bitterness produced high happiness. She might in some respects have reversed for herself the speech of Elimelech's sorrowful widow, and said, "Call me not Mara, call me Naomi." If wanting in some manuscripts, yet the words attributed to Gabriel, "Blessed art thou among women," are true words, parallel with others in the Gospel narratives. They were afterwards spoken to Mary in Elisabeth's inspired address;