Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 4

THE EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS. CHAPTER VI.

5 For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection.

8 Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall live also together with Christ.

The same sword which pierced the Heart of Jesus in death,, pierced also the soul of Mary. [Luke. ii. 35.] As she stood beside the Cross, of Calvary, all the Passion and Death of her Divine Son Jesus was hers. Who then, as she, was planted together in the likeness of His Death ? And who, as she, will be in the likeness of His Resurrection glory ? United with Christ, as no other was, in. His death, where must we believe is her place with Him in. eternal life ?

CHAPTER VIII.

10 And if Christ be in you, the body indeed is dead, because of sin; but the spirit liveth, because of justification.

11 And if the spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you; he that raised up Jesus Christ from the dead, shall quicken also your mortal bodies, because of his spirit that dwelleth in you.

It has ever been the teaching of the Holy Church, that, as. S. Augustine expresses it, there is no question of sin with, regard to the Mother of God. And it is now a denned dogma of the Faith, that Mary was conceived free from original sin. Consequently her holy body was not subject to the penal law of death, for the body is dead, i.e. subject to death, because of sin —" death is the wages of sin." The Blessed Virgin died, in deed, that in all things she might be conformed to the image of her Son, but not because of sin (in a strict penal sense) any more than He. It was fitting, then, and indeed due to her, that her body should not be left in the grave, nor her flesh should see corruption. [Acts ii. 31.] And, therefore, God raised her from the tomb—it being impossible that she should be holden by it; death and the grave having no right in her — and exalted lier in her Assumption to the right hand of her Son. This lias ever been the teaching of the Holy Church, and would seem to flow as a natural consequence from the Immaculate Conception of the Blessed Virgin Mary, and from the principle laid down by the Apostle, that the death of the body is an effect of sin.

" The Holy Ghost says that ' the glory of a man is from the honour of his father, and a father without honour is the disgrace of the son.' [Ecclus. iii. 13.] ' Therefore it was,' says an ancient writer, * that Jesus preserved the body of Mary from corruption after death ; for it would have redounded to His dishonour, had that virginal flesh with which He had clothed Himself become the food of worms ;' ' For,' he adds, ' corruption is a disgrace of human nature ; and as Jesus was not subject to it, Mary was also exempted ; for the flesh of Jesus is the flesh of Mary, " etc. [De Assump. B. M. V. int. op. S. Augustini. S. Alphonsus, Glories of Mary, p. 251.]

14 For whosoever are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.

15 For you have not received the spirit of bondage again in fear; but you have received the spirit of adoption of sons, whereby we -cry: Abba (Father).

16 For the Spirit himself giveth testimony to our spirit, that we are the sons of God.

17 And if sons, heirs also; heirs indeed of God, and joint-heirs with Christ: yet so, if we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified with him.

How wonderfully here does each word of S. Paul reveal to us the grace and glory of Mary. It is the Spirit of God which makes us sons, "who are born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, but of God," [John i. 13.] Who having made us sons, gives testimony to our spirit that we are indeed sons. But who was ever visited, filled, led by the Spirit of God, like Mary ? Who ever as she had the testimony of the Spirit that she was indeed the child of God ? Mary, then, is God's first-born daughter by adoption, and pre-eminently, in a sense no other could be. She is heir of God, and joint-heir of the kingdom of glory with Christ His Only-begotten Son. Mary had, moreover, that other title, of the Divine Maternity. The same Holy Spirit Who gave to Mary the spirit of adoption as a child of God, made her also the Mother of God. Though the " Word was made flesh " of Mary, yet of her He was " born not of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." " The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Most High shall overshadow thee, and therefore also the Holy which shall be born of thee shall be called the Son of God." [Luke i. 35.] The same Holy Spirit gave ineffable testimony to Mary's spirit that she was indeed Mother. Hence not only could she by the spirit of adoption cry : Abba, Father ; but also Magnificat, as she called God her Saviour, her Son [Luke i. 46, 47 ; ii. 48.] —not by adoption, but in a true and proper sense ; for she is in truth the great Mother of God, and as such, has her place in His kingdom. Yet still more does she call herself His handmaid, Ecce ancilla Domini. We may here ask our Lord's question, putting the name of Mary for that of David : "If David, then, call Him Lord, how is He his Son ?" [Matt. xxii. 43.] The Pharisees could not answer ; but we can. Mary is at once the creature and the Mother of Jesus ; and therefore the Holy Spirit teaches her to call Him both Lord and Son.

Joint-heirs with Christ, if we suffer with Him. Who fulfilled this condition as Mary ? Her compassion with Christ, as His own Mother, was wholly different in kind, as well as degree, from that of all other saints, and so different in kind must be her glory in heaven. See that Mother standing at the foot of the Cross, while the sword pierces her soul : then lift your eyes to heaven, and see Jesus in His kingdom, on the throne of His father David, on His everlasting throne : " Thy throne, 0 God, is for ever and ever," [Heb. i. 8, 9.] etc. Who can doubt of Mary's place ? " The Queen stood on thy right hand," [ps. xIiv. 10.] etc.

18 For I reckon that the sufferings of this time are not worthy to be compared with the glory to come, that shall be revealed in us.

19 For the expectation of the creature waiteth for the revelation of the sons of God.

So also did Mory reckon. Great as were her dolours in her compassion she considered that all was not worthy to be com pared with the glory to come, that should be revealed in her. Standing by the Cross, and throughout her life, she looked to and imitated the example of " Jesus the author and finisher of faith, Who having joy set before Him, endured the Cross, despising the shame, and sitteth on the right hand of the throne of God," [Heb. xii. 2.] and she too is sitting now on the right hand of her Son. And even as all creation looks forward to the revelation of the glory of the children of God, so in the Church are all the faithful waiting for the manifestation of the exceeding glory of His Mother.

26 Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity. For we know not what we should pray for as we ought ; but the Spirit himself asketh for us with unspeakable groanings.

27 And he that searcheth the hearts, knoweth what the Spirit desireth; because he asketh for the saints according to God.

In our soul's distress the Holy Ghost not only thus helps and pleads for us Himself, but is often wont to inspire us to invoke the help and intercession of others, especially of some Saint in heaven. Thus S. Patrick records of himself : " On that same night, in my sleep, I was fiercely tempted by Satan (which I shall remember as long as body and soul hold together). There fell, as it were, a great stone upon me, and all my limbs were paralysed. Then it came in some way into my mind to call upon Elias, and at that moment I saw the sun rise in the heavens, and while I called with all my strength upon Elias, behold, the splendour of the sun fell upon me, and at once shook off the weight, and I believe that Christ my Lord cried out for me, and I hope that so it will be in the day of my distress." [Acta, § 3; Mart, xvii., p. 535 ; Fr. Morris, Life of S. Patrick, p. 57.]  Most especially does the Holy Ghost inspire us to invoke Mary, who knows so well what we should pray for, and who never fails to obtain from her Divine Son what she asks for us. For as King Solomon said to Bethsabee, so Jesus says to Mary, " My Mother, ask : for I must not turn away thy face." [3 Kings ii. 19.] Many Catholic writers have quoted these words of Solomon to Bethsabee with the same application. They have not, however, remarked, that, when Bethsabee did speak, she was so far from obtaining her request, that she drew death down on him who had prompted it. To use this illustration, it should be coupled with the conduct of our Blessed Lord at Cana. Bethsabee asks, and Solomon makes as if he would grant all, but rejects her petition. Mary asks, and Jesus seems to reject, yet in reality He grants her request. [Protestants would fain prove from certain passages in the Gospel that Jesus Christ did not treat Mary as Mother of God ; and Socinians teach that Mary, did not treat Jesus as God. Both are false, but the latter view is as easy to sustain from Scripture as the other.]

28 And we know that to them that love God, all things work together unto good, to such as, according to his purpose, are called to

29 For whom he foreknew, he also predestinated to be made conformable to the image of his Son ; that he might be the first-amongst many brethren.

30 And whom he predestinated, them he also called And whom he called, them he also justified And whom he justified, them n also glorified.

Mary was called according to the divine purpose, not only to be a Saint, but to be the Mother of the Holy One, the King of Saints. She loved God with a love surpassing that of all others. All things, then, of God's Providence worked together in a most special manner for her good. His " Wisdom which reacheth from end to end mightily, and ordereth all things sweetly," [Wisdom, viii. 1.] caused everything so to cooperate, that her end might correspond with the beginning ; her glorification be equal and proportioned to her first vocation. God had fore-known her from everlasting as the Mother of His Only-begotten Son. He had predestined her in His eternal decrees to be prevented with extraordinary grace, so that she might be a worthy Mother most conformable to the image of His Son. He had elected her in time, and sanctified her fully. As no mind of angel or man could ever have imagined her predestined dignity, and God's accomplishment in time, so none can conceive her glory in eternity.

The life of Mary is written in these words. She was fore-known, and fore-told. She is the Woman between whom and the Serpent God promised to put enmity. She is the Virgin who should conceive Emmanuel. From her immaculate conception she was prepared to be like her Son. During the whole of her Son's life, she laid up in her heart every event which happened to Him, every word spoken of Him, every word spoken by Him, every look, every act, and so became more and more like Him. When Philip had been two or three years in the school of Jesus he was justly blamed for not having studied his Divine Master better. " Philip said : Lord shew us the Father, and it is enough for us. Jesus saith to him. So long a time have I been with you, and you have not known Me? Philip, he that seeth Me, seeth the Father also . . . Do you not believe that I am in the Father, and the Father in Me ? " [John xiv. 8-10.] Mary was far longer in the school of Jesus, but she merited no such reproach. She knew and studied her Divine Son. On the same occasion our Lord said to His Apostles : " He that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father, arid I will love him and will manifest Myself to him.

Judas saith to Him (not Iscariot), Lord how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself to us, and not to the world? Jesus answered and said to him, If any man love Me, he will keep My word, and My Father will love him, and We will come, and will make our abode with him." [John xiv. 21-23.] Did not Mary love her Divine Son ? Did she not keep His word ? Did He not manifest Himself to her ? He came and took up His abode with her bodily, but only because He had already taken up His abode with her spiritually. " The Lord is with thee." Prius in mente quam in ventre, says S. Augustine.

32 He that spared not even his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how hath he not also, with him, given us all things?

S. Paul's argument is, God has given for you His Son, in whom all good things are contained. All things are, there fore, yours, if you will. Now God gave His Son not only for Mary, but to Mary. She for His sake, was full of grace before she received Him actually as her Son. But He who gave her Jesus to be her Son, how has He not also with Him given her all things ? Nothing is more excellent in itself, nothing more dear to God than His Only-begotten Son. His Father did not give other excellent gifts, such as angels and archangels, patriarchs, and prophets, and keep back or spare His Son. No, He gave Him, and Him especially and entirely. All His other gifts only led to and prepared for this one. It was complete. He gave Him not in part, but wholly. He delivered Him up. He did not lend Him, but gave Him for ever. If He has already done this, why do we hesitate or doubt about anything else ? Is there anything greater, any thing equal ? Can anything be ever put in comparison with Him 1 Is not every other gift contained in Him, resulting from Him, and merited by Him ? Is it more startling that I should be in heaven, than that the Only-begotten Son of God should be shivering in a crib ? that I should enjoy eternal bliss, than that the Ever-Blessed should die accursed on a Cross ? [See the passage from S. Chrysostom, In Matt., Hom, ii., n. 2, quoted above, p. 22, note.] that I should gaze on the unveiled Majesty of God, than that God's glory should be veiled beneath the form of bread ? If then the greater Gift has been given, the lesser one will not be refused. If the stranger work of mercy has already taken place, the less strange one may well take place also. How does this regard Mary ? Thus :

Monstra te esse matrem, Sumat per te preces, Qui pro nobis natus Tulit esse tuus.

Jesus became Mary's, yet for our sake, He became hers, that she might give Him for us, and to us. She did so at the Presentation. She did so on Calvary. She spared not her own Son. What then will she spare ? her love, or her prayers that we may not lose that Son, and that He may not lose the fruit of His Incarnation and Death ? Impossible.

35 Who then shall separate us from the love of Christ ? Shall tribulation ? or distress ? or famine ? or nakedness ? or danger ? or persecution ? or the sword ?

36 (As it is written: For thy sake we are put to death all the day long. We are accounted as sheep for the slaughter.)

37 But in all these things we overcome, because of him that hath loved us.

38 For I am sure that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor might,

39 Nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

If S. Paul was able thus with assured confidence to glory in his love of Jesus Christ, and challenge all sufferings and created powers to separate him therefrom, with much greater force could the Blessed Virgin Mary do so, whose love to God as far surpasses that of all other Saints, as does her Divine Maternity excel all other dignities. The trial, too, of Mary's love was correspondingly great : that is, her Dolours, which were exceeded only by the sufferings of Jesus Christ her Son, so that she has merited the title of Mater dolorosissima, and Regina Martyrum.

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 3

THE EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS. CHAPTER IV.

3 For what saith the scripture ? Abraham believed God, and it was reputed to him unto justice.

16 Therefore it is of faith, that according to grace the promise might be firm to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham, who is the father of us all.

17 (As it is written: I have made thee a father of many nations) before God, whom he believed, who quickeneth the dead; and calleth those things that are not, as those that are.

18 Who against hope believed in hope; that he might be made the father of many nations, according to that which was said to him : So shall thy seed be.

19 And he was not weak in faith ; neither did he consider his own body now dead, whereas he was almost an hundred years old, nor the dead womb of Sara.

20 In the promise also of God he staggered not by distrust; but was strengthened in faith, giving glory to God:

21 Most fully knowing, that whatsoever he has promised, he is able also to perform.

22 And therefore it was reputed to him unto justice.

23 Now it is not written only for him, that it was reputed to him unto justice,

24 But also for us, to whom it shall be reputed, if we believe in him, that raised up Jesus Christ, our Lord, from the dead,

25 Who was delivered up for our sins, and rose again for our justification.

How well and how truly might we not here substitute the name of Mary for Abraham. What saith the Gospel ? " Blessed art thou that hast believed, because these things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord." [Luke i. 45.] How much higher and more efficacious was Mary's faith than that of Abraham ; and, consequently, how much greater and more perfect her justice; how much fuller and more extended the blessedness and promised inheritance resulting to her therefrom. Are these not proportioned to the immediate object of her faith, the Redeemer of the world, the Incarnate Lord of men and angels, who was so much greater than Isaac, the son of Sara, the immediate object of Abraham's faith ?

Yes, Blessed, indeed, Mary, art thou amongst women, whom all generations, in time and eternity, shall pronounce Blessed.

Has not Mary, in a more true and far higher sense than Abraham is the father of the faithful, become through her faith the Mother of its all ? She who against hope believed in hope, that she might be the Mother of her God, and of all generations of His faithful ones : [See infra, Gal. iii. 6-9, 16, 18, 22, 26-29 ; iv. 22-31. Heb. xi. 11, 12, 17-19. James ii. 21-23.] who was not weak in faith, considering not her virginal sterility ; in the promise also that " the Holy Ghost should come upon her, and the power of the Most High overshadow her, and that there should be born of her the Holy, the Son of God," staggered not by distrust; but strengthened in faith, knowing that no word is impossible with God, said, "Behold the handmaid of the Lord, be it done to me according to Thy word ;" and giving to God all the glory, exclaimed : " My soul doth magnify the Lord . . . because He that is Mighty hath done great things to me ; and holy is His Name. Now it is not written only for her, but also for us, if we believe; as she herself declared : " His mercy is for them that fear Him throughout all generations."

"Blessed be the Babe," exclaims S. Ephrem, "whose Mother was Bride of the Holy One ! . . . Sara had lulled Isaac as being a slave that bare the image of the King his Master on his shoulders, even the sign of His Cross, yea on his hands were bandages and sufferings, a type of the nails. Rachel cried to her husband, and said, Give me sons. Blessed be Mary, in whose womb, though she asked not, Thou didst dwell holily, 0 Gift, that poured itself upon them that received it. Anna with bitter tears asked a child, Sara and Rebecca with vows and words, Elizabeth also with her prayer: after having harassed themselves for a long time yet so obtained comfort. Blessed be Mary, who without vows and without prayers, in her virginity conceived and brought forth the Lord of all the sons of her companions, who have been or shall be chaste and righteous, priests and kings. Who ever lulled a son in her bosom as Mary did ? Who ever dared to call her son, Son of the Maker, Son of the Creator, Son of the Most High ? Who ever dared to speak to her son as in prayer ? 0 Trust of Thy Mother as God, her Beloved and her Son as Mary, in fear and love it is meet for Thy Mother to stand before Thee." [De Natal. Dom. Horn. vi. Opp. Syr. ii. Morris, p. 36.]

" Mary hid in us to-day leaven come from Abraham." [Jb. Horn. i. p. 8. S. Ephrem in his sermon on Abraham and Isaac draws out the analogy between the conception of Sara (Gen. xviii. 10-12, xxi. 7), and the Annunciation to Mary, dwelling on the former only for the sake of
the latter (Opp. Graec. iii. p. 376). The Blessed Virgin has alluded in her Magnificat to God's fidelity to His promises made to " Abraham and his seed for ever." The Jews in our Lord's time were fond of calling Abraham their father, but they were often degenerate children. The Pharisees were rebuked for this by S. John Baptist, [Matt. iii. 9.] as well as by our Blessed Lord Himself, [John viii. 39.] Who told them to imitate or do the works of Abraham. Yet the great patriarch has some genuine children amongst his lineal descendants, and of these Mary was the chief. She was a true daughter of Abraham. But she was far more. She was the Mother of Him who was before Abraham, [John viii. 58] and whose day Abraham rejoiced to see. [ ib. v. 56.] No doubt Abraham rejoiced also in the birth and life of his more favoured daughter. Abraham's faith and hope were great. Greater still were Mary's. He believed that his barren wife could be made fruitful, but Mary that a virgin could conceive. " Blessed art thou that didst believe." Abraham believed that though he should slay his child of promise, God's promises would still be fulfilled. Mary saw her Son die in shame, and even heard Him cry : " My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me ? " Yet she believed in His resurrection and future reign. And so she is the Mother of us all, the Mother of many nations, the Mother whom all generations shall call Blessed.

" Was the faith of the Blessed Virgin greater than that of Abraham ? Abraham, indeed, believed in the hope of the promise made to him by the angel concerning a son who was to be born contrary to the hope that he had naturally that he should yet have a son, since he was very old and his vile barren. But the faith of the Blessed Virgin Mary was greater, for she believed the angel, that of herself a virgin should be born, not a man only, but the Son of the Most High. Magis enim est contra, vel potius supra naturam, virginem concipere, permanente virgine, et verum Deum et hominem, quam concipere vetulam ex vetulissimo, et purum hominem." [S. Antonin. P. iv. Tit. 15, cap. 19, 3.]

CHAPTER V.

1 Being justified therefore by faith, let us have peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ:

2 By whom also we have access through faith into this grace, wherein we stand, and glory in the hope of the glory of the sons of God.

3 And not only so; but we glory also in tribulations, knowing that tribulation worketh patience;

4 And patience trial; and trial hope;

5 And hope confoundeth not; because the charity of God is poured forth in our hearts, by the Holy Ghost, who is given to us.

By faith we have access to our present grace. Faith is the beginning and root of our justification. The Church is the kingdom of faith. Without faith we cannot participate in its treasures. It is faith which gives us access to our sonship. "As many as received Him, He gave them power to be made the sons of God, to them that believe in His name." [John i. 12.] Consequently it is faith which admits us to our hope of that eternal bliss, which God our Father will confer on His sons. "Dearly beloved, we are now the sons of God ; and it hath not yet appeared what we shall be. We know that when He shall appear, we shall be like to Him, because we shall see Him as He is." [1 John iii. 2.] Now Mary was daughter, first-born daughter of God, and like us she obtained that grace by faith. But she was more than daughter : she was Mother. Mother of her Heavenly Father! And how had she access to this grace ? By her faith. " Blessed art thou that hast believed, because those things shall be accomplished that were spoken to thee by the Lord." [Luke i. 45.] And note how Mary, standing in this grace gloried in the hope of the glory of Mother of God. No sooner had Elizabeth reminded her of the grace to which faith has given her access, than her spirit rejoiced in God her Saviour. " Because He hath regarded the humility of His handmaid : for behold from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed." [Luke i. 46-48.] And now in heaven Mary possesses that for which she hoped. She who was hungry is filled with the good things of her Divine Son: she who was humble is exalted to His right hand. She " sees Him as He is," in the beatific vision—not, indeed, adequately, as He sees Himself ; yet more perfectly than the saints or angels. And because she sees Him more perfectly, she is more " like to Him " than they. Oh ! what vision! what likeness ! It is part of the hope in which we glory that we shall one day see the Son reflected in the Mother, His spotless mirror.

If all Christians have access, through their faith, to the grace of reconciliation with God, and to the hope of future glory as His adopted children, what access to all graces must not Mary have obtained through her pre-eminent faith ! Beata, quce credidisti. She who was declared, even before her divine maternity, by God Himself to be perfectly united to Him, Dominus tecum ; and to have already found grace and blessed ness, and to be full of grace. What must be her glory, and what the hope wherewith she looked forward to it, as the Blessed amongst women, the elect daughter of the Father, the true Mother of the Incarnate Son, the immaculate Spouse of the Holy Ghost. Again : what tribulations like to hers, whose soul the sword of sorrow was to pierce through and through, as continually she contemplated, and herself was witness of, and sharer in, the Passion and Death of her beloved Jesus. What glory in tribulations, what perfect trial, what assuring hope was hers, in whose heart the charity of God, the love of Jesus her own Divine Son, was so super-abundantly poured forth, by the Holy Ghost, who overshadowed her at the Incarnation, and again was given to her at Pentecost in all His fulness.

17 Much more they who receive abundance of grace, and of the gift, and of justice, shall reign in life through One, Jesus Christ.

According to the measure of the grace, gift, and justice, will be the reign in eternal life. What abundance of grace comparable with the fulness which Mary received ? What gift, with that bestowed on her, to whom God was given to be her own true Son 1 What justice and sanctity with hers, to whom God from heaven declares Himself to be united, whom the holy Archangel salutes with his Ave as Queen? What, then, in, eternal glory must be the reign in life through Jesus Christ of Mary, His own Mother, the holy Queen of angels and saints ?

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 2

THE EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS. CHAPTER II.

Ambrogio Bergognone -The Virgin and Child XV Century

6 Who will render to every man according to his works.

7 To them indeed, who according to patience in good work, seek glory, and honour, and incorruption, eternal life.

"What recompense will Christ render to the Blessed Virgin? Christ the Lord, the just judge, gives rewards, says the Apostle, to every man according to his works. As what Mary, His most holy Virgin Mother, has wrought is incomprehensible, and unspeakable the gift she received, so beyond all price and incomprehensible is the reward and the glory which she has merited. I say not amongst the rest of virgins, but also amongst all the Saints." [S. Ildephonsus, Serm. 2, De Assump.]

" And who would there be, for whom the Lord would lay up greater merit and reserve greater reward than for His Mother?" [S. Ambrose, De Inst. Virg. vi. 45.]

10 But glory, and honour, and peace to everyone that worketh good.

There is then an honour due to creatures, as w r ell as to the Creator ; though the honour due to the " only God " [i Tim. i. 17.]  cannot be shared by creatures. But, we may add, neither can the glory and honour due to creatures be given directly to God. Honour is due to excellence. Now, God's excellence is not only infinitely greater in degree than that of His creatures, but also essentially different in kind from theirs. Nay rather, they are not merely different, but contradictory. God's excellence is in His Infinite, Independent, Self-sufficing Nature. The honour due to this is latria, supreme adoration. The excellence of creatures is in their submission to God, their perfect dependence on Him, their absolute reference of them selves to Him. Mary, who of all creatures was the most humble, the most submissive, the most prostrate before God, is most deserving of honour as a creature. But this honour does not raise her up as a rival to God, but proclaims her the very humblest of His servants. If it places a crown on her brow, it is one which she casts at the feet of her Son. [Apoc. iv. 10.]

13 For not the hearers of the law are just before God; but the doers of the law shall be justified.

Mary is frequently praised in the Gospel as not a mere hearer but a doer. Indirectly she is thus commended by our Lord Himself in answer to the woman who exclaimed: " Blessed is the womb that bore thee," etc. ; when He said, " Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it." [Luke xi. 27, 28.]  And directly she is commended by the Evangelist, who records of Mary that she " performed all things according to the Law of the Lord," [75. ii. 39.] and carefully takes note of her exact obedience. [v.v. 21-27, 41, 43.] Thus that blessedness of keeping God's word, which our Lord pronounced to be greater than that of the divine maternity, was pre-eminently Mary's : and hence pre-eminently was she just before God.

" Mary was more blessed," says S. Augustine, " in receiving the faith of Christ than in conceiving the flesh of Christ. For to one who said : 'Blessed is the womb that bore thee and the paps that gave thee suck,' He answered: ' Yea rather, blessed are they who hear the word of God and keep it.' What profited it His brethren, that is, His kindred according to the flesh, who did not believe in Him, their relationship ? So, too, the near relationship of mother would have profited Mary nothing, had she not borne Christ in her heart, which was more blessed than bearing Him in her flesh. . . . Thus Mary, by doing the will of God corporally is only the Mother of Christ, but spiritually is both sister and mother." [De Sanct. Virginit. c.c. 3, 4.]

29 But he is a Jew, that is one inwardly ; and the circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, not in the letter ; whose praise is not of men, but of God.

Such was Nathanael, "an Israelite indeed, in whom was no guile ;" [John i. 47.] thus praised by our Lord Himself. Such, still more, was Mary. It was not fitting that His earthly lips should directly praise her. But her interior piety is praised by the Angel and the Evangelist. [See Luke i. 28, 30, 41-45 ; ii. 19, 51.] "All the glory of the King's daughter is from within." [Ps. xliv. 15.]

CHAPTER III.

23 For all men have sinned.

" Does this universal statement include the Blessed Virgin ? By a special privilege granted to Mary an exception was made in her case to the general rule that all have sinned, as S. Augustine declares." [S. Antoninus , P iv., Tit. 15, cap. 20, 4. See the passage from S.
Augustine, De Natura et gratia c. xxxvi., infra, ad 1 John i. 8.]

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. Comments on the Epistles part 1

THE EPISTLE OF S. PAUL THE APOSTLE TO THE ROMANS. CHAPTER I.

1 Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle, separated unto the Gospel of God,

2 Which he had promised before, by his prophets, in the holy scriptures,

3 Concerning his Son, who was made to him of the seed of David, according to the flesh,

4 Who was predestinated the Son of God in power, according to the spirit of santification, by the resurrection of our Lord Jesus Christ from the dead ;

5 By whom we have received grace and apostleship for obedience to the faith, in all nations, for his name.

S. Paul in these verses, as at the commencement of other Epistles, gives the title of his authority from heaven, and the claim that he has on the respect and obedience of those whom he addresses. How much higher are Mary's claims. How would the terms of her commission run?

Mary, the handmaid of the Lord, chosen to be the Mother of Jesus Christ; that Virgin predicted by the prophets, separated for the Incarnation of the Divine Word, Who was made Flesh, conceived and born of me, by the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost, Our Lord Jesus Christ, my God, my Saviour, and my Son—through Whom I have found grace, and am full of grace and blessing, so that from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed ; from Whom when dying on the Cross, I received the charge to be Mother of all His disciples and brethren, to the end that all the faithful in all nations should regard me with filial love and piety for His name.

S. Paul here dwells on his dignity in order to show with what authority he writes.

First, he delights in the title of being servant or slave (δοῦλος) of Jesus Christ, and considers it an honour. Next, he has been chosen by God to be one of His Apostles. He has been selected for a work of such mighty importance, that it has been foretold, or rather, that it has been the general burden of all the prophecies ; this work being to make known the Gospel of God, that is, God's joyful news concerning His own Divine Son made Man.

Compare now Mary's dignity : she also delights in the title of handmaid (δούλη). Yet to what has God chosen her ? Not to be an Apostle, or the first of them, but to be the Mother of His Son. She is that very seed of David which has been the object of so many prophecies. It was her office to make Jesus Christ according to the flesh for God His Father, and to give Him to the world. Qui pro nobis natus, tulit esse tuus.

S. Paul tells us that to fit him for his work, he was separated unto the Gospel of God. That is, he was removed from every thing else, to be entirely consecrated to this. He was separated from his nation, his family, his home, his worldly pursuits and prospects ; but above all from his former habits, prejudices, and sins. Since then Mary's office is so much higher, it is reasonable to suppose (as we know to be the fact), that she was separated for it by a much more perfect separation and consecration. Indeed, she was not one of the number of holy women, but blessed amongst them all. She was separated from the rest of men by her immaculate conception, by her presentation in the Temple, by her vow of virginity, by her fulness of grace. Nec primam similem visa est, nec habere sequentem.

" But He was made of the seed of David according to the flesh, as the Apostle says : That is, as though of the mould of earth, when there was no man to till the earth ; because no man wrought in the Virgin of whom Christ was born. 'But a spring rose out of the earth, watering all the face of the earth.' The face of the earth, that is, the dignity of the earth, whereby is most rightly understood, the Mother of the Lord, the Virgin Mary, whom the Holy Spirit watered ; for He is signified under the name of a Spring, and of Water in the Gospel: as though Christ, made of such mould, was to be the Man set in paradise to work and keep it, that is to say, in the will of His Father to fulfil and keep it." [S. Augustine, De Genesi L. ii. 36, on Gen. ii. 5-7.]

9 For God is my witness, whom I serve in my spirit in the gospel of his Son, that without ceasing I make a commemoration of you ;

10 Always in my prayers making request, if by any means now at length I may have a prosperous journey, by the will of God, to come unto you.

11 For I long to see you, that I may impart unto you some spiritual grace, to strengthen you :

12 That is to say, that I may be comforted together in you, by that which is common to us both, your faith and mine.

In almost every one of his Epistles the Apostle makes a protest, similar to this, of his fidelity in intercessory prayer, and ceaseless prayer, prayer " night and day," as he writes to S. Timothy. [2 Tim. i. 3.] So impressed is he with the importance of this duty, that he here even takes an oath that he fulfils it. Such intercessory prayer is not a mere external duty, which those perform who render to God only a perfunctory bodily service. No, S. Paul performed it otherwise, for, at the same time, he served God in his spirit in the Gospel of His Son.

But certainly the Blessed Mother of God served God in her spirit in the Gospel of His Son. This was nearer and dearer to her than to S. Paul. Certainly, then, she prayed day and night for the success of the Gospel when she was on earth ; and certainly she does so still more fervently now that she is in heaven.

S. Paul longed to impart some spiritual grace. Had not Mary, has she not still, a more intense longing than the Apostle to impart unto us some spiritual grace, since she herself was " full of grace," having " found grace with God," and through her we have received the source of all grace ? We see how Mary was appointed by God to be the channel of the first graces of the Incarnation; how eagerly she longed to impart grace, and how efficaciously she fulfilled her ministry, by what is told us by S. Luke. No sooner was the mystery of the Divine Maternity accomplished, than Mary arose with haste to visit with grace her cousin S. Elizabeth ; and at the first sound of her salutation the yet unborn Baptist was sanctified, His Mother was filled with the Holy Ghost, and through the Blessed Virgin's coming, joy was brought to the whole household. And here, it may be remarked, that S. Paul does not hesitate, when speaking of himself, to use the word impart, though of course he could be only the channel, and not the source of grace. No one, however, could mistake his meaning. Can anyone, then, without perversity, mistake our meaning, when in prayers to Mary we do not simply ask her to pray for us, but to give us grace ? By a similar form of speech S. Paul in another place speaks of saving men. [1 Tim. iv. 16.]  And may we not, regardless of the cavils of foolish men, ask Mary to save us ?

14 To the Greeks and to the Barbarians, to the wise and to the unwise, I am a debtor.

S. Paul considered that he owed the Gospel to all men. Why ? Because at the time of his marvellous conversion, he had asked our Lord what He would have him to do ; and he had been told, as also had Ananias, that he was "a vessel of election to carry the Name of Jesus Christ before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel." [Acts ix. 6, 7,15, 16 ; xxii. 10,14,15 ; xxvi. 15-18. See infra, ch. ix. 22, the passage quoted from S. Basil of Seleucia.]

Compare, now, Mary's vocation to her office with that of S. Paul. To him Jesus Christ appears and complains that he is His persecutor : Mary is saluted by the Angel as full of grace, blessed amongst women, and the Lord is said to be with her. Mary also asks what she is to do, or how the Divine pleasure shall be accomplished in her. She is told, not that she is to be a vessel of election to carry the Name of Jesus to the world, but that she is to carry Jesus Himself, and give to Him His divine Name. [Luke i.] That Mary held that this dignity imposed an office upon her as regards men, and made her their debtor, is evident; for she at once makes herself the servant of Elizabeth and of John, carrying to them grace and joy with her Divine Son. Besides, S. John says : " He that saith he abideth in Jesus Christ, ought himself also to walk even as He walked." [2 John ii. 6.] What union more complete than that of Jesus and Mary, He in her, and she in Him. No wonder, then, that if He was " the servant of all," [Mark x. 44, 45. Luke xxii. 27.]  she esteemed her self a debtor to all.

"Mary," says S. Bernard, "has been made all things to all men: to the wise and to the unwise she hath made herself a debtor in her most abundant charity. To all she opens her bosom of mercy, that all may receive of her fulness : the captive redemption, the sick cure, the sad consolation, the sinner pardon, the just grace, the angels joy—in fine, the whole Trinity glory ; the Person of the Son the substance of human flesh—so that none should be hid from the heat thereof." [Ps. xviii. 7. Serm. De Verb. Apoc.]

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. part 6

THE CATHOLIC VIEW OF THE BLESSED VIRGIN AS AN IDEAL OF ALL CHRISTIAN PERFECTION.

As Mary's dignity, on account of her Divine Maternity, is revealed to us as transcendently sublime, reaching to a height and grandeur beyond all that created intelligence could of itself conceive, so in like manner has the Holy Church, which is ever animated and guided by the Spirit of Truth, uniformly contemplated Mary's grace and sanctity ; the one only measure of these being the sublimity of her dignity as Mother of God.

In the same way, too, the spiritual instinct of the faithful ever prompts them to regard the Blessed Virgin, next after the Sacred Humanity of Jesus Christ, as the most perfect work of God's creation ; the master-piece of His hands ; the ideal type of all that is most excellent, pure, lovely, beautiful, gracious, virtuous, holy and well-pleasing to God ; and as being through the fulness of grace bestowed upon her, and her own faithful co-operation, most like in thought, word, and work to Jesus Christ, her Son, the Divine Exemplar and Architype of all His elect.

Thus regarded, Mary is the norma and type, so to say, of all God's dealings with mankind in the supernatural order; the peculiar choice of all His elections and predestinations; preeminently the object of His most gracious Providence, and of the bestowal of His richest gifts and favours, so that she is, in a manner, the very impersonation of divine grace.

That she might be Mother of God with becoming worthiness, in her was perfectly fulfilled that Sovereign Canon of the Divine Spirit, which is expressed in the words of S. Bernardine of Sienna :

"For all singular graces communicated to any reasonable creature, the general rule is, that when ever the Divine favour has elected any one for some singular grace, or some sublime state, it bestows all those gifts of grace that are necessary for the person thus elected, and for his office, and which will plentifully adorn him." [erm. de S. Joseph. Tom. iv. p. 231. See S. Thomas, 3 P. qu. xxvii. art. 5, ad 1 ; art. 4, concL ; art. 5, ad 2.]

In the case of other Saints we must first know their lives and actions in order to form some judgment of their virtue and goodness, and we measure them according to a standard of which we seem to have a definitely formed idea already in our mind, whereas, in the case of Mary, we should rather first attain to some knowledge of what consummate virtue and perfection is, in order to know something of what she is; since we feel antecedently assured, that all we can conceive of sanctity, and of what is best and highest may be predicated of her, and still will fall short of the reality.

In other words, relatively to us, and so far as our thoughts can reach to the utmost bounds of excellence in one who is but creature and finite, Mary is her own standard. For, just as the dignity to which God has been pleased to exalt her, by making her His own Mother, surpasses the limits of our comprehension, so does the perfection wherewith He has graced her, that she might be—adequately, that is, to her condition as a human creature—a Mother worthy of the Incarnate Word, exceed all our knowledge and conception. (1)

It was therefore unnecessary that much should be left on record regarding our Lady, and that we should have many and minute details of her life and conduct, or that all her virtues should be particularly described, and her praises of set purpose declared in Holy Writ. It was enough for us to know that she was the Virgin Mother, '' of whom was born Jesus who is called Christ," to be well assured that God has endowed her with every grace and perfection proportioned to the sublime dignity to which He had chosen her.

" In fine," says S. Bernardine, " the greatness and dignity of this Blessed Virgin are such that God alone does and can comprehend it." "In this reflection we have more than sufficient," remarks S. Thomas of Villanova, " to take away the surprise which might be caused on seeing that the Sacred Evangelists, who have so fully recorded the praises of a John the Baptist, and of a Magdalene, say so little of the precious gifts of Mary. It was sufficient to say of her : Of whom was born Jesus. What more could you wish the Evangelists to have said of the greatness of this Blessed Virgin?" continues the Saint. "Is it not enough that they declare that she was the Mother of God ? In these few words they recorded the greatest, the whole, of her precious gifts : and since the whole was therein contained, it was unnecessary to enter into details. [See S. Alphonsus, Glories of Mary, p. 329.]

Hence it is that the Holy Church in her Liturgy applies to Mary so many passages from the Sapiential Books, which in their primary and highest sense are to be interpreted of the Divine uncreated Wisdom, because Mary above all other creatures is Its perfect mirror and type.

Hence, again, are bestowed on our Lady so many titles setting her before us as the created ideal of all virtue and sanctity, such as Speculum justitia, Sedes sapientiae, Vas honorablie, Vas insigne devotionis, etc. Hence, too, the Church is so lavish of reiterated epithets, wherewith to praise her — styling her at once Sancta Dei Genitrix, Mater Christi, Mater Creatoris, and Mater Salvatoris ; and then again, Sancta Virgo virginum, Mater purissima, Mater castissima, Mater inviolata, Mater intemerata, and Regina virginum —as though each single title, however adequate in itself, were powerless to express, the full significance and meaning of Mary's Divine Maternity and Virginal purity, and as though the Holy Church would, by accumulated repetition, force human language to rise to something like a worthy utterance of her sublime dignity and perfection.

Harmonising with this view, it would seem that the holy Fathers and Saints in their praises of Mary, and when extolling the excellence of her virtues and sanctity, had not so much before their minds any particular recorded actions or incidents of her life and conduct, as virtue and sanctity in perfection, of which she was to them the ideal type, and to which everything that was most excellent might be with truth referred. In speaking of the Blessed Virgin, it is, as though they made application to her of the Apostle's words : " For the rest, brethren, whatsoever things are true, whatsoever modest, whatsoever just, whatsoever holy, whatsoever lovely, whatsoever of good fame, if there be any virtue, if there be any praise of discipline, think of these things :" [Philip, iv. 8.] and think of them in Mary, for in her you will find them all.

Accordingly Catholic writers and the faithful generally are wont to predicate of Mary in surpassing measure and excellence whatever of virtue and perfection shines forth in the lives of all other Saints, and whatever privileges or special gifts of grace and holiness any of these received, as belonging "by right to her who is the Mother of our Lord, arid the Queen of all Saints. [See infra the quotation from Morales, S. J., in the Comments on Coloss. ii. 19.]  It is in this way, we incline to think, S. Ambrose has drawn his beautiful portrait of our Lady with a description of her virtues, which is contained in the Lections for so many of her Feasts.

It is worthy of notice, what at first sight might seem strange, that but little desire or curiosity is evinced generally by the faithful to know more details of Mary's history, and that comparatively few attempts have been made to write her life. It is as though Catholics are content with what is revealed concerning her in the Sacred Scriptures, and has been handed down in those few traditions upon which the Holy Church has set her seal; and as though there was felt a consciousness, that any more explicit record of her actions and virtues by human hand must needs be disappointing, and fall below that ideal standard, which is impressed on the minds and hearts of the faithful as belonging to the Mother of God.

If the Evangelists do not enter into many details about the Blessed Virgin, still in the little they do record of her, much is said. This is indeed, so much, and so pregnant, as to comprise all those sublime prerogatives and privileges which the Catholic Church ascribes to her, and to serve as the foundation of all that is believed of faith, or piously held concerning her by common consent of the faithful.

But even though in the divine revelation of the Word Incarnate, nothing had been explicitly told us regarding His Mother, still we may rest assured that she would, from the very nature of things, and from the necessary conviction we have of the essential harmony of truth, hold the place which she actually possesses in the minds and hearts of the faithful who believe fully and sincerely in the Gospel of Jesus Christ. The position of the Virgin Mother of the Incarnate Word is in all creation so unique, without parallel, beyond compare, her dignity so transcendent, her relations with the Divinity so intimate and personal, her office and functions so sublime, that, unless all our reason is at fault, or our faith irrational, and all our knowledge of God and man whether natural or supernatural to be ignored as of no account, we could not reasonably conceive that any who really believed, in all its fulness, the Incarnation of the Divine Word, should have other thoughts, than those of the Catholic Faith, concerning Mary, His own true Mother.

Hence, we say, if nothing had been known about Mary from the inspired Scriptures, or from tradition, and even her very name were left unrecorded, still the faithful would have found a name for the Mother of Jesus their Divine Redeemer, which would be enshrined with loving devotion in their hearts ; and still would she be regarded as the first of all God's creatures, full of grace, the ideal type of whatever is most pure, holy and best in a creature; still would they hold her, because Mother of God, to be Queen of heaven, their Queen and Mother also, the Advocate of sinners with her Son, a channel of grace to all, and a worthy object of Christian hope, veneration, and love.

(1) " The Blessed Virgin is full of grace, not with the fulness of grace itself; for she had not grace in the highest degree of excellence in which it can be had, nor had she it as to all its effects; but she was said to be full of grace as to herself, because she had sufficient grace for that state to which she was chosen by God, that is, to be Mother of His Only-begotten Son." (S. Thorn., I.e. art. 10, ad 1.)

" Hence it is we know that so great grace was conferred upon the Virgin; because she merited to conceive and give birth to God." (S. August., De Nat. et Grot. c. 36.)

" It was becoming that the Virgin should be entrusted with such gifts, that she might be full of grace, who gave to heaven glory, and God to earth." (S. Sophronius, Scrm. de Assump.) 

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. part 5

THE IMPLICIT TEACHING OF THE APOSTLES ON THE BLESSED VIRGIN IN THEIR EPISTLES.

Our Lady Of Glory

WE have given reasons for the silence of the Apostles on the Blessed Virgin, and why they did not speak explicitly of her in their Epistles.

We have now to deal with what is more positive. And it remains for us to show that notwithstanding this silence, there lies hidden beneath the surface of the Apostolic writings a large amount of implicit teaching on our Lady, which we propose to bring in detail to view. But we must first claim as incontrovertible what we have before observed, viz., that the Apostles could not have deigned by their silence to ignore the Blessed Virgin, we mean that they could not have thereby intended of set purpose to take no account of her in their Epistles, and to exclude her from their own consideration, and that of those to whom they wrote.

The one great central theme of all their teaching, whether oral or written, was our Lord Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh, the promised Messias and Saviour of the world. But His Virgin Mother is so intimately connected with Him; her ancestry, privileges, whole life and character are so closely interwoven with those of her Son ; His claims to be believed in for what He professed to be, and was set forth to be by the Apostles, are so dependent on the truth of the recorded facts of Mary's history, that there could be no adequate teaching concerning Him without regard to her. Hence, the Apostles had necessarily to reckon, so to speak, with Mary in treating of Jesus Christ, and could not ignore her.

Moreover, everyone would, we think, admit that if we had had only the Apostolic Epistles to look to, our knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ would be on many points very indefinite and imperfect. In order to complete this knowledge and to intelligently understand all that the Apostles write concerning Him in their Epistles, we must bring to them, as we read them, the knowledge we have of Him from whatever is elsewhere revealed in God's written word. But to this knowledge of Jesus Christ appertains all that is said in the sacred Scriptures, and especially in the Gospels, about Mary His Mother ; as the Blessed one amongst women, fore told by God Himself in the primeval promise made to our first parents in paradise ; the Virgin of virgins predicted by the prophets, saluted by Gabriel as full of grace; the true Mother of the Incarnate Word, whom on earth, above all others He honoured and obeyed as a most dutiful and loving Son ; with whom He spent far the most part of His life, living and conversing with her alone; who was made at the Visitation the channel for communicating to others the first graces of His Incarnation ; at whose prayer He anticipated the time for working miracles, whereby He first manifested His divine glory, and His disciples believed in Him ; to whom He gave the chief share in His sufferings, and therefore of His graces, virtues, and merits, as also of His resurrection glory ; to whom, when dying, He commended, as to their own Mother, all His brethren in the person of His beloved disciple, charging them at the same time that henceforth they should, as dutiful, loving children, regard her as their Mother ; whom, in fine, the Holy Ghost had, by her own lips, foretold God's faithful in all generations should bless and praise.

Such a delineation of Mary's personal history, as well as of striking traits in her character, which at once appear from the incidents recorded of her, and remarks made about her by the Evangelists, is patent on the page of the Gospel to all who read what is there written with a believing and unprejudiced mind. And since, obviously, all that we know of Mary bears importantly on our knowledge of Jesus Christ, and serves to explain what is said of Him in Holy Scripture, it is evident that whoever would understand adequately what the Apostles wrote concerning Jesus Christ in their Epistles, must take with him in reading them what is elsewhere revealed of His Blessed Mother. And this all the more, because the authors of the Epistles, as Apostles, were in full possession of what ever had been revealed concerning Mary, and had, when writing, all this present to their minds, with an understanding and knowledge much more complete, clear, and profound than we can have. Besides, they lived in her own lifetime, had personally known her, and enjoyed intimate converse with her. This, too, was more or less incident to some, at least, of those whom the Apostles addressed, who, if they had not known or seen her personally, had, at any rate, seen and heard those who had known her, and from them learnt many circumstances of her life and character that are wanting to us, and which would go to fill in the sketch that is drawn in mere outline by the Evangelists, and to complete the marvellously beautiful idea of her, which even the little that they say brings up to our view.

Hence, from what we have said, it seems fair to conclude : that in whatever measure an explicit know ledge of the Blessed Virgin was needed for a full and adequate understanding of the Apostles' teaching concerning our Lord Jesus Christ in their Epistles, in the same measure they supposed that explicit know ledge of Mary to be in the possession of those to whom they wrote. In other words, so far was an implicit teaching on the Blessed Virgin, in this sense, contained in the Apostolic Epistles.

But, beside this argument, based to some extent, it may be thought, on a priori grounds—many passages of the Epistles bear positive evidence of such implicit teaching; since the principles and doctrines laid down in them point directly of themselves, and necessarily lead up to what was then known and believed about Our Lady, and to all that the Catholic Church has ever held concerning her. Many things, too, are said in the Epistles which seemingly would never have been written at all, were it not for the knowledge their authors had of Mary.

We shall bring many instances in proof of this assertion, from the words of the Apostles, when we go through their several Epistles in detail. It will suffice here summarily to observe that, whatever qualities of person, state, character, or office are spoken of in the Epistles, as grounds of dignity, claiming respectful attention, honour, praise, admiration, and love, on the part of Christians, meet with their perfect realisation, and, so to say, culminate in our Lady. Those virtues, too, which the Apostles most extol, and recommend to the faithful, are strikingly characteristic of, and exemplified in, Mary, as she is portrayed in the Gospels. Again, many of the metaphors, comparisons, and analogies that occur in the Epistles would seem to be directly borrowed from the idea of Mary, and to have been made use of by the Apostles, with the thought of her present to their mind, as they wrote ; since, in her alone, they meet with their full and highest significance. And the same may be said, with due proportion, of illustrations, types, predictions, and promises taken from the Old Testament.

We will state our position and line of argument in another way, thus :—

The Blessed Virgin Mary is, in point of fact, through her ineffable union with Jesus Christ, the Word Incarnate, immeasurably above all the rest of creation in dignity, more well-pleasing and united to God than any other creature ; and, consequently, was enriched with most noble graces of state, gifts, and privileges, and with a fulness of sanctifying grace and of the Holy Ghost beyond all others. By co-operating most faithfully with the graces she received, she surpassed all in acquired holiness and in the practice of every virtue, and through her perfect fidelity to grace, merited to be recompensed with a crown of glory greater than that of all others. Mary, as Mother of God, and through her exceeding grace and sanctity, is the most noble and excellent member of Christ's mystical Body, wherein she holds the highest place of state and office, after Jesus Christ, its Head. Mary is also the spiritual Mother of all Christians, who are the brethren of Christ; and in her they may find the Model of all virtues for their imitation. On all these grounds the Blessed Virgin should be an object of veneration, love, and hope to all Christians.

The foregoing points must, we think, be admitted as true by all who sincerely believe in Our Lord Jesus Christ as the Incarnate Son of God ; and who seriously reflect on them, meditating, at the same time, on God's Attributes of Wisdom, Goodness, Faithfulness, and Justice.

But if this be so, we are in full accord with reason and truth, when we predicate of Mary, in its highest degree, whatever the Apostles say in their Epistles of dignity, honour, privileges, gifts, and graces that are bestowed on the rest of the faithful; whatever, too, they say in praise of Christian sanctity, virtues, and merits; and when we enhance, in her regard, the claims that they urge of any others on our veneration, hope, and love ; and, when we contemplate her crown of eternal glory in heaven as surpassing far in splendour that with which they assure us all the elect are recompensed.

We say that to make such application to the Blessed Virgin of what is thus contained in the Epistles—even though this were beside the writers' intention—would entirely accord with reason and truth, because all these things are really applicable to Mary in the highest degree. But we say further, that implicitly it was the intention of the Apostles to make such application : since the professed theme of their Epistles was Jesus Christ, the Incarnate Word, with whom the thought of Mary, His Mother, is indissolubly united ; and they were so well conscious of all that Mary was. We shall, moreover, point out several passages in the Epistles that bear trace of an explicit thought of the Blessed Virgin being present in the minds of the Apostles as they wrote.

What we now add may be deemed not strictly relevant to our particular inquiry. It is at any rate, one of those " undesigned coincidences " which will serve as a confirmation to our whole argument. And it is this, that the beautiful descriptions and praises of the various Christian virtues, which we read in the Epistles, exactly portray and vividly recall to mind that idea of Mary, as the type of all perfection, that is ever impressed on the minds and hearts of the faithful, as she has been depicted by the holy Fathers, Doctors, and Saints, and witnessed to by Catholic tradition in every age.

As, however, some consideration of this thought is necessary to better understand the full meaning and scope of our thesis, we shall devote the next chapter to its development.

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. part 4a

The rest of the Epistles are of a general scope, being addressed to no special Church or person. In these, however, we can detect something definite in their occasion or aim, which gives to each Epistle its leading idea : whether it were to animate the faithful then suffering under persecution to patience and courage ; or to counteract the evil influences of some heretical teaching then abroad; or to enforce and develop some particular doctrine which it was desirable at the time to bring into special prominence.

As an illustration of this last motive, we may note the insistence that S. James makes in his Epistle on the necessity of good works as an evidence of living faith. Another example is S. Paul's Epistle to the Hebrews, which may be regarded as a special treatise on the High-priesthood of Jesus Christ: its aim being to prove the pre-eminent excellence of our Lord's priesthood over that of Aaron, and of the New Dispensation over the Old.

Here the seasonable opportuneness of elucidating this topic, for the benefit of recent converts from Judaism, would seem to be, at once, the immediate occasion, and the main reason, for that Epistle.

The gist of what we have been saying is, that the Apostles wrote their several Epistles on certain definite occasions with the view of meeting the various special circumstances of time and place, nationality, personal character, and condition incidental to the faithful generally at that date, or peculiar to those whom they immediately addressed. These Epistles were mainly intended to convey further instructions or counsels on particular points of faith and practice that had been before orally preached ; to correct abuses that had sprung up, and to give answers to certain questions of doctrine, discipline and practice which were then rife amongst the first Christians. These and such like matters were present to the minds of the Apostles, and their immediate and principal object in writing their Epistles was to deal with them.

It would, consequently, be out of all reason for any one to expect to find every doctrine and practice of the faith treated of in the Apostolic Epistles, since they do not profess, nor were ever meant by their writers to be complete or general exposition of the whole Christian religion. They are, moreover, disconnected, save in a few instances, one from another. The collection of all fails to form together one integral whole. Each Epistle stands alone, apart from the rest, and must be regarded singly by itself. The faithful of a particular church to which an Apostle wrote an Epistle did not necessarily receive all the other Epistles which the Apostles ad dressed to Christians elsewhere. The Apostles did not contemplate that they should do so; nor, indeed, was this possible, since the Epistles were written at different intervals of time and place. The case of the Epistle to the Colossians seems to be exceptional in this respect, perhaps because Laodicea was at no great distance from Colosse. In any case S. Paul gives special instructions on the matter. [Col. iv. 16.]  True it is that in course of time the several Epistles were communicated to the faithful in other places than those to which they were originally addressed, and thus became generally known all or in part throughout the Church. [2 Pet. iii. 15-16.] But still they remain unconnected one with another, and each has to be regarded by itself, independently of the rest. And looking on them in this light, we might as well expect to find every Christian doctrine and practice spoken of in each separate Epistle, as in all of them collectively. Or we might ask with equal right, why some point that has prominent mention in one Epistle is passed over altogether in all the rest. Why, for example, are all the other Epistles silent on the precept given by S. James to anoint the sick, and his teaching as to the effects of such unction ? Why, too, are all the other Epistles silent about our Lord's priesthood from Melchisedech, of which the Epistle to the Hebrews is so full ? For, to judge from that Epistle alone, and the prominence this doctrine there receives, we might suppose that it was one of the most important points of Christian faith, whereas were we to judge from the silence on it in all the other Epistles we might conclude its non-existence.

This, no doubt, is not a complete account of the nature and scope of the Epistles, and of why the Apostles were divinely inspired to write them. For, though written primarily for certain occasions and local circumstances, it is certain that in God's providence they were intended for the instruction and guidance of the whole Christian Church in every age and country. And as the Holy Ghost inspired those who wrote them for this general end, all was overruled for universal edification, and hence the particular topics treated of in them have a greater significance and a wider bearing than the occasions which called them forth. But even so ; and though we should conceive that, taken collectively, they, in some sense providentially form one harmonious whole, still they do not contain an exposition of all revealed truths and of every Christian practice. Amongst the manifold doctrines, practices, and precepts that are generally accepted as belonging to Christianity, some are passed over altogether in silence, whilst others have no explicit and adequate teaching in the Epistles—viz., the Mystery of the Trinity, the distinct personality of the Holy Ghost, prayer to our Lord Jesus Christ and to the Holy Ghost, infant baptism, and baptism otherwise than by immersion, the obligation of Sunday observance and of monogamy, the lawfulness for Christians to bear arms, to hold slaves, to take oaths, and to go to law with one another in the civil court. There are, moreover, matters which are held to be of great moment that have but one single mention in the Epistles—viz., the duty of public worship, [Heb. x. 25.] Holy Communion, and Extreme Unction—or only a distant allusion, as the Eucharistic Sacrifice. (1)

It would be interesting to examine what, and how many, Christian doctrines are set forth explicitly in the Epistles. We think that, after all, they would be found to be but few ; and, again, to inquire, how many can be only indirectly inferred, or receive more or less confirmation in the Epistles from some passing remark, whilst their positive proof must be obtained from else where. We may here observe that several of the topics which are most dwelt upon and developed in the Epistles have come to be of comparatively much less immediate interest and importance in these later times than they were in the days of the Apostles; or, perhaps, appear to us now so trite and obvious as hardly to have needed such great insistence as is given to them in their writings: as, for example, the insufficiency of the Mosaic law and the non-obligation of its rites ; the admission of the Gentiles to the Christian Church and to an equal share with the Jews in all the blessings and privileges of the Gospel; the pre-eminence of Christ's priesthood over the Levitical, and of the New Law over the Old ; the proofs of S. Paul's apostleship; and the belief of the near approach of the Last Day. Then, again, matters of minor importance, or which, being only of passing interest, are now quite out of date, are mentioned in the Epistles with more or less prominence, such as the Agapae, the eating of meats offered to idols, baptism for the dead, the washing of feet, and the religious institution of widows.

On the other hand, we find scarcely any mention in all the Epistles of the birth and life of our Lord Jesus Christ, or of His acts and words, which in the Gospels are recorded with such great care; whilst in several of them hardly any reference is made to the great leading truths and mysteries of the Faith; in some none at all; and in one not only is there no mention of the Name of Jesus Christ, but no allusion whatever is made to Him.

We must not, then, be surprised at the silence on. the Blessed Virgin in the Epistles. Besides what we have here urged, all the reasons which we gave for this silence of the Apostles in their general preaching  as recorded by S. Luke, are applicable with still greater force to their writings: since these were mainly intended to be but supplementary comments, on their oral teaching.

Those reasons were reducible to a two-fold principle. The first is that of due order in the proposition of revealed truths ; whereby those primary truths which are necessary to be explicitly known and believed by all the faithful, are explicitly set forth first, and from the beginning. Whilst secondary truths, not thus necessary, but which serve more fully to explain, and give a more complete and integral knowledge of the Faith—though they may be implicitly contained in the exposition of the primary truths—are not set forth at the beginning so clearly and fully, but with less of set purpose, and only so far as may be needful for the adequate proposition and understanding of the more necessary truths.

The second principle is that of exercising a judicious discrimination, and prudent reserve in imparting the knowledge of the doctrines and practices of Faith to disciples, according to their various capacity, needs, dispositions, and surrounding circumstances of time and place.

As we discovered the recognition of these two principles by the Apostles in their oral teaching, so too may we find it in their writings. Thus S. Paul speaks of some Christian truths as the rudiments or first elements of revelation, forming, so to say, the foundation amongst the objects of faith. These he calls "the beginning of Christ;" and likens to milk which is given to infants, because all the faithful had received a knowledge, more or less, of these truths at their baptism and confirmation. Again, he speaks of himself, as having been careful to lay solidly the foundation, whilst he left it to others to build thereupon, by more fully explaining what he had himself then orally taught, and by imparting a more extensive knowledge of revealed truths, and thus supplying what was wanting to the integral complement of the Christian faith. [1 'Thess. iii. 10.] At the same time, he bids these teachers take heed that they build on the foundation that he had laid, sure and well-approved doctrine. [1 Cor. iii. 10-15.] As the Apostle speaks of some revealed truths as rudimentary and fundamental, [1 Cor ii. 2, 6 : iii. 11.] so he speaks of others as "wisdom," and "things more perfect," distinguishing these from those which were but the first elements. And he calls them "strong meat," which some of his disciples, he says, being still, as though only "little children," and "babes in Christ," still " carnal," unskilful in the word of justice and too weak to hear them, are as yet unable to bear and properly understand. Such teaching, says the Apostle, is reserved for "the perfect," the "spiritual," who have already to some degree themselves become "masters" in spiritual things, "by habitually exercising their senses to the discernment of good and evil." [1 Cor. ii. 6; iii. 1, 2. Heb. v. 11-14.]

(1) It is perhaps superfluous to note for all Catholics are
taught it that there are many passages in the Epistles which
allude to, serve to confirm, and elucidate several of the points
here enumerated, and that some of them may be thence logically
proved and inferred. But all this is very different from express
statement and adequately explicit teaching regarding them. In
making such allusions the Apostles suppose in those to whom
they write a previous knowledge of these truths through their
oral teaching, and without this previous knowledge the first
Christians would not have understood these allusions. In the
same way, Christians in after ages could never have attained to
the definite knowledge, which they have of these mysteries and
truths, from the written word alone, and without the traditional
teaching of the Church.

Mary in the Epistles by Thomas Stiverd Livius. part 4

IN treating hitherto of the Apostles' teaching on the Blessed Virgin, the record of their preaching in S. Luke's history of their Acts has so far served as the sole field of our investigation.

We now come to that which forms the main and special object of our whole inquiry—viz., an examination of the Epistles, in order to discover what there may be that bears on our Lady in the Apostles' own writings.

We shall, then, first, give reasons for the silence of the Apostles in their Epistles on the Blessed Virgin, and, secondly, we shall inquire into the nature of that silence, which we shall endeavour to show is far from being absolute. By this we mean, that the Apostles do not ignore Mary in their Epistles; but, on the contrary, therein explicitly inculcate those very principles which lie at the root of, and have served to form, the doctrinal teaching and devotional practice of the Catholic Church with regard to the Mother of God in every age ; and that in these same principles that teaching and practice are implicitly, albeit latently, contained.

The following words from S. Thomas of Villanova may not be out of place here :—

" Whilst longing with all the desire of my soul to praise, to the best of my mean ability, Mary, the Mother of God, so admirable and surpassing in every virtue, I have been unable to find in the Sacred Scriptures almost any encomium of her that shows us, to the letter, her glory and excellence. For though we read in different places of the Prophets many things mystically said and done relating to her, from which may be shown the greatness of her virtue, yet seldom do we find anything said of her, and much more seldom anything said in her praise, either in the Gospels or in the Apostolic writings. But still, if I confess the truth, she is not given over to silence in such sense, as that the brightness of her virtues fails to shine forth, though it be but by a most slender ray, and by, so to speak, certain little chinks of words. But whence else shall we be better able to conceive of her glory, her virtues, and the gifts of her soul, than from that wondrous colloquy which she had with the Angel. For there, besides her being deservedly pro claimed by the Angel's voice, most full of grace and the first of all women, there arose forth from her own acts and words a whole host of matters for praise too numerous to reckon." [S. Thom. Villan. Conc. 2, De Annunt.]

In order to account for the silence on the Blessed Virgin in the Apostolic Epistles we must take some note of their nature and scope. And here we shall make some preliminary remarks on the relation of the written to the unwritten word, which have their application to the Epistles in particular.

As we have already said, the great object of the Apostles in their preaching was to establish the grand primary doctrines of the Unity of God in Three Persons, and His essential attributes; to set forth the holy, spiritual, and supernatural character of the Christian religion as opposed to the polytheism, immorality, scepticism, and materialism of the Heathens ; to make manifest the Messiahship of Jesus Christ and His two-fold nature as God and Man in One Divine Person; and to publish His work and office as the Saviour of the whole human race, both Jews and Gentiles.

The sacred writers of the Books of the New Testament had no intention of giving, in their several writings, a full account of all the doctrines that belong to the Christian revelation, nor even a summary of the whole Faith. This Faith was supposed to be already known, at least in its primary and most essential points, by the Christians whom the Apostles addressed in their Epistles. It had been delivered to them by oral teaching. And provision had been made for its being preserved amongst them in its integrity and purity through the instruction of the pastors whom the Apostles placed over them, and to whom they had committed, for their guidance, special doctrinal formularies and precepts. [2 Thess. ii. 14. 1 Tim. iv. 6, 11, 13, 16; v. 17 ; vi 3, 14. J Tim. i. 13, 14; ii. 14; iii. 10,14. Tit. i. 9; ii. 1. Heb. xiii. 17. Jude 3. 17, 20.] Again and again S. Paul admonishes these pastors to avoid all novelties in their teaching. [1 Tim. i. 4, 6, 7 ; iv. 1-3, 7 ; vi. 20. 2 Tim. ii. 14 ; 16-18 23 ; iv. 3, 4. Tit. i. 10, 13, 14 ; iii. 9.]

This oral teaching, or preaching of the unwritten word, we should ever remember, was the essential and normal means ordained by God, for the evangelisation and instruction of the world in the truths of the Christian religion, and for perpetuating the Faith. "It pleased God," writes the Apostle, " by the foolishness of preaching to save them that believe." [1 Cor. i. 21.]

That unwritten word, first revealed to the Apostles, was by them deposited in the Church, with which Christ promised Himself always to remain, and on which He sent down the Holy Ghost who should abide with it for ever to guide and preserve it in all truth.

The commission given by our Lord was : " Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to every creature." "Teach (make disciples of) all nations, baptising them . . . teaching them to observe all things, whatsoever I have commanded you, and, behold, I am with you all days even to the consummation of the world." [Mark xvi. 15. Matt, xxviii. 19.]

In virtue of this divine charter bestowed by Christ on his Church—and no other has since been given to her—the Apostles " went forth and preached every where, the Lord working withal, and confirming the word with signs that followed." [Matt, xxviii. 20.] In virtue thereof, too, the Catholic Church continues to teach that same revealed word ; which she hands down from age to age in its integrity, as she received it from the Apostles.

Moreover, it pleased God in His gracious and all-wise Providence to inspire certain of the Apostles and Evangelists to commit to writing the books of the New Testament, to wit, the four Gospels which narrate circumstances in detail of the life, death and resurrection of the Incarnate Word, and many of His works and words; the Acts of the Apostles, which records the infancy of the Church, and the first preaching of the Faith : the Epistles of St. Paul, and of four of the twelve Apostles, viz., St. James, St. Peter, St. John, and St. Jude, which form so many commentaries or treatises explanatory of certain doctrines of the Faith, and particular points of Christian practice ; lastly, the Apocalypse of St. John, wherein is figuratively foretold the history of the Church until the consummation of all things.

It would be impossible to exaggerate, and might appear almost unseemly to expatiate upon, the praises of God's written word in the New Testament, and its inestimable value and importance to the Church, as affording her so direct a witness to, and so authentic an interpreter of her doctrine, as also supplying to her, by means of inspired documents coeval with her birth, such priceless knowledge of so many circumstances and details regarding her Divine Founder, and her own origin, which would otherwise have doubtless been lost. Suffice it to say, that these Scriptures are the oracles of God Himself, directly inspired by the Holy Ghost; that alongside of the unwritten word, they are equally of Divine authority with it, and, together with it, the fountain of revealed truth to the Church.

Still, priceless as is the value and importance to the Church of God's written word, it cannot be considered equally essential and necessary with His unwritten word. For we should never forget that the Faith was propagated and preserved, souls were saved, numerous Churches were founded and flourished, without the written word: that there passed a considerable time before all the books of the New Testament were received in the various Churches; and that some centuries elapsed before its Canon was definitely settled, and the inspired books were distinctly marked off from other pious Christian writings.

Moreover, the written word could never be an adequate organ by itself for imparting to the people generally the due knowledge of the truths of faith, in the sense that the unwritten word or oral teaching is.

It would be out of place here to go into the many obvious reasons which prove this. It is enough for our present purpose to remark that, whilst the written and the unwritten word, regarded objectively, that is, simply in themselves, are of equal and paramount authority—for both are Divine—yet, regarded subjectively, that is to say, in their application to the minds of men, the latter has the precedence; since the written word must be always interpreted and believed by the faithful, according to the sense of the unwritten word, that is, as the Divine authority of the Church infallibly rules and teaches. [See Franzelin, De Div. Trad, et Script. De Trad., Sect. 3. De relat. int. Div. Trad, et Scripturam.]

The foregoing observations on Divine Scripture, in general, apply, of course, to the Epistles, of which we shall now treat in particular.

The Apostolic Epistles pre-suppose, as we have already said, in those to whom they were addressed, a general knowledge and the acceptance of the faith through means of previous oral teaching of the unwritten word. They were written, for the most part, with the view of explaining more fully certain points of doctrine and practice with which the faithful in some particular Church had but an implicit and imperfect acquaintance, or which they had not rightly understood. Hence they contain answers to questions, or solutions of objections and difficulties that had arisen on these matters. The Apostles had also for their object in writing their Epistles, to correct certain abuses ; to allay prejudices, differences, jealousies, and strifes that had sprung up amongst the brethren ; to warn the Christian converts against some prevalent erroneous doctrine and false teachers, or to confirm them in faith and charity, and exhort them to the practice of holiness and virtue. [In several of his Epistles, S. Paul deals at some length with matters personal to himself, or to others, at that time, v.g., his claims to the Apostleship, the special difficulties which beset him, the sufferings and persecution he was enduring, etc.]

Most of S. Paul's Epistles were written to the faithful of some particular place ; the nine, namely, that are addressed to seven Churches which he had either founded himself, or by means of others. Each of these Churches had its own various circumstances and matters of special local interest that gave him the occasion of his Epistle, and suggested, at the same time, the topics on which to write.

Four of S. Paul's Epistles were of a character and scope still more particular, being addressed to individual persons, viz., to Timothy, Titus, and Philemon. Of like nature were the Second and Third Epistles of S. John.