at all, not even to assure them (as St. Augustine in after-ages taught,
see De Sacy, vol. xxxii. p. 35.), that however blessed Mary was in her
corporeal conception of the Saviour, yet far more blessed was she
because she had fully borne Him spiritually in her heart. He alludes not
to his mother except for the purpose of instantly drawing the minds of
his hearers from contemplating any supposed blessedness in her, and of
fixing them on the sure and greater blessedness of his true, humble,
faithful, and obedient disciples, to the end of time. "But he said, Yea,
rather [or, as some prefer, yea, verily, and] blessed are they that hear
the word of God, and keep it." Again, it must be asked, could such an
exclamation have been met by such a reply, had our Lord's will been to
exalt his mother, as she is now exalted by the Church of Rome? Rather,
we would reverently ask, would He have given this turn to such an
address, had He not desired to check any such feeling towards her?

That most truly affecting and edifying incident recorded by St. John as
having taken place whilst Jesus was hanging in his agony on the cross,
an incident which speaks to every one who has a mind to understand and a
heart to feel, presents to us the last occasion on which the name of the
Virgin Mother of our Lord occurs in the Gospels. No paraphrase could add
force, or clearness, or beauty to the simple narrative of the
Evangelist; no exposition could bring out its parts more prominently or
{283} affectingly. The calmness and authority of our blessed Lord, his
tenderness and affection, his filial love in the very midst of his
agony, it is impossible to describe with more heart-stirring and
heart-soothing pathos than is conveyed in the simple language of him
whom the Saviour at that awful hour addressed, as He committed his
mother to him of especial trust. But not one syllable falls from the
lips of Christ, or from the pen of the beloved disciple, who records
this act of his blessed Master's filial piety, which can by possibility