ell her after the
day when the beloved disciple took her to his own home. But being
convinced, as we are, that no such record exists, we dare not fill up
the history with conjectures of our own; much less admit the claims
founded on fable and supported by superstition, which are advanced in
her favor by writers who possessed no more knowledge of her state than
ourselves, and who were much less impressed by experience with the
importance of keeping religion pure, simple, and undefiled. We regard
Mary as one of the most interesting persons presented by history, but as
in no respect connected with the Gospel we receive. Christianity was not
revealed till Christ became a man; and as Mary had no act or part in its
diffusion, she bears no other relation to us than as a being whose lot
engages our sympathies, and whose tender nature and pious character
should excite our affection and emulation. For the same reasons, however
largely we may share the universal curiosity respecting the state of the
dead, however rationally our philosophy may conceive, or however
vividly our imaginations may represent them as living, as observing the
course of events, as participating in our emotions, as enjoying the
manifest presence of God, we dare not found any religious belief or
practice on such speculations. If our religious observances had been in
any way connected with the dead, we should have known something of their
state and offices; but as no such knowledge is imparted, as there was no
pretension to it in the earliest ages, and especially as Christianity
clearly points to God as the sole object of religious worship, we invoke
the departed for no other purpose than to satisfy our speculative
doubts, we attribute to them no other office than that of endearing the
past and hallowing the future, and offer no other oblations than those
of the memory and the affections. Even if we believed them permitted to
intercede for us with our Father, we should be slow to seek their aid;
for if there be one privilege more precious than another, it is that of
direct, intimate communion with Him who knoweth our weakness and our
strength; if there be one provision more sacred than another in the
charter of our 'glorious liberty,' it is that by which they who are far
off and they who are near have equal access unto the Father; not through
the ministrations of inferior spirits, but face to face in the sanctuary
of his presence. He is not only our sure, but ou