presses the highest glory and splendor imaginable. Human words can
say nothing more; for our highest ideas of glory are borrowed from
those beautiful worlds that shine above us in the blue ether. On her
bosom she wears a jewel of unsurpassed splendor, whereon are written
her three singular privileges. These are Immaculate, Mother of God,
Virgin. These are high privileges which she alone enjoys, and which
single her out at once as the Queen of angels and of men. The
Eternal, by assuming flesh from her, united her to Himself by a bond
of intimacy which is second only to that of the Hypostatic Union. He
shed His own bright glory around her, and enthroned her at the right
hand of Jesus. The Almighty Father looks upon her with complacency,
as his own beloved daughter, faultless in beauty and every other
perfection. The Holy Ghost calls her His own spotless and faithful
Spouse, over whom the breath of sin never passed; while Jesus who, in
all His glory, is still flesh of her flesh, and bone of her bone,
calls her his own sweet and loving Mother. Can we conceive any
greater glory unless it be that of the Hypostatic Union?

* Apoc. xii. 1.

In this world, a great king may see with grief that many other women
surpass his own mother, daughter, or spouse, in beauty, intelligence,
virtue, and other perfections; but, however grieved he may be, he is
totally powerless to remedy the evil, and he must continue to see
others outshining those who are the dearest to his heart. Not so in
heaven. Never shall it be said there that there are women holier,
purer, more intelligent, or more beautiful than the Blessed Virgin.
For God has the power to clothe her with attributes that will forever
make her superior to any mere creature. Not only has He the power,
but, as a matter of fact, he has adorned her by bestowing upon her
every gift of nature, grace, and glory, in an eminent degree. She,
above all saints, is "full of grace," and is made a partaker of the
Divulge Nature, and, therefore, her Immaculate Heart, which is purer
than crystal, is the home of the most perfect happiness ever enjoyed
by woman.

But, remember well, she does not enjoy all this excellent glory
exclusively on account of her glorious privileges. These are, like
those of Jesus, free gifts of God, which she did not merit. But she
freely and generously corresponded to all the designs of God, and,
therefore, she is rewarded with the highest glory of heaven. She too,
as well