rust been
committed to his care)--no one of these either mentions her as living,
or alludes to her memory as dead.

The first occasion on which any reference is made in the New Testament
to the Virgin Mary is the salutation of the Angel, as recorded by St.
Luke in the opening chapter of his Gospel. The last occasion is when she
is mentioned by the same Evangelist, as "Mary the Mother of Jesus," in
conjunction with his brethren and with the Apostles and the women all
continuing in prayer and supplication, immediately after the ascension
of our blessed Lord. Between these two occasions the name of Mary occurs
under a variety of circumstances, on every one of which we shall do well
to reflect.

The first occasion, we have already said, is the salutation of Mary by
the angel, announcing to her that she should be the Mother of the Son of
God. Surely no daughter of Eve was ever so distinguished among women;
and well does it become us to cherish her memory with affectionate
reverence. The words addressed to her when on earth by the angel in that
announcement, with a little variation of expression, are daily addressed
to her by the Roman Catholic Church, now that she is no longer seen, but
is removed to the invisible world. "Hail, thou that art highly
favoured!" (or as the Vulgate reads it, "full of grace") "the Lord is
with thee. Blessed art thou among women." [Luke i. 28.] On the
substitution of the expression, "full of grace," for "highly favoured,"
or, as our margin suggests, "graciously accepted, or much graced," I am
not desirous {275} of troubling you with any lengthened remark. I could
have wished that since the Greek is different in this passage, and in
the first chapter of St. John, where the words "full of grace" are
applied to our Saviour, a similar distinction had been observed in the
Roman translation. But the variation is unessential. The other
expression, "Blessed art thou among women," is precisely and identically
the same with the ascription of blessedness made by an inspired tongue,
under the elder covenant, to another daughter of Eve. "Blessed above
women," or (as both the Septuagint and the Vulgate render the word)
"Blessed among women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be."
[Judges v. 24.] We can see no ground in such ascription of blessedness
for any posthumous adoration of the Virgin Mary.

The same observation applies with at least equal strictness to that
affecting interview between Mary and El