ties of his human nature. With
reverence I would say, it is as though He desired to record his
foreknowledge of the errors into which his disciples were likely to be
seduced, and warned them beforehand to shun and resist the temptation.
The evidence borne by this passage against our offering any religious
worship to the Virgin, on the ground of her having been the mother of
our Lord, seems clear, strong, direct, and inevitable. She was the
mother of the Redeemer of the world, and blessed is she among women; but
that very Redeemer Himself, with his own lips, assures us that every
faithful servant of his heavenly Father shall be equally honoured with
her, and possess all the privileges which so near and dear a
relationship with Himself might be supposed to convey.--Who is my
mother? Or, who are my brethren? Behold my mother and my brethren!
Whosoever shall do the will of my Father in heaven, the same is my
brother, and my sister, and my mother.

No less should we be expected in this place to take notice of that most
remarkable passage of Holy Scripture, [Luke xi. 27.] in which our
blessed Lord is recorded under different circumstances to have expressed
the same sentiments, but in words which will appear to many even more
strongly indicative of his desire to prevent any {282} undue exaltation
of his mother. "As he spake these things, a certain woman of the company
lifted up her voice and said unto him, Blessed is the womb that bare
thee, and the paps which thou hast sucked." On the truth or wisdom of
that exclamation our Lord makes no remark; He refers not to his mother
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 reverentl