hin the subsequent history of the New Testament before
the Apocalypse was written; but neither in the narrative, nor in the
Epistles, nor yet in the prophetic part of the Holy Book, is there the
most distant allusion to Mary. Of him to whose loving care our dying
Lord committed his beloved mother of especial trust, we hear much. John,
we find, putting forth the miraculous power of Christ at the Beautiful
Gate of the Temple; we find him imprisoned and arraigned before the
Jewish authorities; but not one word is mentioned as to what meanwhile
became of Mary. We find John confirming the Church in Samaria; we find
him an exile in the island of Patmos; but no mention is made of Mary.
Nay, though we have three of his epistles, and the second of them
addressed to one "whom he loved in the truth," we find neither from the
tongue nor from the pen of St. John, one single allusion to the mother
of our Lord alive or dead. And then, whatever may have been the matter
{286} of fact as to St. Paul, neither the many letters of that Apostle,
nor the numerous biographical incidents recorded of him, intimate in the
most remote degree that he knew any thing whatever concerning her
individually. St. Paul does indeed refer to the human nature of Christ
derived from his human mother, and had he been taught by his Lord to
entertain towards her such sentiments as the Roman Church now professes
to entertain, he could not have had a more inviting occasion to give
utterance to them. But instead of thus speaking of the Virgin Mary, he
does not even mention her name or state at all, but refers only in the
most general way to her nature and her sex as a daughter of Adam: "But
when the fulness of time was come, God sent forth his Son, MADE OF A
WOMAN, made under the law; to redeem them that were under the Law, that
we might receive the adoption of sons." [Gal. iv. 4.] From a time
certainly within a few days of our Saviour's ascension the Scriptures
are totally silent throughout as to Mary, whether in life or in death.

Here we might well proceed to contrast this view which the Scriptures of
eternal truth give of the blessed Virgin Mary with the authorized and
appointed worship of that branch of the Christian Church which is in
communion with Rome. We must first, however, here also examine the
treasures of Christian antiquity, and ascertain what witness the
earliest uninspired records bear on this immediate point. {287}

* * * *