y, hearing the
panegyrics uttered for his honour, and partaking with the congregation
in their religious acts of worship.

"O holy and spotless virginhood; with what praises to extol thee I know
not: because Him, whom the heavens could not contain, thou didst bear in
thy bosom. {332} Blessed art thou among women, and blessed is the fruit
of thy womb. Thou art blessed, O Virgin Mary, who didst carry the Lord,
the Creator of the world. Thou didst give birth to Him who made thee,
and remainest a virgin for ever. [Beata es Virgo Maria, quae Dominum
portasti Creatorem mundi: genuisti qui te fecit, et in aeternum permanes
virgo.--Vern. clxii.] Hail, holy parent, who didst in child-birth bring
forth the King who ruleth heaven and earth for ever and ever. Amen."
[Salve sacra parens enixa puerpera regem, qui coelum terramque regit in
saecula saeculorum. Amen.--Introit. at the mass on the Nativity of the
Virgin.]

In apostrophes like these, the members of the Anglican Church see
nothing in itself harmful, so long as they are kept within due bounds.
Many of the passages cited from the ancient writers in proof of their
having espoused the doctrine, and exemplified in themselves the practice
of invoking saints, are nothing more than these glowing addresses. They
have been responded to by one of the brightest ornaments, and sweetest
minstrels of the Anglican Church, whose apostrophe at the same time by
its own words would guard us against the abuses and excesses in which in
the Roman Catholic Church this practice, followed without restraint and
indulged in with less and less of caution and soberness, unhappily
ended; abuses against which also we cannot ourselves now be too
constantly and carefully on our guard.

"Ave Maria! Blessed maid,
Lily of Eden's fragrant shade,
Who can express the love,
That nurtured thee so pure and sweet;
Making thy heart a shelter meet
For Jesus' holy Dove? {333}
Ave Maria! mother blest,
To whom, caressing and caress'd,
Clings the Eternal Child!
Favour'd beyond archangel's dream,
When first on thee with tenderest gleam
The newborn Saviour smiled.
Ave Maria! thou whose name,
ALL BUT ADORING love may claim,
Yet may we reach thy shrine;
For HE, thy Son and Saviour, vows,
To crown all lowly lofty brows
With love and joy like thine.
Bless'd is the womb that bare Him,--bless'd
The bosom where his lips were press'd;
But rather bless