ces; as the
sharer of God's kingdom, as the fountain of pity, as the moderator of
God's justice, and the appeaser of his wrath. "Show thyself a mother."
"Compel thy Son to have pity." "By thy right of mother command thy Son."
"God is a God of vengeance; but thou, Mary, dost incline to mercy;" such
expressions convey sentiments and associations shocking to our feelings,
and from which our reason turns away, when we think of God's
perfections, and the full atonement and omnipotent intercession of his
Son Christ our Redeemer. But it must not be disguised, that these are
the very sentiments in which the most celebrated defenders of the
worship of the Virgin, in the Church of Rome, teach their disciples to
acquiesce, and in which they must have themselves fully acquiesced, if
they practised what they taught. It is very painful to make such
extracts as leave us no alternative in forming our opinions on this
point; but it is necessary to do so, otherwise we may injure the cause
of truth by suppressing the reality; a reality over which there seems to
be a strong disposition, in the present day, in part at least, to draw a
veil; an expedient which can only increase the danger.

The first author, whose sentiments I would request you to weigh, is
Gabriel Biel, a schoolman of great celebrity[135]. {370} In his
thirty-second lecture, on the Canon of the Mass, he thus expresses
himself, referring to a sermon of St. Bernard, "The will of God was,
that we should have all through Mary.... You were afraid to approach the
Father, frightened by only hearing of Him.... He gave you Jesus for a
Mediator. What could not such a Son obtain with such a Father? He will
surely be heard for his own reverence-sake; for the Father loveth the
Son. But, are you afraid to approach even Him? He is your brother and
your flesh; tempted through all, that He might become merciful. THIS
BROTHER MARY GAVE TO YOU. But, perhaps, even in Him you fear the divine
Majesty, because, although He was made man, yet He remained God. You
wish to have an advocate even to Him. Betake yourself to Mary. For, in
Mary is pure humanity, not only pure from all contamination, but pure
also by the singleness of her nature[136]. Nor should I, with any doubt
say, she too will be heard for her own reverence-sake. The Son, surely,
will hear the Mother, and the Father will hear the Son."

[Footnote 135: Tubingen, 1499. Gabriel Biel, born at Spires
about A.D. 1425, was in A.D. 14