ence to add anything to the narrative which the Holy Spirit has thought fit to dictate, under the notion, that something must have happened, and if so, why not one thing as likely as another? It is violence to the text of any history, to insert events and conversations after one's own taste. It is the sure way to destroy the whole value of historical testimony, and to involve truth in impenetrable obscurity. And when such violence is done to the sacred text, it is not only violence, but profane and irreverent violence, and tends at once and directly to undermine the certainty and stability of the foundations of the Christian faith.

CHAPTER XXXIX.

THE PROGRESS OF MEDITATION-SCRIPTURE FALSIFIED TO SERVE THE PURPOSES OF SUPERSTITION.

THE evil is not likely to stop short with making additions to the sacred text. Such tampering with truth leads people to go further, and to give such a colour to the language of scripture, or even to imagine such circumstances, as may help to prop up the peculiar doctrines which they incline to; and from that the step is easy to the last stage, of contradicting the statements of the text itself.

For example: in the chapter already quoted from the Life of Christ, which Mr. Oakeley has translated for the use of members of the Church of England, the meditation is so constructed as to favour the peculiar notions of the advocates of monasticism. And so a statement is made regarding the angelic salutation, and an explanation given of the words of Mary, to which the text gives not the slightest coun

tenance.

Not till she had heard the Angel twice deliver his wondrous message, could she prevail on herself to make any answer; so odious a thing in a virgin is talkativeness. Then the Angel, understanding the reason of her trouble, said, “ Fear not, Mary, be not abashed by the praises I utter; they are but truth: for thou art not only full of grace thyself, but art to be the means of restoring all mankind to the grace of God, which they have lost. For behold thou shalt conceive, and bring forth the Son of the

VOL. I.

T

Highest. He, who has chosen thee to be His Mother, shall save all who put their trust in Him." Then the blessed Virgin, waiving the subject of her praises, was desirous of knowing how all this could come to pass, without the loss of her virgin purity. She, therefore, inquired of the Angel the manner of the Conception. How shall this be, seeing I know not a man? I have dedicated myself to my Lord by a vow of perpetual virginity.-Bonaventure's Life of Christ, p. 11.

Of course, the statements that the angel spoke twice, and that Mary used the words here ascribed to her, are pure fiction and falsehood; and at this rate of proceeding, it is perfectly plain, anything whatever may be made out of the holy Scriptures.

In the account of the language of Christ at the marriage at Cana of Galilee, Mr. Newman, in his Sermons on Subjects of the Day, finds an argument for the "PRESENT INFLUENCE AND POWER OF THE MOTHER OF GOD."

Observe, He said to His Mother, "What have I to do with thee? Mine hour is not yet come." Perhaps this implies that when His hour was come, then He would have to do with her again as before; and such really seems to be the meaning of the passage. "What have I to do with thee now?" I have had, I shall have; but what have I to do with thee now as before? what as yet? what till my hour is come?—pp. 39, 40.

What grounds Mr. Newman has for saying that this " really seems to be the meaning of the passage," I cannot pretend to conjecture. But the use Mr. Newmnn makes of it will be obvious from the following, which occurs shortly after:

As to St. Mary, He had said, "Mine hour is not yet come;" so He said to St. Peter, in the passage just cited, “Whither I go, thou canst not follow Me now, but thou shalt follow me afterwards." And as at His first feast, He had refused to listen to His Mother's prayer, because of the time, so to His Apostles He foretold, at His second feast, what the power of their prayers should be, by way of cheering them on His departure. "Ye now therefore have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you. In that day ye shall ask Me nothing. Verily, verily, I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall ask the Father in My Name, He will give it you." And again, "Ye are My friends, ye do whatsoever I command you. Henceforth I call you not servants, for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends, for all things that I have heard of my Father, I have made known unto you." In the gifts promised to the Apostles after the Resurrection, we may learn THE PRESENT INFLUENCE AND Power OF THE MOTHER OF GOD.-pp. 42, 43.

if

By such modes of commentating, the Bible may be made to support any superstition whatever, as the taste of the commentator pleases. But, I must beg my reader to observe that Mr. Oakeley, who seems anxious to recommend monasticism to the members of the church of England, has adopted quite a different version of the story. The extract is long, but it is too curious a specimen of this system of meditation to admit of its being abridged:

Though it is uncertain whose marriage it was that was celebrated at Cana of Galilee, let us, for meditation's sake, suppose it to have been that of St. John the Evangelist, which St. Jerome seems to affirm in his preface to

St. John. Our Lady was present at it, not as a stranger invited to it, but as the elder sister, and as the person of the highest dignity; for it was her sister's house, and she was as it were at home, as the principal lady and manager of the feast. And this we may gather from three things. First, from the sacred text, which tells us that the Mother of Jesus was there, but says of Jesus and his disciples, that they were invited; which we are to understand likewise of the rest of the persons present. When her sister, then, Mary Salome, the wife of Zebedee, came to her to Nazareth, which is about four leagues distant from Cana, and told her that she designed to celebrate the marriage of her son John, she went back with her to Cana, some days before the appointed time of the feast, to make preparation for it, so that, when the others were invited, she was already there. Secondly, we may gather it from her taking notice herself of the want of wine, which would seem to show that she was not there in the character of a guest, but as one who had the management of the entertainment, and observed therefore the want of wine. For, had she been sitting there as a guest, would the modest Virgin have sat, think you, by her Son, amongst the men? And, had she been sitting amongst the women, would she have discovered the want of wine, rather than any other? and, had she noticed it, would she have risen from the table to acquaint her Son? There appears an unseemliness in this; and therefore it is probable that she was not there at the time as a guest, but that she was engaged in arranging the entertainment; for we are told of her, that she was ever attentive in helping others. Thirdly, we may gather it from her giving the directions to the servants to go to her Son, and do whatever He should command them; for from this it appears that she had an authority over them, and that she had the control of the feast, and was then anxious that there should be no want of anything. According to this view of the circumstances,