19, &c.), the purpose of his words)
wished to guard his disciples, whilst the world should last, against
being seduced by any reverence and love which they might feel towards
Himself into a belief that they ought to exalt his mother above all
other created beings, and pay her holy worship, we know not what words
He could have adopted more fitted for that purpose. There was nothing in
the communication which seemed to call for {281} such a remark. A plain
message announces to Him as a matter of fact one of the most common
occurrences of daily life. And yet He fixes upon the circumstance as the
groundwork not only of declaring the close union which it was his good
pleasure should exist between obedient and true believers and Himself,
but of cautioning all against any superstitious feelings towards those
who were nearly allied to Him by the 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.
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