C. From this point forwards we know nothing of her.
It is probable that the rest of her life was spent in Jeru- salem with John (see Epiph. liar, 78). According to one tradition, the beloved disciple would not leave Pales- tine until she had expired in his arms (see Tholuck, Light from the Cross, vol. ii, Serm. x, p. 234 [Edinb. 1857]) ; and it is added that she lived and died in the Coenacu- lum, in what is now the IVIosque of the Tomb of David, the traditional chamber of the Last Supper (Stanley, S. and P. ch.xiv^, p. 456). Other traditions make her journey with John to Ephesus, and there die in extreme old age. It was believed by some in the 5th century that she was buried at Ephesus (see Cone. Ephes., Cone. Labb. iii, 574 «) ; by others, in the same centurj', that she was buried at Gethsemane, and this appears to have been the infor- mation given to Marcian and PiUcheria by Juvenal of JeriLsalem. As soon as we lose the guidance of Scrip . ture, we have nothing from which we can derive any sure knowledge about her. The darlaiess in ^v'hich we are left is in itself most instructive.
7. The character of the Virgin Mary is not drawn by any of the evangelists, but some of its lineaments are incidentall)' manifested in the fragmentary record which is given of her. They are to be ibund for the most part in Luke's Gospel, whence an attempt has been made, by a curious mixture of the imaginative and rationalistic methods of interpretation, to explain the old legend which tells us that Luke painted the Virgin's portrait (Calmet, Kitto, Migne, Mrs. Jameson). We might have expected greater details from John than from the other evangelists, but in his Gospel we learn nothing of her except what may be gathered from the scene at Cana and at the cross. It is clear from Luke's account, though without any such intimation we might rest assured of the fact, that her youth had been spent in the study of the holy Scriptures, and that she had set before her the example of the holy women of the Old Testament as her model. This would appear from the Magnificat (Luke i, 46). The same hymn, so far as it emanated from herself, would show no little power of mind as well as warmth of spirit. Her faith and humilitj' exhibit themselves in her immediate surrender of herself to the divine will, though ignorant how that will should be ac- complished (Luke i, 38) ; her energy and earnestness, ijl) her journey from Nazareth to Hebron (Luke i, 39); her happy thankfuhiess, in her song of joy (Luke i, 48) ; her silent, musing thoughtfulness, in her pondering over the shepherds' visit (Luke ii, 19), and in her keeping her Son's words in her heart (Luke ii, 51), though she could not fully understand their import. Again, her humility is seen m her drawing back, yet without anger, after re- ceiving reproof at Cana, in Galilee (John ii, 5), and in the remarkable manner in which she shuns putting her- self forward throughout the whole of her Son's ministry, or after his removal from earth. Once only does she attempt to interfere with her divine Son's freedom of action (Matt, xii, 4G; Mark iii, 31; Luke viii, 19); and even here we can hardly blame, for she seems to have been roused, not by arrogance and by a desire to show her authority and relationship, as Chrysostom supposes {Horn, xliv in Matt.), but by a ^voman's and a mother's feelings of affection and fear for him whom she loved. It was part of that exquisite tenderness which ajipears throughout to have belonged to her. In a word, so far as Mary is portrayed to us in Scripture, she is, as we should have expected, the most tender, the most faithful, humble, patient, and loving of women, but a woman still. See Niemeyer, Charakt. i, 58.
II. Christian Legends. — These, as might naturally be expected, played an important part in the traditional historj- of Mary. They began to appear probablj' in the earh^ part of the 3d century, and were usualh- published under false names. Of these the apocryphal writings called the Protevangelium and the Gospfl of the Birth of Mary are among the earlier specimens. We give at considerable length their contents on this head.
1. The early Life of Mary. — According to these apoc- ryphal accounts, Joachim and Anna were both of the
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