who ehoul<l render t-0 hie people eorvicee of ~urpMsing value; no wonder that her "spirit rejoiced" in euch II prospect. 3. Calculated to call forth all that was highest a11d worthiest in her nature. She would h11ve to cherish and to roar, to teach and to train, th11t illuetrious Son who should call her "mother." 4. Certain to confer upon her an honoiirabk immorf.alify. All generations would call her blessed. 6. Rendered to one who could not have expected it. God bad stooped low to bless, even to the low e8tat.e of" his bondmaiden." And, impressed with this wondcrflll and un11ntlcipated goodness, she poured forth her gladness in a song of holy gratitude, of lofty praise. Such should be- ll. Ooa APPREOIATioN of God's abounding kindness to ourselves. 1. The indebted- ness under which our heavenly Father hAB laid us. It is, indeed, as different as possible from that which inspired this sacred lyric. Yet may we most reverently and most becomingly take the words of Mary into our lips-both the utterance of felt obligation and the lans;uage of praise. For: (1) How lo,o is the condition on which, in our case, God has mercifully looked I from w)1at depth of error, of folly, of wrono-, has he raised us !-a dept.h with which the lowly estate of Mary is not t-0 be compa~ed. (2) With what II great salva.tion has he delivered us !-a ~al vation with which even the national deliverance Mary would be expecting of her Son is of very small account. (3) And what a lasting good he confers upon us who have received God our Saviour I The blessing of an immortality of undying fame is very precious to these thirsting human spirits of ours: but is it comparable with that of an actual immortality of conscious, eternal life with God and with the good in the heavenly kingdom? Distant genera- tions will not hear our name, but in remotest times we shall be dwelling and serving in unimaginable joy. 2. The rcs;,onse we should make to our Father. (1) Great gladness of heart. We should rejoice in God our Saviour; welcoming him, trusting and resting in him, finding our refuge and our strength in his faithfulness and bis love. (2) Honouring him before all men. "Magnifying the Lord" with the utterance of the lip, with the obedience of the life, with active service in his vineyard.-C.
Vers. 49-55.-God revealed in Jesus (Jhrist. We see much more in Mary's words than the thoughts which were present to her mind at the time of utterance; for we stand well within that kingdom of God of which she stood on the threshold. To the holy confidence shi, entertained in God's goodness to all Israel, and especially to herseli up to that hour, there was added a reverent wonder as to this new manifestation of Divine mercy. So she sang of the power and the holineRs, the mercy and the faithful- ness, of Jehovah. Through bitterest experiences (eh. ii. 35) •he passed into the light of truth and the rest of God, and now she sees how much greater occasion she had than ahe knew at the moment to sing in such strains of the character of God. We look at these Divine attributes as expressed in the coming of the Saviour. L Hrs DIVINE POWER. "He that is n,ighty hath done ... great things" (ver. 4!l); "He bath showed strength with his arm" (ver. 51). God's power is very gloriously manifested in the formation and furniture of this earthly home, in the creation of successive generations of mankind, in the providential government of the world, including the mastery of all physical fore.ea and the control of all human energies; but by far the most wonderful exhibition of Divine power is in the redemption of the world by Jesus Christ. To exert a transforming power on one intelligent, free, disloyal spirit; to conquer a rebellious, to win an estranged, soul; to raise a fallen nature, and uplift it to a height of holy exc.ellence; to make that which had lowered itself to the basest fit for the S0ciety of the holiest in heaven; to do this not in one individual case but in the case of "ten thousand times ten thousand;" to inlroduce a power which can elevate an,1 ennoble families, communities, nations; which is changing the cha- racter and condition of the entire race ;-this is " the power of Gvd," this is the doing of l,im "that is mighty." ll. Hrs DIVINE 110LINESB. "Holy is his Name" (ver, 49); "He bath scattered the proud," etc. (vers. 51, i:i2). ~od•~ holiness. is shown in hie provi,kntio.l int~rpo~itio~s! in hie humbling the Laucrhty, ID bis scattenng the cruel and the profane, ID hie ra1SJng tl,e lowly and tl,e pur~ and the true. Thus he has been revealing his righteousness in every nation and in every age. But nowhere does his holiness appear as il is seen in (1) the missic,n of his Son, who came to put away ein; in (2) the life and lanuuag, en. r. 1-fO.] THE 0081'~:L ACCOnDINO TO ST. u;rrn.