The Green Bough

at of the pulse to Mary Throgmorton's heart. The full significance of the text, the circumstance to which it referred

for thou hast foun

t Mary had found favor with her God. The only effect it had was the more completely to arrest her mind in a manner in which she had never been conscious of its a

is necessary for us to understand though they are

mind of his congregation for the last twenty years. For how could one understand that which was completely outside the r

teaching of the Church which passes comprehension but which it is expedient for us to understa

the alluring attractions of an unscrupulous woman. From the eminence of his pulpit, he would have cursed it if he could and, firmly as she had been brought up t

her to see if the Mainwarings were in Church. Often there were moments in the sermon when she would catch the ol

ld have walked all that distance in the snow. Her eyes had scarcely tur

It is necessary for us to understand that Mary was the mother of Our Lord's manhood. His divinity comes from God alone. What is the Trinity to which we attach our faith? It is t

ery of the Immaculate Conception, however much as a mystery we allow it to be beyond our comprehension. Being the Son of God, Christ must have been born without sin, yet being the Son of Man, He must, with His manh

Christ, must have suffered as all women suffer. She had found favor with God; but the Angel did not say s

ddress their prayers to her, it becomes incumbent upon us to see the Virgin Mary in a clear and no uncertain light. Mystery in her conception there m

interest. It was no real matter of concern to them. They had no desire to be converted. They had not in the silence of their homes been reading the works of Roman Catholic authorities as the Vicar had done. They did not entertai

suing not the meaning he intended to convey, but a train of thought, the sudden illum

r stalls, she gave birth to a man child in all the suffering and all the pain it is the lot of women to endure. For here is the origin of that manhood in which we must place our faith if we are to appreciate the fullness of sacrifice our Savior made upon the Cross. It was a woman, as any one of you

--'Fear not, Mary, for thou

lf, with this last reiteration of all, the sound of it throbbed in every vein and beat in violent echoes in her heart. For now no longer could she keep back the co

destroyed for her every shred of that mystery it had been his earnest intention to maintain.

hour which often she had seen in the eyes of others it had been her duty to visit in Bridnorth. It was the woman, eager and suffering, with that ea

ring her down beneath its weight; beating at her heart, lacerating her mind so tha

also have known?" And then, shaking her with the terror

father of the

with all the others she rose automatically to her feet. Her eyes were glazed. She scarcely could see t