Women in white raiment

by John Lemley

Such, in brief, are the noble conceptions and the lofty figures of speech of this exquisite hymn of Mary. And we ask involuntarily, Whence comes it that so humble a maiden should thus in the beauty of her diction and the sublimity of her conceptions have rivaled, if not eclipsed, all the poets both of ancient and modern times?

It might seem a short answer to this question to say that Mary was inspired. But such an answer does not satisfy the reasoning mind. God in His wisdom does not ordinarily see fit to disregard the secondary causes which He has created. We are led to look, therefore, to the character and condition of Mary herself as a partial explanation of the character of this piece of literature. And, upon examining the hymn, we find that it is largely composed of sentences from the Old Testament, embodying the Messianic expectations of the Jewish people. It sounds like an echo, not only of David’s and Hannah’s, but also of Miriam’s, and of Deborah’s harps; yet independently reproduced in the mind of a woman, who had laid up and kept in her heart what she had read in Holy Scripture. Out from the large body of sacred literature which was the rare heritage of her people, she had extracted that which was best and noblest and most appropriate. We do not, however, deny the direct inspiration of this hymn; but we would emphasize the broader conceptions of Providence, how the Holy Spirit can use a mind well stored with the deep things of God, as evidently was the mind of Mary, for, from beginning to end, this hymn assumes a sympathizing acquaintance with the history of the Jewish people, and of all the noble conceptions of the Deity with which the history of that people has made the world familiar.

The unity of God is assumed without question. It is the Lord Jehovah that her soul magnifies. It is the only true God her Saviour in which her spirit rejoices. Nor is it a God of mere power, but a God of love and tenderness, whom she adores. It is one who has regard not for men alone and the great ones of the earth, but for the humble woman who occupies the most contracted sphere that falls to the lot of any. And in this the power of the God she adores appears pre-eminent, for he is able to make great things out of small. It was He who took Israel as a little vine and made him a great nation. It was He that multiplied the widow’s cruse of oil and handful of meal till she had a superabundance. It was He who lifted Rahab out of her wicked and heathen surroundings and placed her in the line of royal women in whom all the families of earth were to be blessed. It is He that notes the sparrow’s fall, that numbers the hairs of our heads, that hears the prayers we offer in secret when the door is shut, and that rewards us openly. It is He that can exalt the humblest life and make it gleam with the sunshine of His own glory. “Not many mighty, not many noble, are called ... but ... God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty ... yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought the things that are.”

Only such a God could lift on high so humble a maiden, and turn upon her the gaze of all the nations of the earth. But the God of Israel well might do it, for He is the Mighty One, and able to do great things, and His mercy is upon them that fear Him from generation to generation. In Israel’s deliverance from Egypt and in all their subsequent history, He had shown the strength of His arm. The wrecks of the nations that opposed Him strew the whole pathway of history. And as He raised Joseph from prison and exalted Daniel from the lion’s den, so should He ever lift up the meek, and help His servant Israel, and remember His promises to Abraham and His seed forever. Only one who is familiar with such a history could write such a hymn. Surely it is a great thing to be educated into such thoughts as these. To breathe in such sentiments in the very atmosphere of one’s home and in the social circles in which one daily moves is the highest of earthly privileges. It is only in such a hymn as this of Mary that we get a proper conception of the grandeur and nobleness of the thoughts underlying Hebrew history. In her Magnificat, Mary breathed the thoughts of those that surrounded her. From the days of pious Hannah down to those of Elizabeth, the women of Israel had been moved by such longings and animated by such hopes as have never been possible to any other people. They had the promise made in Eden that the seed of the woman should bruise the head of the serpent who led the world astray. And now to her, to this humble virgin of Israel, had the fulfillment of this promise come, and truly blessed was she among women. For here was the performance of those things which had been told her from the Lord. The great crisis of the world’s history had arrived, and she was the chosen channel through which the hope of the nations was come.

O, blessed Woman in White Raiment, may thy hymn of praise, divinely inspired, be often upon our lips, and the sweetness of its precious truths continually in our hearts!

The words of the angel in respect to Elizabeth having been confirmed by this personal visit of Mary to her home in the hill country of Judea, she returned to Nazareth.

Soon after this the decree of Augustus, the Roman emperor, that all the world should be taxed, was promulgated, and Joseph and Mary traveled to Bethlehem to have their names enrolled in the registers of their tribe. It would seem that the Israelites still clung to their genealogies and tribal relations, and, though the undertaking was a severe strain upon Mary, and notwithstanding, according to the Roman custom, her name could have been enrolled without her personal presence, this woman, who was to be the most blessed of women, greatly preferred to accompany her husband on this journey of over seventy miles, much of the way up and down steep, rocky hills. Traveling in the East, under its most favorable conditions, is a slow, tiresome affair, especially for women. But Mary drudged along the mountain path, in company with her husband, all the way from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Her love for the city of David seems to have overcome all difficulties. Possibly a contemplative mind like hers may have perceived that this decree of Cæsar Augustus was but an instrument, in the hand of Providence, to fulfill ancient prophecy with respect to the birthplace of the Messiah, for Micah had declared that out of Bethlehem Ephratah, though little among the thousands of Judah, “yet out of thee shall He come forth unto Me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting.” So, while it would seem that an arbitrary decree decided where Christ is to be born, God had manifested His wisdom in the choice of the time, place and circumstances, and was faithful in the fulfillment of the word of prophecy, ever carrying out His plans through the free acts of men. In this instance the great Roman Cæsar, even without his knowledge, became an official agent in the kingdom of God.

So it came to pass, in the fullness of time, and in the beloved city of David, Bethlehem Ephratah, Mary brought forth the Saviour of the world, and humbly laid Him in a manger. Here, amid these humble surroundings, in the stall of an inn, among the beasts, was the advent of the Son of God, the Saviour of the world. And, behold, the Life which was to lift “empires off their hinges” and turn the “stream of centuries out of its course”—a life which was to revolutionize the world and transform humanity—had begun.

The place where the inn stood is now occupied by an enormous pile of buildings, known as the “Church of the Nativity.” Down in the crypt of this church, reached by fifteen stone steps, and in the eastern wall of it, is a silver star, around which are the words: “Hic de Virgine Maria Jesus Christus natus est”—“Here Jesus Christ was born of the Virgin Mary.” One can not with indifference behold such a spot as this. To us it was a sacred and hallowed place, and we felt subdued and reverent while beholding the place where began the greatest life earth has ever contained. To the Christian, Bethlehem stands first among the holiest places on the face of the globe, and we were hushed into reverence by its sacred associations and charmed by its natural beauty.

The “inn,” the scene of the nativity, stood on the crest of a hill that rapidly falls away to a valley seven hundred feet below. At its base is the “well” for the waters of which David so greatly longed. On the opposite side is a hill still more precipitous than the one on which Bethlehem stands. The little valley between the hills gradually opens out eastward, where once stood the wheatfields of Boaz, in which Ruth gleaned after the reapers. Just beyond this, scarcely a mile from the “city of David,” is the field where the shepherds were “keeping watch over their flock by night, when lo, the angel of the Lord came upon them,” with this glad proclamation, “Behold, I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.” Then suddenly night was turned into day by the radiant brightness of a multitude of the heavenly host, filling earth and sky with their song: