Perhaps this event connected with the Blessed Virgin is more interesting to us than it otherwise would be because we have a service in these days exactly corresponding with that which the Virgin Mary kept. The law for women in Jewish times is thus given to us-" And the Lord spake unto "Moses, saying, Speak unto the Children of "Israel, saying, If a woman have conceived seed "and born a man-child, then she shall be unclean 66 seven days, and she shall then continue in the "blood of her purifying three-and-thirty days; "she shall touch no hallowed thing, nor come "into the Sanctuary, until the days of her purify"ing be fulfilled. And when the days of her "purifying are fulfilled, she shall bring a lamb "of the first year for a burnt offering, and a 66 young pigeon or a turtle dove for a sin offering, 66 unto the door of the tabernacle of the congre"gation, unto the priest, who shall offer it before “the Lord, and make an atonement for her; and "she shall be cleansed from the issue of her "blood. And if she be not able to bring a lamb, "then she shall bring two turtles or two young "pigeons, the one for the burnt offering and the “other for a sin offering."

Now for herself the Virgin Mary need not have

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offered this sacrifice, nor need she have gone through this ceremony, for neither had she conceived in sin or had the bearing of her man-child -the Blessed Jesus-made her unclean. was no need therefore for the service of her purification. Though Jesus was born of a woman, according to the order and course of nature, yet He could not take up the words of the Psalmist as applicable to Himself, as we all can, "Behold I was shapen in wicked"ness, and in sin hath my mother conceived me." For in the Saviour was there no sin or taint of sin; there was no original sin or sin belonging to His conception or birth, any more than there was afterwards actual or wilful sin. But should you not fully understand from this the nature of Christ, and be inclined to think that His nature was not like your own, I must remind you of that passage in Scripture where the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says that He-meaning Christ-was "in all things" (therefore of course from the desires and lusts of nature) "tempted "like as we are yet without sin." He was both capable of sinning and liable to sin. The apostles could say when addressing their hearers, "We "are men of like passions with you," meaning,

that they were alike sinful and in need of a Saviour, but Jesus Himself, though a "man of "like passions," yet was without sin. As the fifteenth article says, "Christ in the truth of our "nature was made like unto us in all things, sin "only except, from which He was clearly void "both in His flesh and in His spirit. He came "to be the Lamb without spot."

It was the same also in other things. He came to fulfil the whole Law, so He was Himself circumcised the eighth day; was presented by His Mother to the Lord; to sanctify the waters of Baptism, was Himself baptized in the River Jordan, though He had no original sin to be washed away. And as an earnest that all those who were baptized should receive at Baptism the Holy Spirit of God, we hear, though in very truth there was no need, as the Saviour was always before and after endued with the Holy Ghost, yet we hear that He did "in bodily shape like a dove," descend upon Him.

It is interesting, too, from this ceremony of the Purification, to notice the poverty of the Virgin Mary, the Mother of our Lord. We know from many things in His after life how poor the Saviour was, for He says Himself, "The Son of "Man hath not where to lay His head;" but we

see here how poor He was always, how poor His parents were, for indeed had they been rich they would have been admitted into some better place at Bethlehem than a stable. And so when she went to perform the sacrifice of her Purification, the Blessed Virgin was unable to offer up the Lamb for a burnt offering and the young pigeon for a sin offering, but under the shelter of her poverty, and with the permission of the law, she brought (we are not told which, but she brought) a pair of turtle-doves or two young pigeons.

It is marvellous, is it not? that the Saviour of mankind, Who also was the maker of the world, and the King of Heaven, and the Possessor of all things, should come down upon earth and have nothing, and enjoy nothing, not even what the poorest among us can have and enjoy? And so, though in a less degree, it was marvellous that the Mother of the Saviour, though there were many wealthy women among the Jews, should be one who could not afford to offer up for her Purification a lamb and a dove. Surely, my dear brethren, and I am speaking to those who can appreciate what I say, surely if anything will sanctify poverty and reconcile you to the want of everything but the very necessaries

of life, these considerations at least will have their full weight. You may be poor now, but if to the fulfilment of your other duties you add that of bearing your poverty well, then some day you shall be rich indeed; you shall have a heavenly house and heavenly treasures, nay, there shall be nothing in heaven and earth that you will want, for every wish and every desire shall be satisfied.

Now this service of Purification, and the sacrifice which the Virgin Mary had to offer, was meant under the Jewish law partly as a thanksgiving to God for preservation under the perils and anxieties of child-bearing, and to this day we have a service among ourselves which, answering to this under the Jewish law, is called, "The thanksgiving of women after child-birth," commonly called, "The churching of women." And I think it something, in these days of lax attention to such things, that such a service as this, in our country parishes at least, should so regularly be observed. In such days as these, I repeat, when Holy Thursday, the day of our Lord's ascension into heaven, is passed over in many of these same country parishes without the slightest notice, I think that we ought to