Page:SermonsFromTheLatins.djvu/43

 Lord; the  material  from  which  He  built  Him  an earthly  habitation. Christ was  the  wisdom  of  the Father, and  Holy  Writ  has  it  that  "  wisdom  will  not enter  into  a  malicious  soul  nor  dwell  in  a  body  subject to  sin." To deny  the  Immaculate  Conception  of Mary  is,  to  my  mind,  scarcely  less  blasphemous  than to assert  that  the  humanity  of  Christ  Himself  was stained with  original  sin,  for  did  He  not  become flesh of  her  flesh  and  bone  of  her  bone? And who does  not  recoil  in  horror  from  the  thought that even  the  adorable  body  and  blood  of  Christ  in the  Sacrament  of  the  altar  should  have  had  its  origin in anything  defiled  by  sin? The Immaculate  Conception of  Mary  is  a  necessary  corollary  of  Christ's  absolute sinlessness. It was  asserted  by  John  the  Baptist when he  refused  to  baptize  the  Saviour  in  the  Jordan. It was  asserted  by  Christ  Himself  when  He  demanded of His  enemies:  "  Which  of  you  shall  convince  Me  of sin?  And  what  fellowship  is  there  of  God  with Belial? "

But apart  from  her  divine  Son,  Mary  in  the  Scripture vindicates  in  her  own  person  this  article  of  our faith. Mary's destiny  was  to  undo  what  Eve  had done, and  whatever  in  the  order  of  grace  Eve  lost, Mary regained. Mary is  the  direct  antithesis  of  Eve. Ave — Eva — even their  very  names  are  an  inversion, the one  of  the  other. It was  due  to  God's  dignity and power  that  His  fair  creation  should  be  restored by exactly  the  same  means  wherewith  by  the  demon it had  been  destroyed. Eve sprang  from  Adam  and became his  mother  in  error  and  death;  Mary  sprang