Mother of God--oh, rare prerogative; Oh, glorious title--what more special grace Could unto thee thy dear Son, dread God, give To show how far thou dost all creatures pass? That mighty power within the narrow fold Did of thy ne'er polluted womb remain, Whom, whiles he doth th' all-ruling Sceptre hold, Not earth, nor yet the heavens can contain; Thou in the springtide of thy age brought'st forth Him who before all matter, time and place, Begotten of th' Eternal Father was. Oh, be thou then, while we admire thy worth A means unto that Son not to proceed In rigour with us for each sinful deed. John Brereley, Priest (Vere Lawrence Anderton, S.J.) 1575-1643 PART TWO CHAPTER XI NAZARETH And he went down with them, and came to Nazareth, and was subject unto them. S. Luke II, 51. The Holy Church acknowledges and confesses the pure Virgin Mary as Mother of God through whom has been given unto us the bread of immortality and the wine of consolation. Give blessings then in spiritual song. ARMENIAN. After the rapid succession of fascinating pictures which are etched for us in the opening chapters of the Gospel there follows a space of about twelve years of which we are told nothing. The fables which fill the pages of the Apocryphal Gospels serve chiefly to emphasise the difference between an inspired and an uninspired narrative. The human imagination trying to develop the situation suggested by the Gospel and to fill in the unwritten chapters of our Lord's life betrays its incompetence to create a story of God Incarnate which shall have the slightest convincing power. These Apocryphal stories are immensely valuable to us as, by contrast, creating confidence in the story of Jesus as told by the Evangelists, but for nothing more.