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.”