The two expectant mothers.
I. THE RETIREMENT. Elisabeth (Luke 1:24) had hidden herself when she knew that the promise of the angel would be fulfilled. Why she did so we are not told, but the language of Luke 1:26 suggests a religious motive. She was filled with gratitude, and she desired, perhaps, a season of holy rest and communion with God. "In silence and solitude," says Thomas a Kempis, "the soul advantageth herself, and learneth the mysteries of Holy Scripture." The same reason may partly have influenced Mary. But, besides this, there is no doubt that she wished to enjoy fellowship with her who alone could share her feeling, and with whom (Luke 1:36) her own prospect of motherhood was so intimately associated. Who can speak of the welcome, the salutations, the conferences, of the two cousins?
"O days of heaven and nights of equal praise,
Serene and peaceful as these heavenly days,
When souls, drawn upward in communion sweet,
Enjoy the stillness of some close retreat,
Discourse, as if released and safe at home,
Of evils past and danger yet to come,
And spread the sacred treasure of the breast
Upon the lap of covenanted rest!"
II. THE SONG OF MARY. Elisabeth, receiving Mary, speaks by the Holy Ghost. Mary had been told of her cousin's condition, but Elisabeth had received no intimation of Mary's. The arrival of the latter is the moment of special revelation. Elisabeth (Luke 1:42) lifts up her voice with a loud cry. The sound of Mary's voice (Luke 1:44) had occasioned the prophetic impulse. She declares the Virgin the mother of her Lord, and in beautiful humility asks, "Whence is this to me, that the mother of my Lord should come to me?" And, it may be, feeling the contrast between the faith of the Virgin and the unbelief of her husband, she pronounces a blessing on her who had believed. Then, in response from Mary, comes the song which the Christian Church has incorporated into its liturgies, which it has regarded as the opening of that fountain of praise, that wonderful hymnology, which has made glad the city of God. With regard to this hymn—"the Magnificat," as it is usually designated:
1. Compare it with the song of Hannah (1 Samuel 2:1-36). In both there is the same blending of personal gladness with the emotion and experience of the Church; the same losing of self in the sense of an unspeakable loving-kindness; the same boasting in the Lord as he who "fills the hungry with good things, and sends the rich empty away." Mary was familiar with this song. Her thought would naturally take shape in utterance charged with its spirit and imagery, even as it represents the purest forms of Hebrew piety. Yet who can fail to see that her utterance is lifted to a higher plane, and is thrilled by a higher inspiration?
2. The song of Mary marks the transition from Old Testament to New Testament praise. The Old Testament is present, not only in the language employed throughout, but also (Luke 1:54, Luke 1:55) in the earnest laying hold of the singular providence of God towards Israel, and the covenant made with Israel's fathers—"with Abraham and his seed for ever." But the germ of the New Testament is manifest in the special thanksgiving (Luke 1:48, Luke 1:49). God the Savior has appeared, and his might is to be declared in the Son because of whose birth all generations shall call her blessed. Thus the two covenants are united in all true Christian praise. The Old Testament is not a thing past; it is completed, and therefore more than ever one possession in Christ. "All the promises of God in him are yea."
"Both theirs and ours thou art,
As we and they are thine;
Kings, prophets, patriarchs, all have part
Along the sacred line."
3. Finally, the song of Mary illustrates Psalms 40:1-8 : whoso waits patiently for the Lord will, like Mary, know that he inclines to and hears the cry of the soul; and a new song will be given to the lips, even praise to our God. The new song of the redeemed soul has its prototype in that which arose, from the hillside dwelling in the uplands of Judah.