monstrates that the better we understand the
part which Mary has taken in the work of redemption, the more enlightened
becomes our knowledge of our Redeemer Himself, and that the greater our
love for her, the deeper and broader is our devotion to Him; while
experience also testifies that our Savior's attributes become more
confused and warped in the minds of a people in proportion as they ignore
Mary's relations to Him.

The defender of a beleaguered citadel concentrates his forces on the outer
fortifications and towers, knowing well that the capture of these outworks
would endanger the citadel itself, and that _their_ safety involves _its_
security.

Jesus Christ is the citadel of our faith, the stronghold of our soul's
affections. Mary is called the "Tower of David," and the gate of Sion
which the Lord loveth more than all the tabernacles of Jacob,(254) and
which He entered at His Incarnation.

So intimately is this living gate of Sion connected with Jesus, the Temple
of our faith, that no one has ever assailed the former without invading
the latter. The Nestorian would have Mary to be only an ordinary mother
because he would have Christ to be a mere man.

Hence, if we rush to the defence of the gate of Sion, it is because we are
more zealous for the city of God. If we stand as sentinels around the
tower of David, it is because we are more earnest in protecting Jerusalem
from invasion. If we forbid profane hands to touch the ark of the
covenant, it is because we are anxious to guard from profanation the Lord
of the ark. If we are so solicitous about Mary's honor, it is because "the
love of Christ" presseth us. If we will not permit a single wreath to be
snatched from her fair brow, it is because we are unwilling that a single
feature of Christ's sacred humanity should be obscured, and because we
wish that He should ever shine forth in all the splendor of His glory, and
clothed in all the panoply of His perfections.

But you will ask: Why do you so often blend together the worship of God
and the veneration of the Blessed Virgin? Why such exclamations as
_Blessed be Jesus and Mary_? Why do you so often repeat in succession the
Lord's prayer and the Angelical salutation? Is not this practice
calculated to level all distinctions between the Creator and His creature,
and to excite the displeasure of a God ever jealous of His glory?

Those who make this objection should remember that the praises of the Lord
and of His