“And the angel said unto her, ‘Fear not, Mary: for thou hast found favour with God…’… Mary said, ‘Behold the handmaid of the Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.’… Mary said, ‘My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.'”
Lk. 1:30, 38, 46-47
“And Simeon blessed them, and said unto Mary his mother, ‘Behold, this child is set for the fall and rising again of many in Israel; and for a sign which shall be spoken against; (Yea, a sword shall pierce through thy own soul also) that the thoughts of many hearts may be revealed.”
Lk. 2:34-35
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Subsections
Immaculate Conception
Virgin Birth
Perpetual Virginity
Reformed vs. Aquinas
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Order of Contents
Articles 3
Book 1
Latin 1
Mariolatry 2
Prayer to 1
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Articles
1500’s
Bullinger, Henry – ‘Jesus is the Ark of the Covenant’ in Decades, 3rd Decade, Sermon 5, pp. 153-55 at Purely Presbyterian
In Romanism Mary often bears the title and function of being the Ark, through which Jesus was born.
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1600’s
Heidegger, Johann H. – ‘Short Instruction on the Holy & Highly Lauded
Virgin Mary, for a better understanding of the simple-minded, set up in a question and answer format’ tr. by AI by dvinb150 (Zurich: Gessner, 1673) 20 pp. German in Schriftmässiger Bericht von der Jungfrauen Maria (Zürich: Gessner, 1673)
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2000’s
Barth, Paul – at Purely Presbyterian
‘Is Mary The Mother Of God? Rome’s Marian Dogma Examined’ (2026)
‘Was Mary A Perpetual Virgin?’ (2026)
‘Was Mary Born without Sin?’ (2026)
‘Was Mary Assumed into Heaven?’ (2026)
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Book
1600’s
Rivet, Andrew – Apology for the Most Holy Virgin trans. AI by Nosferatu (Leiden: Heger, 1639) 358 pp. Latin
Rivet (1572–1651), a French reformed minister and theologian, defends Mary from both Romanists and some Protestants.
Brief ToC
Extended ToC 2
Dedicatory Epistle 16
To Reader 19
Eulogies 21
Preface 24
Bk. 1, Mary’s Life & Death 27
Up to Mary’s Conception
1. Election of Mary, would be a virgin mother 27
2. Prophesy fulfilled, genealogies of Mt. & Lk., parents of Mary 33
3. Apocryphal accounts of Mary’s parents 39
Mary’s Conception
4. Conception of Mary, whether exempt from original sin, argument from dignity of Mary 43
5. History of defining Mary’s conception 52
6. Papal history behind defining Mary’s conception: not expedient 60
7. Trying to get the Pope to give a definition on Mary’s conception 66
8. Competing parties in Romanism about providing a definition for Mary’s conception 71
Mary’s Birth up to Annunciation
9. Year and day of Mary’s birth cannot be known; etymology of “Mary” 78
10. Education up to Annunciation 86
11. Mary’s betrothal; vow of virginity? 93
12. Nazarene house where angel greeted Mary? 101
Christ’s Conception to Birth
13. Time, manner, matter and efficient cause of Christ’s conception 109
14. Visitation of Elizabeth; John’s exultation in the womb, not with sense and use of reason 116
15. Joseph’s doubting of Mary’s chastity; Mary’s perpetual virginity? Helvidius condemned not undeservedly; Joseph was not a widower, nor had children called the “brothers” of the Lord; how much we differ from Helvidius; Basil 121
16. Christ’s birth; born naturally, not miraculously; of the pains of childbirth 130
Christ’s Circumcision to the Cross
17. Christ’s circumcision; preserved foreskin of Christ? 142
18. Simeon’s oration; Mary’s impeccability? Not the opinion of the fathers 151
19. Lk. 2, Christ’s subjection to Mary was free and temporary; whether familial subjections have a place in Heaven 159
20. Wedding at Cana; Christ’s giving care of Mary to John at the cross, Jn. 19:26-27; nothing more said of Mary till Acts 1; Did Mary collect the blood and water at the cross, take down his body, collect the nails? Did Christ appear to her first after the resurrection? 167
End of Mary’s Life
21. Silence of Scripture after Acts 1; Mary did not dwell with John at Ephesus; how long she lived is uncertain; silence of Scripture about her death; that she died: the opinion of all scholastics; how they reconcile this with the lack of original sin; Assumption of Mary to Heaven? 176
22. Miracles at Mary’s death? Mary’s bodily assumption not of the Faith according to most Papists; on Mary’s form and beauty 189
Bk. 2, On Mariolotry
Honor & Worship
1. Meaning and difference between “glory”, “honor” and “worship”; created vs. uncreated excellence; gifts of supernatural grace: what is to be certainly acknowledged of Mary? Jesuit paradox of Mary surpassing the grace of all men and angels combined is unsupported; what we think of Mary; distinction of those whom we ought to honor and worship, whether present or absent; what kind of honor is due to Mary and rendered by us 200
Kingdom of Mary
2. Rights of royal dignity; only one king in Heaven; no Queen of Heaven; they turn Mary into an idol; Jesuits: it is more useful to implore Mary than Jesus; Franciscans: Mary is the ladder of Heaven, by which one ascends more easily than by Christ 210
3. Universal Kingdom of God communicated to Mary by Mariolaters, by debt and right of succession; Kingdom of Mary extended above Christ 218
4. Christ the Son of God, firstborn of all creation, dependence of all on Him: Scripture communicates none of this to Mary, despite Jesuits; new creed of the Spanish Jesuits from Johannes Baptista; of all creatures in Mary for whose sake God anticipated the creation of the world 230
Mary: greater than Saints, Jesus & God
5. Mary can do more than God; she leaves all the saints far behind, even taken together; she is the treasurer of grace; she alone can intercede for all individually; all offices of the saints assigned to Mary; all things to be expected from her; dispenser of all temporal and spiritual goods; helped Jesus with her merits; this Jesuit doctrine is another gospel, contrary to the primitive Church 240
6. No wonder those who grant Mary too much exceed measure in devotion to her; Mary considered as equal with Christ; Bernard’s cautions about honoring Mary; how men were gradually turned away from Christ; Satan’s strategems, pagan idolatry being overthrown, he introduces Mariolatry; by what steps; Mary substituted in place of son; confutation of 248
Honoring & Worship of Saints
7. The true honors to saints in the primitive Church explained from Hebrews; of the Collyridians [mostly women who offered cakes to Mary and worshipped her with latria]; excessive admiration of Mary the cause of the error; Epiphanius against her adorers; Collyridians and Papists compared 256
8. Ezekiel’s command to dig through the wall applied to modern idolatry; Augustine: they adore her, use sacred rites and consecrate themselves and their possessions to her, therefore they give divine honors to her; he does not favor the latria/dulia distinction in the way it is usurped in the Papacy; Things necessarily pertaining to latria are attributed to Mary in the Papacy; it is proved they openly adore the creature in a divine manner from their deeds and sayings, attributing the same to those places which Scripture attributes to God’s presence, adoring Mary as the bestower of all goods, communicating divine majesty and power to her, they transfer divine praises and glory to her 262
Marian Images & Relics
9. Mary adored in images in the pagan manner; Luke was not a painter; Gallican Church’s opinion five hundrerd years ago on images; relics of Mary and their worship; kissing Mary’s foot; a pseudo-epistle of Mary 269
Invocation of Mary
10. The principal part of divine worship is invocation; adversaries dissent in words, in reality they communicate religious worship to a creature; their confessions that invocation of saints was not know in Bible or before Cyprian 286
11. On invoking Mary with the angelic salutation, Ave Maria 303
12. The best way of praying given by Christ; praying by beads; Office of the Virgin; the Rosary 311
Marian Feasts
13. Festal days ought to be consecrated to God alone, and they pertain to latria, per all nations; few among the Christians in the beginning, and those free; difference between Papists and Protestants, who retain some; Mary’s feasts terminate in her; on worship instituted without God; seven feasts of Mary, no foundation in early antiquity; each feast analyzed; superstitious observations 323
Miracles
14. Denied that those who lack Scripture’s testimony can deduce a doctrine of Faith from miracles; 1. Miracles are not still to be sought in the Church; 2. Miracles are not indubitable testimonies of truth, unless confirmed by Scripture; 3. Miracles properly so called are not done by demons; distinctions of miracles and of causes, especially of the end; deceptive works; “lying miracles”; pagan miracles; Augustine 333
15. Of miracles attributed to Mary, mostly dishonest and demeaning 346
Conclusion of Whole 356
Indices 358
Errata 400
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Latin Article
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – Of Mary the Mother of Christ in Syllabus of Theological Problems (Utrecht, 1643), pt. 1, section 2, tract 2 Abbr.
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On Mariolatry
See also On Saint Worship &
Only One Kind of Religious Worship; Dulia to Saints is Idolatrous.
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Articles
1600’s
Turretin, Francis – 9. ‘Is it lawful to religiously worship images of God, the holy Trinity, Christ, the Virgin and other saints? We deny against the papists.’ in Institutes of Elenctic Theology, tr. George M. Giger, ed. James Dennison Jr. (1679–1685; P&R, 1994), vol. 2, 11th Topic
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2000’s
Barth, Paul – ‘Rome’s Marian Dogma & Devotion Remains Unchanged: An Analysis of Mater Populi Fidelis [The Mother of the Faithful People]’ (2025) at Purely Presbyterian
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Latin Article
1600’s
Voet, Gisbert – 76. Appendix, ‘The Office, or Canonical Hours of Blessed Mary’ in Select Theological Disputations (Utrecht, 1659), vol. 3, pp. 1068-75
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On Prayer to Mary
See also ‘On the Rosary’ and ‘Prayer to Saints & Angels is Unlawful’.
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Article
1600’s
Rivet, Andrew – ‘On the Hail Mary & the Rosary’ in The Orthodox Catholic, (1630 / 1644), vol. 1, quest. 57
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“There came then his brethren and his mother, and, standing without, sent unto him, calling Him. And the multitude sat about him, and they said unto Him, ‘Behold, thy mother and thy brethren without seek for thee.’ And He answered them, saying, ‘Who is my mother, or my brethren? And he looked round about on them which sat about him, and said, ‘Behold my mother and my brethren!’ For whosoever shall do the will of God, the same is my brother, and my sister, and mother.'”
Mk. 3:31-35
“These all continued with one accord in prayer and supplication, with the women, and Mary the mother of Jesus, and with his brethren.”
Acts 1:14
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