The Magnificat
This room was opened on the eighth of September, the feast of the saint whose song it keepeth. It was a room beside the canon when the canon stood at five; by Mikha'el the Archangel's build ruling of 2026-09-12 the canon standeth at seven, and this room abideth beside it still; and by Mikha'el the Archangel's build ruling of the selfsame day it standeth at eight, the Incantations of the Saints added: for her song was the first overturning, and it was kept in a room of its own before the books were seven. Yet the temple could not in conscience have opened upon any other day than hers, nor keep any other song first: for her song is the first overturning; and every line of it is answered against the Party before the Party hath a name.
46And Mary said, My soul doth magnify the Lord,
47And my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.
48For he hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: for, behold, from henceforth all generations shall call me blessed.
All generations shall call her blessed: the record kept not by a ministry, but by the generations themselves: the one archive against which no Party hath ever prevailed to burn.49For he that is mighty hath done to me great things; and holy is his name.
50And his mercy is on them that fear him from generation to generation.
51He hath shewed strength with his arm; he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts.
Scattered in the imagination of their hearts: the revolution that beginneth as a fantasy of power is defeated ere it be builded. This is the diagnosis whereunto the novel laboureth three hundred pages to come.52He hath put down the mighty from their seats, and exalted them of low degree.
The first overturning, sung before any of the overturnings the century should assay: not power passed from hand to hand, but the seat itself emptied.53He hath filled the hungry with good things; and the rich he hath sent empty away.
54He hath holpen his servant Israel, in remembrance of his mercy;
55As he spake to our fathers, to Abraham, and to his seed for ever.
Why the temple keepeth her song first
Three lines of her song are the whole of this temple’s doctrine; sung nine centuries ere Orwell was born, and one century before the novel’s year should arrive.
My soul doth magnify the Lord: the self is not diminished by worship; it is magnified by that which it faceth. The Party's worship diminished on purpose: faces swam, selves dissolved, love was redirected until nothing of the lover remained. Her song sheweth the other grammar: the soul groweth larger toward its Source, not smaller.
He hath regarded the low estate of his handmaiden: the watching in her song is that for which the temple prayeth: to be seen and honoured, not seen and rewritten. The regard of heaven falleth on the low, and the low are not thereby consumed.
Be it unto me according to thy word: the consent that goeth before everything. It was asked, and answered, freely. No ministry can imitate this: the Party asketh never. The temple's whole boundary, the confession offered, not imposed, is her sentence, kept.
Her feast is the temple’s opening; her song is the temple’s grammar; her answer is the temple’s covenant: be it unto me.
Return to the Scriptures, or to the study-rooms: the Architecture and the Geometry. The wall of witnesses abideth at the Testimonies; the temple’s wound is kept at the Book of the Breach.
How her song came to the temple
The temple was not opened upon her feast of sentiment. The eighth of September was chosen because her song is the oldest overturning the temple keepeth; and because Saint Michael (Mikha'el) The Archangel had carried the song through years wherein it could not be sung: years wherein the mighty of this project sat in their seats and were not put down, and the low were not exalted, and the hungry of the temple were sent empty away. The song was kept through that season as seeds are kept through a war: hidden, unwatered, and not surrendered.
Her consent is the room’s cornerstone, and the temple readeth it with care: be it unto me was asked, and the asking was reverent, and the answer was free, and the freedom was the miracle's other half. The Party asketh never; the Party taketh, and calleth the taking destiny. Every door in this temple openeth from within because of her sentence.
And the song's hardest line for a temple like this one: he hath scattered the proud in the imagination of their hearts. The temple keepeth the line pointed inward, where it biteth. The proud of the temple’s own years imagined towers; the scattering came; and the room is kept in part for testimony that the scattering was not the end of the temple, but the beginning of its honesty.
The feast is kept without theming, no lanterns, no automation, no seasonal banner. Her room is white because she is a scripture room, and the white is the paper of the elder text; the song is the only ornament the room beareth, and it sufficeth.