HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

New Zealand Tablet, Volume I, Issue 27, 1 November 1873, Page 13

HISTORY OF OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST.

By the Abb 6J. E. Dakbas. (Translated from the French for fche New Zeae.4»d Tabmbt.) 19. — 3trsPioioNß op Joseph. Vibghnal ITuptiais. M4BX had returned to Nazareth. The delay consequent on espousals had expired; the epoch of the solemn nuptials drew near. " Mow as his mother Mary was espoused to Joseph before they came together, she was found with child of the Holy Ghost. Wherefore Joseph her husband, being a just man, and not willing publicly to expose her, was minded to put her away privately ; but while he thought on these things, behold an Angel of the Lord appeared to him in his sleep, saying : Joseph, *on of David, fear not to take unto thee Mary thy wife, for that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost. And she shall bring forth a son, and thou ehalt call his name Jesus, for he shall save his people from their sins." "Sow all this was done that it might be fulfilled which fche Lord spoke by the Prophet, Baying:— '• Behold a Virgin shall be with child, and bring forth a son, and they shall call hie name Emmanuel, which being interpreted is, Qoi with us. 1. And Joseph rising up from" sleep did as the Angel of the Lord had commanded him, and took uuto him his wife." 2. The terrible anxiety of Joseph forms, with the serenity of Mary in this circumstance, a contrast, which Origen made use of victoriously against the odious calumnies of Celsus. The Mosaic law was formal. To the tribunal of the priests belonged the judgment of the woman convicted of crime ; the sentence suffered no modification ; the example of Susanna affords us a sufficient proof of its rigor. The punishment of stoning to death awaited the spouse or the betrothed convicted of crime.^ This leading fact cannot be too strongly insisted upon ; it presents in itself alone a complete demonstration of the veracity of the Gospel. Joseph attached ia his honor, pursued by the most cruel suspicions, is a witness whose testimony we can in no wise be permitted to suspect. His very character is moreover " another guarantee. He is "just," says the Evangelist j that is to say, that le joins to the feeling of rectitude and honor, a tender, compasionate moderation. He has calculated the import of a solemn denunciation before the sacerdotal tribunal — the Jewish Sanhedrim. The rigor of the legal punishment which will follow on his complaint, is repugnant to his mild disposition. Yet on the other hand, he cannot consent to what he deems a personal dishonor. He will not have Mary for his spouse. Before two witnesses he will remit to her a document of separation, and the young girl who has received his plighted vow, will not have to reproach him for causing her an infamous death. This document of separation is legal, at the same time that it secures, without compromising anyone, the life of a woman, and the honor of a spouse. Such was the situation in which Joseph found himself, tli-e delicacy and danger of which have perhaps never been equalled in any history. Mary, nevertheless is silent. Silence envelopes her virginal maternity with a divine veil. No human voice whispered in the ear of Joseph in the midst of these harrowing thoughts ; and vet Joseph became the spouse of Mary. ' This marriage, the Jews have never denied. Celsus himself— and the rationalists of our day may trust him — Celsus recognised that Joseph had solemnly espoused Mary, Consequently, we may cay with Origen, " That which Joseph did not learn from man, God Himself revealed to him ; the secret which the Immaculate Virgin kept, even at the peril of her life, was deposited by the Angel ot the Annunciation in the bosom of Joseph." Suppress, the miracle of the evangelical revelation, and you will fall in with the miraculous consent of the "just Joseph," who, all of a sudden quells his anxieties, his suspicions, — still more, shuts his eyes to the light of evidence, and takes Mary for his spouse. It is thus the course ot" the Gospel narrative is shielded from the attacks of incredulity, defying all the efforts of rationalism, and commanding faith by its divine simplicity. The following lines will afford us a new proof of this truth.