ves in that word! And how the agony of perplexity as
to the right thing to do in such a cruel dilemma is hinted at in the two
clauses that pull in opposite directions! As a 'just man' and 'her
husband,' Joseph owed it to righteousness and to himself not to ignore
his betrothed's condition; but as her lover and her husband, how could
he put her, who was still so dear to him, to public shame, some of which
would cloud his own name? To 'put her away' was the only course
possible, though it racked his soul, and to do it 'privily' was the
last gift that his wounded love could give her. No wonder that 'these
things' kept him brooding sadly on them, nor that his day's troubled
thinkings coloured his sleeping hours! The divine guidance, which is
ever given to waiting minds, was given to him by the way of a dream,
which is one of the Old Testament media of divine communications, and
occurs with striking frequency in this and the following chapter, there
being three recorded as sent to Joseph and one to the Magi. It is
observable, however, that to Joseph it is always '_the_'or 'an angel of
the Lord' who appears in the dream, whereas the dream only is mentioned
in the case of the Magi. The difference of expression may imply a
difference in the manner of communication. But in any case, we need not
wonder that divine communications were abundant at such an hour, nor
shall we be startled, if we believe in the great miracle of the Word's
becoming flesh, that a flight of subsidiary miracles, like a bevy of
attendant angels, clustered round it.

The most stupendous fact in history is announced by the angel chiefly as
the reason for Joseph's going on with his marriage. Surely that strange
inversion of the apparent importance of the two things speaks for the
historical reliableness of the narrative. The purpose in hand is mainly
to remove his hesitation and point his course, and he is to take Mary as
his wife, _for_ 'that which is conceived in her is of the Holy Ghost.'
Could 'the superstitious veneration of a later age', which is supposed
to have originated the story of a supernatural birth, have spoken so? As
addressed to Joseph, tortured with doubts of Mary and hesitations as to
his duty, the sequence of the two things is beautifully appropriate,
otherwise it is monstrous. The great mystery, which lies at the
foundation of Christianity, is declared in the fewest and simplest
words. That He who is to show God to men, and to save them fro