CAN WE THEN BELIEVE?
[To the Editor of the SPECTATOR.] Snt,—I hope that you will allow me to reply to the letter of" Decanus " in your issue of September 11th. He suggests that St. Luke's language does not necessarily imply the Virgin birth of Our Lord and remarks that in the following chapters St. Luke calls • Joseph and the Blessed Virgin " parents " of Jesus. This opinion appears to me untenable in view of verses 34 and 35 of chapter, i., supplemented as they are by St. Matthew, chapter i., verse 25. St. Luke's calling Joseph and the Blessed Virgin our Lord's parents is not inconsistent with the Virgin birth. The Blessed Virgin was his parent and Joseph his adoptive father, and both were " supposed " to be his parents (chap. iii. v. 28). St. Luke knew that this was not so, and his use of the term " supposed " implies this. If we are going to explain away what has till recently appeared evident to all Christians, where shall we stop ?—I am, Sir, &c., "A PLAIN MAN."
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