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S. MATTHIAS THE APOSTLE.

FEBRUARY 24.

"Who is God's chosen priest?

He, who on CHRIST stands waiting day and night, Who trac'd His holy steps, nor ever ceas'd,

From Jordan's banks to Bethphage height.

"Who hath learn'd lowliness From his LORD's cradle, patience from His Cross ; Whom poor men's eyes and hearts consent to bless To whom, for CHRIST, the world is loss."

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THERE is no mention of S. Matthias in the New Testament, except that which occurs in a portion of the first chapter of the Acts of the Holy Apostles, appointed for the Epistle of this day, which is, that after the death of Judas Iscariot, the remaining eleven Apostles consulted together about the choice of another in his room, and that choice fell by lot on Matthias.

An Apostle once meant merely a messenger, any person sent upon a special errand; but

our SAVIOUR applied the term to those twelve persons whom He made choice of, to be sent up and down the world in His Name, to teach His Gospel, to plant His Church. The highest order in the ministry were at first called Apostles; but now we understand by that name only those who received their commission from our LORD Himself, and who were distinguished from succeeding Bishops, by their having acted under our LORD and the immediate influence of the HOLY SPIRIT, and also by having possessed the power of working miracles.

S. Matthias was indeed called at a later period to fill up the place lost by Judas; and S. Paul and S. Barnabas are likewise called Apostles.

We may imagine how bitterly S. Peter, who loved our LORD so very dearly, would feel this treachery of Judas, yet it may well be an example to us; and it is a touching instance how he had governed and curbed his own naturally hasty and vehement temper, to read, that when recording the event to the disciples generally, (one hundred and twenty being assembled to appoint a successor,) he uses not one hard word, not one condemning, nay, not even reproving expression, cerning Judas, which was guide to them that took JESUS.' He left that; he had learned it was not for them, one mortal to judge an

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other. But he proceeded to tell how this perfidy, and this terrible, cruel crime had been foretold by king David, the holy, royal prophet, a thousand years before: Yea,

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mine own familiar friend, in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lifted up his heel against me."

A pathetic lament, touching the hearts of those who heard it, because it appealed so practically to their every-day experience. To this day, in what are called wild countries, amongst the Arabs of the East, or the Indians of the far, far Western American wilds, it is thought impossible for a man who has eaten of your loaf in kindliness, to do you an unkindness. Yet you see Judas had not only shared our SAVIOUR's food, which was often scanty (and sometimes none), for you know He felt both hunger and thirst, but he had shared the sacred Feast at the "last supper:" moreover he had taken "a sop," what we now call a sippet, that is, a piece of bread soaked in the gravy of the chief dish, from our SAVIOUR's own hand. Yet he gave Him up to His murderers.

S. Peter, you see, leaves us to think about this, he says not one harsh word. There are other prophecies in this chapter to which S. Peter refers. "Let his habitation be desolate," as David wrote in the 29th Psalm, and "his bishopric let another take;" or, as it is written in Psalm 109, ver. 8, meaning pre

cisely the same thing, "Let another take his office," and therefore to this office they now appointed Matthias.

It is impossible to tell why our SAVIOUR chose precisely twelve persons to be Apostles; but some have thought it was in allusion to the twelve patriarchs, as the founders of their several tribes, or to the twelve chief heads and rulers of the Jewish nation. This idea is perhaps derived from our SAVIOUR's remark, that when He should sit on the throne of His glory, the Apostles should sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. However this may be, the eleven holy Apostles directly after the death of Judas, felt it to be their duty to complete the exact number which our SAVIOUR had appointed.

Therefore S. Peter, at that time the foremost in act of the Apostles, assembled the Christians then in Jerusalem, and by their aid selected two persons, one called Barsabas or Justus, the other Matthias; no doubt two of the best and most religious men among them; and then all joined in solemn prayer to GoD to direct their choice. The lot fell on Matthias.

To choose by lot was a mode appointed by GOD. So between the two goats on the solemn day of atonement, it was decided by lot which should be for sacrifice, and which

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for escape to the wilderness. When the land of Canaan was divided between the tribes, every man's inheritance was to be in the place where his lot falleth." And from these lands the portion assigned to the Levites was taken by lot.

And so also the solemn services of the priests in the sanctuary were distributed, and at other times; and as we read on one very marked occasion, when an Angel appeared in the temple to foretel the birth of S. John the Baptist, Zacharias was executing" the priest's office in the order of his course," that course having been marked out by lot a thousand years before, and more fully arranged by Solomon according to the command of David, and again at a later period revised by Hezekiah.

As I said, nothing is told us of S. Matthias in the New Testament, except his appointment to be an Apostle; but learned men have gleaned a little from other histories of that time. From these they learn that S. Matthias was one who had followed our SAVIOUR from the time of His Baptism by John, even to the end of His course. That he was one of the seventy, sent by our SAVIOUR two and two into the world: that he was a witness of the Resurrection of CHRIST. That, added to all this, he was a most good man, there can be no doubt, or he would not have