have become almost a Christian,' before he was a follower of Christ. Among his vile companions, whom public obloquy had made yet more vile than their habits and their occupation would have made them, he was upright, honest, merciful, uncontaminated. His integrity appears doubly bright by contrast, amidst the dark examples and fearful temptations which were all around it like clouds; and his virtue, reared among quicksands and waves, proved, simply by its being and standing there, how very deeply and strongly its foundations were laid. It is further to be remarked, that though he was the writer of one of the Gospel histories, he says nothing more of himself than that he was called to follow Jesus while he was sitting in his office, and that he afterwards entertained his Master at his house; and this latter circumstance he only mentions in order that he may introduce the answer of Jesus to the Pharisees. We could have no better evidence than this, of his disinterestedness and modesty.

His Gospel is every where distinguished by plain good sense and manly simplicity. It was written, as some of the ancients say, fifteen years after the ascension of our Saviour, or as others affirm, yet seven years earlier. Although some critics have advanced the opinion that Luke's Gospel was the first which was written, the general voice of antiquity is against them, and a majority also, I believe, of the moderns. So that the Gospel of Matthew really stands, in all probability, where a place is given to it in our Bibles, the first in order of the four evangelical histories.

Another circumstance respecting it, which the earliest ecclesiastical authors record, and which, though it has been controverted, is most probably a fact, is, that we do not possess it in the language in which it was originally composed. It was written by Matthew, according to the best testimony, at Jerusalem, on purpose for the Jewish converts, and in that modern dialect or species of Hebrew which was the common language, at that time, of Palestine. The Gospel in that language has been lost, it is supposed, irretrievably. That which we have, is a translation of it into Greek, made very soon after the original was composed. There is no reason to challenge its exact faithfulness to the original; and some have even supposed that Matthew himself was the author of this Greek rendering of his own Hebrew Gospel. The predominant opinion is, however, that the name of the translator, and the Gospel which he translated, are alike unknown and undiscoverable. Though we may be allowed to regret that we cannot look on the very words which this excellent apostle used in narrating, for our exceeding benefit, the life and actions of his Master, yet our faith ought not to be in the least disturbed by the loss, while there remains to us a translation of his history, so manifestly ancient, complete, and true.

Matthew is said to have carried the religion of Jesus into Parthia and Ethiopia, and to have suffered martyrdom at Naddaber, in the latter country. We are told also that his remains were brought to Bithynia, and from thence to Salernum, in the kingdom of

Naples, where they were discovered in the year 1080, and where a church was built for them by duke Robert, in the pontificate of Gregory VII. We can readily believe that relics were thus found and honored, which were declared, and by many supposed, to be the body of the apostle; but that they really were so, we are at perfect liberty to question and to deny.

JAMES THE LESS.

6

NEXT to his own name, Matthew writes that of James, the son of Alpheus;' who is also called, in the Gospel of Mark, James the less,' or the younger, to distinguish him from the other apostle of the same name, James the brother of John, who was older than he; or it may be that he was of small stature, and therefore named 'the less.' His mother's name was Mary. She was one of the Marys who were present at the crucifixion of our Saviour; and appears to have been the sister of Mary the mother of Jesus. In the Gospel of Mark she is called Mary, the mother of James the Less and of Joses.' In a parallel passage of John's Gospel, she is mentioned as follows. There stood by the cross of Jesus, his mother, and his mother's sister, Mary the wife of Cleophas, and Mary Magdalene.' From these passages the inference is justly drawn, that James the Less was the first cousin of Jesus. He is expressly called the son of Alpheus and of Mary, and as Mary who was the wife of Alpheus, which is only the Greek pronunciation of the Hebrew name Cleophas, is also termed in the same passage

the sister of our Lord's mother, he is consequently our Lord's cousin. He is the same person who is mentioned by Paul, when he says, in his Epistle to the Galatians, But other of the apostles saw I none, save James the Lord's brother.' To account for this appellation, it must be observed that the Jews were accustomed to include all near relations under the general name of brethren. And we may also remark, that though it appears strange that Mary should be the sister of Mary, it was not uncommon among the Jews, that two sisters of the same family should bear the same name. James is likewise enumerated among the Lord's brethren by the Jews, when they asked in astonishment, 'Is not this the carpenter's son? is not his mother called Mary? and his brethren, James, and Joses, and Simon, and Judas?' Of these four sons, three were apostles of Jesus; and the other one, Joses, or Joseph, was probably a disciple; as was Cleophas too, or Alpheus, the father of this christian family.

No particulars are related of James in the Gospels; but honorable mention is made of him in the book of Acts, and the Epistles of Paul. Perhaps his youth and his modesty, together with his near relationship to Jesus, operated upon him to be silent and inactive during the life of the Saviour, though afterwards his talents and worth made him conspicuous. pears to have resided constantly at Jerusalem, and to have been president or bishop of the church there. All antiquity affirms this, and scripture gives it good countenance. Thus we are told in the twelfth chap

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