they were strongly tempted by their situation to employ various methods of extortion, in order that they might be able to pay their rent and enrich themselves. Zaccheus, the chief of these farmers, seems to have been conscious of guilt in the discharge of his office, when, after his conversion, he proposed to make a fourfold restitution to all whom he had fraudulently injured. U pon this account the publicans became infamous even among the Gentile subjects of the Roman empire, who frequently, speak of them as thieves and public robbers, and worse members of a community, more voracious and destructive in a city than wild beasts in a forest. The second thing which made the office of a publican so odious to the Jews was this, that the tribute which was imposed on them was not only burthensome to their estates, but also an affront to the liberty of the nation. For they looked on themselves as a free-born people, who had been invested with this privilege of immunity from tribute immediately by God Himself, and they regarded their taxation as a daily and standing proof of their enslaved condition; a consideration which of all others was the most galling to their minds, and which betrayed them into many unfortunate rebellions against the Romans, and at length terminated in their total ruin. To this it may be added that the publicans were not only obliged by the nature of their occupation to have frequent converse with the Gentiles, which the Jews held to be unlawful and abominable, but, being Jews themselves, they rigorously exacted of their brethren the Roman dues, whereby they seemed to conspire with the Romans to entail perpetual slavery on

On these accounts publicans became so universally odious to the Jewish nation, that it was considered unlawful to do them any office of common kindne s and courtesy; nay, it was not thought sinful to cheat a publican, and that under the sanction of a solemn oath. It was highly discreditable to eat or drink, to walk or travel with them. Publicans were treated as common thieves and robbers; and money received from them was prohibited from being mingled with the rest of a man's property, as it was supposed to have been obtained by means of rapine and violence. They were not admitted as evidences in any cause; and so infamous were they deemed, that they were not only banished from all religious communion, but also were shunned in all civil and commercial engagements as the pests of their country, whose communications were infectious and as vile as those of the very heathens. Hence there was a common proverb among them, "Take not a "wife from that family wherein there is a pub"lican; for they are all publicans," that is, thieves, robbers, and wicked persons. To this proverbial usage our Lord refers when, speaking of a contumacious sinner, whom neither private reproof nor the public censures and admonitions of the church can reclaim, he says, "Let him "he unto thee as a heathen man and a publi"can." And elsewhere publicans and sinners are joined together as persous of an equally vile reputation.

Of this odious office and character was our Apostle St. Matthew. And his particular business seems to have been the collection of custom from the exports and imports on the sea of

Galilee, and the tribute due from passengers thereon. For this purpose his office was by the seaside, where he sat at the receipt of custom."

Our Lord having cured a well known paralytic, retired out of Capernaum to walk by the sea-side, where He taught the people that flocked after Him. Here He saw Matthew sitting in his custom-office, whom He called to come and follow Him. The man was rich, was engaged in a very profitable business, and was a wise and prudent person, no one of a weak understanding being qualified for such an office. He understood, no doubt, what a compliance with the call of Christ would cost him-that he must exchange wealth for poverty, and all the comforts of opulence for the hardships which must be felt in the train of a poor and despised master who had not where to lay His head. But he overlooked all these considerations, and abandoned all his worldly interests and relations, that he might become the disciple of Christ. It is probable that he was previously acquainted in some measure with our Saviour's person and doctrine, or at least had heard of His miracles, since he lived at Capernaum, the place of our Lord's usual residence, where His sermons and miracles had been so frequent, that our Apostle's mind, as it may well be supposed, was prepared to receive those deep and abiding impressions which the Divine call now made on his heart.

For the purpose of shewing that he was not discontented with his new situation, and that he did not consider himself to be a loser by the exchange, St. Matthew made a great dinner at his

he invited his friends, and especially those of his own profession, piously hoping that they also might be captivated by our Lord's company and conversation. The pharisees, whose malignant eyes were constantly watching to find or create some occasion of censuring our Lord's conduct, began to suggest to His disciples that it ill became so pure and holy a person as their Master pretended to be, thus familiarly to converse with the worst of men, with publicans and sinners, persons who were infamous to a proverb. To which our Lord replied, that "they who are "whole need not a Physician, but they who "are sick;" that His company was most suitable among those persons, the necessities of whose souls required it, that God Himself prefers acts of mercy and charity, especially those which are administered to the souls of men, before any ritual observances, and that the main design of His appearance in the world was "not to call "the righteous," those who proudly conceit themselves to be so, "but sinners," self accused offenders, "to repentance" and salvation.

After his election to the Apostolate, St. Matthew continued with the other disciples till our Lord's ascension, and then for the eight following years preached the gospel in Judea only. After this, being about to remove into the Gentile world, he was intreated by the Jewish converts to commit to writing the history of our Saviour's life and actions, and to leave it among them as a standing record of what he had preached to them. With this request he complied, and composed the gospel, which bears his. name. It is doubtful what became of him after this period. It is however generally supposed that he preached the gospel laboriously and

successfully in Ethiopia, and finished his useful career at Naddaber, a city of that country, but by what kind of death is altogether uncertain.

The conversion of our Apostle affords a striking instance both of the rich grace and almighty power of God. If we reflect on the previous circumstances of his life, we shall see that he was deeply immersed in the world, and under strong temptations still to pursue it as his portion. He was engaged in a very lucrative employ, was supported by the power and favour of the Roman government, and was under the influence of covetous inclinations which had been confirmed by long habits. O how rich was that grace which selected such a person for one of its happy monuments! how great that power which, in an instant, stopped the rapid current of worldly propensity, and diverted it from its antient channelwhich gave a new bias to the affections, and caused them to flow in another and opposite direction! No sooner did Christ call than St. Matthew obeyed. Without the least scruple or hesitation, he left all and followed Him. All his pleasing and enticing prospects of sublunary wealth and grandeur disappeared at once, when the light of truth burst on his mind, even as the deceitful fog-bank is dissipated by the rays of the ascending He not only relinquished the opulence he had acquired, and the prospect of an increase, but voluntarily determined to expose himself to all the shame and sufferings which attended a connection with the despised Jesus.

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From the grace which was shewn to St. Matthew in his call from the receipt of custom to be an apostle and evangelist, we take encouragement to offer a petition for ourselves-that God would