Page:Lives of the apostles of Jesus Christ (1836).djvu/468

 the beginning of his divine career at his baptism by John, to the time of his ascension.

Agreeably to this counsel of the apostolic chief, the whole company of the disciples selected two persons from those who had been witnesses of the great actions of Christ, and nominated them to the apostles, as equally well qualified for the vacant office. To decide the question with perfect impartiality, it was resolved, in conformity with the common ancient practice in such cases, to leave the point between these two candidates to be settled by lot; and to give this mode of decision a solemnity proportioned to the importance of the occasion, they first invoked, in prayer, the aid of God in the appointment of a person best qualified for his service. They then drew the lots of the two candidates, and Matthias being thus selected, was thenceforth enrolled with the eleven apostles.

Of his previous history nothing whatever is known, except that, according to what is implied in the address of Peter, he must have been, from the beginning of Christ's career to his ascension, one of his constant attendants and hearers. Some have conjectured that he was one of the seventy, sent forth by Jesus as apostles, in the same manner as the twelve had gone; and there is nothing unreasonable in the supposition; but still it is a conjecture merely, without any fact to support it. The New Testament is perfectly silent with respect to both his previous and his subsequent life, and not a fact can be recorded respecting him. Yet the productive imaginations of the martyrologists of the Roman and Greek churches, have carried him through a protracted series of adventures, during his alleged preaching of the gospel, first in Judea, and then in Ethiopia. They also pretend that he was martyred, though as to the precise mode there is some difference in the stories,—some relating that he was crucified, and others, that he was first stoned and then dispatched by a blow on the head with an axe. But all these are condemned by the discreet writers even of the Romish church, and the whole life of Matthias must be included among those many mysteries which can never be in any way brought to light by the most devoted and untiring researches of the Apostolic historian; and this dim and unsatisfactory trace of his life may well conclude the first grand division of a work, in which the reader will expect to find so much curious detail of matters commonly unknown, but which no research nor learning can furnish, for the prevention of his disappointment.