continued all night in prayer to God. And when it was day, he called unto him his disciples, and of them he chose twelve, whom he also named apostles."

The selection and appointment of the twelve apostles was preceded by a whole night of prayer. Even the perfect man, Christ Jesus, would not approach so momentous a work as the selection of those who were to be the inspired apostles, without prayer, and that of no ordinary kind. On the morrow, he had purposed to make choice of the men to whom all succeeding generations would look, as the first authorized expounders of the Christian religion. Never was the selection of cabinet ministers and privy councillors, ambassadors, or commissioners, so important as that selection of the apostles, the prime ministers of a kingdom which was to be an everlasting kingdom; ambassadors, on the high concerns of eternity, between God and man. The great importance of this selection, perhaps, kept the Saviour awake all night, and, in communion with God, he sought and obtained direction. Here is an instance in which his human nature is seen to retain all its dependence, its need of prayer and of divine guidance; the presence, in his person, of the divine Word, never confounding the distinction between the human and the divine, but leaving him still the man Christ Jesus.' And let us note, that, if such as he needed

to pray, and if he spent so much time in prayer to qualify himself for important transactions in his earthly life, we cannot safely perform our duties, and, especially, we cannot discharge important trusts committed to us, unless we pray in a manner that shows us to be in earnest, with much deliberation and reflection, and repeated and protracted waiting upon God. There is nothing more profitable for one who has a solemn and important duty to perform, or question to settle, or difficulty to manage, than to retire for a longer time than an ordinary season of devotion, and spend it with God. All who have been eminently blessed as useful men, refer to such seasons as having had an important connection with their success. churches seeking pastors were to meet frequently for special prayer, and, while using proper means to obtain information respecting candidates, would place their chief dependence on Him who, at his ascension, received such "gifts for men," they would imitate him in his selection of his first ministers.

If

Having appointed these twelve disciples, the first thing which he did, as we learn from Luke, was, to deliver in their hearing, addressing himself specially to them, the Sermon on the Mount. In this, he unfolded to them some of the first principles of his religion, as they were able to bear them, deferring the more important mysteries, the deep things of God, till after his ascension, when they should have been with him

longer, and thus be fully prepared for truths which, with their ignorance and Jewish notions, they would not have been able to receive. Having kept them for about three years with him, taking advantage of every event to instruct them and to correct them, sometimes reproving and even chiding them, but always treating them with affection, the time came for him to leave them; and we may easily imagine the sorrow with which the announcement of that purpose filled their hearts. The account of the farewell scenes between him and them, beginning with the celebration of the last passover, and his discourse to them, and the last prayer on that occasion, are not surpassed in interest and instructiveness by any thing in the Saviour's life. He finally stood with them on Mount Olivet, and gave them their great commission to go into all the world and preach the gospel to every creature'; and it came to pass, while he blessed them, that he was parted from them, and carried up into heaven, and a cloud received him out of their sight.

At an early meeting after the ascension of their Lord, they proceeded to fill the vacancy made by the apostasy and death of Judas, and chose Matthias by lot; but no mention is afterward made of him; and this has led some strangely to question whether they did not transcend their duty and the necessities of the case, and whether it was not intended that the place

of Judas should continue vacant, or be filled by the apostle Paul. But all this implies a doubt of their inspiration. The New Testament is also silent with regard to the life and labors of Bartholomew, and Simon Zelotes. That the place of Judas was to be filled, we learn from the Psalm quoted by Peter at the election of a new apostle; quoted, surely, not as a verse of poetry, having a mere accidental resemblance to the case, but as an inspired prophecy, saying of Judas, "Let his habitation be desolate, and his bishopric let another take." Paul was appointed independently of any connection with the original apostles, for special reasons, as a new, independent witness for Christ, which he takes pains to insist upon, where he says, that, when it pleased God who had separated him from his birth, " to reveal his Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood, neither went I up to Jerusalem, to them that were apostles before me." We cannot reasonably question that Matthias was divinely designated to complete the number of the twelve, after that Judas had gone to his own place. Fame or notoriety is not essential to usefulness or acceptableness with God. The labors and faith of those apostles who have no reward in the applause of men, were not disregarded or forgotten by Him unto whom belongeth mercy; for he rendereth to every man according to his work.'

II. THE FIRST APOSTLES ARE AN ILLUSTRATION OF THAT SOVEREIGN LOVE IN CHRIST WHICH IS INDE

PENDENT OF HUMAN MERIT.

"Ye have not chosen me, but I have chosen you, and ordained you that ye should go and bring forth fruit, and that your fruit should remain." John says of Christ, We love him because he first loved us. If David had occasion, as the son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, to say, in wonder at God's covenant promises to him, "Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my house, that thou hast brought me hitherto?" surely the fishermen of Galilee, and Matthew the publican, might exclaim, with, at least, equal wonder and humility, "Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us, but unto thy name give glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.”

Here were two men, Andrew and Peter, busy at their work, spreading their net in the sea. They had already seen Him of whom Moses in the law and the prophets did write; and now, as they plied their task as fishermen, perhaps they talked together of Him whom kings and prophets had desired to see, but had not seen him, while these two fishermen had seen where he dwelt and had abode with him for a part of a day. They were brothers. They were kind brothers. The first thing which Andrew did, when John the Baptist pointed out Christ to him, was, to find his own brother Simon. No family quarrel, or