the case of our LORD's Mother. It is the nature of a woman's life to cultivate in the shade of domestic privacy those graces which never court notice indeed, but which, in their maturity, are worthy of a heavenly clime. We are prone to expect, and are prepared to find, saintliness of character in lowly female life; but we are unwilling to believe that anything of the kind is to be found among those of the other sex who frequent the haunts of trade, and devote themselves to the pursuit of gain; especially if they are seen pursuing a sordid calling. It seems, therefore, to have been put on record for the purpose of silencing for ever all those injurious suspicions which men are so prompt in forming, so reckless in expressing, that such a character as that of the Apostle and Evangelist St. Matthew should have been formed in the uncongenial atmosphere of a tax-gatherer's office. Accustomed to associate with men who pursued the same hateful business as himself; regarded therefore almost as an outcast from the Commonwealth of Israel; his very profession a byword of reproach, (for 'publicans' are ever named in conjunction with 'sinners;') here was one who lived so entirely above his calling, that he was prepared at a moment's notice to forsake all, and follow CHRIST!

A few words may not be out of place on the subject of the Publicans, or rather, a few words are indispensable, if we would rightly estimate the value of the example before us. When Judæa became a Roman province, the conquered people were of course subjected to the payment of tribute. This tribute was not collected by the Romans directly, but was farmed out to such of the Jews as chose to undertake the task of levying the hateful impost on their countrymen. These chief Publicans,' (as they were called,) in turn, had their own inferior officers,—who were perhaps employed by the wealthier class on similar conditions. It is not hard to divine how much of tyranny, how much of extortion, how much of unfair dealing, must have prevailed under such a system; and it is obvious that the faithful among the nation must have regarded with abhorrence those apostates from the character and profession of true Israelites, who consented to become its instruments.—It requires the exercise of only a little candour, however, to admit that into the ranks of this hateful class any given person may have been drawn against his will; or may have grown up in the exercise of what had been his father's calling; or the business of a Publican may have been thrust upon him by

some strong domestic claim; or again, he may have adopted the trade by his own free choice, but have speedily learned to hate it; and lastly, (for the supposition is not an unreasonable one,) there must have been, here and there, honest Publicans, men, who in spite of strong temptation, and evil example, and corrupt influence, were still inflexibly honest; scrupulously faithful in every transaction in which they were engaged.

But we are not at all required to suggest how it may have happened that the calling of a Publican was exercised by such an one as St. Matthew how the ranks of a hateful body of

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men, for the most part dishonest, could supply one fit to become an Apostle and an Evangelist. The fact is all we have to notice, and a truly eloquent fact it is. It proclaims so important a lesson, and establishes so lofty an inference, that the preacher's office, after what has gone before, is rendered well-nigh superfluous.

Learn hence, (it says,) a lesson of charity. Learn to withhold the censure which would condemn whole classes of mankind. Be prepared to find goodness where you least expect it; and be not incredulous when you behold some token of a heavenly mind engaged in a very lowly calling. There is no more unlovely form of unbelief than

that which denies those traces of the Maker's image which are nevertheless clearly discernible in all but the very worst of His creatures: no more hopeless breach of charity than his, who condemns the individual only because of the class to which he belongs.

Yet more particularly,—Learn hence, that even among those who pursue gainful trades; not only in the market, but even in the money-market; there exist souls above their calling. The preacher is not so simple as to wish to imply that such cases are common: in truth, he knows them to be most seldom met with. But we are much concerned to prove that they may, and do occasionally exist, even there; and he proves it by the instance of St. Matthew. Be taught by that man's bright example to view the dusky haunts of merchants and traders,—the indications of commercial activity and wealth,-with something better than pride; something better than indulgence. Learn henceforth to regard them with Christian Hope also. Who can tell,(say so to yourself as you thread the mazy thoroughfare,)—Who can tell but what there may be men like St. Matthew, even here!

St. Michael and all Angels.

THE MINISTRATION OF THE HOLY ANGELS.

HEBREWS i. 14.

Are they not all ministering Spirits, sent forth to minister' for them who shall be heirs of Salvation?

It is scarcely an exaggeration to say that we walk through life like blind men. We see something of this lower World; but we do not see the most glorious part of it. A thick curtain has been drawn over one part of the Creation of God; and we have little knowledge, or rather, we have none, of what there is behind that veil. Now and then, voices,-aye, and shapes too, have been thought to cross the barrier which severs the visible from the invisible. Still oftener have impressions of a spiritual kind been felt, and hailed as intimations of a spiritual presence; not the less real because it happened to be impalpable to the touch, and invisible to the eye. But into such things we propose not now to enter. What we claim for our

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