ten with the same form of disease? that, though Sin, in some one or more of its manifold shapes, doubtless, is that which maketh the whole head sick, and the whole heart faint',-yet that it is not the same sin which is bringing us severally down to the very dust of death? that, according to the disorder, so must be the cure; and that for every disorder, the Gospel of CHRIST provides a sufficient remedy? We very much doubt whether the Bible is generally had recourse to in any such spirit as this, even by those who are yet so well aware of their own state as to 'know every man the plague of his own heart*.'

And thus it is, that the lesson is of an eminently practical kind, which we would draw from the festival of Luke the Physician, whose praise is in the Gospel,' and whom God called 'to be an Evangelist, and Physician of the soul.' We would suggest that men who have recourse to the Great Physician, should consider that they come to be healed of some specific disorder; it may be, of more than one, But especially are we concerned to point out that in their use of Holy Scripture, the same consideration of their own special wants, should be paramount; and kept steadily in view, as often as they have recourse

i Is. i. 5.

* 1 Kings viii. 38.

to this great means of grace. Such a practice will give interest to all they read, as well as habitually turn their reading to greatest profit. For the Word, which our SAVIOUR calls Seed1, hath in it a productive virtue,' (says Archbishop Leighton,) to bring forth fruit according to its kind; that is, the fruit of a new life. And so, it is a seed of noble thoughts, and of a suitable behaviour in a Christian; an immortal seed, as St. Peter calls it,―springing up to no less than Eternal Life.'

Those were the words of one who had become singularly conformed to the teaching of the Gospel of CHRIST. Without any parable, we may easily discern the advantage which it will be to our souls to examine the Tree of Life attentively; until, out of the many leaves which are for the healing of the nations, we discover that particular leaf which contains a healing message to ourselves. And may God, of His mercy, give us grace, so to use the wholesome medicines provided for us by Him, in His Gospel, that 'all the diseases of our souls' may be thereby healed; through the merits of His Son, JESUS CHRIST our LORD!

1 St. Luke viii. 11, &c.]

St. Simon and St. Jude, Apostles.

COMPANIONSHIP.

ST. MATTHEW X. 4.

Simon the Canaanite, and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him.

ST. LUKE vi. 16.

And Judas the brother of James, and Judas Iscariot, which also was the traitor.

THIS is the last Saint's day in the sacred year which bears the name of any particular Saint; and, like that other festival which the Church observes in honour of St. Philip and St. James, it is dedicated to two of the Apostles, at once. Of the pair thus commemorated,-St. Simon and St. Jude, we know perhaps as little as of any of the glorious company of the Apostles.' mon the Cananite, (unhappily spelt Canaanite' in the ancient Latin translation of the Gospels, as well as in our own authorized version,) is the same person whom St. Luke calls Simon Zelotes; one, who, as his name implies, had

H. D.

* St. Luke vi. 15, and Acts i. 13.

Ꮓ

169

Si

a zeal for the Law.-St. Jude, that is, Judas, -'not Iscariot,' as the Evangelist St. John is careful to remind the reader of his Gospel, (inasmuch as the traitor is the only person named 'Judas' whom he has hitherto spoken of,)-is the same whom St. Matthew calls Lebbæus' and "Thaddeus;' whom St. Mark calls Thaddeus' only; and St. Luke, in two places, calls Judas the brother of James,'—that is, of James, bishop of Jerusalem. Indeed, he so styles himself in the first verse of his short but very remarkable Epistle. He was one of our LORD's cousins, or brethren' as they are styled in the Gospels. Nothing whatever is related of St. Simon; but of St. Jude it is recorded, that, during that weighty discourse of our SAVIOUR which is set down in the xivth chapter of St. John's Gospel, he interrupted his Divine kinsman with the inquiry,— LORD, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world? Jesus answered and said unto him, If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and MY FATHER Will love him, and We will come unto him, and make Our abode with him".'

These are but slender materials, it must be

b St. Matthew x. 3.

c St. Mark iii. 18.

d St. John xiv. 22, 23.

:

confessed, out of which to construct any practical lesson; and accordingly the compilers of our Book of Common Prayer, in their Collect for the day, speak only in general terms of the Church built upon the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, JESUS CHRIST Himself being the chief corner-stone;' language which would be just as applicable, every whit, to the festival of any other member of the Apostolic body or indeed, to no Saint's day, at all. But the appellation indicative of zeal and earnestness bestowed upon Simon,- Cananite,' from a Hebrew word which is equivalent in signification to his Greek appellation, the zealot,'-supplies too precious a hint to be lost sight of; and were this festival kept in memory of St. Simon only, we should not have hesitated to derive a lesson of ministerial ardour from his example, on the strength of this slender hint. Two names however here come before us, either of which names was borne by another of the Twelve, besides 'St. Simon and St. Jude;' and it seems that we shall not do amiss if we regard their union on this occasion as symbolical of Christian Companionship; and offer a few remarks on that subject, which the names. of these two Apostles in a very special manner suggest, as we proceed at once to shew.