have supposed from the mention of him in the Gospels, where he seems so highly admitted to our Lord's favour; and no doubt from the greatness of his faith and love. He is called by Christ to be a disciple, together with St. Peter and St. John; selected, together with them, to witness His power in raising of Jairus's daughter; to behold His glory on the Mount; to be with Him in His agony in the garden; to receive His awful prophecy of Judgment on the Mount of Olives. Again, his being coupled with the beloved disciple in that one name given to both of Boanerges, or Sons of Thunder; and also united with him in the like promises made to both, as recorded in this day's Gospel. And further, he is not only spoken of together with the other two, but his name is placed between them, "Peter, and James, and John, the brother of James." Thus would it appear as if he were admitted to privileges not less high than they by Him who knew what was in man.

Yet how remarkable is this difference between St. James and these other two Apostles! Of St. Peter and St. John we know comparatively very much; many circumstances of great interest are mentioned of them both before and after our Lord's death; incidents which illustrate so much their respective characters that we have become, in a manner, acquainted with them; we see, hear, and know them; their own words too have descended to us in their writings; they stand forth to us as seen in their Lord's presence, favoured beyond all the children of Adam,-one as the Chief of Apostles, the other as the Beloved Disciple; and sayings and actions are known of both, suitable to these exalted privileges. But how different is it with St. James! We hardly know anything of him, we do not even know why he is

called "the Great;" whether from age, or any other reason, to be thus distinguished from St. James the Less. During the ten years that had now intervened since his Lord's Ascension, not once does his name occur. Nay, in the Gospels by himself we do not know of him at all. It is only with his brother that he is mentioned, as in to-day's Gospel; and on that occasion when James and John, it is said, wished to call down fire from Heaven on a city of the Samaritans. Of St. Andrew, St. Philip, St. Thomas, St. Jude, St. Bartholomew, something is said; nothing of St. James. How does he seem, as it were, withdrawn from our notice; and that too on some occasions when one would expect to find him mentioned ! St. John, his brother, stood, we know, at the foot of the Cross, and his mother, Salome, is spoken of as being then present. We cannot but suppose that St. James too was not on that occasion far from his mother and brother. is mentioned in the Acts, "Peter and John went up together into the temple at the hour of prayer." We may well believe that St. James was not separated from them, any more than in the Gospels. But how does he appear to fall into the shade, or rather, we might say, to be lost from man's sight under the shadow of the Almighty! "In the shadow of His hand hath He hid me. “Thou shalt hide them privily by Thine own Presence:""The shadow of a great Rock in a weary

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land."

It

What then, Christian brethren, are we to learn from this? Much, doubtless, of repose and peace. In their own lifetime, indeed, it was no enviable notoriety that the Apostles enjoyed: when St. Paul speaks of them as

3 Luke ix. 54.
5 Isa. xlix. 2.

4 Acts iii. 1.

• Isa. xxxii. 2.

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being made a spectacle to angels and to men," he connects it at the same time with their being made "the offscouring of all things." But some good men might consider it the most blessed of all earthly privileges, that their memory should be embalmed, as it were, in the Church by their good deeds and words; so that their example might convert many to righteousness, and that they might thus shine like stars for ever, giving light in our firmament here below. Such have been St. Peter and St. John; their memories are ever blessed, and, like their lives, fruitful in good. And such a wish might have been not unworthy of them. Yet he who said in his repentance, "Lord, Thou knowest all things, Thou knowest that I love Thee;" and he who leaned on his Lord's breast at supper, would have left even this wish, as all others, on the bosom of His infinite love. Whether by life or by death, by good report or evil, so likewise, by being known hereafter, or unknown among men, let Thy will be done in me; whether to be below as a lamp to guide the feet of penitent souls; or with the good angels and spirits that are with God, to do good to man kind in some hidden ways that are only known, O Lord, to Thee; and not to those themselves that receive the benefit of them. All shall be well, so long as no mingling of self shall spoil the perfect sacrifice of ourselves unto Thee.

He that hath left father, and all that he had, obedient to the call of Christ, may afterwards come to think what great things he would do for His sake; but Christ may alter for him this wish, and show him, as He did to St. Paul, not how great things he must do, but "how great things he must suffer" for His Name's sake. This is his crown.

What earthly glory, what seat of pre-eminence, what place high in the Church can he need, for whom and to whom, O Lord, Thou hast given Thyself, given Thyself upon the altar of the Cross, and in the Holy Sacrament of Thy Body and Blood; Who wilt Thyself be our light and guidance below, and wilt Thyself be our life in death!

SERMON LXXXV.

Saint Bartholomew the Apostle.

Acts v. 12-16. St. Luke xxii. 24-30.

DO GOOD, HOPING FOR NOTHING AGAIN.

They that exercise authority upon them are called benefactors. But ye shall not be so.-ST. LUKE xxii. 25, 26.

ST.

NT. BARTHOLOMEW has been sometimes supposed to be the same person as is mentioned in St. John's Gospel under the name of Nathaniel.1 But there is no allusion to this in the service of our own Church for this day, nor in those of the Latin Church. And this seems to be the case, not merely because it may have been considered more satisfactory to admit only into such offices what is clear and certain, but because the Festival is of much earlier date than this opinion. But the Scriptures for the Epistle and the Gospel for the day, although indeed they contain no mention of St. Bartholomew himself, but only refer to the Apostles generally; yet are they in themselves highly interesting and beautiful in

1 On St. Bartholomew, as the same as Nathanael, see "Plain Sermons." Vol. vi. Serm. clxxxiv. and Vol. x. Serm. cccxxi.