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and awful nature. Let the reader inquire, whether he be willing to be healed-not only to have his conscience healed by the blood of Christ, but also to have all his moral diseases healed by the grace of the Divine Spirit. Are there no irregular emotions which we che-' rish, and which we should be loath to have suppressed?

Our collect teaches us that, though men may be employed in dispensing these medicines, God must apply them to the heart, and give them their efficacy for the production of a cure. Hence we are instructed to implore His interference "through Jesus Christ our Lord." Are we conscious of this? and, in the use of means, do we depend on a Divine blessing?

The melancholy state of human nature is an inference from our collect which must strike the most cursory observer. What a sad catalogue do our bodily diseases constitute! But how much more numerous, distressing, obstinate, and dangerous, are our spiritual maladies! Yet, how often have we confessed our spiritual state without feeling it, and verbally implored help without desiring it! What a strange infatuation is this! How must angels, who know what health and vigour mean, pity our diseased and wretched state! and how must they wonder at our indifference to the remedy which is Divinely provided!

How precious is the Gospel of Christ, when viewed as a remedy, the only and never-failing remedy, for the malady of sin! Were infallible means of cure for the plague discovered and advertised in Turkey, or for the consumption in

be tried! and how would the shop where the sovereign balsam was vended, be thronged! How would the name of the inventor be blessed! But how little is the gospel heard or read! How thinly occupied are the pews of the church! How few surround the Lord's table! How rare the tribute of praise to the adorable name of Jesus!

ST. SIMON AND ST. JUDE.

O Almighty God, who hast built thy church upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head corner-stone; grant us so to be joined together in unity of spirit by their doctrine, that we may be made an holy temple, acceptable to thee, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Amen.

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YONCERNING the two Apostles who are united in the commemoration of this day, our information, both from the sacred history and ecclesiastical antiquity, is extremely defective. The former places their names in the catalogue of the Apostles, but details no particulars concerning them. And what the latter has related seems to be built on very precarious evidence. Perhaps this scantiness of information, together with a desire of lessening, as much as gratitude would permit, the number of holidays, gave occasion to the union of these excellent men in the thankful recollections of the church.

The former of these holy men was surnamed the Cananite-an apellation which has given rise to various conjectures; some critics supposing that it was derived from Cana of Galilee, where they conclude that he was born; while others, identifying it with Zelotes (the title given him by St. Luke, with which it agrees in signification) derive it from the supposed

the law, or from his connection with the sect of the Zealots which is mentioned by Josephus in his history of the Jewish war. But no proof appears that this sect existed previously to that unhappy war.

What became of St. Simon after the day of Pentecost, is very uncertain; some writers having asserted that he preached in Africa, and others having assigned Europe for his province. The place and manner of his death are equally unknown.

St. Jude had two other names besides that of Jude or Judas, by which he is distinguished in the New Testament. He is called Thaddeus and Lebbeus. That these names belonged to the same person, appears from a comparison of the catalogues of the Apostles which the different Evangelists have given. (See Luke vi. 14, 15, 16. Matth. x. 2-4, and Acts i. 13.) It has been supposed that these names were used for the purpose of distinguishing our Apostle from the traitor Judas; and it is remarkable that, while neither St. Matthew nor St. Mark ever call him Jude, St. John, who so denominates him, takes particular care to prevent any confusion from the ambiguity of the name. (See John xiv. 22.)

That St. Jude was related to our blessed Lord, appears from the objection which His own unbelieving countrymen raised against His pretensions to Divinity, saying, "Is not this the "carpenter's son? Is not his mother called Mary, and his brethren, James, and Joses, "and Simon, and Judas?" Besides which, Jude styles himself "the brother of James," the Bishop of Jerusalem, in the superscription of his catholic epistle. It is probable that the four

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above mentioned persons were the sons of Joseph, the husband of Mary, by a former wife.

The accounts given us of St. Jude's ministry after the day of Pentecost are scarcely more satisfactory than those given of St. Simon. It seems however to be agreed that Judea, Galilee, Idumea, Arabia, Syria, and Mesopotamia, were the principal scenes of his labours. Ry the Latin church he is said to have suffered martyrdom in Persia, in consequence of his successful opposition to the superstitious rites of the Magi.

Finding nothing more on which we can depend concerning our two Apostles St. Simon and St. Jude, we proceed to consider the collect which is appointed to be used on the day that is consecrated to their memory. The appearance of their names in the list of the twelve Apostles, by whose ministry the world was first evangelized, is sufficient to endear them to us.

Our collect consists of-A preface, gratefully reciting the mercy of God in erecting His "church on the foundation of the apostles and "prophets, Jesus Christ Himself being the head "corner-stone"-and A prayer appropriate to this introduction.

The preface is a verbal quotation from Eph. ii. 20, wherein the church of God is compared to a building. This emblem, which is strikingly instructive, is frequently used in the pages of Divine Revelation; the edifice referred to being sometimes a house, at others a city, and frequently a temple, or an edifice dedicated to Divine worship. It is the latter of these to which our collect and the text on which it is founded allude; and the temple at Jerusalem

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