"Then saith he to Thomas, Reach hither thy finger, and behold my hands; and reach hither thy hand, and thrust it into my side: and be not faithless, but believing.

And Thomas answered and said unto him, My Lord and my God."-John, xx. 27, 28.

undergo the most melancholy fate that might attend him. For when the rest of the apostles dissuaded their Master from going into Judea, at the time of Lazarus' death, because the Jews lately endeavored to stone him, Thomas desired them not to hinder his journey thither, though it might cost them all their lives. "Let us go," said he, "that we may die with him;" concluding that, instead of Lazarus being raised from the dead, they should all, like him, be placed in the chambers of the dust.

When the holy Jesus, a little before his sufferings, had been speaking to them of the joys of heaven, and had told them that he was going to prepare mansions for them, that they might follow him, and that they knew both the place whither he was going, and the way thither; our apostle replied, that they knew not whither he was going, much less the way that would lead them thither. To which our Lord returned this short, but satisfactory answer, "I am the way;" I am the person whom the Father has sent into the world to shew mankind the paths that lead to eternal life, and therefore you cannot miss the way, if you follow my example.

After the disciples had seen their great Master expire on the cross, their minds were distracted by hopes and fears concerning his resurrection, about which they were not then fully satisfied; which engaged him the sooner to hasten his appearance, that by the sensible manifestations of himself, he might put the matter beyond all possibility of dispute. Accordingly, the very day in which he arose from the dead, he came into the house where they were assembled, while the doors about them were close shut, and gave them sufficient assurance that he was risen from the dead.

At this meeting Thomas was absent, having probably never joined their company since their dispersion in the garden, where every one's fears prompted him to consult his own safety. At his return they told him that the Lord had appeared to them; but he obstinately refused to give credit to what they said, or believe that it was really he, presuming it rather a spectre or apparition, unless he might see the very print of the nails, and feel the wounds, in his hands and side.

But our compassionate Saviour would not take the least notice of his perverse obstinacy, but on that day seven-night came again to them, as they were solemly met at their devotions, and calling to Thomas, bade him look upon his hands, put his fingers into the prints of the nails, and thrust his hand into his side, to satisfy his faith by a demonstration from the senses. Thomas was soon convinced of his error and obstinacy, confessing that he now acknowledged him to be his Lord and Master, saying, "My Lord and my God." Our Lord answered, that it was happy for him that he believed the testimony of his

own senses; but that it would have been more commendable in him to have believed without seeing, because it was foretold that the Son of God should burst the chains of death, and rise again from the dead.

CHAPTER II.

The Transactions of St. Thomas, from the Ascension of the Son of God to his Death.

OUR great Redeemer having, according to promise before his ascension, poured an extraordinary effusion of the Holy Ghost upon his disciples, to qualify them for the great work of preaching the Gospel, St. Thomas, as well as the rest, preached the Gospel in several parts of Judea; and after the dispersion of the Christian church in Jerusalem, repaired into Parthia, the province assigned him for his ministry. After which, as Sempronius and others inform us, he preached the Gospel to the Medes, Persians, Carmanians, Hyrcani, Bractarians, and the neighboring nations. During his preaching in Persia, he is said to have met with the Magi, or wise men, who had taken that long journey at our Saviour's birth to worship him, whom he baptized, and took with him as his companions and assistants in propagating the Gospel.

Leaving Persia, he travelled into Ethiopia, preaching the glad tidings of the Gospel, healing their sick, and working other miracles, to prove he had his commission from on high. And after travelling through these countries, he entered India.

When the Portuguese first visited these countries after their discovery of a passage by the Cape of Good Hope, they received the following particulars, partly from constant and uncontroverted traditions preserved by the Christians in those parts; namely, that St. Thomas came first to Socotora, an island in the Arabian Sea, and then to Cranganor, where having converted many from the error of their ways, he travelled farther into the East; and having successfully preached the Gospel, returned back to the kingdom of Coromandel, where, at Maliapour, the metropolis of that kingdom, not far from the mouth of the Ganges, he began to erect a place for divine worship, till prohibited by the idolatrous priests, and Sagamo, prince of that country. But after performing several miracles, the work was suffered to proceed, and Sagamo himself embra

ced the Christian faith, whose example was soon followed by great numbers of his friends and subjects.

This remarkable success alarmed the Brachmans, who plainly perceived that their religion would soon be extirpated, unless some method could be found of putting a stop to the progress of Christianity; and therefore resolved to put the apostle to death. At a small distance from the city was a tomb, where St. Thomas often retired for private devotions. Hither the Brachmans, and their armed followers pursued him, and while he was at prayer, they first shot at him with a shower of darts, after which one of the priests ran him through with a lance.

His body was taken up by his disciples, and buried in the church he had lately erected, and which was afterwards improved into a fabric of great magnificence.

St. Chrysostom says, that St. Thomas, who at first was the weakest and most incredulous of all the apostles, became, through Christ's condescension to satisfy his scruples, and the power of the divine grace, the most active and invincible of them all; travelling over most parts of the world, and living without fear in the midst of barbarous nations, through the efficacy of that Almighty power which can make the weakest vessels to perform acts of the greatest difficulty and moment.

ST. JAMES THE LESS.

IT has been doubted by some, whether this was the same with that St. James who was afterwards bishop of Jerusalem, two of this name being mentioned in the sacred writings; namely, St. James the Great, and St. James the Less, both apostles. The ancients mentioned a third, surnamed the Just, which they will have to be distinct from the former, and bishop of Jerusalem. But this opinion is built on a sandy foundation, for nothing is plainer than that St. James the apostle (whom St. Paul calls our Lord's brother," and reckons, with Peter and John, one of the pillars of the church) was the same who presided among the apostles, doubtless by virtue of his Episcopal office, and determined the causes in the synod of Jerusalem. It is reasonable to think that he was the son of Joseph, afterwards the husband of Mary, by his first wife, whom St. Jerome styles Escha, and adds, that she was the daughter of Aggi, brother to Zacharias,