Christ, our Lord and our God,' neither his birth, death, nor resurrection will avail us any thing."

Whether or not much weight be due to this argument for the early celebration of St. Thomas's day, the martyrologies notice the death of the Apostle on the 21st of December, which is his festival in the West: and it is plain that in several cases the order of arrangement is not founded on any such consideration. Indeed, if the fact be, as it is elsewhere and upon good authority stated by Bishop Sparrow, that the festivals are generally celebrated on the supposed day of the death of the Saint then commemorated, called by the ancients his birth-day, as being that whereon he was born a citizen of heaven, of the Church triumphant, we need not look further for the reason of the place which any individual holds in the calendar, than to the time when his death is supposed to have occurred so that the day appropriated to the commemoration of St. Thomas may be founded on an historical and chronological reason, rather than on a theological one. And this remark may be borne in mind, as applying to the greater part of the other Saints commemorated in our yearly services.

Calmet's Dictionary.

The Saint of this day is spoken of by St. John, as "Thomas, one of the twelve, called Didymus;" that is, the twin, or the twin-brother: such being the signification of the two natnes, the former in the Hebrew, the latter in the Greek language. In which language he bore the latter name, according to a custom which prevailed amongst the Jews, when travelling into foreign countries, or familiarly conversing with Greeks and Romans, to assume to themselves a Greek or Latin name of great affinity, and sometimes of the very same signification, with that of their own country". Perhaps Thomas was a native of some place inhabited both by the Jews and Greeks, such as was the region of Decapolis; and so the Jews called him by his Hebrew, and the Greeks by his Greek, name.

Of the country and family of Thomas the history of the Gospel gives no particular information. From a passage in St. John's 21st chapter it is probable that he was a fisherman on the sea of Tiberias, as it is there called, or the sea of Galilee or lake of Gennesareth. It is also probable that he was associated with Peter and Andrew and the two sons of Zebedee, together with whom he is on that occasion described, as engaged after our Lord's resurrec

b Dr. Cave's Life of St. Thomas.

tion in following the business of their calling. Thus he may have been at first brought to a knowledge of our Saviour through his connexion with them. But we are uninformed of every particular concerning his conversion and his early following of Jesus; the first occurrence of his name in the sacred history being in the catalogue of the twelve Apostles, as one of whom he is mentioned by the three first Evangelists, but without any special mark of distinction.

Nor in the progress of the sacred history is he much distinguished from the rest of the twelve. By the three Evangelists, who notice his call to the apostleship, he is not again mentioned except by St. Luke in his enumeration of the eleven who were present at our Lord's ascension". St. John alone relates any particulars concerning him.

On the first occasion of his being so mentioned, he is distinguished in a manner which reflects honour upon him for his zealous and intrepid attachment to his Master: for when, after the death of Lazarus, the other disciples dissuaded Jesus from going, as he purposed, into Judea, lest the Jews, who had of late sought to stone" him, should repeat their mur

< Matt. x. 3. Mark iii. 18. Luke vi. 15.

d Acts i. 13.

derous attempt, Thomas professed his readiness to attend upon his Master, and encouraged his fellow-disciples to the same noble resolution, by saying, "Let us also go, that we may die with hime,"

But if upon this occasion he was distinguished for the goodness and honesty of his heart, he was upon another less favourably marked by the dulness of his apprehension, and his want of spiritual discernment; for such appears to be the character of his language, when in answer to our Lord's assurance to his disciples a short time before his death, that " in his Father's house were many mansions," that he was "going to prepare a place for them," and that he would

come again and receive them unto himself," accompanied by his affirmation, "And whither I go ye know, and the way ye know;" the consolatory promise and assertion of the Master were met by an avowal of ignorance on our Apostle's part, "Lord, we know not whither thou goest; and how can we know the way 1?"

A third and a still more memorable occasion, on which this Apostle is presented to our notice, is that which is alluded to in the Collect, and related in the Gospel, for the day; namely, his.

"doubtfulness in our Lord's resurrection :" an occasion, memorable indeed, whether we consider, as we shall presently proceed to consider, his refusal to believe the testimony of the other disciples, that "they had seen the Lord;" or the sensible testimony which he required for the foundation of his own faith; or the vast condescension and benignity of our Lord in granting the required proof; or the signal and most illustrious confession of his faith, thereupon uttered by the Apostle; or the manner in which his Lord accepted and replied to that confessions. Convinced by what he then saw and heard, our Apostle no more doubted. On other occasions however he was again admitted to the sight and conversation of his Lord; on one he is mentioned by name, as among certain disciples to whom "Jesus shewed himself";" on others he is included in the number of the eleven. Together with his brethren in the apostleship he was present at the last appearance of our Lord on earth; and partook of his final benediction; and " worshipped him;" and "beheld, while he was taken up," till "a cloud received him out of their sight:" and together with them he " gave with great power

John xx. 24-29.

Acts i. 9, 13. Luke xxiv. 52.

h John xxi. 2.