Matthias

“ To see the character of Matthias interpreted by such a master of the tragic art could hardly be called entertaining, of course, yet anything which takes us out of the humdrum routine of every-day life and quickens the blood that beats with such commonplace sluggishness ordinarily is most desirable. ”

“ Matthias, the son of Hunyadi, was indebted for his elevation to the throne to the prestige of his father, who was the idol of the nation, but it was through his own genius alone that he strengthened the throne and became famous, mighty, and, perhaps, the greatest king of whom his country could boast. He excelled alike as a soldier and leader of armies, as a statesman and diplomatist, and as a man delighting in science and art. ”

“ Matthias filled his purse with gold, girded a well-tried sword to his side, and quite alone started off to seek the fortune of the brave.
Walking along next day, he met a man who seemed hardly able to drag one leg after the other.
“Whither are you going?” asked Matthias.
“I am travelling all over the world in search of happiness.”
“What is your profession?”
“I have no profession, but I can do what no one else can. I am called Broad, because I have the power of swelling myself out to such a size that there is room for a whole regiment of soldiers inside me.” ”

“ Matthias, who had been brought up by eminent humanists, was a thorough Renaissance monarch, like his Italian contemporaries, Lorenzo the Magnificent, and the rulers of Urbino and Milan, Federigo Montefeltre and Lodovico Moro. They were all passionately fond of the new artistic luxury, and highly prized every relic of classical times, fragments of the glorified Greek age, as well as the elaborately illustrated vellum books, some of which cost more than a picture by Raphael. ”

“ Labour and exposure had bronzed and corrugated the features of Matthias, oppression and want had stamped on them an expression of sullen despair. His brow was invariably knit, and his eyes were permanently depressed. He muttered to himself as he worked: he never sang, for his heart was never light. How can the heart be light that is [22] weighed down, and galled with chains? The life of the peasant before the French Revolution was the life of a slave; he could not laugh, he could not even smile, for he had to struggle for bare existence with exactions which strangled him. ”

“ Matthias originally intended him for the Church, but on losing all hope of offspring from his consort Queen Beatrice, determined, towards the end of his life, to make the youth his successor on the throne. He loaded him with honours and riches, till he was by far the wealthiest magnate in the land. ”

“ Matthias, who was chosen by lot to fill the place of the traitor Judas, is the last of the apostles. (Acts i.) He preached the Gospel in Judea, and suffered martyrdom at the hands of the Jews, either by the lance or by the axe. In the Italian series of the apostles, he bears as his attribute the lance; in the German sets, more commonly the axe. [230] The ceremony of choosing St. Matthias by lot is the subject of a mediocre picture by Boschi. ”

“ Hold fast that which thou hast, that no man may take thy crown," as Judas lost his, which was given to Matthias. Judas lost it by his carelessness and contempt for little faults. Matthias received it by his zealous co-operation with and use of the graces bestowed on him, assured himself of it by his watchfulness, and now glories in it forever in heaven. Let us use a like zeal, my dear brethren, and try with equal carefulness to ensure our salvation, and we shall have a similar exaltation in heaven with Matthias, and rejoice with him in glory. ”

“ In the same month, the leading members of the Reformed Church had drawn up an ably reasoned address to Matthias and the Council of State on the subject of a general peace of religion for the provinces.
William of Orange did his utmost to improve the opportunity. He sketched a system of provisional toleration, which he caused to be signed by the Archduke Matthias, and which, at least for a season, was to establish religious freedom. The brave; tranquil, solitary man still held his track across the raging waves, shedding as much light as one clear human soul could dispense ”

“ Six months passed away; but Matthias had a good many other and more important matters to think of than the beggar lad, and he had not once been in Visegrád since Miska had been there.
"So much the better," thought Miska; "he will come some time, and then I shall know all the more. If only there were not this learning! But it is no good; it has got to be. And yet why? A little page like me is as wise as an owl if he can read and write, and what does he want with more? I can read and write too.—Hm," he thought to himself, "the man who invented writing—what the thunderbolt did he invent it for? ”

“ These indications of a scholarly mind would have been of no avail in that rude age unless there had been strong physical prowess behind them; a weakling, whatever his intellectual calibre, would have been scorned. King Matthias, however, was one of those unusual men who combine mental and physical qualities of the highest order. ”

“ The example of Matthias is apparently laid before you for your confusion, who was chosen into his place, not by his own proper will, but by the election of the holy apostles, or rather the judgment of Christ, whereat ye being blinded, do not perceive how far ye run astray from his merits, while ye fall wilfully and headlong into the manners and affection of Judas the traitor. It is therefore manifest that he who wittingly from his heart termeth you priests, is not himself a true and worthy Christian. ”

“ Now, my father Matthias was not only eminent on account of his nobility, but had a higher commendation on account of his righteousness, and was in great reputation in Jerusalem, the greatest city we have. ”

“ Now King Matthias was so true a lover of justice that his name has become a proverb, and when he died there was a general sigh and exclamation, "Matthias is dead! justice is fled!" It was not likely, therefore, that he was going to tolerate robbers merely because they were nobles ”

“ Matthias planted the faith about Cappadocia and on the coasts of the Caspian sea, residing chiefly near the port Issus. He must have undergone great hardships and labors amidst so savage a people. The same authors add that he received the crown of martyrdom in Colchis, which they call Æthiopia. The Latins keep his festival on the 24th of February. Some portions of his relics are shown in the abbatical church of Triers, and in that of St. Mary Major in Rome, unless these latter belong to another Matthias, who was one of the first bishops of Jerusalem: on which see the Bollandists. ”

“ Accordingly Simon would not suffer Matthias, by whose means he got possession of the city, to go off without torment. This Matthias was the son of Boethus, and was one of the high priests, one that had been very faithful to the people, and in great esteem with them; he, when the multitude were distressed by the zealots, among whom John was numbered, persuaded the people to admit this Simon to come in to assist them, while he had made no terms with him, nor expected any thing that was evil from him. ”

“ Flavius Josephus, as the Romans afterwards called him, came of a noble Jewish family--his father, Matthias, belonging to the highest of the twenty-four classes into which the sacerdotal families were divided. Matthias was eminent for his attainments, and piety; and had been one of the leading men in Jerusalem. From his youth, Josephus had carefully prepared himself for public life, mastering the doctrines of the three leading sects among the Jews--the Pharisees, Sadducees, and Essenes--and having spent three years in the desert, with Banus the Ascetic. ”

“ I hardly see how I could get on without Matthias. He is so trusty, and he is smart too. If the poor fellow had been given half a chance, he would have made a good business man, for he has good ideas as to bringing things around in season. ”

“ Many have professed a belief in the divine inspiration of some one of the many false prophets or Christs that have appeared in different ages of the church. In the year 1830, there was a man in this country, calling himself Matthias, who declared that he was the very Christ, and pretended that he had come to judge the world. ”

“ God's children, must inherit some of his eternal goodness, and that little leaven within will be the salvation of us all through time that knows no end. Poor Matthias! his eyes will be opened over there; and tears filled my own at the glorious prospect waiting. He was living in his ground room truly.
The donation came off happily. Our minister had been many years with us, and was a good man, to the extent of his light, and worthy of all we could bestow on him. He owned a small farm, and had also practised a little in medicine, and had always tried to do his duty. ”

“ Matthias was able to offer the Almighty, as it were, a pleasing violence, and to force from Him what was at first denied him, and thus by his own merits to ascend to a throne of glory in heaven that the mere generosity of God would other wise not have given him without extraordinary co-operation on his part, then there is no doubt that they are wrong who say that our salvation or reprobation depends alone on deliberate choice or rejection on the part of God, and that man by his own works can neither further the one nor prevent the other. ”

“ King Matthias spent over thirty thousand florins annually on his library, a sum equivalent in present currency to considerably over half a million of florins. He lavished larger sums even on architects, painters, sculptors, carvers, and goldsmiths. A whole army of artists were kept busy at his court, especially after his second marriage. During the first years of his reign he was content with the edifices and art memorials inherited from his ancestors, but the arrival of the new queen entirely changed the old modes of life. ”

“ Thou, Lord, who knowest the hearts of all men, shew whether of these two thou hast chosen,
25 To take the place of this ministry and apostleship, from which Judas hath by transgression fallen, that he might go to his own place.
26 And they gave them lots, and the lot fell upon Matthias, and he was numbered with the eleven apostles. ”

“ Rudolph, however, was successful in preventing the election of Matthias as German king, or king of the Romans, and when he died, in January 1612, no provision had been made for a successor. Already king of Hungary and Bohemia, however, Matthias obtained the remaining hereditary dominions of the Habsburgs, and in June 1612 was crowned emperor, although the ecclesiastical electors favoured his younger brother, the archduke Albert (1559–1621) . ”

“ There are no energies so potent as those which are aroused by religious convictions. Matthias well knew the ascendency of the Protestants all over Bohemia, and that their spirit, once thoroughly aroused, could not be easily quelled by any opposing force he could array. He was also aware that Ferdinand was thoroughly detested by the Protestant leaders, and that it was by no means improbable that this revolt would thwart all his plans in securing his succession. ”

“ Pierson admitted Matthias' call, who completed his declaration on the 20th of June, in Argyle, which, by a curious coincidence, was the very day on which Pierson had received his call in the omnibus. Such singular coincidences have a powerful effect on excited minds. From that discovery, Pierson and Matthias rejoiced in each other, and became kindred spirits-Matthias, however, claiming to be the Father, or to possess the spirit of the Father-he was God upon the earth, because the spirit of God dwelt in him ”

“ Her busy fingers through the long winter evenings kept adding to [Pg 219] the store of stockings she was knitting for somebody who needed—and the needy would surely come in her path.
Aunt Peg and Matthias were quietly happy, and they came out of church every Sabbath and walked with a pleasant dignity homeward. Matthias had memorized the old hymns and he could pick many of them out, having learned to designate them by their first word or line, and this he called reading.
"'Pears like I kin read a few himes, Miss Emily," he said. This is the way with us through life. ”

“ The best texts are given in Bonnet’s Acta Apostolorum Apocrypha, 1898, II. i. 1-127. These contain also the Acts of Andrew and Matthew (or Matthias) in which Matthew (or Matthias) is represented as a captive in the country of the anthropophagi. Christ takes Andrew and his disciples with Him, and effects the rescue of Matthew. The legend is found also in Ethiopic, Syriac and Anglo-Saxon. Also the Acts of Peter and Andrew, which among other incidents recount the miracle of a camel passing through the eye of a needle. This work is preserved partly in Greek, but in its entirety in Slavonic. ”

“ CHAP.⁠I.
1 Christ after his resurrection, having given instructions to his apostles, and commanded them to wait in Jerusalem the coming of the Holy Ghost, ascendeth into heaven in their sight. 10 Two angels warn them to depart, and to look for his second coming: 12 they return, and give themselves unto prayer. 15 Peter exhorting to fill-up the place of the traitor Judas, Matthias is chosen by lot to be an apostle. ”

“ In the following March, at the very moment accordingly when the conclusive negotiations were fast ripening at Antwerp, Matthias granted religious peace for Austria likewise. Great was the indignation of his nephew Leopold, the nuncius, and the Spanish ambassador in consequence, by each and all of whom the revolutionary mischief-maker, with his brother's crown on his head, was threatened with excommunication. ”