MATTHEW, GOSPEL OF.
It is of course possible that the identification is a mistaken one. On the assumption that it is correct, "Matthew" (of which the probable meaning is "Jehovah's gift") would appear to be the Christian name of Levi, who had been employed as a tax-collector in the service of Herod Antipas, and whose call to be one of the immediate followers of Jesus Christ came to him as he sat at the custom house by the Lake of Galilee, presumably near Caper naum. It should be noted that Mark's story of his call resembles that of the call of Peter and Andrew and the sons of Zebedee : we should expect to find Levi somewhere in his list of the Twelve. As a tax-collector Levi would share in the distrust and contempt which these officials had earned for themselves everywhere: among the Jews the stigma of ritual uncleanness (through inter course with Gentiles) was also attached to them.
According to Luke (v. 29) Levi afterwards made a great feast for Jesus in his house. But the evangelist is here rewriting Mark, whose statement that "he was sitting at meat in his house" does not necessarily bear the meaning put upon it by Luke ; Mark may mean that Jesus was entertaining friends at his own table, insert ing the incident here as another illustration of the attitude of Jesus towards "tax-collectors and sinners." It will be seen that the New Testament affords us but scanty and uncertain information in regard to St. Matthew. Outside the New Testament the only statement of any importance in regard to the Apostle is the passage from Papias preserved by Eusebius: "So then Matthew composed the Oracles in the Hebrew language, and each one interpreted them as he could." A discussion of this statement will be found in the article MATTHEW, GOSPEL OF. Legend differs as to the scene of the Apostle's missionary la bours, and as to whether he died a natural or a martyr's death. As the Evangelist Matthew is usually represented in Christian art by the "man" of Ezek. i. 1 o, Rev. iv. 7. (B. T. D. S.) MATTHEW, TOBIAS or TOBIE (1546-1628), archbishop of York, son of Sir John Matthew of Ross, Herefordshire, was born at Bristol. He was educated at Wells, and then in succession at University college and Christ Church, Oxford. He was public
orator in 1569, president of St. John's college, Oxford, in 1572, dean of Christ Church in 1576, vice-chancellor of the university in 1579, dean of Durham in 1583, bishop of Durham in 1595, and archbishop of York in 16o6. In 1581 he had a controversy with the Jesuit Edmund Campion, and his arguments were published in Oxford in 1638 under the title, Piissimi et eminentissimi viri Tobiae Matthew, archiepiscopi olim Eboracencis concio apologetica ad versus Campianam. While in the north he was active in forcing the recusants to conform to the Church of England. He died on March 29, 1628.
His son, SIR TOBIAS, or TOBIE, MATTHEW (1577-1655), friend of Francis Bacon, was educated at Christ Church, and was early attached to the court, serving in the embassy at Paris. He sat in parliament for Newport, Cornwall, in 1601, and for St. Albans in 1604. Before this time he had become the intimate friend of Bacon, whom he replaced as member for St. Albans. When peace was made with Spain, on the accession of James I., he went to Italy, where he embraced Roman Catholicism. When he returned to England he was imprisoned. In 1608 he was exiled, but was permitted to return to England in 1617-19, and finally in 1621. At home he was known as the intimate friend of Gondomar, the Spanish ambassador. In 1623 he was sent to join Prince Charles, afterwards Charles I., at Madrid, and was knighted. He remained in England till 164o, when he was finally driven abroad by the parliament, which looked upon him as an agent of the pope. He died in the English college in Ghent on Oct. 13, 1655. In 1618 he published an Italian translation of Bacon's essays. The "Essay on Friendship" was written for him. His translation of The Con fessions of the Incomparable Doctor St. Augustine involved him in controversy. His correspondence was published in London in 166o For the father, see John Le Neve's Fasti ecclesiae anglicanae (1716), and Anthony Wood's Athenae oxonienses. For the son, the notice in Athenae oxonienses, an abridgment of his autobiographical Historical Relation of his own life, published by Alban Butler in I79, and A. H. Matthew and A. Calthrop, Life of Sir Tobie Matthew (1907).