Matthias, now chosen to be an Apostle, was probably one of the seventy, whom our Lord during His life sent out by twos to teach the people, and work miracles, in order to prepare the way for Him. It is believed that Matthias first went about teaching in Judæa, and that he afterwards travelled eastward, where he met with cruel treatment from the barbarous nations of Asia. With great labour and suffering, he did convert many of the heathens to Christianity; but at last he was put to death for the sake of Jesus. But these things did not, of course, happen until many years after Matthias was chosen to fill up the number of the Apostles. Jesus had remained on earth for forty days from the day of His resurrection; and during that time He showed himself at different times to His disciples. The day on which He rose from the grave we call "Easter Day," from an old word, meaning "to rise." The Apostles kept a feast every year afterwards on that day, in memory of this glorious event; and our Church teaches us also to observe Easter as a season of especial joy. In consequence of Christ having risen on the First Day of the week, the disciples, and all Christians since their time, have observed that day as a day of holy rest, and called it the Lord's Day: this is Sunday, which amongst us is dedicated to the special service of God, instead of the Seventh Day, or Jews' Sabbath, our Saturday. Forty days after Easter Day, Jesus went up, or "ascended," into heaven; and our Church keeps that day holy, and calls it "The Ascension Day," because "ascension" means going up. For ten days after the Ascension, the disciples, who had seen their Lord ascend, remained quietly at Jerusalem, praising God for all that had been done, and praying continually both in private and in public. Another great feast of the Jews was now drawing near: this feast is spoken of under different names in the Old Testament, and we must now say something about it. In the Law of Moses, the Jews were, as has already been said, commanded to offer up a sheaf of corn on the day after the Sabbath which followed the Feast of the Passover; that is, on the first day of the week, after the Passover week. This sheaf was offered up as a thank-offering at the beginning of harvest, for they began to cut the barley (the first corn crop) immediately after the Passover. Seven weeks after this beginning of harvest, the Jews were to keep one of the three great feasts, ordained by the Mosaical, or Levitical Law. This great feast was called "The Feast of Weeks," because it was observed seven weeks after that of the Passover: seven weeks were called "a week of weeks," because seven days make a week, and there were seven times seven days in the Feast of Weeks. It was also called "The Day of First Fruits," because it was then the time to begin to gather in the other crops and productions of the ground; and in thankfulness for all these fruits of the earth, a new meat offering was offered unto the Lord.