Matthias I, emperor of Germany, son of Maxi- milian II and INIary, daughter of Charles Y, deserves a place here because of his relation to one of the most eventful periods in the earliest stages of modern history. He was born in 1557. In 1578 he was invited by the Eomanists of the Netherlands to assume the government of that country, but he held the position only a short time. He was appointed stadtholder of Austria in 1595, and in IGll was invited by the Bohemians to become their ruler. On the death of his brother Rudolf, empe- ror of Germany, in 1G12, he succeeded to the throne, and was called upon to sit in judgment between Protes- tant and Romanist in the ensuing contest between these two factions of his empire. He pursued a vacillating jiolicy, and, while striving to direct, made himself dis- trusted by both. He concluded a disadvafitageous treaty with the Turks, then in possession ,of Hungary (1615), and soon after caused his cousin Ferdinand to be |iroclaimed king of Bohemia and Hungary. In the midst of the dissensions which preceded the Tliirty Years' War he died, in 1619. See Khevenhuller, An-
iiales Ferdinandei ; P. Santoric, Vite di Ridolfo e Mattia Imperutori (1664) ; Vehse, Memoirs of the Court of A iis- tria, i, 240 sq. ; Coxe, House of A ustria, ii, 95 sq. ; Kohl- ransch, Hist, of Germani/, I). 'dll sq. See also Tiiikty Yeaks' Wau.
Matthias, John B., a Methodist Episcopal minis- ter, was born at Germantown, Pa., Jan. 1, 1767 ; was con- verted while residing in New York, after his majority; was there licensed to preach in 1793 ; preached much and with excellent success as a local deacon until 1811, when he joined the itinerancy. Thereafter he labored v^ery usefully until 1841, when loss of sight obliged him to superannuate. He died in great blessedness at Hemp- stead, L. I., May 27, 1848. He was educated a German Lutheran, and was by trade a ship-carpenter, hut when he felt called to preach he prepared to the best of his ability, and for many years delivered regularly no less than three sermons a v»-eek, and many souls ^vere con- verted under these labors. He was one of the most humble, pious, and loving of Christians, and the fruit of his unostentatious labors was abundant and blessed. — Minutes of Conferences, iv, 224. (G. L. T.)
Matthias, John J., a minister of the Methodist Episcopal Church, was born at New York Jan. 17, 1796. His childhood and early youth were spent with his par- ents in Tarrytown. At a suitable age he went to Brook- lyn to learn the art of printing, but, brought to a knowl- edge of converting grace, and persuaded in his own mind that he was called of God to preach the Gospel of Christ, he determined to prepare for the work. He en- tered the ministry when twenty-one years old, in the New York Conference at Goshen Circuit. In 1818 he was appointed to Pittsfield Circuit ; in 1819 to Stow; in 1820 to Leyden ; in 1821 and 1822 to Cortlandt ; in 1823 to Middlebury, Yt. ; in 1824 to St. Albans; in 1825 to Pittsfield; in 1826 to Cortlandt. He was stationed in the city of New York in 1827 and 1828, and in the city of Albany in 1829 and 1830 ; was transferred to the Phil- adelphia Conference in 1831, and stationed in the city of Newark, N. J. In 1833, 1834, and 1835 he travelled the East Jersey District; in 183G he was stationed at the Nazareth Church, in the city of Philadelphia. His health failing, he took a superannuated relation, and continued to hold it until 1841. While sustaining this relation to his Conference, the Pennsylvania and New York Colonization Societies appointed him governor of Bassa Cove, on the West Coast of Africa. He was in Africa about a year, but, subjected to severe suffering by the African fever, he returned to the States. In 1842 he was retransferred to the New York Conference, and stationed at Flushing, L. I.; in 1843 at Rockaway ; in 1844 to 1847 was presiding elder of the Long Island Dis- trict ; in 1848 and 1849 was stationed in A^'illiamsburgh ; in 1850 and 1851 in the Twenty-seventh Street Church, New York ; in 1852 was supernumerary at Hempstead, L. I. ; but was given an effective relation in 1853, and stationed at Jamaica. In 1854 he was obliged again to superannuate, but his relation was changed to effective at the ensuing Conference, and in 1851 to 1857 served as chaplain to the Seamen's Friend Retreat on Staten Island. "He was held in high esteem by the managers and officers of that institution. At the bedside of the sick and in his chapel services he was felt to be well adapted to the duties of his office." The tax upon his symp.'ithies and the labors of the position were more tiiaii his enfeebled health could sustain, and in 1858 he resigned the chaplaincy, and received a superannuated relation. He retired to a quiet and comfortable resi- dence in Tarrytown, where he resided imtil the day of his decease, Sept. 25, 1861. " Few ministers have a longer or more worthy record than this. Some of these fields of labor were very arduous, others of them very responsible. In all of tliem he was faithful and useful. He was a high-minded, intelligent, and honorable man. His tastes were refined, las feelings delicate, his conver- sation chaste, and his manners dignified but affable. His