Saint Matthew, one of the twelve Apostles, who from being a publican,
that is, a taxgatherer, was called by our Saviour to the Apostleship:
in that profession his name is Levi. (Luke 5.27, and Mark 2.14.) He was
the first of the Evangelists that wrote the Gospel, and that in Hebrew
or Syro-Chaldaic which the Jews in Palestine spoke at that time. The
original is not now extant; but it was translated in the time of the
Apostles into Greek, that version was of equal authority. He wrote
about six years after the Lord's Ascension.