The morning news. [volume] (Savannah, Ga.) 1887-1900, 1896-11-02
AT THE PARK-NEw CHURCH.
Rev. Jabez FOx's Views on Judas
IscariOt as a Traitor.

Rev. Jabez FOx's Views on Judas
IscariOt as Traitor.
Rev. Jabez Fox delivered an interest
ing lecture at the Parl1-New church yes
terday, his subject being, Judas Iscariot;
His Act and His Character" He said:
mo other man known to history has
been so much reviled and so literally de-
nounced as Judas Iscariot. His act has
been regarded as justifying the hatred
borne toward the whole of the Jewish
race for 1900 years. His name, all over
the world is a synonym for traitor. And
vet there have not been wanting apologsts
who have sought to prove him innocent
of any wrong intention. These apollo
pists say it is quite impossible to believe
that one who had been, for three years,
a disciple, and a daily companion, of the
most perfect man ever on earth, and who
had listened to his teachings and VIA
messed his miracles, could have been SO
base as to betray him to certain destruc-
tion for so trifing a reward as thirty
pieces of silver Qess than 500. Especially
as bv the death of his master all Judas
hopes in life would be blasted.
His apologsts say that Judas really be-
Ueyed in Jesus, and that he was the prom
ised Messiah. who had come to restore
Israel
But against this view, it may be said,
our Lord called him a devil. Have l noe
chosen you twelve, and one of you is a
devil John, 6:70. To this it is replied,
the word translated devil means, "a spy,
an accuser, a betrayer.'
''But Judas is also called thief. He
carried the common purse of the
disciples; and he murmured at the waste
of the precious ointment of spikenard,
which Mary lavished upon the feet of
Jesus. And said 1T might have been sold for
three hundred pence, and given to the
poor. but this, he said, not because he
cared for the poor; but because he was
a thief, and carried the bag (or box con-
tanning their money!.
But what was the evil of Judas act?
The death of Jesus was not consequence
of it. The Lord freely laid down his life
for our redemption. He could have pre-
vented it, He said, John 10:17:1S, 81 lay
down my life" mo man taketh II
from me, but 1 lay it down of myself. 1
have power to lay it down, and l have
power to take it again."
'But it is the spiritual significance of
Judas and his work and position, as one of
the disciples of our Lord; and the spirit
ual meaning of the Divine Record concern
ing him, and that work, which is of chief
interest to a New-Church man.
We need not believe that either himself,
or the act which has given him immortal
ity of infamy, were necessary for the
perfection of the Messiah'S redemptory
mission. But the account in the gospels
is a divine revelation of a part of that
mission, and of the manner of its accom-
plishment. And it also reveals certain
states and conditions of human nature
and life, which it concerns all Christian
people to know"
IF we consider the spiritual significance
of Judas, we must see that he tipified
some quality of the natural man, in the
human nature of the Son of Mary. And it
is not important to US that we should
know the quality of the life of the man
Judas, or what was his final state. But it
is a matter of personal interest to us, that
we should know and understand the spirit
ual meaning of the record of his acts; and
how that meaning is applicable to us.
For Judas act represents the betrayal
of the Lord by those who begin the re-
generate life and then recede from 1t.
These betray and cruelty the Lord; as is
said in the sixth chapter of the Epistle to
the Hebrews.
"And this is the lesson which the spirit
ual sense of the record of Judas and his
treason, reveals to the church. They who
follow the Lord in the regeneration, becom-
ing His chosen disciples, must preserve
to the end, and not, like Judas, betray the
Spirit of holiness, by which a new life has
been begun in them: for if they do so fall
away from following the Lord they will
be more accursed than if they had not be-
gun the life of goodness and truth. 1t had
been better for them if they had not been
born again.
Let no one feel that because he knows
much spiritual truth, and believes that he
has actually begun to apply it to the puri-
fication of his life, that he is certain of a
place in one of the many mansions in the
Fathers house. For he that hath put his
hand to the plan and looketh back is not
worthy of the kingdom"