Orleans County monitor. [volume] (Barton, Vt.) 1872-1953, 1905-04-17

But Christ did not call Judas a devil in
the sense that he was in the beginning
any different from any other of the
| apostles. Indeed, | know he was lust
about the same. The apostles at that
time honored and respected Judas so
much that they made him their treasur-
~ He was their almoner; he handled
all their moneys. He was not imnul-
! sfve like Peter He was a calm. cool
| calculator Why, if Peter had been
elected treasurer in Judas place. the
first ten beggars who came to him
would have got all that he had. and no
| provision would have been left for the
needs of the little company. The rea-
son Judas was elected treasurer was
because at first he was loyal to his
Master and he was very careful In
handling the funds.
| The Sin of Judas
But when Judas began to look after
the money the old latent sin of his life
grew warmer and budded and sprout-
| ed. Covetousness was Judas sir. Ev
cry penny, every piece of silver and
gold which came into his possession.
only maddened his passions. Methinks
can see him at night counting the
| gold while his companions slept. All"
he kept saying to himself, ''if this gold
was only miDe' This passion. this
evil passion, kept growing and growing
upon him. 1t kept growing upon him
| just as the desire for gold or fame or
social position may have been growing
upon you. Once Judas would have
knocked a man down who would have
| placed menacing or murderous hand
| upon his Christ. But now he kept say
| ing: Gold, gold; l must have gold. I
must have gold, even if | do destroy
| Christ to get it." Listen! Let me trace
| the downfall of Judas-first, the hon
| ored apostleship; second, the election
| to the treaSurership of the apostolic
band; third, the huggng of the gold
bags to satisfy the cravings of his de-
| veloping avarice; fourth, the protest
because the box Of ointment of spike
nard, very precious was poured upon
Chr1sts head; fifth, the selling Of
Christ's life for thirty pieces of silver.
Judas was not devil always. Judas
went down to the betrayal step by step.
He went down to the betrayal of Christ
as some of us are going, slowly. surely.
awfully. Economically, step by step,
step by step.
The field Of blood teaches u.s. in the
next place, that the most awful danger
that can be done against Christ is done
by his apostates and not by his out and
out bitter enemies. For weeks and
months, as l said before, the high
priests were trying to take Christ and
cruelty him. But when they sought to
lay hands upon him they feared the
multitudes, because they took him for |
prophet" What is the meaning of |
this? They dared not touch him.
Christ's beneficiaries at that time |
would have risen up and swept the |
high priests and the Pharisees from off |
the earth.
A Superstition.
SuppOsing toward the close of the |
Crimean war the English general had |
given orders that Florence nightingale |
was to be shot as a spy, what would
have happened? Methinks about the
commanders tent would have been seen
5000 poor fellows pleading and pray
ing and threatening. One soldier would
say: 'She nursed me through a fever
and saved my life. She shall not dep
Another would say: "She held my hand
when they cut off my leg. She must
not die" Another would have said:
"She bandaged my eyes, blasted by
the gunpowder explosion. It was on
account of her care that I now can
see." So those whose limbs Christ had
Strengthened and those whose eyes
Christ had opened and those whose lep-
rous skin Christ had cleansed would
nave risen up and cried out: HE shall
not die! He shall not diev But when
Judas led the Roman officers by night
to the garden of Gethsemane and show
ed where Christ was in retreat then
Jesus was taken by stealth and tried
while Jerusalem slept. He was tried
by night He was crucified on the
early morning. Oh, my friends, shall
1t De that you and l as apostates have
betrayed Christ into the hands Of his
enemies?
Another thought: "Aceldama-that is.
the field of blood"-teaches that re-
morse for sin committed does not
necessarily wipe off the record of that
elh from the Lambs book of life. Ju-
uas was sorry for his sin. No sooner
nau he given that betraying kiss than
Ne would have been willing to cut off
MS right arm to have undone the dam
age, He flung the money back into the
priests faces. He did more than that
Lacerated and agonized on account of
his mental sufferings, he went forth and
hanged himself. He practically said.
God, my brain is crazed! Let me
die!' But to be sorry for past sin is
not enough. Remorse is not salvation
through Christ. DR.. Whitley well said
in one of his sermons, Judas had a
sight and sense Of sin. but no appre-
hension of the mercy of God in Christ.
and so he pinned away in his iniquity.''