Virginia citizen. (Irvington, Va.) 1891-1921, 1905-04-21
own hands. for it is blood Money"

woman and said, III YOU will open for
us the gates at night aud let as In. we
viii give to you our --ar shields, made
, OF ornamental gold and silver" She
opened the gates by night, and Rome
fell. But as soon as the northern bar
barians became masters OF Caesars
throne they destroyed the woman who
betrayed her country. They gave her
their shields OF ornamental silver and
gold, but they hurled those shields at
her with all the force Of their mighty
arms until her mangled and bleeding
and lifeless body lay buried under her
prizes Of war. After Benedict Arnold
betrayed his country he was hated even
more In England than In America. One
| day he was seated I'm the gallery of the
house OF commons when a statesman
arose TO address the house Before COM
mencing his speech he said: 81 see In
the gallery OF this house a contemplate
character who, by the betrayal OF his
own land. has forfeited every right to
the respect of mankind. Before enter
upon my speech I hope that Benedict
Arnold, known as Arnold the traitor,
might be requested 20 withdraw from
this body OF honorable men," Yes, the
very men who profit by a crime despise
| their instrument and desert him In his
| ignominy.
They VIII Turn Against You.
Man treading the path of sin, do not
be fool. Do not suppose that those
sinful people who are praising you
now will fawn upon you after your
morals and money are gone. All that
the saloonkeeper wants IS your gold;
as soon as you are in rags his free
lunch counters will no longer give a
welcome TO you and yours. All that
gambler wants is your gold; as soon
as your money is gone he will kick
you out OF his presence as willingly as
he would put a bullet In the heart OF
mad dog. All, yes, the far country
held plenty Of friends as long os the
younger son had horses and wine SUD-
pers, but as soon as bis money was
gone his friends were gone, his wine
was gone, his horses were gone, his
servants were gone; there was n great
famine In that land. Companions OF
sin will fawn Mt your feet while you
live in palace. They will crush you
under their heels when they can de-
stroy you. Aceldama, the field OF
blood. was bought by the evil priests,
who had turned against Judas as your
companions OF sin will yet turn against
you.
Aceldama teaches another lesson
The easiest way to make an apostate
Is not by denouncing or ridicuHng the
divine mission OF Jesus Christ, but by
developing the tendencies to sin which
have not been eradicated from his ma
ture. Let me illustrate my thought
practically. You have all wandered
through the northern forests In the win
ter time. Everywhere you have seen
the tall trunks OF the trees supporting
the bare branches. Not leaf Is in
sight; not n flower is blooming. Where
are the millions upon millions OF leaves
which as an arched roof covered the
mountain pathways last summer? All
gone. But IL you will rub your fingers
lightly over the bark OF those branches
you can see where new buds and new
sprouts will come forth just as soon as
springtime places TO her lips the silver
trumpet OF the warm winds. As ap-
proach n man who is called n Christian
man l flguratfveIy end him without
sin, but as / touch his heart / find.
still fgu-atively speaking. that all over
his heart are latent sinful buds easy to
be developed. Unless a man lives close
to Christ and continues to live close to
Christ these evil buds will sprout and
grow even as the white apple hIos-
SONS cover the tree branches almost In
one May day. The reason Judas be-
trayed Christ was because he allowed
his latent buds OF sin TO develop; that
IS ALL
Judas not different from his fellow
apostles? How was that?" some one
asks me. why. Christ called him a
devil" Aye, my friend, that is true.
But Christ did not call Judas a devil I'm
the sense that he was In the beginning
any different from any other OF the
apostles. Indeed, / know he was just
about the same. The apostles at that
time honored and respected Judas SO
much that they made him their treasur-
er. He was their almoner; he handled
all their moneys. He was not impuI-
sive like Peter. He was a calm, cool
calculator. Why, II Peter had been
elected treasurer in Judas place, the
first ten beggars who came to him
would have got all thst he had, and no
provision would have been left for the
needs OF the little company. The Irea-
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 .Sudss.
But when Judas began to look after
the money the old latent sin of his lifet
grew warmer and budded and spfout- |
ed. Covetousness was Judas sin. Ev-
cry penny. every piece of silver and |
gold which came into his possession
only maddened his passions. Methipks |
I can see him at night counting the |
gold while his companions slept. "Ah."
he kept saying to himself. 'if this gold |
was only mine" 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 man down who would have
placed menacing or murderous hand |
upon his Christ. But now he kept say |
Ing; Gold, gold; must have gold. I |
must have gold, even IL I do destroy |
Christ to get IT." Listeni Let me trace |
the downfall OF Judas-first. the hon |
ored apostleship; second, the election |
to the treasurership OF the apostolic
band; third. the hugging Of the gold |
bags to satisfy the cravings Of his de- |
veioping avarice; fourth. the protest |
because the box OF ointment OF spike
nard, very precious. was poured upon |
Cnrists head; fifth. the selling of
Christs 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,