Harrisburg telegraph. [volume] (Harrisburg, Pa.) 1879-1948, 1914-10-23
(By William T. Ellis)

Only very few names are known
10 all the civilized world; and there
Is but one that is the synonym of
treason, ingratitude and black dis
loyalty To say Judas" is to call
up the worlds one personality whose
name is synonymous with all that
humanity instinctively, despises. The
worst adjective that can be applied
to any man to-day is to call him a
Judas"
Yet Judas, the Traitor" was once
Judas the loyal, warm-hearted, as
piring Jewish patriot, seeking to fol-
low the best light he could find. As
mother sees her innocent babe in
the face of her murderer son, so we
cannot help recalling the other Ju-
has the man who might have been.
Orthodox-But Traitor
Only one of the twelve apostles
came from ultra-orthodoX Judea,
and he was Judas. The aristricarcy
of the Jewish religion was found in
the province of Judea. They counted
themselves a little more loyal to Je-
hovah and the law, than their fellow
Jews from other parts. By ancestry
and environment Judas had greater
advantages than his comrades. He
was the ultra-orthodoX disciple
whose home was nearest to the tenn
pie and it's religious privileges.
If any man is counting on his fam
. lily line, or his social and religious
standing to deliver him from disloy-
atty and sin, he would better take a
long look at the case of Judas. No
man is so high that he may not fall
low. Church membership does not
save one from treason to Christ.
Even activity in religious work Is
no guarantee that one may not fall
into grievious sin. The first simple
message of the Judas story is to be
self -distrustful and modest. Let
him that standeth take heed lest he
fall"
"one ship drives East. another drives
West,
While the selfsame breezes blow;
'Tis the set of the sails, and not the
gales,
That bids them where to go.
'Like the winds of the air, are the
wars of the fates,
AS we journey along through life,
'Tis the set of the soul that decides
the goal,
And not the storm or the strife"
My Way, or Not at All
No man knows the hour when Ju-
das, the loyal. eXpectant and trust
full disciple, began to change into
Judas, the resentful scheming
avaricious traitor. Evidently, his
first dsloyalty was unwillingness to
trust Christs plan. In common with
the other disciples, he did not ap-
prove of Christ setting up spirit
ual kingdom instead of temporal.
All his expectations had been di-
rected toward the restoration of
earthly power. He had always held
in mind the possibility of large place
for himself. Sure of his own worldly
wisdom he could not agree to what
ne regarded as an anti-climaX for
the career of Jesus and His friends.
He represented a large number of us
who are willing to serve God, but
on our own terms.
Then Judas was a lover of money.
Avarice ate into his soul like gan
creme. The old church fathers la
beled avarice as one of the seven
deadly sins, and with reason. 1t is
not only sin in itself, but it begets
whole swarm of other sins.
Perfectly respectable and law
abiding persons are the ones likeli-
est TO be overwhelmed gby this sin of
avarice which slays more souls than
the sin of murder. We are fond of
calling it thrift" prudence"
business sagacity." when it is moth
ing but sheer, stark, ruthless love
of money. Avarice made Judas a
InuFueTef anu traitor even as II
has changed many another God
fearing man into a hard, cruel, sus-
picious, money-grabbing oppressor of
his fellow men. In the black shadow
of the Judas crime may we not for
swear solemnly the beginnings of
the deadly sin of avarice?
RuDning With "A New Crowd
Sweeter, tenderer and more beauti-
full than all the prayer meetings
ever held was that which Jesus
shared with His disciples on the last
night in the upper room. The COM
fort of that gathering has blessed the
world for nineteen centuries since.
Judas shirked it. He had no taste
for prayer Meetings. symptom of
his moral and spiritual decline,
which he did not fully realize himself.