Evening journal., 1916-01-22

The great Passover Feast was at
hand at Jerusalem. The multitudes
were gathering from all sections Of
the country, far and near. Judas
felt sure that now was the psycholog-
ical time for Jesus to seize the king
ship and assume authority. But day
after day passed by. and Christ talk
ed about His Kingdom being not OF
this world that il was to be spiritual
rather than material. Judas became
restless and dissatisfied. He said,
"This is visionary and impractical. 1
have a better plan, will bring things
to a climax. / will place Christ in
the hands of his enemies, and he will
be compelled. whether he will or no,
in His own defense, and for His own
safety, to seize the reigns of govern
ment And when he has done so,
then l can come to him and say, "Oh,
King, certainly you must appreciate
that il was my shrewdness and clev-
erness of plan that gained you this
position Now to the victor belongs
the spoils, and certainly l have
right to claim the position OF Secre-
tary Of State, or Prime Minister Of
the new government"
But if we are to understand fully
the cause of the treason of Judas,
we must face two other facts. The
first one, Judas did not realize the
awful sinfulness of sin. If. early in
the ministry of Christ someone had
gone to Judas and said. Judas, you
are going TO prove a traitor to your
Lord" Judas would have been indig-
nant and would have deemed him
self insulted When one who has oc-
cupied a high position, socially, po-
litically. financially or morally, has
been discovered guilty Of some ap-
palling wickedness, every one Is as
founded and they eXclaim, How could
this one have become such great sim
ner in a moment?' No one ever be-
came a great sinner in a moment.
Away back, early in his existence,
he had allowed some evil thought or
purpose or desire to take root in his
mind and heart, and allowed it to
grow. until at last il produced the
terrible harvest of woe.
While walking along the street of
a city one day, just ahead OF me a
tree. perhaps six feet in diameter,
broke off about five feet from the
ground, and with a crash fell into the
street. / marveled at this, for not a
very strong wind was blowing at the
/ time. l went up and examined the
trunk, and found that borers had
been eating into that tree until they
had girdled it, and penetrated clear
I to the heart It's fall then was inev-
| liable. This was not the work of a
moment-perhaps of months or of
/ years.
A visitor at Niagara Falls was
walking along the shore of the river
one winter day, some distance above
the falls. when he saw the carcass OF
| a sheep floating down the stream.
/ Presently he saw an eagle swOOp
down and light upon the back of the
sheep. and with his boak and talons
| began to tear out chunks Of flesh and
| devOur them, while rapidly the car
cass was being carried down the
/ stream. Doubtless the eagle sus-
pected no danger. for any time he
| pleased he supposed he could fly
again up into the sky. Now the car.
cass was nearing the falls and the
spray began to fall upon the birds
feathers. He must have thought ii
is now time for me to 60" and h'
started to rise. But there was on,
thing he had not reckOned with. and
that is the power Of the frost for hi.
feet were frozen in the fleece of tho
sheep! There his feet were fast,
Now he flaps his wings and screams
and struggles but to no avail. He
was quickly hurled over the cataract
to his death. So it is with the power
of sin, it is too slight to be felt unit
it is too strong to be broken. Is there
some sin that is yet small in youl
life that you are holding on to, tha
YOU love? Give it up-give 1t M
while you can. for very soon 1t vii
be too late. Judas became a traito
because he did not realize the awfu
sinfulness of sin.
Then there was still another rea
son for his treason. He did not rea
lie the wonderful forgiying love o
Jesus. If he had repented Of hi
wrong doing and signihed his pur
nose henceforth TO be loyal TO his Mas
ter. Jesus would have forgiven him
We have probably never had in thii
country a more Cody man in evan
gelistic work than was Major ID. w
Whittle. One evening as he had jus
finished a service in a certain city,
= telegram was handed hint wa
, from his wife II read, Come hOm
at once" He knew it must be some
thing unusual. for his wife under
stood the importance Of the meeting
and would not call him away unles
, il was essential. He boarded tn
; night train and reached home tn
next morning His wife met him a
b the door and said. "Our boy Charlie
is going to leave home. He says he
never coming back-he is upstair
? now packing his trunk. felt
could not let him go without you
k seeing him once more and biddin
d him goodbye"
e The mother had told the son thi
e. she had sent for his father Whe
n Major Whittle went up to his son
l room. the boy kept on packing h
e trunk without even looking up t.
y speak to his father. Mother tel
4 me you are going to leave home
e SAYS the father. Yes, ! am not g
p ing to stay around this old place an
longer. You and mother have bee
> talking to me about becoming a Chri
: tian. and I don't want to become
q Christian and am not going to.
have stood this talk upon religiC
- lon anouoh 7 am going TO get in