The Story of Judas Matthew 27:3-5

1. 6H 80807
2. 57H Matthew XXVII. 3_5.
3. 62 Hymn.
The Story of Judas.

In the history of the lives of eminent
persons in S.S. there is none more
replete with important instruction
than that of Judas. He was beyond
all doubt a most remarkable
character; and extraordinary as
it was and rarely to be met with
as it is we shall find ourselves
benefited by closely attending to
the teachings it presents.
We consider then
1. His character.
a. He was a disciple of Xt. He had
taken a public stand on the side
of Jesus - open before the world
The history gives us no reason to
doubt that for a length of time
he was externally consistent in
his conduct. He secured to enjoy,
The confidence of his fellow disciples
since he had been appointed the
holder of their common stock of money

This was not the ointm
sold tc.
and did the Lord of Glory
suffer the traitors
lives
None of no

(b) He was an Apostle. For wise
reasons Xt was pleased to receive
Judas into the number of the 12
Whom he endued with miraculous
powers & to preach the gospel, altho'
he knew his hypocrisy from the
beginning; probably Judas intending
to seek of the office of money
carrier from the first, applied to
be read - and Xt allowed him to
enter the number as a part of the
plan of Providence in the fulfillment
of Prophecy. And we have no
reason to doubt his having every
qualification of knowledge ,authority
and miraculous influence. But
(c) He was a hypocrite. To show
this we appeal (1.) to the testimony
of Xt. John VI. 70. "Have no I
chosen you 12 & one of you is a
devil!" (2) To the testimony of John
himself: XII. 1- 1-R. And then
the crowning evidence of his hypocrisy
was his perverting the sacred token
of friendship a kiss to the purposes of
& treachery - 'Hail Master! & Kissed him,

Upon the whole
He seems to have had but one
ruling passion - Avarice --
This is evident from his murmuring at Mary's writing the ointment
John 12:5 & 6
And at his having bargained for
30 pieces of silver~
II. Consider his crime. It was
the deepest and darkest sort of
treachery. Not an open hostility
Not an honorable desertion of
Xt. Not a repudiation of the
discipleship and Apostleship
and friendship of Xt. No he
held on to his profession and
his office and association with
Christ & his disciples - he continued
to walk with the blessed Jesus on
his errands of mercy & love
to eat with him, and his friends
to converse with them to worship
with them & yet with all these
tokens of friendship - he was playing
his infamous plot to betray him.

(b) It was a crime of aggravated
character - Consider
(1). Whom he betrayed
A friend
A Holy Innocent Being
The Savior of the World
The Darling of Heaven
The Son of God!
(2) The price for which he sold
him. For base luck - filthy
gain! 30 pieces of silver! £3.15s.
About $15.75! The amt. appointed by
Law to be paid for a slave slain by
accident.
(3) The manner of the betrayal --
He Went deliberately and bargained with
the enemies of Xt - "What will ye give me
& I will betray him unto you?" He carried out his plan cooly & calmly
without shame or fear by Kissing his
injured Master, as the sign of recognition
III. Consider now the nature
of Judas' repentance.

I wish to show that it was not
true evangelical Repentance -
it had many of the characteristics
of true Repentance - but it
lacked some that are essential
to that Xtian grace. And
(a) He had the deepest conviction
"When he saw that He (Xt) was
condemned" this was the time
when he repented. When he beheld
the effects of his treachery - he was
horribly alarmed & shocked. It
seems obvious from this - that
he did not anticipate such a
result. Perhaps he thought XT wd
miraculously escape & still he wd
get his money --
(b) He had sincere sorrow for his Sin
He would have been glad to undo
it - his conduct appeared to him
base & treacherous - oh how deeply
sorrowful was he!
(c) He did all he could to repair
the mischief he had wrought -
He confessed his crime & testified
to Xt's innocency - "I have sinned

"I have betrayed the innocent blood"-
He gave up his ungodly gains -
He Was met by the Priests
with the taunting question "What is that to
us". and the cold & heartless reply
"See thou that!" As if they had said
We care not for your weak and
foolish qualms of Conscience - we
have gotten all we wished - our victim
is in our hands & in our power
Now go you & repent at your leisure
it is nothing to us _
This was a dreadful blow to Judas
Perhaps he supposed that if he
went and confessed to them
that Xt was an innocent man
They would take his evidence
& release him. But when he
saw how determined they
were to have his blood - all his
hopes were destroyed - he
felt that he had committed a
sin that was utterly unpardonable.
And so here ended all the

traits in his repentance that
characterize it as true and genuine.
His admitted that
1. He regretted what he had done
2. He repaired it as far as he
could
3. He restored the wager of unrighteousness
He felt he had
paid too much for such a
price - he felt it was innocent
blood - it was a thought that
drank up his own spirit
the money & millions more
would not have satisfied
him - he threw it from him
as if it had been a burning
blistering poison - all this was
well enough - but alas! he
did not go far enough - he
stopped short of the mark
His repentance was the bitterness
of Remorse - despair of Death
We do not learn that he lifted
to Heaven a single cry for
Mercy--

His was not true Repent
If he had lovd Jesus he
wd have done more
"Wept as Peter 2.2
He wd [not] have loved
to serve him &
wd have borne all
the shame of
his crime rather
than commit
murder.
----------
Jesus & Judas
died same day.
How an fine a
[??s] --
The Penitent Thief
& he enbred [sto???]
same day
Crossed each other's
pre the --

He payed not - he confessed not
to Xt. He called not upon
God in the day of his calamity"
There was no faith - no hope
-- no true Repentance!
The last act of his Life was
a crime - self murder!
Consider then
IV. His End.
"He hanged himself"
Attempts have been made to
evade this by Dr Clarke
but it is useless.
Existence become intolerable under
the tortures of a guilty conscience.
He looked above - there the
Heavens frown in gloomy
horror - a pall of midnight
gloom hung down over all his
prospects - a God angry with him
Dreadful sounds of indignant

Wrath echoed in his ear - and
frightful images of the fearful
retributions of Eternity Hashed upon
his distempered mind - there was
no joy in the prospect around
him - his friends had forsaken
him - even those wretches who
had hired him for his black
enterprise now taunted him
bitterly with cold reproaches +
fierce fiends from the world
of woe seemed to mock &
induct his unutterable woes -
All was shut up in impenetrable
darkness - "a horror of great
darkness" -- so that his "soul [?]
chose strangling & death rather
than [??] his life" and he deported
and went and hanged him self" --
an instance in [??ou??].
----
This is the melancholy story
of Judas. It is left on record
to instruct us in several most

important truths.
1. From the story of Judas we
learn that a fair Profession
of religion is no evidence of a
converted heart. We see that a
man may be a follower of Xt.
a minister of the Gospel - a
worker of miracles - and yet a
devil. And so we learned not to
idolize mere men for their gifts.
You can all recall instances
of bright luminaries in the Pulpit
who set in darkness ere the
Sun of Life went down in
death - God "will not give His
Glory to another."
We learn 2. To be very jealous
and watchful over our own hearts
We may be woefully deceived ourselves-
let him that thinketh he standeth
take heed lest he fall - "Be not high
minded but fear" -- "Blessed is the man
that feareth alway" Even Paul he
inspired Apostle used this language
I Keep under my body. I bring it into objection
less that by aim, means when I have preached Xt.

II. From this narrative we also learn
the dangerous influence of a single
indulged habitual sin. The sin of
Judas was Avarice - I repeat.
we have no reason to think that
Judas was anticipating any such
result from his betrayal of Xt.
But on the contrary. we are
impressed all thro' the story with
the belief that the whole affair
had taken a turn altogether
unexpected to him. He no doubt
supposed that Xt would escape
by miraculous power - or that
the Priests & Pharisees wd surely
not kill him. When he saw the
issue of the matter - his spirit
died within him & he no longer
wished to live. But this does
not excuse Judas. He gave a
loose rein to Avarice and that
opened the way to other sins and
overwhelmed him in eternal ruin.
Some of you are doubtless living
in the Known habitual practice

of some darling sin and you think
perhaps that you will compromise
with Conscience and by avoiding
all other sins get leave to keep
this one. Yet you will find that
sins are social - they love company
- they take to them "other
spirits more wicked than [?????}
tc".
There is a story told of a bargain
entered into between Stan & a
young man to this effect: "If you
will [only] get drunk [you shall] commit a
certain crime & Kill your Father
you should have your heart's desire
of the good things of this Life"--
The young man shrunk with unfeigned
horror from the two last
but supposed that he could venture
to get drunk - This was no great crime
His wily adversary agreed to this -
He drank - he became intoxicated -
And then under the maddening influence
of ardent spirits, attempted the commission
of the very crime he abhorred and when
his aged Father interfered he slew
him! Thus one crime caused the other two.

The story however fabulous has a true
moral -- beware of any habitual
sin. All sin is deadly - and
when we forsake sin we must
make no reserve. You all know
What your besetting sin is - Ch
I intreat you leave it off - it
will introduce into your heart others
and lead you into unforseen crimes.
III. We see the dreadful horrors
of a guilty Conscience! Poor
Judas! more to be pitied than abused.
He's crime was even more to be abhorred
than that of Cain
and the picture drawn by one of
our greatest Poets of Cain's agonies
and the curses that rested
upon him are deep & dark enough
"Cain what hast Thou done? The voice
of thy Slain brother; blood cries out
Even from the ground, undo the Lord!-
Now art thou cursed from the Earth
which opened late her mouth to drink
thy Brother's blood from thy rash
hand. Henceforth when thou shalt
till the ground it shall not yield thee

her strength; a fugitive shalt thou be
from this day and vagabond on Earth.
All the curses of Life shall be on thee
and thy agonies shall drive thee
forth over the wilderness - till thy
children do by thee as thou didst
by thy brother! The swords & wings of
fiery cherubim shall pursue thee by
day & night - snakes spring up in
thy path - Earth's fruits be ashes in
thy mouth the leaves on which thou
layest thy head to sleep be strewed
with scorpion! [May] Thy dreams shall be of
thy victim! Thy waking a continual
dread of death. The clear river shall
turn to blood as thou stoop'st down to
stain them with thy raging life -
Every element shall shun or change
to thee! Thou shall live in pangs
that others die with And Death
itself shall wax something worse than
death -- The grass shall wither from
thy feet! The woods deny their shelter
Earth a home! the dust a grave! the
Sun his light & Heaven her God!"

Judas more fortunate however than
Cain -- could die! Life insufferable
and Death Eternal woe! When it
comes to this what an awful dilemma!

How true the Bible's testimony -
"There is no peace to the wicked"--
Conscience! The Vice [?e?ent] of
God is the Soul - may by long
habits of sinful indulgence he
seared & smothered & stifled. By
the whirlpool roar of worldly

[????] and sinful engagements
[???] warning voice may be drowned
and hushed - by the seductive charm
of some Delilah sin, it may be lulled
into a slumber, but I give my
hearest fair and solemn warning
that at least it will be like a Giant
when he awaketh from his slumber
burst the hack-threads of sinful
habit and its voice of thunder.
Will he heard and its grasp of men
will he feet by the soul and there
will be no escape! Nothing can
drown Conscience then - that voice
will be heard above all that could
once drown it - he may plunge into
the crowds & harms of vice & folly
but too late. The hour for the triumph
of Conscience is come & I repeat
it there will be no escape. What then? First beware of the
first indulgence in sin. Cut short
at once if you have begun a
career of sin! It may be in

the range of possibility to turn about
now - you may go back now -
but if you go on in any sin day
after day let it be what it
may, you will soon find yourselves
at sea and your
rudderless vessel will continue
to drift until you shall have been driven to a returnless
distance from the haven of
Peace + Virtue and be whelmed
in the abyss [of olde] or dashed
upon the breakers of eternal woe.
--
A distant Community of our
own state has been recently
overwhelmed with horror and
grief at an occurrence which
resulted in two deaths. And that
shock has been felt even here in
this remote region. The Rev Dr
Chamberlain late President of
Oakland College has been assassinated
and his murderer is said

to have put and end to his own
miserable existence. 2 days after
the circumstances as we have read
them are briefly as follows
On Friday 3th of Sept. an individual
a Mr Briscoe called at the gate of
Dr. C. and invited him out. The Dr.
obeyed. He summoned unsuspectingly -
unarmed & defenseless with the snowy and
burdens of 60 winters on his head - he
could not have anticipated the scene that ensured.
Some conversation ensued not overheard by
the Dr's family who remained in the house -
but angry & insulting language soon fell
from the lips of Briscoe & soon after he
leaped from his vehicle & felled the venerable
old man to the Earth with a loaded
whip & as he arose he prostrated him again
with the same instrument and on his
rising the second time he plunged into
his heart a Bowie-Knife of 8 inch blade,
and fled. The Dr lived a few moments &
walked into the house and died. This was
the crime. Now for the sequel
The officers of Justice in their

search for the murderer failed. But
sabbath afterward, (2 week, today) the
retched man was discovered by a servant
the deep thick forest - dying! On
his body were no wounds - his
face was almost black - his body much
swollen and from various parts of
it blood was oozing. He died in
a few hours, in spite of all that could
be done to save his life. And the
verdict of the Jury of inquest was
"Death from causes unknown"--
--
I have introduced this as an illustration
of the horrors of a guilty conscience.
It was said he committed
suicide by poison. I cannot deny it.
But in the absence of all evidence
on this subject, I am inclined to
think he died from Remorse. And
he did commit suicide this way
no doubt the cause - Conscience
Conscience - was too keen & lacerating
her torturing accusations to let
think of living

From the whole we learn - that
we should not give way to the
suggestions of Satan each under the
terrific lashes a guilty Conscience.
Judas perished not because there was
not power & efficacy in God's mercy
even for him - but such was the
agony of his soul that he could
not pray for that mercy - So of
all who perish thus, they have no heart
to pray?
How then avoid thy end!
I can only repeat --
Cut loose from sin & do it
at once - There is no
telling where you may be carried
by it & when it has carried
you from one grade of iniquity to
another, & caused you to commit such
crimes it will be too late then to look
to God - because of the horrors of a
guilty Conscience.