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.