soldiers did not discriminate the person of Jesus, nor apprehend him till he had offered himself. He went forward to them, enquired whom they sought, and when they told him, he voluntarily delivered himself into their hands. And when his hour was come, he might have done this, even though Judas had been an honest

man.

What has been said may suffice for the illustration of the story under consideration. We shall conclude with some remarks upon it.

1. The confession of Judas is a decisive evidence in favour of the character and doctrines of Jesus Christ.

Had there been any thing immoral in his conduct, or deceptive in his design; had his pretended miracles been fraudulent, or his scheme of religion an imposture; had there been a studied contrivance to subvert the government, or to form a party and set him at the head of it, Judas, who had been one of his family, must have been in the secret; and, after he had betrayed his master, he would have divulged it. Thus he would have saved his credit, and gratified his avarice; for to obtain such a testimony, the priests and elders would have stuck at no price. Therefore Judas' declaration of his Lord's innocence, and the horror which he discovered for having betrayed him, is an undeniable proof that Jesus was, what he declared himself to be, the Son of God and a teacher sent from him.

2. Associates in wickedness are miserable comforters to a sinner under the horrors of guilt.

Judas, in this condition, went to the rulers who had employed him, confessed that he had betrayed innocent blood, and begged them to take back their money. They saw his distress, but treated it with contempt. "What is that to us? See thou to it.” Their own end was answered, and they had no further concern for him. They had used him as far as he was an instrument to their purpose; and now they cared not what became of him. Learn, then, to have no confederacy with unprincipled and wicked men to yield them no assistance in their evil designs-to have no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness.

Men who had any feelings of humanity, or principles of justice, would, on such a proof of the accused person's innocence, have been softened into compassion, and stopped their proceedings. But whether Jesus was guilty or innocent, really was not the question with the judges. All they wanted was to destroy a man whom they hated, because he exposed their hypocrisy and reproved their vices.

Dreadful is the state of a people under such rulers as these. No wonder that ruin soon involved them. How inconsistent with themselves were these murderers? The money, which they had given as the price of innocent blood, they scrupled to put into the treasury of the temple, and they applied it to the purchase of a burying place for strangers. Bad men will make some pretensions to religion; but their religion is not consistent with itself. The hypocrites, who scrupled to apply to a sacred use the money, which was the price of blood, had no scruple to call false testimony, and hire perfidy, that they might shed that blood; nor would they relinquish their design, when they had full evidence that the blood was innocent.

3. Men's evil designs, even in this world, often issue differently from what they intend and expect.

This is obvious in the case of Judas. And it is equally obvious in the case of the Jewish rulers. They sought Christ's death, lest the Romans should come and take away their place and nation. And by effecting his death they brought on themselves and their country the very calamity which they intended to avert. The same is obvious in a thousand other instances. By the dishonest arts which men practise for worldly ends, they involve themselves, their families, their friends, and sometimes their country, in those inextricable snares and intolerable evils, of which they imagined there was no danger. "They sink into the pit which they digged, and in the net which they have spread is their own foot taken." Let us never propose to ourselves an unworthy end, nor pursue a good end by unworthy means; but inflexibly adhere to the rules of virtue, whatever present evil we may incur, or whatever seeming advantage we may forego. The moment we deviate from the path of rectitude, we lose all our security, and expose ourselves

not only to some obvious dangers, but to innumerable hidden mischiefs. "He that walketh uprightly, walketh surely; but he that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once." 4. We see the power of conscience.

Judas, while he was engaged in his wicked design, felt no inward rebukes. But when he had completed his villainy, conscience arose and fell upon him with enraged violence. The scripture speaks of some whose conscience is so seared, that they commit iniquity with greediness. But though conscience, often opposed and suppressed, ceases to interpose its restraints, yet it does not forget to bring forward its reproaches. When passion and lust urge the commission of a crime, conscience cannot be heard. But when the crime is finished, passion and lust subside, and then conscience will awake and come forward with dreadful reflections and upbraidings. This is apparent in the case not only of Judas, but also of Cain, of Herod, and of Joseph's brethren, whose stories you have often read. If we would prevent the accusations of conscience, let us seasonably listen to her sober dic

tates.

Sin in reflection has a different appearance from that which it wore in the time of commission. Thus it deceives men, and then slays them. They invent various excuses before-hand; but when an awakened conscience lays their wickedness before them, in its true colours, their former excuses vanish. They see the force of the apostle's demand, "What fruit had ye then in those things, whereof ye are now ashamed? For the end of those things is death." The true reason, why sinners so seldom think on their ways, is, because whenever they do so, they are constrained to condemn themselves.

When you are tempted to any evil, take time to consider, "what you will do in the end thereof;" what views you will have of it on reflection; how it will appear, when the temptation is removed, and the solemn scenes of futurity open to you; whether conscience, in an honest and sober hour, will excuse or reproach you. Do that and only that, which, you know, you shall approve in the review.

5. Ill-gotten wealth is a poor cordial for a wounded soul. Judas could sell his master for money. But when he had gotten the money, he soon wished it back from whence it came. The

sight of it was intolerable, and he went and threw it down at the feet of the men from whom he had received it. The triumphing of the wicked is short and the joy of the hypocrite is but for a moment. Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hide it under his tongue, yet his meat in his bowels is turned; it is the gall of asps within him. He hath swallowed down riches, and he shall vomit them up again. God shall cast them out of his belly. That which he labored for, he shall restore; according to his substance shall his restitution be, and he shall not rejoice therein. Because he hath oppressed and forsaken the poor, he shall not feel quietness within him, nor save of that which he desired.

The world is worth nothing to a man further than he can enjoy it. What madness it is then to pursue the world by such dishonest means, as will render him incapable of enjoying the world, and even of enjoying himself?

6. From the example before us, we see the awful danger of going on presumptuously in a course of wickedness.

Judas sinned against the express warnings of his master, and a review of his conduct plunged him into despair. You have not sinned like him. But is there no known sin, which you indulge, and which you repeat in opposition to the dictates of conscience and the warnings of God? You flatter yourselves, that you may hereafter obtain mercy by repentance. But consider the case of Judas. You may be hardened into stupidity by the deceitfulness of sin ; or if you should at length be awakened to a sense of your guilt, this awakening, instead of bringing you to repentance, may plunge you into despair. Despair, we have said, is always unreasonable. But if you are so unreasonable as to continue in sin when mercy is offered, how do you know but you shall be so unreasonable as to despair of mercy, when a sense of guilt with all its aggravations, shall crowd upon your minds? Know therefore, in this your day, the things which belong to your peace, before they are hidden from your eyes.

7. We see the dreadful condition of a sinner, when conscience, enraged with guilt, is let loose to torment him.

Judas, in this case, was filled with misery insupportable. He ehose strangling and death rather than life. Destruction from the Lord was a terror to him. He was a terror to himself. The pains of hell got hold on him. In the frenzy of despair, he, for relief from his fears, plunged himself into that destruction which he feared.

There

His case gives us some idea of the torments of hell. the remembrance of past sins, and of former abused mercies, the upbraidings of a guilty conscience, the sensations of Divine anger, and total desperation of deliverance, will conspire to produce consummate misery.

Be persuaded, then, to accept Divine mercy, while it is offered.

This same Saviour, whom Judas betrayed at the expense of his own salvation, has brought salvation to you. He has died to make atonement for your guilt, and through his atonement, pardon and life are freely offered to you. The conditions of your acceptance are repentance of your sins and submission to, and reliance upon this wonderful Saviour. Reject not the blessings so dearly purchased, and so graciously tendered, lest hereafter, when you would inherit the blessings, you should find no place of repentance, though you should seek them carefully with tears.

Let not the imagination, that your sins are small, embolden you to continue in them. Judas, for a while, sinned in smaller instances; but these gradually hardened him to a fatal transgression. Let not the apprehension, that your guilt is great, extinguish your hope and discourage your repentance. Where sin has abounded, grace can much more abound. If God should be strict to mark iniquity, no flesh could stand before him. But there is forgiveness with him, that he may be feared. With him there is mercy and plenteous redemption, that all may have hope. May he redeem us from all our iniquities.

Finally Let each one enquire for himself, whether he has exercised that repentance, which entitles to pardon.