September 1927
560
T h e
K i n g ’ s
B u s i n e s s
The Man Who S lighted Opportun ity B y F. W. K rum MACHER
ciples believed it no less of him. The latent wound did not escape the Saviour’s eye; but the mischief was not incurable, and Christ had appeared in order that, as the divine Physician, He might heal the sick and bind up the wounded. O Judas, Judas! Happy would it have been wert thou the only one of thy kind! But the name of thy brethren, even in the present day, is “Legion.” They were not, indeed, at any time thy like-minded apostles; but, like thee, they once inhaled the pure air of the Gos pel, and were shone upon, like thee, by the rays of the eternal Morning Star. They were baptized like thee; they grew up, nourished by the views of divine tru th ; and on the day of their confirmation devoted themselves, more or less sincerely, in the most solemn manner, to the Lord and His cause. But, unfaithful to their sacred vows, they revolted with the inmost tendency of their hearts to the god of this world; and instead of the kingdom of divine light and peace, the idea of another presented itself to their minds, in which the flesh should have its unrestrained and complete gratification. This object they pursued; but the Holy One upon the throne of David, in the power of religion, interposed in the way to its attainment. How M en J o in F orces W it h S atan He requires the crucifixion of the flesh with its affec tions and lusts, unconditional submission to the divine commands, and unceasing endeavors after godlinfess. He protects property, sanctifies the marriage state, introduces order into families, condemns revolt, perjury, deceit, un cleanness, intemperance, and every offense against the moral government of the world, as the supporter and advocate of which He appears. And they who would gladly elevate their lusts to be the world’s law, feel more or less in their consciences the weight of His require ments as the sting of their condemnation, and, without confessing it, are inwardly constrained, even against them selves, to justify the warnings and teachings of Christ’s religion as absolute and irrefutable truth. But this fills them with bitterness, and enkindles in them the infernal spark of enmity against the Gospel, and against the Lord as its author. Thus they become enemies of God, and join in Satan’s colossal attempt to war against the power and majesty of God in the Christian religion, and to bury the whole world of religious and moral sentiments in the gigantic grave of an atheistic materialism, which denies the existence of a future state. They prepare for Jesus the cross of an enthusiast; for His Gospel the sarcophagus of what they profanely call antiquated ideas; for His whole Church the stairs of Pilate, on which, in their view, it descends from the scene of reality into a kingdom of shadows ; and thus renew the treachery of Judas to his Lord for the wretched reward of an expected state of things, in which, in a short time, every consciousness of a superior fate for mankind would perish by the poisonous nutriment of a base and transi tory lust.
g^gES^HE heathen world is ignorant of a Judas, and J p ë T could not produce such a character. Such a mon- gter matures only in the radiant sphere of Chris- « s J p gi tianity. It was Judas’ misfortune that he was I S A f born under the most propitious star. He entered into too close contact with the Saviour not to become either entirely His or wholly Satan’s. There was a time when, with reference to Judas, “the candle of God shone upon his head, and when the secret of God was upon his tabernacle.” Once he was not wanting in susceptibility for' impres sions of the most devotional kind, and his soul was capable of every noble elevation of feeling. The appearing of the “ fairest of the children of men” in the glory of His mar velous deeds attracted him, though less excited by Him in His character of Saviour and the Friend of sinners. He swore fealty to the banner o f Jesus with youthful en thusiasm, though with an unbroken will ; and the Searcher of hearts, perceiving the promising talents of the young man, who was really zealous for the cause of God in a cer tain degree, confidingly admitted him into the circle of His nearest and most intimate disciples. This favor would never have been granted to Judas if he had attached him self to the Saviour simply from interested motives. At the moment when he offered his services to the latter he was no hypocrite, at least not consciously so. And when he afterwards prayed, studied the Word of God, and even preached it with the other disciples, it was doubtless done for a time with a degree of inward truthfulness ; it was only in the sequel that he resorted to intentional deception and dissimulation. J udas D eceived H im self The Lord appointed him to the office of receiver and almoner in His little circle, and assuredly did so for no other reason than that He perceived he was fittest for that vocation. Many have profanely supposed that the Lord committed the purse to him in order to tempt him, but such a thought is wholly to be rejected. On the contrary, that circumstance affords us an additional confirmation of the fact that Judas, at the commencement of his disciplé- ship, possessed the full confidence of his Master, although it could not have been hidden from the latter that the dis ciple was still deficient in a thorough knowledge of him self, and especially in contrition of heart, to which a par ticipation in salvation is inseparably attached. Amidst the superabundance of pious sentiments an evil root remaine-1 within, which was the love of the world, and especially of its gold and empty honor. And, in fact, Judas deceived himself when he ascribed his admission amongst the dis ciples of Jesus to much deeper and holier motives than the longing for the realization of those earthly and enchanting ideas which his lively imagination depicted to him as con nected with that kingdom which the Lord had appeared to establish, as, on attaching himself to the cause of the great Nazarene, he fully supposed he was following the attrac tion of a higher and nobler excitement; so his fellow-dis
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