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 chose 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.

His case gives us some idea of the torments of hell. There 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 of fered.

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 forgiveWith him there is mercy

ness with him, that he

may

be feared.

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.

You have seen the defects of Judas' repentance. Is your's more sound? Is it your sin itself, or the unhappy consequence of sin, that afflicts you? If the latter only, you would have felt as much sorrow, and more indignation, had the same evil been brought on you by the sin of your neighbor; and your indignation against him might as well be called repentance, as your sorrow for your own sin. True repentance springs from godly sorrow-not from the sorrow of the world. It is repentance toward God; it is accompanied with contrition of heart, self-abhorrence, self-condemnation. If only the calamitous effect of sin, not the şin itself, is the spring of your sorrow, your repentance is no better than that of Judas, who, when he saw that his Lord was condemned and his prospect of worldly greatness was at an end, repented himself and returned the reward of his treason.

Is your repentance accompanied with a humble reliance on the mercy of God through the atonement of a dying Saviour. Paul preached repentance toward God, and faith toward the Lord Jesus Christ. Faith in Christ accompanies true repentance.

Sin deserves punishment. Repentance removes not this desert of sin, nor makes atonement for it. Restitution, where it can be made, is a fruit of repentance. If your repentance stop short of this, it proceeds not so far as Judas' did. But in many cases no reparation can be made; and in few can the reparation be adequate. If you have corrupted a man's principles, vitiated his morals, wounded his body, or destroyed his property, reflection may awaken sorrow for what you have done; but your sorrow does not reform his manners, correct his principles, heal his wounds, or replace his property. Admitting that you do the best you can, yet you must leave much undone, which you would wish to do.

You must remember too, that all injuries to men are sins against God; and that there are many sins against God, which are not injuries to men. And what reparation will you make to him? In this case, who shall intreat for you? The Redeemer only. If you think that repentance and such reparation as you can make, will remove your guilt without any other atonement, your repentance is like that of Judas, who hoped to obtain from his Lord a

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