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LUKE xxn. 47-163.
47 And while he yet spake, behold a multitude, and he that was called Judas, one of the twelve, went before them, and drew near unto Jesus to Idsshim.
48 But Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss?
49 When they which were about him saw what would follow, they said unto him, Lord, shall we smite with the sword ?
60 And one of them smote the ser-
vant of the High Priest, and cut off his right ear.
51 And Jesus answered and said, Suffer ye thus far. And he touched his ear, and healed him.
52 Then Jesus said unto the Chief Priests, and captains of the temple, and the elders, which were come to him. Be ye come out, as against a thief, with swords and staves }
53 When I was daily with you in the temple, ye stretched forth no
* hands against me: but this is your hour, and the power of darkness.
We should leam, for one thing, from these verses, that the tcord and mast wicked acts may be done under a show of love to Christ. We read that when the traitor Judas brought the enemies of Christ to take Him, he betrayed TTim " with a kiss." He made a pretence of aflfection and respect, at the very moment when he was about to deliver his Master into the hands of His deadliest ene- mies.
Conduct Uke this, unhappily, is not without its paral- lels. The pages of history record many an instance of enormous wickedness wrought out and perfected under the garb of religion. The name of God has too often been pressed into the service of persecution, treachery, and crime. When Jezebel would have Naboth killed, she ordered a " fast to be proclaimed," and false witnesses to accuse him of " blaspheming God and the king." (1 Kings xxi. 9, 10.) — ^When Count de Montfort led a cru- sade against the Albigenses, he ordered them to be murdered and pillaged as an act of service to Christ's Church. When the Spanish Inquisition tortured and burned suspected heretics, they justified their abominable dealings by a prdfession of zeal for God's truth. — The
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