s Ps. xvi. 5. t Rev. xiv. 10.
Luke xxii. 48. Jesus said unto him, Judas, betrayest thou the Son of man with a kiss ?
VIRTUE is best discerned when it is subjected to the heaviest trials. The stroke of the hammer dis- plays the excellence of the diamond ; and the furnace ascertains the purity of the gold. Meekness and patience are mere dormant qualities, till injuries or misfortunes call them into exercise. Let our cha- racter be blasted, our interests ruined, our person injured ; and then it will appear how far these qua- lities exist within us, and to what extent they will enable us to support our burthens. Had our blessed Lord himself been viewed in a season of perfect tranquillity, his unrivalled glories would have shone only as the sun behind a cloud: but when he laboured
under severe and complicated afflictions, then his brightness beamed forth in its meridian splendour. His circumstances were peculiarly painful at the time when he uttered the words before us. He had been sustaining a conflict with all the powers of darkness, and drinking that cup of wrath which his Father had put into his hands. He had seen with grief the su- pineness of his three Disciples, who, notwithstanding his repeated warnings, had consumed in sleep the time which should have been spent in watchful- ness and prayer. To add to his sorrows, Judas now approached him at the head of an armed band, and by a treacherous kiss betrayed him into their hands. Behold then our Divine Master under these accu- mulated troubles ! What might we expect to hear from him on this occasion ? Methinks his address to Judas, whose treachery he was aware of, could be no other than that of Paul to Elymas the sorcerer, " O full of all subtlety and all mischief, thou child of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness," art thou come to betray me ? But however this address be- came an Apostle, when zealous for the honour of his Lord, the Saviour himself, when personally interested, saw fit to speak in milder accents, that he might set an example to his followers to " shew all meekness to all men :" " Friend," says he, " wherefore comest thou ?" " Judas, betrayest thou the Son of Man with a kiss?"
We shall consider these remarkable words, I. In reference to the traitor Judas —
That we may have a just view of the wickedness of Judas, let us notice,
1. The light he resisted —
[He had attended our blessed Lord during the whole course of his ministry : he had heard all his discourses ; and had received from him in private a further exposition of the truths which had been more obscurely delivered to the proud, captious, and malignant auditors that flocked around him. He had seen innumerable and most beneficent miracles wrought in confirmation of the Messiahship of Jesus : so that there could be no doubt upon his mind but that Jesus was " the Son