will address the wretched people on his left hand, "Depart," go away, "ye cursed." If you can think what it is to be blessed, think again what is the exact contrast of blessed, and that is to be cursed. It is to be entirely miserable. If you look around you and think of the most unhappy, wicked being you ever knew, he is not among those upon whom the curse of God rests to the uttermost. He still enjoys many of God's good things, and may yet have opportunity to repent, and ask the forgiveness of his sins; but those to whom the Saviour shall say, "Depart, ye cursed," will have nothing more to enjoy, nothing more to hope, but every thing to suffer. They are told to go away into 'everlasting fire." These words express a state of fearful punishment, such as we have no language to describe to you, nor any thoughts to picture it for ourselves. None know what it is but those who go there. May you and I never know. This place of wretchedness was first "prepared for the devil and his angels." Wicked beings who were once happy and good, but who lost their pure charcter, and became so wicked that God prepared for them the "everlasting fire," and the wicked inhabitants of earth must share it with them. Here, from the forty-first to the forty-sixth verse, which you may also read in your Testament, Jesus represents himself saying to the wicked that they had not obeyed him while they lived on earth, by treating all their fellow beings with mercy and kindness, as he required them.

Finally, in the last of the verses above, he says, "These," meaning the wicked, "shall go away into everlasting punishment; but the righteous

into life eternal." The punishment of the wicked, and the reward of the righteous, are both to last for ever. Good people and bad will never be mingled together again as in this world, but each will live on, in joy or woe, without dying, or knowing any change of being.

I hope, my dear reader, you have not read this far in this chapter without reflecting that the subject is very solemn, and one too in which you are deeply interested. Not one of you can say or think, "it does not concern me," for every human being will then stand before the Son of man, and be finally placed on his right hand or his left. Did you observe that the nations were not judged according to their name or color, but according to their character? You now see around you very many distinctions. There are people of different ages, and different conditions in life. The rich and the poor, the learned and the ignorant. Here are people from different countries, and of various religious denominations, but there only one distinction will be found, good and bad, but two classes, the righteous and the wicked. Jesus, who knows the heart, will need but to see if that be right, and the question will be settled.

Towards this awful, decisive day we all rapidly hasten. Every sun which rises and sets brings us one day nearer to it. What shall we do to prepare for such a day? Flee to Jesus, the friend of sinners. The same holy One who is to come with his mighty angels to judge the world, is he who took little children in his arms and blessed them, he who wept over Jerusalem, he who came from heaven to earth to go about doing good, pitying

all who were distressed, and preaching the gospel of peace, and finally dying on the cross for sinners. Though he has now returned to heaven, he still watches over the family of man, and is not willing that any should perish. If you give your heart to him you will be safe in the day of judgment, for he is able to protect you, and take you to dwell with him. He has said to such as love him, "I go to prepare a place for you, that where I am there ye may be also."

CHAPTER XXII.

THE SAVIOUR BETRAYED BY JUDAS.

MATT. xxvi. 20-25.

20. Now when the even was come, he sat down with the twelve.

21. And as they did eat, he said, Verily I say unto you, that one of you shall betray me.

22. And they were exceeding sorrowful, and began every one of them to say unto him, Lord, is it I?

23. And he answered and said, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me.

24. The Son of man goeth as it is written of him: but wo unto that man by whom the Son of man is betrayed! it had been good for that man if he had not been born.

25. Then Judas, which betrayed him, answered and said, Master, is it I? He said unto him, Thou hast said.

In the next chapter, after Jesus tells his disciples of his second coming, he begins to speak particularly of his death, which was now drawing near. In the first of the verses above, we learn that at the close of the day, Jesus sat down with the twelve, which means that he sat at the table

with them, for we are told in the verses preceding this, that they were about to partake of the feast of the passover. The twelve disciples were those whom Jesus called to follow him. They had been with him in his labors, and had enjoyed the opportunity of seeing most of his mighty works, and had no doubt received special instruction from his lips. With these Jesus sat at the table, and as they did eat he said to them, "Verily I say unto you, one of you shall betray me." To betray means to give up into the hands of enemies. Jesus, you know, though he was all goodness and mercy, had enemies. The chief priests and others had long been seeking to destroy him, and he had one enemy among those who professed to be his best friends. If you look at the fourteenth, fifteenth, and sixteenth verses of the twenty-sixth of Matthew, you will find that Judas, one of the twelve, had before this agreeed with the chief priests to show them where they could find the Saviour, and for this wicked deed they promised to give him thirty pieces of silver. The other disciples could not see the vile heart of Judas, and they knew not who it could be that would betray the blessed Saviour into the hands of sinners. "They were exceeding sorrowful." We cannot wonder that their hearts were touched with sorrow. They had been astonished, and almost unwilling to believe that it even would be so, when Jesus had told them that he was to die by the hands of wicked men, but now when he told them that one of the twelve was to betray him, they were exceeding sorrowful; and not knowing but their own hearts had deceived them, and they were his

enemies, when they hoped they were his friends, they "began every one of them to inquire, Lord, is it I?" Matthew did not say, "Lord, is it Luke?" nor Mark, "Lord, is it John?" but each one suspected himself, and desired Jesus to search him, because he knew that what the Bible says is very true, "The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked." Jesus answered, He that dippeth his hand with me in the dish, the same shall betray me. In that ancient time, and in that far distant country, people did not take their food as we do. They used no knives, forks, or spoons, but each one took from the dish with his hand. Judas, it is probable, sat near the Saviour, and helped himself from the same dish.

After this, Jesus said, "The Son of man goeth as it is written of him." That is, the manner in which I am to die is the same as is written of me in the scriptures. The prophets had foretold many years before this, that Jesus would be put to death by sinners, therefore all this was fulfilling scripture, yet it by no means excused Judas, or made his punishment any lighter. Jesus says, "Wo unto that man," a curse will rest on that man, by whom the Son of man is betrayed. It had been good for that man if he had not been born." O wretched, wretched Judas! He was once a

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joyful, innocent child. He had friends to love him, and he loved them in return. He enjoyed the beautiful earth, and rejoiced in the bounties of God's providence. He became a man, and in the course of the changes of life, he met with Jesus of Nazareth. Perhaps he could see in some measure that Jesus was lovely and excellent: it