WILFUL SIN.

ST. LUKE, xxii. 3—6.

"Then entered Satan into Judas surnamed Iscariot, being of the number of the twelve. And he went his way, and communed with the chief priests and captains, how he might betray Him unto them. And they were glad, and covenanted to give him money. And he promised, and sought opportunity to betray Him unto them in the absence of the multitude."

FEW of us, probably, fully face the fact of the existence of an Evil Spirit. We think of temptation as coming from ourselves, and from our own nature. The possibility of possession is so terrible that we shrink from it, and therefore put away from us the idea altogether. But whatever truths are revealed to us in Scripture must be for our good, and it cannot be right to set them aside. The very horror we feel when we fully place before our minds the existence of Satan, forces us to flee to our Saviour. He that is with us is stronger than he that is against us. This is the only thought to calm us, and yet to give us energy. We are to fight with the assurance of victory; but fight we must against a personal enemy, who takes advantage, by the very words we use, and the very habits of our daily life, to hide from us the fact, that we are fighting. We do not understand that we are ac

tually engaged in a battle, because our ideas of warfare are earthly. We can form no idea of it except as connected with material objects. We think the expression to be figurative and allegorical, and thus it becomes unreal to us; and the very books which are put into our hands, describing Christian life under the image of conflict, are made the means of hiding from us the reality of the conflict.

No doubt there is a difficulty in distinguishing between the inclinations of fallen nature and the actual promptings of Satan. We shall scarcely do any good to ourselves by endeavouring to define where the one may end and the other begin: it is sufficient to know that we have two enemies to contend with, our own hearts and the spirit of evil; and that these are continually acting in concert to deceive us. But if we wish really to bring before our minds the greatness of our danger, we may take any one instance of sin, which we know to have been committed under the guidance of Satan— such, for instance, as the treachery of Judas-and observe how it was carried out when once the evil spirit had really taken possession of the human heart.

The point which may perhaps strike us the most is the deliberation, the slow thoughtfulness and consideration, with which the deed was planned by Judas. "He went his way"-he walked along the streets, not, as it would seem, hurriedly, but quietly directing his steps to the place where he knew he should find the chief priests and captains. If, as was most probably the case,

of

they had business to occupy them before they could see him, he waited till they were at leisure. There was no excitement or impulse in this; no sudden feeling of indignation or revenge. Sufficient time was given for conscience to work; but conscience was silent for Judas had given himself up to the guidance of Satan. Then he was ushered into the presence the rulers of the Jews. They were not his companions and equals; he could not rush to them and pour out all his guilty wishes; he was to be received by them with some formality; his errand was a matter of business; what we should call now a political affair, which, it might be said, concerned the safety of the state. The priests were sitting in council, ready to deliberate upon this and upon other weighty matters. Judas appeared, and the business was opened. He communed with them; he talked over what was to be done. Communing expresses a long consideration. Judas must have proposed his plans, and the priests theirs. The proposal must have been carefully discussed between them. Again, there is no eagerness, no haste; it is all done in a cool, sober, thoughtful spirit; only when every thing has been arranged, without, as it would seem, a chance of failure, some expression of satisfaction is evinced-"they were glad." In the fulness of their wicked joy at the prospect of having Him whom they hated in their power, they were willing then to grant the terms which Judas proposed" they covenanted to give him money."

Before, he

He was satisfied, and he promised. had only discussed, suggested, considered possibilities; but now he promised, and he went forth from their presence, not merely the planner of a wicked deed for others, but the person who was actually to put it into effect. From that moment "he sought opportunity to betray Jesus unto them in the absence of the multitude." If there had been the slightest shade of regret before, probably it was now stifled by the remembrance of his promise. Satan can turn even a good principle into sin; and many a man has been more unwilling to break a promise than to commit a grievous crime.

Upon a first consideration most of us probably would say that such deliberate wickedness has nothing to do with us; that we have never planned any deed in the slightest degree approaching to the sin of Judas; and no doubt this is so. It is not true, and therefore, it can never be right or useful to exaggerate sins. If we had fallen like Judas, we should not now be trying to search into our hearts, and desiring to amend our lives. We should be possessed by Satan, and there would be no repentance before us, only remorse. But on looking back at our past lives, there are few, probably, who will not be able to recal some wilful inattention to the warnings of conscience,. decided agreement to do what was wrong (though it may have appeared but slight wrong)-which certainly must have been an offence of the same

some

nature. We have perhaps wished very much for something which we knew it was not right for us under the circumstances to enjoy. It may have been a day's pleasure, or the society of some particular person, or the reading of some forbidden book, or an extravagant and selfish purchase; and we have put ourselves in the way of obtaining our wish quietly and deliberately, not at once promising ourselves that we would obtain it, but thinking about it, talking of it, planning how it might be had, and at last pledging ourselves in some way with others, and in their co-operation finding our support for the sin we have resolved to commit. Now, though it would be quite wrong, one might almost say absurd, to place an act of this kind on a par with a heinous crime like that of Judas, yet it is very necessary for us to consider that it is the germ of the same state of mind. We are extremely particular with children in not allowing them to steal a sugar-plum, because we say that if they begin with small things they will end with large ones, and so will at last come to ruin. It is just the same with ourselves. Sin is a state of mind, not an outward act. The same sinful strength which leads us to crush conscience in small cases, will, if indulged, lead us to crush it also in others. Satan gives us that strength. He does not possess us - that through God's mercy he is not permitted to do, until after a long course of hardness and impenitence-but he assists us to grieve the Holy