tion to a cause, even party spirit, in its best form, all have in them the germ of the feeling, which, when properly directed, may lead us to devotion to Christ. When we struggle against a temptation and subdue it, with this thought in our hearts, that we are fighting for our Saviour, we shall have taken a most important step towards sympathising with and loving Him. When we practise some petty self-denial in remembrance of our sins, and with the thought of Him who died for them, all hardness, coldness, repugnance to such self-discipline will be over. We shall feel that we are arming ourselves for the combat with evil, as the knight of old prepared himself for his earthly conflict. And as he fasted, and prayed, and watched through the long night, and then following his leader to the field, fought and died, leaving his own name forgotten in the triumph of his lord;-so shall we also watch, and pray, and deny ourselves our luxury and ease, that, fighting by His side,-we may die with but one thought of glory,-that of being numbered amongst those who have borne the Name and conquered under the Banner of Christ.

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. Aud 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, 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 of 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." He was satisfied, and he promised. Before, he

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 recall some wilful inattention to the warnings of conscience,-some 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 nature. We have perhaps wished very much for something which we knew it was not right for us