have been accustomed to think of Judas as one whose crime has put
him far in front of all others in the enormity of his guilt. Dante
draws an awful picture of him as alone even in hell, shunned by all
other sinners, as Turkish prisoners will shun Christians, though
sharing the same cell. But let us remember that he did not come to
such a pitch of evil at a single bound. There was a time, no doubt,
when, amid the cornfields, vineyards, and pastoral villages of his
native Kerioth, he was regarded as a promising youth, quick at figures,
the comfort of his parents, the pride of his instructors, the leader of
his comrades.

During the early years of His manhood, Jesus came through that court
country on a preaching tour, and there must have been a wonderful
fascination in Him for young men, so many of whom left their friends
and callings to join and follow Him. Judas felt the charm and joined
himself to the Lord; perhaps Jesus even called him. At that time his
life must have been fair, or the Master would never have committed
Himself to him. He was practical, prompt, and businesslike, the very
man to keep the bag. But the continual handling of the money at last
awoke within him an appetite of the presence of which he had not been
previously aware. He did not banish it, but dwelt on it, allowing it
to lodge and expand within him, till, like a fungus in congenial soil,
it ate out his heart and absorbed into itself all the qualities of his
nobler nature, transmuting them into rank and noisome products. All
love for Christ, all care for the poor, all thought of his
fellow-disciples, were quenched before that remorseless passion; and at
last he began to pilfer from those scant treasures, which were now and
again replenished by those that loved to minister to the Master's
comfort. At first, he must have been stung by keen remorse; but each
time he sinned his conscience became more seared, until he finally
reached the point when he could sell his Master for a bagatelle, and
betray Him with a kiss.

Alas! Judas is not the only man of whom these particulars have been
true. Change the name and you have an exact description of too many.
Many a fair craft has come within the reach of the circling eddies of
the same boiling whirlpool, and, after a struggle, has succumbed. The
young man hails from his native village home, earnest and ingenuous.
At first he stands firm against the worldly influences around; but
gradually he