to the memory of Judas,
supposing him really to have betrayed his Divine Master, has no
foundation in human justice, for 'surely as the Lord liveth,' he was
foredoomed, and therefore compelled to betray him. Luther saw that
truth, and had the good sense to avow it. No more rational or just are
the denunciations of Judas than those so unsparingly heaped upon the
Jews for crucifying the Redeemer of the world, when every body must, or
at least, should know, that admitting the world's redemption depended
upon the Crucifixion of Christ, if the Jews had _not_ crucified him the
world could not have been redeemed. So far then from blackguarding Judas
and the Jews for doing, what in the Gospel they are represented to have
done, we should consider them rather as martyrs in the cause of Divine
Providence than as villains worthy only of abhorrence and execration. To
the Author of this Apology it seems certain that if there is a God, such
as the Christian delighteth to honour, nothing happens, nothing has
happened, nothing can happen contrary to His will. And is it not absurd
to say that what He pre-ordains mere mortals can hinder coming to pass?
Even the Devil, believed in by Christians, is a creature--how then could
he be anything else than the Creator thought fit to make him? Grant he
is the Father of Lies, and then he will appear worthy of compassion, if
you reflect that he was made so by the Father of Truth. In the Tract to
which such special reference has been made, it is contended that Adam
was made not because he chose to be made, but because God chose to make
him, and surely the same may be contended on the part of Judas, the
Jews, and last, though, assuredly, not least, the Devil himself. He who
is without God cannot run into absurdities and blasphemies like these,
whereas he who is with one cannot keep clear of them. If consistent he
must clothe Him with Calvinistic attributes. To present Him stripped of
foreknowledge, or omnipotency would outrage all just conception of that
'Immense Being' who brought his worshippers out of nothing. And yet if
we allow him these attributes there is no help for us, headlong we go
into the dark and fathomless doctrine of predestination, than which no
religious doctrine is so consistent or so revolting. Receive it, and at
once you find yourself bound heart and brain to belief in a supernatural
MONSTER--'a vengeful, pitiless, and Almighty Fiend, whose mercies are a
nickname for the rage of hun