t up with God and His
word, he had become almost the most remarkable spiritually-minded Bible
student of his time.

The day came, at length, when once more he was strong enough to do
public service, and though without a living, from the moment that he
had preached his first sermon, after his recovery, he found himself in
constant request on every hand. He lived in close communion with God,
and his soul burned within him as he delivered--not an address, not a
sermon, but the _message of God_. The music of the voluntary was
filling all the church, while the offering was being taken. Then, as
the last well-filled plate was piled on the step of the communion rail,
the voluntary died away in a soft whisper. Amid a tense hush, he rose
to give out the hymn before the sermon. Clear, bell-like, his voice
rang out:

"When I survey the wondrous cross."

The hymn sung, he gave out his text: "Did not I choose you the twelve,
and one of you _is_ a demon."

"You will note," he began "that I have changed the word devil to demon.
There is but one devil in the universe, but there are myriads of
demons, fallen angels like their master, the Devil, only they were
angels of lesser rank."

He paused for one moment, and his eagle eyes swept the sea of faces.
Then in quiet, calm, but incisive tones he asked:

"Who,--what, was Judas Iscariot? Was he _human_, was he man, as I am,
as you are? or, was he a demon? Jesus Christ our Lord, who knew as
God, as well as man, declared that Judas was a _demon_--a fallen angel."

The silence was awesome in its tenseness. Every eye was fixed on the
preacher, necks were strained forward, lips were parted--the people
held their breath.

Again that clear, rich bell-like voice rang out in the repeated
question: "Who, I repeat, was Judas Iscariot? Was he a man, in the
usual acceptance of the term, or was he a demon incarnated? What does
the Bible say about him? In considering this I ask you each to put
from your mind, as far as it is possible for you to do so, all
preconceived ideas, all that you have been accustomed to think about
this flame of evil in the story of Christ.

"And first let me say what my own feeling, my own strong personal
conviction is regarding Judas Iscariot. I believe him to have been a
demon incarnated by the power of the Devil, whose intent was to
frustrate God's plans. In all his foul work of destruction and
confusion, the Devil, from the time of the Fall in Eden,