places. As he finished reading the third passage, and laid the open
book down upon the desk, the old hush deepened upon the people.

"Link those three passages together;" he went on, "and you will
instantly see what I meant when I said just now, that I believe Judas
Iscariot to have been an incarnated demon, and incarnated by the Devil
for the one fell purpose of frustrating God's designs for the World's
Salvation through Jesus Christ.

"There is not a single recorded good thought, word, or deed that ever
Judas thought, said, or did. And do please remember that Christ was
never once deceived by him, for in the 64th verse of that 6th of John,
we read 'For Jesus knew _from the beginning who_ they were that
_believed not_, and _who should betray Him_.' And knowing everything,
he said of the Betrayer, 'I have chosen--he is a demon.' If our Lord
had said 'one of you _has_ a demon,' the whole statement would have
been different, for many, in Christ's days, we find, were possessed by
demons, and He, by His divine power cast out the demons. But in Judas
we have something different, not a human man in whom a demon has taken
up his abode, but a demon who has had a body given him in which to pass
among men as a man.

"Christ's statement that he was a '_Son of Perdition_,' is equally
damning as to the real nature of Judas Iscariot. He is called the 'son
of Simon,' as regards the human side of his life, as Jesus was called
'Joseph's son,'--more especially _Mary's son_.

"But, though, nominally, 'Simon's son,' Judas Iscariot was ever 'a Son
of Perdition.' And because he was this--'a demon,' a Son of Perdition,
Peter, at Pentecost time, speaking in the Holy Ghost, was able to say
that he, Judas, 'went to his own place.' We need spend no time in any
detailed arguments as to whether this 'place' to which he went in the
under-world, was Tartarus or elsewhere, it was '_his own place_,' _the
place of imprisoned demons_, the place where other demons who kept not
their first estate, but left their own habitation are reserved in
chains.' Neither Tartarus or Hell were ever 'prepared' for lost
_human_ souls, 'but for demons, and, as a demon, Judas went to his
_own_ place.'"

He paused a moment. His tall, thin form became rigid in the intensity
of his service. In the silence, that deepened, the ticking of the
clock in the front of the gallery, could be heard plainly in every part
of the building.

Slowly he bent his lithe form