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Testimonies for the Church Volume 4
and actions, identifying themselves with those who profess to be His
followers? There will ever be some who do not live out their profession,
whose daily lives show them to be anything but Christians; but should
this be a sufficient reason for any to refuse to put on Christ by baptism
into the faith of His death and resurrection?
Even when Jesus Himself was upon earth, and walked with and
taught His disciples, there was one among the twelve who was a devil.
Judas betrayed his Lord. Christ had a perfect knowledge of the life of
Judas. He knew of the covetousness which Judas did not overcome,
and in His sermons to others He gave him many lessons upon this
subject. Through indulgence, Judas permitted this trait in his character
to grow and take so deep a root that it crowded out the good seed of
truth sown in his heart; evil predominated until, for love of money, he
could sell his Lord for a few pieces of silver.
The fact that Judas was not right at heart, that he was so corrupted
by selfishness and love of money that he was led to commit a great
crime, is no evidence that there were not true Christians, genuine
disciples of Christ, who loved their Saviour and tried to imitate His
life and example, and to obey His teachings.
I was shown that the fact that Judas was numbered among the
twelve, with all his faults and defects of character, is an instructive
lesson, one by the study of which Christians may be profited. When
Judas was chosen by our Lord, his case was not hopeless. He had some
good qualities. In his association with Christ in the work, by listening
to His discourses, he had a favorable opportunity to see his wrongs, to
become acquainted with his defects of character if he really desired to
be a true disciple. He was even placed in a position by our Lord where
he could have his choice either to develop his covetous disposition
or to see and correct it. He carried the little means collected for the
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poor and for the necessary expenses of Christ and the disciples in their
work of preaching.
This little money was to Judas a continual temptation, and from
time to time, when he did a little service for Christ, or devoted a little
time to religious purposes, he paid himself out of the meager fund
collected to advance the light of the gospel. He finally became so
penurious that he made bitter complaint because the ointment poured
upon the head of Jesus was expensive. He turned it over and over in his
mind, and counted the money that might have been placed in his hands