148. The Prayer Of Judas, Not Iscariot.

ThePrayerOf Judas, Not Iscariot. The Prayer as recorded.—John 14:22-31. This prayer and its answer furnishes a satisfying evidence to all believers that Christ is ever present with them. Our Savior, in reply to Judas, as to how he would manifest himself when the time of his departure came, reminds him that a disposition to obey his commandments and love him would always be a proof of his presence with them. As a precious remembrance he promised peace that the world know not of, peace and joy in believing.

Let not your hearts be troubled, he says, but rejoice; my day of humiliation is over; I have taken upon myself the form of man; have been made flesh and dwelt among you; my Father ‘is, in one sense, greater than I—Scott says, as an ambassador is equal in nature, but is inferior in office, to the prince that commissioned him, so Christ, in humbling himself, and leaving the Father, as God manifest in the flesh, has made the words that occur in the answer to this prayer appropriate. Our Savior has promised peace to all that love him and keep his commandments; no doubts or fears should find a home in the hearts of those who follow him; nothing but joy, whose tide swells broader and deeper as they trust in the promises, and seek the mercy-seat. We cannot refrain from dwelling a moment on a sin common among Christians, and indulged by those who no doubt are the followers of Christ, but they know not how many they are keeping away from those paths of pleasantness and peace in which they have been permitted to walk; it is the sin of clothing the joyful religion of Jesus in a dark robe of gloom, and in wearing upon the countenance the forbidding, repulsive look of sorrow. This is not the index of that joy and peace which may be the Christian’s, that spirit which the Savior promised to the praying Judas, and which he has left as a legacy to his children. Christ came in love, and not with a rod; let us then imitate his blessed example, when we would win others to walk with us in the “green pastures, and by the side of still waters.” If we have tasted and seen that the Lord is good, if our eyes have been opened to see ourselves as sinners, and we have been washed in the blood of Jesus, and are clinging to his cross; if the promises, and the full and sufficient sacrifice, are ours, have we not reason, above all others, to rejoice? If we cannot, the fault is not in our religion, it is in ourselves, and somewhere in a dark corner of our hearts sin is still treasured. We regard it a sin to be gloomy; the Christian may have tears to shed over his wanderings, and sighs to heave over the wickedness about him, but these belong to the hidden sanctuary of his own chamber, and not to the world.

We regard it as a Christian duty always to be cheerful; much may here be said of natural temperament, and the great influence of the body over the mind, but prayer is a panacea for every kind of weakness, either mental, spiritual, or physical; the whole man is brought under its power, and the weak one may forget his pains, the nervous be quieted, the sick may rejoice, as long as he lingers near the Savior, trusts in the promises, and loves the mercy-seat.